
A self-repairing surface that stays clean and dry - jtraffic
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21721889-what-do-you-get-when-you-cross-lotus-and-lizard-self-repairing-surface?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/thelotuspositionaselfrepairingsurfacethatstayscleananddry
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crusso
I wouldn't call the surface "self-repairing". It's just an idea to create
multiple layers in manufacturing. When one layer breaks down, there are other
pre-built layers that can be used.

Not nearly as interesting as the title suggests.

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ry_ry
My new mission in life is to build something that follows links, uses ML/NLP
to write more accurate titles for articles, and inject the revised headline
into the page.

"Mildly interesting multi-layer waterproof material tenuously inspired by
lizard scales, could last longer than cheaper alternatives."

That sort of thing.

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sand500
Reddit had an article summary bot. Use similar logic and wrap it with a chrome
extension.

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wuschel
Another approach to attack the holy grail of self cleaning surfaces: Damaged
surface segments on self cleaning materials form a point of 'dirt
crystalization'. From these points, dirt starts to cover the surface.

This problem is addressed by Rühe's* paper [1] with a creative "shedding
concept". Upon damage, water can access the water soluble glue material upon
which the water repelling elements are sitting. The damaged hydrophobic
element rinsed away, exposing a fresh hydrophobic element. Unfortunately, the
regenerative potential is limited to the number of sacrificial hydrophobic
elements.

    
    
      [1] 10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b00814 
    

* Disclaimer: I met Jürgen in a joint group meetings during the Macromolecular Kolloquium in Freiburg. Great to see his name again via HN.. this was such a long time ago!

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jaggederest
That's literally the paper the article summarizes

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logicallee
to be fair, the article refers to the paper obliquely with the words, "just
described in Langmuir by Jürgen Rühe of the University of Freiburg, in
Germany." It's not a link and I couldn't find a link in the article - so it's
easy to miss.

why don't articles like this ever link to their primary sources? online, it
just takes a hyperlink - it could be added without any additional comment,
just turning a part of the sentence into a link.

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gitpusher
Agree with previous commenters. Interesting, but I can't wait to see materials
that truly regenerate – rather than simply providing a buffer against initial
damage.

