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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Lucky Imaging
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Space-based telescopes like the Hubble are sharp and clear — no atmosphere in the way — but expensive. The Lucky Camera works with conventional telescopes, on the ground. It snaps up to 20 images per sec., sorts out the best ones and combines them into a picture sharper than the Hubble's at 1/50,000 the cost.
Available: Prototype; could be widely available by 2009
Lucky Website

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