The Best Inventions Of The Year

From the phone that has changed phones forever, to futuristic cars, to a building made of water, to a remote-controlled dragonfly—a dazzling display of ingenuity

By Maryanne Murray Buechner, Kristina Dell, Andrea Dorfman, Lev Grossman, Anita Hamilton, Rebecca Winters Keegan, Jeffrey Kluger, Michael D. Lemonick, Coco Masters, Lisa McLaughlin, Alice Park, Julie Rawe and Deirdre van Dyk

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Jim Coley / The Boeing Company
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Delivery of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a year away, but the 250-seater is still the most successful commercial jet in aviation history. Fifty clients expecting bigger windows, better air pressure and humidity and more legroom have ordered 710 planes, worth $120 billion. The 787's 50% composite structure makes it the greenest wide-body, using 20% less fuel than others its size.
Available: All Nippon Airways flights as of December '08; orders sold out till 2014
boeing.com/commercial/787family

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