Breakthrough Awards 2011: Popular Mechanics' 10 Most Transformative Products Of The Year (PHOTOS)

Popular Mechanics' seventh annual Breakthrough Awards recognize the top people and products that have "dramatically advanced the fields of technology, medicine, space exploration, automotive design, and environmental engineering." This year's breakthrough innovations range from smog devouring roof tiles to a device that lets you set up an instant small business anywhere. Popular Mechanics is also honoring 11 innovators whose work "will transform the world in years to come."

“From off-the-shelf blood vessels to a cell phone tower the size of a Rubik’s Cube, our Breakthrough Award winners not only capture the imagination, but hold the potential to improve and save lives,” says Popular Mechanics editor-in-chief James B. Meigs, in a press release.

The winners are chosen by Popular Mechanics editors who enlist the help of top experts and past Breakthrough winners to find the coolest inventions of the year. The products are then tested to make sure that they really do what they say they do. Jennifer Bogo, Science editor at Popular Mechanics, told The Huffington Post that when it finally comes down to picking the top 10, there isn't even much contention among the editors since, "the best products quickly rise to the top."

Check out Popular Mechanics' picks for the 10 most transformative products of 2011 in the slideshow below. Click here for a full list of the Breakthrough Award winners, as well as descriptions of their accomplishments, or click here to see the 10 innovators honored by Popular Mechanics.

To see last year's winners, which include everything from a miter saw to a little device that could save your life the next time you're lost in the woods, check out our slideshow here.

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Comments

[anchises868]

02:43 AM on 10/11/2011

I guess that with classes going on, I haven't been keeping up with the tech news as much as I should be. I think every one of these is awesome.

[tmaxPA]

07:15 PM on 10/10/2011

"'What we really like is that they aren't trying to keep people from doing their own thing with it,' says Bogo."

Why should they? They know they can always change it later to prevent anyone they can't control from making money with it.

[GustavoRejivik]

04:52 PM on 10/10/2011

For 10+ years the Government has passed regulations removing heavy metals from everything .. then suddenly it's ok in a CFC bulb .. how hypocritical ..

Thankfully, LED's will be mass produced soon and replace Harmful/Deadly CFC's ...

[tumbler snapper]

08:10 PM on 10/10/2011

I think you mean CFL's. Mercury has always been present in the ubiquitous flourescent tubes. Tradeoffs sometimes occur in the interest of energy conservation. It's not "hypocritical".

[Richard Pearce banned]

10:51 AM on 10/10/2011

Of the things listed, I only expect two of them to be mass market hits (that is, pretty much ubiquitous a few years from now) and those are the LED lightbulbs and the seatbelts.

[giftsthatpurr]

04:25 PM on 10/11/2011

I was impressed with the smog eating roofing tiles and the lighter weight solar panels.

[Richard Pearce banned]

05:20 PM on 10/11/2011

Oh, there is nothing wrong with those, or the other things on the list, it is just that, due to low turnover rates (a decade or more between re-roofings) and industry resistance to change (especially when the involve investing in more/different tools, new skills, the use of more materials, and redesigns of the basic strictures) the only way the two items you mentioned will become mass market successes are through federal regulatory changes, which, given the present political climate in the US, just aren't in the cards.

[JustinP213]

10:45 AM on 10/10/2011

The Motorola Atrix seems like a cool device.

[verticallychallenged]

09:43 AM on 10/10/2011

Couldn't afford the Phillips for my bathroom vanity lights, so I bought some "warm white" LED bulbs from another company. Any POLITE, constructive suggestions on how to offset the "warm GREEN" glow would be appreciated.

[Richard Pearce banned]

10:56 AM on 10/10/2011

Rose coloured glasses spring to mind.

Not only will they offset the 'green tint' you are complaining about, they are reputed to make everything in general less complaint worthy.

;-}

PS, I always remind my co-workers, when they ask me to reach something they can't, that it is better to be vertically challenged than horizontally gifted.

[WasteNJ]

09:30 AM on 10/10/2011

I've been waiting 20 years for LED technology to get cheap, go mainstream into light bulbs and household replacements for incandescents. As a kid I remember my pops hooking up some of my toy cars with tiny LED lights, they were about $5 a pop back then! Now you can buy a three foot string of them for $2.99, and the uses are endless.

[MIKEBC]

09:23 AM on 10/10/2011

These things and the things made by Steve Jobs companies were done in america by americans! not in china or japan or germany, thats the american spirit!

[WasteNJ]

09:31 AM on 10/10/2011

Apple designed in Cupertino, and manufactured in China. They could have manufactured in the US and made good profits, but they made better profits in China with workers committing suicide due to the conditions.

[ipv4]

04:05 PM on 10/10/2011

This is true.

[Davey Johnson]

07:40 PM on 10/10/2011

Which is the primary problem with corporate America and Wall Street ... their greed unbounded, their disinterest in their mother country appalling.

[LightShadow62]

04:53 PM on 10/10/2011

Why did I know that some iSheep would have to try to peddle Apple in this thread?

[HellBank]

05:04 AM on 10/10/2011

Titanium dioxide is what makes white paint white. No need to buy expensive roof tiles, just use white paint. What a scam.

[panobuz]

03:33 PM on 10/10/2011

So then you have a white roof that turns black from air pollution? plus you still have to buy a roof. That's attractive.

[Pete59]

03:57 PM on 10/10/2011

but a white roof reduces your air conditioning costs and with the money saved you can pay someone to paint it.

[ihudaif]

03:44 AM on 10/10/2011

The secret of his success, his great ability of imagination and predications!

[plaidsportcoat]

02:59 AM on 10/10/2011

I bet all these things are very expensive, which means that lots of people will not be using them.

[LastWave]

08:52 AM on 10/10/2011

just like televisions, computers, cars, cell phones, solar panels,washers and dryers, electric ovens, microwaves........when they first were introduced. god knows those things dont sell.

[JTyroler]

01:31 AM on 10/10/2011

There were some pretty cool items - roof tiles that can help reduce air pollution, the energy efficient light bulb, the lower priced solar panels (hopefully made in USA), and the seat belts - those will probably be added to more vehicles in the near future.

[somethinggood]

12:21 AM on 10/10/2011

A lot of exciting stuff.

[Benbo]

12:16 AM on 10/10/2011

Every car should have seat belts like that.

[rickpark1]

11:34 PM on 10/09/2011

Must have been a BIG year when they introduced the"Thermos" ..A