With possible applications in everything from microscopic plumbing to slick boat hulls to switches for optical networks, a new chameleonic material developed at Bell Labs sheds water droplets like a newly waxed sports car, but, at the flick of a switch, turns absorbent like a "quicker picker upper" paper towel. Depending on the chemical structure of a solid, water and other liquids either cling to it — making it wet — or it repels them. Usually a surface is absorbent or repellent, but not both. "What we're trying to do is make a surface which you can control on the...
