The major reason cellphone cameras blow chunks is because no one wants chunky cellphones, so we're stuck with slim, wide-angle lenses. Some researchers at UCSD have come up with a way using mirrors to increase a lens' focal length, resulting in some telephoto magic in a lens that's "seven times as thin as a traditional, 35-millimeter refractive lens, with nearly equivalent image quality." But don't start dreaming of snapping the perfect zoomed-in stealth upskirt yet, pervs, since it'll be at least a couple of years before they slide into a cellphone near you. [Pop Sci]

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