Liquid mirrors? Read all about them here:
http://www.astro.ubc.ca/LMT/lm/index.html
"The UBC Liquid-Mirror Observatory was established in 1995 to facilitate the development and testing of liquid-mirror telescope technology."
and:
http://vela.astro.ulg.ac.be/themes/t...t/didac_e.html
also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_mirror
Looks like there's a lot of interest but nothing big yet in operation.