BP Lowers 'Top Hat' Over Oil Spill

BP is trying the “if at first you don't succeed” method of oil spill containment, lowering a second, smaller box over its still-gushing underwater leak. The first box the company tried failed on Saturday, when ice-like crystals formed, making it float, CNN explains. That device was a whopping four stories tall, but this new one, dubbed “top hat,” is just 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide.

BP is hoping that smaller size will allow it to keep more water out as it descends. We should know if it's worked by tomorrow, according to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. If it hasn't, BP will probably resort to the “junk shot,” shooting actual trash at the leak at extremely high pressures. (More British Petroleum stories.)