Top Inventions of the Decade 2000-2009 Improve Understanding

The century opened with a decade of innovative and helpful inventions across a broad spectrum of human activities. Science as well as humans gained from the inventions either through gaining useful knowledge, cutting cost of science or manufacture and through additional applications that would like grow out of the use of the invention. Top inventions occurred in archaeology, chemical biology, aviation, medicine, oceanography, and many more areas.

#1 Top Inventions of Decade 2000-2009 : Archaelogy and History

More Accurate Ceramic Dating Technique Process

In 2003 a new ceramic dating process was developed by scientists that is more accurate and cheaper to use than carbon 12 dating. The process called rehydroxylation uses the relation between the rate of chemical reaction between ceramic and atmospheric water[1]. This process is being used in a number of places including the Utah Pottery project to narrow the date range on pottery fragments to help identify differences between smaller groups of potters in the region[2].

#2 The 2000-2009 Decade's Best Inventions: Chemical Biology

Timing Living Tissue Processes Using Fluorescent Protein timers

Researchers developed a mutant of the red fluorescent protein that changes color from red to green over time. The color change is independent of the amount of protein in the sample and has varying color stages that provide a color cue to the duration of the reaction. The discovery can aid researchers in timing changes in living tissue[3].

#3 Top Inventions of the Decade 2000-2009: Aviation

Digital Cockpit Map Provides Real Time Map Information to Augment Flight Operation Accuracy

The Harris Corporation developed digital maps for use in the cockpits of airplanes and helicopters. The DMS tool provides moving ground displays for flight path routing, threat masking, line-of-sight calculations, target locations, and terrain height. The tool improves the ability of the pilot to know information about the plane's exact location making for a safer flight[4].

#4 The 2000-2009 Decade's Best Inventions: Materials

Improved Tools for Working with Composite Materials

With the increasing use of the harder but lighter composite materials in the aviation and other industries, a difficulty arose when trying to drill into them. The solution was to vaporize diamonds and spray them on tools. The result by AMAMCO Tools was a more durable drill that helped prevent delamination damage and saving costs for rework[5].

#5 Top Inventions of the Decade 2000-2009: Oceanography

Deep Sea Underwater Camera

Science gained ground with the ability to see underwater in the deep sea which is expensive and difficult for humans to reach. The answer was a camera system developed at NOAA by Dr. Widder and her colleagues. The system was able to turn on when it detected bioluminescence and use that light to capture a snapshot then turned on a red light undetectable by the local inhabitants that are leery of bright lights [6].

#6 The 2000-2009 Decade's Best Inventions: General Purpose

The LaRC Macro-Fiber Composite developed at NASA, is a general purpose actuator which applies a small amount of voltage to damp vibrations at a low cost. The primary application was for large telescopes and space equipment, but it turned out to be of general use. [7]

#7Top Inventions of Decade 2000-2009: Medicine

Da Vinci Mechanical Surgical Assistant

Surgery is made easier by a mechanical assistant with hand that rotate 540 degrees and more dexterous than instruments held in human fingers. Surgeons operate the mechanical surgeon with greater precision and less error in the areas of urology, gynecology and cardiology operations because it is less susceptible to human shakiness[8].

#8The 2000-2009 Decade's Best Inventions: Optics and Communications

Binoculars that Transfer Voice and Video Data

Torrey Pines Logic developed a set of binoculars for the U.S. military and other applications that allow users to communicate. Users separated by up to 1.56 miles or 2.5 km can pass secure voice and video information via an optical beam. Data transfers between the devices is undetectable and is synchronized by users looking directly at each other[9].

#9 Top Inventions of Decade 2000-2009: Computing

Home Film Actor Editing Software

A tool that allows users to insert themselves into movies by digitally filming them and inserting them in place of another actor created by Yoostar Entertainment Inc. This is a commercial offering based on systems used in the film industry[10].

#10The 2000-2009 Decade's Best Inventions: Law Enforcement

Software to Help Police Identify Suspects off Video

NASA has to handle poor quality image data on a regular basis and created a software package called VISAR or Video Image Stabilization and Registration. The package has been used by police officers to help identify criminals caught on videotape where it helped clean up fuzzy images[11].

[1] Rehydroxylation Dating-Testing a New Tool, http://utahpotteryproject.blogspot.com/2009/10/rehydroxylation-dating-testing-new-tool.html

[2] Alex Waddington, InSciences, http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=5131

[3] "Fluorescent Timer": Protein That Changes Color with Time, Alexey Terskikh,* Arkady Fradkov, Galina Ermakova, Andrey Zaraisky,Patrick Tan,Andrey V. Kajava, Xiaoning Zhao, Sergey Lukyanov, Mikhail Matz, Stuart Kim, Irving Weissman, Paul Siebert, Science VOL 290 November 24, 2000, http://mips.stanford.edu/public/abstracts/040204.pdf

[4] Digital Cockpit Map, Sleighton Meyer, Harris Corporation, http://www.harris.com/view_pressrelease.asp?act=lookup&pr_id=54

[5] Bejeweled Drill Bit, Sawyers H, Popular Mechanics November 2009;186(11):20.

[6] Eye-in-the-Sea: An Innovative, Unobtrusive Camera System, Mark Schrope, Ocean Explorer, 2004,

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/04deepscope/background/eyeinsea/eyeinsea.html

[7] Two Named Among 100 Best New High-Tech Products: NASA inventions help in a material way, H. Keith Henry, NASA News Release, Sept. 19, 2000, http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/releases/2000/00-067.htm

[8] Angelle A. The Doctor Is On. Popular Mechanics [serial online]. October 2009;186(10):18. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed December 23, 2009.

[9] Straight Talk.Full Text Available By: McCarthy, Erin. Popular Mechanics, Jan2009, Vol. 186 Issue 1, p18-18, 2/3p, 1 color; (AN 35833570)

[10] Untitled, Popular Mechanics; Dec2009, Vol. 186 Issue 12, p42-42

[11] Inventors help make life better on earth through space-age technology, Jerry Berg, NASA News Release, 09/26/03, http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2003/03-167.html