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Happy New Year! (image courtesy of flickr user Velo Steve)

When tonight’s clock strikes midnight, you’ll probably raise your glass in a toast to the new year. And that glass will likely be filled with champagne (or sparkling wine, depending on where it was made).

Despite the French region’s claim on the name, champagne was not invented there. It was an English scientist and physician, Christopher Merrett, who discovered the process of double fermentation; he presented his paper on the subject to the Royal Society in 1662. (The Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon often erroneously gets credited with Merrett’s discovery.)

Since then, countless inventors have tried to improve upon the champagne experience. Search U.S. patents for the word, and hundreds of inventions come up (along with countless plants and other things that are champagne-colored). Here are a few:

• Electrically-illuminated drinking glass, 1908: An electric battery in the base lights up an incandescent bulb that sits in the champagne. Drink it fast, though, since this would likely heat up your bubbly.
• Bottle closure, 1928: The cork is gone in this arrangement of packaging materials. Instead, the bottle is closed off with a crown cap more likely to be found on your soda bottle.
• Liquid chilling device, 1938: A motorized device that claims to bring a bottle of bubbly to 40 degrees faster than your refrigerator.
• Champagne goblet or the like, 1962: This goblet from the Corning Glass Works is more like the glasses of champagne seen in classic movies than the flutes we now use. This is just one of many champagne glasses to receive a patent over the years.
• Display rack for champagne bottles, 1962: Ever wished you could have a tower of champagne bottles? Well, you can with this contraption, but it looks like you’ll need a lot of room.
• Pliers-like champagne cork remover, 1972: Cork removal is a popular area of invention in the world of sparkling wine. Seems to me, though, that a pair of pliers would likely work as well as this device.
• Safety champagne cork, 1983: Keep the cork tethered to the bottle with this contraption and there’s little chance of it flying through a window.
• Plate for use with stemware, 1994: This invention hopes to solve a problem every cocktail party-goer has had—how to hold onto a plate and glass at the same time and have a hand free. The solution? A plate with a notch into which you slip the stem of a glass and thus hold the two single handed.
• Ice bucket champagne opener, 1995: A 2-in-1 contraption that has an adjustable lever attached to the ice bucket to make opening the bottle easier while keeping the liquid cool.
• Champagne flute and straw, 1999: I’ve never had a desire to drink my champagne through a straw, but this glass has a straw that winds around it.
• Insulating sleeve for a glass, 2004: It’s like a beer koozie for your wine or champagne glass.

Which invention would make your New Year’s party better?

It’s also been a good year for science stories in Smithsonian magazine, including our special issue, Exploring the Frontiers of Science. Here are nine you should read if you haven’t already:

Gene Therapy in a New Light: A husband-and-wife team’s experimental genetic treatment for blindness is renewing hopes for a controversial field of medicine

What Darwin Didn’t Know: Today’s scientists marvel that the 19th-century naturalist’s grand vision of evolution is still the key to life

Brain Cells for Socializing: Does an obscure nerve cell help explain what gorillas, elephants, whales—and people—have in common?

Javier Movellan with his kid-friendly robot RUBI, on the cover of the July issue

Robot Babies: Can scientists build a machine that learns as it goes and plays well with others? A new robot design draws on ways human babies learn about the world

Catching a Wave, Powering an Electrical Grid?: Electrical engineer Annette von Jouanne is pioneering an ingenious way to generate clean, renewable electricity from the sea

High Hopes for a New Kind of Gene: Scientists believe that microRNA may lead to breakthroughs in diagnosing and treating cancer

Mad About Seashells: Collectors have long prized mollusks for their beautiful exteriors, but for scientists, it’s what’s inside that matters

Galileo’s Vision: Four hundred years ago, the Italian scientist looked into space and changed our view of the universe

The Fatal Consequences of Counterfeit Drugs: In Southeast Asia, forensic investigators using cutting-edge tools are helping stanch the deadly trade in fake anti-malaria drugs

What science stories would you like to see in Smithsonian in 2010?

It’s been a good year for wildlife stories in Smithsonian magazine. Here are nine you should read if you haven’t already:

Geoducks: Happy as Clams: In the Pacific Northwest, fishermen are cashing in on the growing yen for geoducks, a funny-looking mollusk turned worldwide delicacy

What’s So Hot About Chili Peppers?: An American ecologist travels through the Bolivian forest to answer burning questions about the spice

In Search of the Mysterious Narwhal: Ballerina turned biologist Kristin Laidre studies the elusive, deep-diving, ice-loving whale known as the “unicorn of the sea”

Finding Feisty Fungi in Antarctica: On treeless Antarctica, wood fungus is feasting on polar exploration relics

The Cahaba: A River of Riches: An unsung Alabama waterway is one of the most biologically diverse places in the nation, home to rare flora and fauna

The scarlet macaw, on the cover of the December issue, is prized by smugglers

Return of the Sandpiper: Thanks to the Delaware Bay’s horseshoe crabs, the tide may be turning for an imperiled shorebird

Invasion of the Longhorn Beetles: In Worcester, Massachusetts, authorities are battling an invasive insect that is poised to devastate the forests of New England

Wildlife Trafficking: A reporter follows the lucrative, illicit and heartrending trade in stolen wild animals deep into Ecuador’s rain forest

Ethiopia’s Exotic Monkeys: High in the Simien Mountains, researchers are getting a close-up look at the exotic, socially adventuresome primates known as geladas

What animal, plant or other creature should we investigate in 2010?

Sunrise over snowscape, courtesy of Flickr user D'Arcy Norman

We’re past the winter solstice (finally!) and, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, getting a bit more sunlight every day. It’s hard to see a difference yet—in Washington, D.C., the days are lengthening by only about half a minute per day this week. (You can chart your local sunrise and sunset times here.) So it helps to look at the big picture.

For a refresher on how the Earth’s tilt and position determine the seasons, Prentice Hall has a decent animation. The Astronomy Department at the University of Illinois has a slightly more sophisticated one that includes a view of the Sun from our perspective.

It’s hard to break out of the pre-Copernican worldview that the Earth is stable and the Sun is moving. Two animations from the University of Nebraska work with that misguided intuition as they animate the change in strength and position of sunlight over the seasons. But sometimes animations just can’t compete with real life. Nebraska also has a time-lapse video that reminds us just how dark our days are right now, and how light they will become.

One, the known universe, courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History (HT: Slog):

Two, check out Geeks Are Sexy for 5 ways to geek it up over the holidays.

Three, speaking of geeks, you can weigh in on whether or not we should ban the labels “geek” and “nerd”.

Four, GrrlScientist reprises her classic post on the psychology behind wrapping paper.

Five, Richard Wiseman from the University of Hertfordshire has ten science stunts to amaze your relatives (HT: Bad Astronomy):

And a bonus: On Thursday you’ll be able to read an interview about holiday meals in space with NASA’s Vickie Kloeris, who manages the International Space Station’s food system, over at our sister blog Food and Think.

Happy Holidays! We’ll be back on Monday, December 28.