First Prize: Safety and Security
Goggles Stop Fogging Before It Starts

Have you ever imagined a windshield that predicts and prevents the buildup of ice, fog, and frost? Thankfully, engineer Don Skomsky of Pennsylvania did--and successfully tested his brainchild in goggle form as part of an expedition to Mount Everest.

The battery-powered "Zoggles" pictured above use tiny external and internal sensors and a microprocessor to constantly forecast when the lens surface will drop below the dewpoint--the temperature at which condensation occurs. Then a heat source raises the lens surface by a fraction of a degree Fahrenheit.

Other antifog methods tackle condensation only after it's occurred, which requires a thousand times more energy, Skomsky said of his winning entry in the Create the Future design contest.

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