The 50 Best Inventions of 2009

From a rocket of the future to a $10 million lightbulb, here are TIME's picks for the best new gadgets and breakthrough ideas of the year

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The Newest Cloud

50 Best Inventions Newest Cloud

Ken Prior

Members of the international Cloud Appreciation Society are buzzing about a new kind of cloud. Known as undulatus asperatus, this ominous-looking formation has been described as resembling a rolling seascape — seen from below. It has been proposed for membership in that most exclusive of meteorological clubs, the International Cloud Atlas. The last cloud admitted? Cirrus intortus, in 1951.

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