Water May Not Run Uphill, But it Practically Flies Off New Surface

Engineering researchers have crafted a flat surface that refuses to get wet. They have achieved a "nearly perfect hydrophobic interface" by reproducing, on small bits of flat plastic, the shape and patterns of the minute hairs that grow on the bodies of spiders.

"They have short hairs and longer hairs, and they vary a lot. And that is what we mimic," said Wolfgang Sigmund, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Florida.

The findings indicate that physics, rather than chemistry, have more to do with the hydrophobic nature of the surface.