For those of you who don’t read /.:

Apparently the petals of the lotus flower have a nanoscale peculiarity, namely that it has crystals of wax in pyramid-like shapes that reduce the surface area for water droplets. This means that, when the flower gets wet, the water rolls off rather than sliding off, which means that the flower itself stays bone dry, even in the middle of a rainstorm. It also means that the water collects dirt as it rolls off, cleaning the flower.

Best of all, some scientists have figured out how to make an aerosol that gives any surface the same property. Thus, any surface can be made hydrophilic and self cleaning. The hydrophilic part has immediate applications – accurate measurement of water for one, defrictioning of the surfaces of boats, and so on. The self-cleaning part, well, that doesn’t really need any explanation. How cool would self-cleaning shoes be?