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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Wet and Wild"
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H-TWO-OH... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. CLOTHING, WALLS, EVEN COUNTERTOPS THAT CLEAN THEMSELVES--ALL FEATURING MICRO ROBOTS THAT WALK ON WATER? WE MAY BE SOMEWHAT CLOSER TO A FUTURE THAT INCLUDES THESE FANTASTIC FEATS--THANKS TO RESEARCHERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN, IN CONJUNCTION WITH JAPAN'S RIKEN INSTITUTE. THEY'RE STUDYING THE USE OF A PROPERTY KNOWN AS "SUPER-HYDROPHOBIA". IT'S NOT THE KIND OF FEAR THAT YOU GET WHEN YOU'RE SITTING IN A DUNK TANK AT A CARNIVAL. INSTEAD, HYDROPHOBIA SIMPLY MEANS THAT A STRUCTURE DOESN'T LIKE WATER TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT IT WILL REPEL ITSELF FROM THE WATER. A GOOD EXAMPLE IS THOSE INSECTS THAT CAN LITERALLY WALK ACROSS THE SURFACE OF WATER: THEIR LEGS HAVE LAYERS OF MICROSCOPIC HAIRS THAT MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR WATER DROPLETS TO STICK--MAKING THEM SUPER-HYDROPHOBIC; EACH ONE CAN SUPPORT ABOUT 15 TIMES ITS WEIGHT ON WATER. SINCE THE 19-30'S, WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO COPY THIS FROM NATURE--WITH LITTLE LUCK. THE NEW RESEARCH IS THE RESULT OF USING THE RIKEN INSTITUTE'S SUPERFAST SUPERCOMPUTER IN A SERIES OF MODEL EXPERIMENTS THAT DEAL WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES THAT MIMIC THOSE QUALITIES FOUND IN NATURE. THEY CALL IT, "COMPUTER-AIDED SURFACE DESIGN". THE PROJECT COULD HELP IN CREATING SUPER-HYDROPHOBIC SURFACES IN THE FUTURE, WHERE WATER DROPLETS STAY ON TOP--AND CAN CARRY DIRT AWAY. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
