Communicating Science (201)

Journey To The Unknown

Posted on March 12, 2012 by erinleonard | 1 comment

James Cameron is taking a break from filming blockbuster movies like Titanic and Avatar, to travel to the deepest depth of the ocean – The Challenger Deep. He plans to travel to the bottom of the ocean in his custom built submarine while documenting his journey on film and gathering samples for scientific research. The dive is supposed to happen in the next couple of weeks.

A map showing the location of The Challenger Deep and Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. Photo from Flickr user Mudkipz_KGM

The Challenger Deep, located in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, is the deepest point recorded in all the oceans. At 11 kilometers below the surface, it is more than two kilometers higher than Mount Everest – the highest point on Earth.

Mr. Cameron will make the dive alone, in his state of the art, custom built submarine. His vast imagination that we see come to life in his movies has now come to life for real. The sub is reminiscent of a bullet. The 7.3 meter long, one-person vessel, will travel vertically and reach the bottom of the ocean in less than two hours. It uses very heavy steel plates to help the sub descend to the bottom. When the vessel is ready to go back up, the plates are dropped and it will rise to the surface. However, the submarine can still be controlled to hover in one spot, or glide through the water.

The effects of pressure in deep ocean water on styrofoam. Picture from Flickr user NOAA's National Ocean Service

The pressure in the submarine will remain constant for the entire trip. Although the pressure at this depth is usually crushing, a newly designed foam that maintains buoyancy without being crushed and warped by the immense pressure, is the main frame of the vessel. The pressure will cause the foam to shrink about two and a half inches, but the foam will remain intact. It is this foam that helps the vessel rise to the surface as well, as the foam is lighter than water.

Mr. Cameron will be able to stay at the bottom for around six hours. The submarine is equipped with spotlights and cameras to document the journey in high-resolution 3D video. The sub also has tools for collecting samples including a robotic arm, and a suction sampler that acts like a vacuum to suck up things like small organisms.

The Challenger Deep has been reached once before in 1960, but only for 20 minutes. The pilots were not able to capture any images or samples because of the dust that was disturbed by the landing of their vessel. This area of our world is not very well known. Needless to say, discoveries that Mr. Cameron could make, like previously unknown organisms, would have a profound impact on scientific research. His journey to the Challenger Deep sounds amazing and exciting. I cannot wait to see what he finds in the unknown depths of the ocean.

Video from National Geographic:

Follow James Cameron’s Journey on YouTube

References:

http://deepseachallenge.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/science/earth/james-cameron-prepares-to-dive-into-mariana-trench.html

1 Comment

Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science in the News, Uncategorized

Tagged James Cameron, Mariana Trench, Pacific Ocean, submarine, The Challenger Deep

The Future Of Food: Laboratory Grown Meat Could Save The World

Posted on March 12, 2012 by youngou Ser | 3 comments

Source: U.S Census Bureau, Expected Word Population from 1950 to 2050

The world population will increase by 2.5 billion by 2050. How are we going to feed the 2.5 billion more people in 2050? The UN says we will have to nearly double our total food production and we should adopt new technologies, however there are already one billion chronically hungry people, there’s little more virgin land to open up, climate change will only make farming harder to grow food in most places, the oceans are overfished, and much of the world faces growing water shortages. Prof. Sean Smukler from the University of British Columbia said, “Keeping pace with demand for meat from Asia and Africa will be particularly hard as demand from these regions will shoot up as living standards rise”. So how are we going to deal with this problem?

Here is the solution!

The first strips of muscle have been grown in a project to develop a new way to produce meat

Dutch scientists (Prof. Mark and his group) have used stem cells to create strips of muscle tissue with the aim of producing the first laboratory-grown hamburger later this October. The aim of the research is to develop a more efficient way of producing meat than rearing animals. At a major science meeting in Canada, Prof Mark Post said, “synthetic meat could reduce the environmental footprint of meat by up to 60%”. Moreover Oxford University study found that this process would consume 35-60% less energy, 98% less land and produce 80-95% less greenhouse gas than conventional farming.

How it works?

Image from misfit120.wordpress.com

To make the artificial meat, scientists take muscle cells from an animal and incubate them in a protein ‘broth’. This makes the microscopic cells multiply many times over, creating a sticky tissue with the consistency of an undercooked egg. This “wasted muscle” is then bulked up through the laboratory equivalent of exercise; it is anchored to Velcro and stretched. And researchers at Utrecht University have calculated that an initial ten pork stem cells could produce 50,000 tons of meat in two months.

Video from Youtube: euronews science: In Vitro meat

Anyone wants to taste the lab grown meat burger now? However, it takes nearly one year to grow one meat patty in lab, and biggest problem is, cost of producing the hamburger will be US$345,000! But Prof. Mark says that once the principle has been demonstrated, production techniques will be improved and costs will come down.

References

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2087837/Test-tube-meat-reality-year-scientists-work-make-profitable.html

http://haysvillelibrary.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/world-population-update/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16972761

http://www.bellenews.com/2012/02/20/world/europe-news/lab-grown-meat-created-by-dutch-scientists-using-stem-cells/

http://www.gizmag.com/lab-grown-meat/20625/

3 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science Communication, Science in the News, Uncategorized

Tagged artificial meat, Future food, Laboratory, microscopic cells, stem cells, synthetic meat, world population

Does Your Blood Type Tell Your Personality?

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Sunny Jeong | Leave a comment

Video about Blood typing: What it means and why it matters

How many people know what their blood type is?

One of the easiest ways to find out your blood type is to donate blood. Since it has to be matched for donation, they type it anyway, so you can always ask. Another way is to ask your parents or a doctor. In a largely populated culture, you are supposed to know your own blood type just in case of an emergency. I know that mine is B.

The history of the theory that blood type determines personality is still not proven scientifically. In 1900, Karl Landsteiner discovered the four blood types. The idea first came about in 1927, Takeji Furukawa, a Japanese professor, introduced the theory to the Japanese public in a paper entitled, “The Study of Temperament Through Blood Type.” Even though he lacked the proper credentials and backed up nothing scientifically, the public embraced the idea of blood type as a determination of personality.

image from japantrends.com

Most people who like surfing the Internet might have known about this information. Although it has never been scientifically proven, in Japan, it is widely believed that blood type groups predict personality traits from temperament to compatibility and they think that they should eat based on their blood type. Furthermore, they even think they should marry someone based on their blood type.

Now let’s take a look at the personality traits, worst traits and diet for each blood type.

Blood type A

Personality traits: Conservative, introverted, reserved, patient, cool, serious, perfectionist

Worst traits: Obsessive, self-conscious, sometimes uptight and stubborn

Diet: Dr. Peter D’Adamo, author of Eat Right For Your Type says “Type A’s flourish on a vegetarian diet.” According to his book, “many people find it difficult to move away from the typical meat and potatoes to soy proteins, grains and vegetables. But it is particularly important for sensitive Type A’s to eat their foods in as natural a state as possible: pure, fresh and organic.”

Blood type B

Personality traits: Creative, flexible, individualistic, optimistic, passionate, comprehensive, empathetic

Worst traits: Forgetful and sometimes irresponsible

Diet: Dr. Peter D’Adamo says that people with blood type B should avoid meats like chicken, beef and pork.

Blood type O

Personality traits: Ambitious, self-confident, robust, natural leaders, athletic, outgoing, expressive

Worst traits: Arrogant, insensitive, vain

Diet: Type O has the oldest digestive memory tract so their fast metabolism will benefit from lean meats, poultry and plenty of fish. They should restrict their grain and bread intake.

Blood type AB

Personality traits: Cool, controlled, introverted, rational, charming, popular

Worst traits: Critical, indecisive, unforgiving and aloof

Diet: Type AB has a sensitive digestive tract so they should enjoy seafood, tofu, dairy and most produce and they should avoid chicken, beef and pork.

image from myhealthguardian.com

I think blood type B’s personality traits are similar to mine. Do you think your blood type matches up with the traits above?

References

Further reading: Personality Traits by Blood Type

http://www.openzine.com/aspx/ReadMore.aspx?lid=77&zineID=0&divid=307&ID=11217&IssueID=2836

Whatsmybloodtype.org

http://whatsmybloodtype.org/personality.html

Dr. Peter D’Adam’s Website

http://dadamo.com/

Is Vitamin C better than other cancer treatments?

Posted on March 5, 2012 by jinnychoi | 1 comment

There are many existing cancer treatments such as removing tumors by surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. However, all the treatments mentioned above have high risks in damaging patients’ health in the process of killing or removing the tumors.

There have been ongoing discussions about the intravenous treatment of vitamin C as an alternative cancer treatment by reducing tumours for cancer patients. One of the first researches on the effect of vitamin C on cancer patients was done by Nobel laureate Linus Pauling about 40 years ago. Even though his experiment was later criticized for being faulty and biased, the idea of vitamin C’s benefits for cancer patients was further investigated.

Vitamin C is one of the antioxidants that can prevent cancer. Antioxidants inhibit oxidation in human body. Substances such as oxygen which can oxidize into free radical molecule and damage cells’ DNA or cause cell death. Vitamin C is also known to improve our immune system, and prevent illnesses such as common colds.

However, this same vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is shown to reduce the tumour size in cancer patients. This is when the ascorbic acid is absorbed intravenously(IV) and in high dosage.

One of the many research papers on the effects of ascorbic acids shows decreased growth rate of mesothelioma cells, which is cancerous tumor cells. Since the growth and the spread of tumors with defects in its DNA are the crucial risk of cancer, the results of decrease in growth of tumor cells are significant improvement for cancer treatments. Another research article states that vitamin C is toxic to certain cancer cells, but not to normal cells.

The ascorbic acid is put into our body in the sodium ascorbate form to decrease the pH difference of the vitamin C and human blood. Therefore, if we consume too much ascorbic acid orally, it could cause acidic stomach.

Despite all the benefits of vitamin C, there are some critiques about vitamin C treatments that it only kills certain types of cancer cells, and an excessive amount of vitamin C can affect absorption of Copper and Selenium.

However, even with these minor concerns, trying the intravenous treatments of ascorbic acid for reducing tumor growth could be considered beneficial for cancer patients. Also, further researches and developments on the ascorbic acid treatment for cancer patients could improve the use of treatments for the future.

References

http://www.jamiesonvitamins.com/node/74

http://pdn.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MiamiImageURL&_cid=272308&_user=1022551&_pii=S0006291X10002123&_check=y&_origin=article&_zone=toolbar&_coverDate=02-Apr-2010&view=c&originContentFamily=serial&wchp=dGLzVlk-zSkWA&md5=232d451371f7652e84e112edc22aff87/1-s2.0-S0006291X10002123-main.pdf

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070910132848.htm

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Cancer/c.html

http://content.ebscohost.com/pdf17_20/pdf/2006/04J/28Mar06/20225740.pdf?T=P&P=AN&K=16567755&S=R&D=mnh&EbscoContent=dGJyMMvl7ESeprM4y9fwOLCmr0qeqK9Ssqi4SLaWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPGrtE%2Bwp7dMuePfgeyx44Dt6fIA

http://www.orthomed.com/civprep.htm

1 Comment

Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Medicine

Tagged Cancer, cancer treatments, intravenous, tumor reduction, vitamin c

Beauty No Longer Asleep : 30, 000 Year Old Flower Regenerated

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Kate Ahn | 3 comments

Video from Press TV Global News : Images of Silene stenophylla

Resurrecting ancient organisms has always been a subject of fascination for many scientists. Although it sounds like something out of a science fiction novel, this idea is becoming more and more realistic with the recent achievement of David Gilichinsky and his colleagues from the Institute of Cell Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In February 2012, they announced that they were able to regenerate Silene stenophylla from fruits that were found in ice age squirrels’ burrows in Siberia.

Image from Flickr by jimmywayne : Arctic Tundra

S. stenophylla is a small flowering plant that grows in the Arctic tundra of eastern Siberia and the mountains of Northern Japan. It can be found in its habitat even today, although the fruits and seeds from the burrow are estimated to be around 30,000 years old.

The regeneration process took several trials and errors. Researchers initially attempted to germinate the seeds but had no success. Then they turned to the placental tissues recovered from the fruits. The placental tissue of a plant refers to the region where the eggs are fertilized and develop into seeds. With this method the scientists were able to grow more than 30 specimens which were fully viable and even able to produce new seeds upon fertilization. The regenerated plants are almost identical to S. stenophylla found today, with only slight differences in flower shape and rate of germination.

Image from Flickr by Brian Landis : Squirrel and Its Burrow

Although it is not entirely clear how the tissues stayed viable for such a long period of time, the researchers have some possible explanations. The burrows were found deep under the surface of the ground at the level of permafrost. Permafrost refers to soil that is below the freezing temperature of water for several years. Researchers hypothesized that the seeds and fruits have frozen immediately after burial and never thawed since then, thus protecting the tissue from deterioration. The seeds also had high sugar content, which could have acted as preservative to protect the seeds and provided nutrients during germination.

This is not the first time that scientists were able to revive plants from old tissues. Before this discovery, date palm plants that germinated from 2, 000 year old seeds in Israel used to be the oldest regenerated plants. A team of American researchers were also able to grow 500 year old lotus seeds into seedlings.

The work on S. stenophylla is even more astounding because it shows that tissues can stay viable for over tens of thousands of years. This means extinct plant species or even animal species could potentially be resurrected if the tissues are preserved well enough. Does this mean that we will be able to see ice age plants and mammoths in the future? This Jurassic Park idea is definitely very exciting and scientists will have to work vigorously to make it into reality.

References and Further Readings :

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/science/ice-age-plant-regenerated-after-30000-years-in-fossilized-squirrel-burrow/article2344028/

http://zipcodezoo.com/Plants/S/Silene_stenophylla/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placentation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permafrost

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1843356.stm

http://www.wnd.com/2008/06/67006/

3 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Science Communication, Science in the News

Tagged David Gilichinsky, Ice age, Institute of Cell Biophysics, Regeneration, Russian Academy of Sciences, Silene stenophylla

Look out Pacemaker: the next medical implant has arrived

Posted on March 5, 2012 by kirkus | Leave a comment

How often have you needed to travel back to the pharmacy or doctor in order to refill that prescription of antibiotics? How about when you realized that you had forgotten to take your prescription dosage for that day- a simple mistake that yields potentially harmful effects? Well in the near-future, these commonplace issues may become a long-lost inconvenience with the embedding of implantable, drug-leaching microchips in our bodies. As far-fetched as it sounds, a study conducted by MicroCHIPS Inc. recently shown at the annual AAAS Conference in Vancouver, BC demonstrates just how modernistic this technology has become.

With a sample of eight Danish women suffering from osteoporosis, the microchip was implanted containing 20 doses of Teriparatide (brand name Forteo): a potent bone-building drug that normally requires daily injections to be effective. After one month’s trial, seven of the eight microchips delivered the osteoporosis drug in comparable doses to the daily injection, with no unwanted side effects. Even though the surgery for the implant must be done once a month with this size of implant, the subjects stated their preference for the device over the invasive injections normally needed by the osteoporosis drug.

Visual representation of the drug-delivery implant in the osteoperosis patients. Courtesy of MicroCHIPS Inc.

As each of these devices contains nearly a month’s supply of a strong drug (in this case one for osteoporosis), a strong sealant and an intelligent way of communicating to the implant is needed to ensure an accidental leakage does not occur (left). The implant accomplishes this by locking up each of these wells with sealants of titanium and platinum, which melt away (at nontoxic levels) when an external frequency is sent by the physician. This FCC and FDA-approved signal observes the battery life, patient status, and confirmation that the proper dosage is being supplied. Now that the device has shown promise, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) plan on testing the same mechanism in sizes of implants up to 365 wells, and with other drugs used to treat chronic illnesses.

Despite the device’s success, much research still needs to be conducted to determine its efficacy. For example, the body treats this implantation as foreign, and hence surrounds it with a layer of collagen that may be harmless, but could affect the delivery of the drug over time. Issues also arise with the device being electronic; not only could an electronic failure be fatal when this level of drugs is involved, but having an external radio source means that the device is also susceptible to hacking. MIT’s researchers plan on conducting future studies to address these concerns. If promising results continue, MicroCHIPS president David Farra predicts that the implant will be available for clinical use within only four years. Perhaps then, this drug-delivering microchip will join the ranks of the cochlear implant and pacemaker as our next big medical implant.

References

MicroCHIPS Inc. clinical trial: http://www.mchips.com/12_Feb_16_pr.html

Medicine.Net article: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=154949

Spiders: The more you fear them the bigger they appear.

Posted on March 4, 2012 by dmats | 3 comments

Spider on a bathroom floor; image from flickr: MightyBoyBrian

Eek! That creepy, crawly creature with eight legs that is inching towards you seems to be getting bigger and bigger. The next day when you recall your encounter with it, you describe it as “HUGE”. This fear that you feel when in the presence of a spider makes it actually appear larger in size than it really is. Having a phobia of something changes the appearance of the object in a negative perspective to the person who is afraid of it.

Syringe; Image from flickr: hitthatswitch

For example, if the fear is not of spiders, perhaps it is of needles. These medical tools are associated with pain and therefore may appear larger to people who are more frightened of them. Personally, I am terrified of needles and this fear is detrimental to my health as I tend to avoid medical attention unless absolutely necessary. This is for fear of the possibility that I may get a needle. Phobia makes things more fearful and in return they appear larger in order to be more intimidating.

In order to prove this theory as factual, Michael Vasey, a professor of psychology at Ohio State University, ran a study that got published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders. The target of the study was people who were suffering from a condition called arachnophobia. These people were extremely afraid of spiders and were observed over an eight week time period. The subjects were asked to approach a spider in a glass tank and were then asked to touch it with an 8-inch probe and then again with a shorter probe. After they had interacted with the spider, they were then asked to rate how much anxiety they felt on a scale from 1-100 and then were asked to draw how large they thought the spider had been in length from it’s tip to back end.

Touching a spider; image from flickr: ŶΣŅΡǾΧ

Results

There were 57 people who participated in the experiment and it was found that there was a positive correlation; the more afraid a person was of the spider, the larger they thought it was in size. Vasey describes fear as a cycle, the bigger the spider appears, the more it is feeding into the phobia and the harder it will be to overcome in the future. This shows how our perception of an object is actually altered by the presence of fear. In order to treat phobias, psychologists have used exposure therapy where the effects are still not really understood to this day. This study also notices that a negative attitude is the factor which causes anxiety to heighten towards a “scary” object.

The purpose of this study is to eventually be able to treat these fears in the future. For now, scientists are working alongside psychologists to understand how fear can be controlled, and perhaps even diminished, for future phobic patients out there.

References:

Science Daily article:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120222204241.htm

MedicineNet.com blog post:
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=155239

3 Comments

Posted in Science Communication, Science in the News

Tagged anxiety, fear, Journal of Anxiety of Disorders, Michael Vasey, needle, phobia, Spider

The Neurological Basis of Williams Syndrome

Posted on February 28, 2012 by ghsi | 1 comment

Williams Syndrome is a rare non-fatal congenital condition in which affected children are mildly to moderately retarded and score below average on IQ tests. They usually read and write poorly and struggle with simple arithmetic, yet they display unique abilities in other areas of intelligence, especially emotional intelligence involving socializing and empathy. The disorder affects males and female from all racial backgrounds at an equal probability.

The disorder is caused by deletion of a tiny piece from one of the two copies of chromosome 7 present in every cell of the body. Twenty-give or more genes are deleted and loss of one in particular (ELN) which codes for elastin, a connective protein gives rise to cardiovascular problems.

Such cardiovascular problems include heart murmurs and narrowing of major blood vessels, and supravalvular aortic stenosis, a constriction of the aorta. Babies may have difficulty feeding or suffer from stomach pains and hernias. As they develop, they show delayed physical and mental development with unsteady voices. They walk awkwardly for the rest of their lives and fine motor control is impaired. They are also highly sensitive to noise, grow to a shorter height than average and seem to have gray hair and wrinkles earlier. Lifespan for Williams patients is shorter than average due to the complications from these medical problems, but not from the Syndrome itself.

Williams patients usually have vocabularies larger than expected for their mental age and tend to be more expressive than normal children. However, they typically do poorly on tasks involving visual processing such as coloring and copying drawings. The brain anatomy of Williams syndrome patients is normal, but the total volume is slightly reduced. The areas that seem to be unaffected include the frontal lobes and a part of the cerebellum called the neocerebellum, as well as parts of the temporal lobes known as the limbic area, and the primary auditory area.

Study of this syndrome has shown that low IQ scores can indeed cover the existence of other skills and capacities. And it thus serves as an example that other so-called mentally disabled individuals could have lots of potential waiting to be discovered if only researchers and society take the time to look for and nuture them.

References:

Hemizygosity at the Elastin Locus in a Developmental Disorder: Williams Syndrome. A.K. Ewart et al. in Nature Genetics, Vol. 5, No. 1, pages 11-16; September 1993.

http://children.webmd.com/williams-syndrome-11011

1 Comment

Posted in Biological Sciences, Medicine, Science Communication

Tagged children, genetics, IQ, Neuroscience

Disrupted Biological Clocks Shown to Cause Neurodegeneration and Early Death

Posted on February 27, 2012 by akashaujla | 3 comments

Researchers at Oregon State University have managed to show that disruptions to the biological clock can directly lead to neurodegeneration— the progressive loss of nerve cells—and early death. These findings are significant, as they represent a step forward in the extensive study of circadian rhythms, which are the basis of our internal clock.

The sleep cycle is affected by the biological clock. (Source: 'marcinbunsch' on flickr.com)

Circadian rhythms coordinate many of our biological processes, from eating and sleeping to molecular processes such as hormonal secretions. Over millions of years, animals’ internal ‘clocks’ have been fine-tuned to align very closely with the 24-hour periodicity of Earth’s rotation—that is, our biological clocks are synced with the length of the 24-hour day that we know. These internal rhythms are what cause us to eat at regular intervals throughout the day, and what cause us to sleep at night and wake in the morning. In other words, our biological clocks are responsible for our internal synchronization.

Many studies have been conducted on the effect these circadian rhythms have on animal health. Disruptions to the biological clock have previously been linked with neurodegeneration; however, it was not apparent whether these disruptions were the cause or the result of the neurodegeneration. The study at Oregon State University is the first to demonstrate that disruptions to the biological clock are, in fact, a cause of neurodegeneration and early death.

Fruit Fly (Drosophila melanogaster). (Source: 'Oregon State University' on flickr.com)

The researchers conducted the study on fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), which have been found to share many similarities with humans. The flies used in the study were genetically modified to show signs of neurodegeneration. In order to assess the effect of disruptions to the internal clock, some of these flies were further modified to have interrupted circadian rhythms.

It was found that the flies with disrupted internal clocks had a 32 to 50 percent shorter lifespan than those without the internal disruption. In addition, these flies also exhibited accelerated neurogeneration—as evidenced by signs of holes in the brain—along with decreased climbing ability.

Holes forming in fruit fly brain. (Source: 'Oregon State University' on flickr.com)

These results clearly show the importance of the biological clock in the maintenance of animal health and functioning. Through this study, a greater understanding of circadian rhythms and their effects on organisms has been achieved.

References:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110140225.htm

http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2012/jan/disruption-biological-clocks-causes-neurodegeneration-early-death

3 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science in the News

Tagged biological, circadian, clock, drosophila melanogaster, fruit fly, oregon, research, rhythm, study, university

A New Way to Keep Things Clean and Dry

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Michael L. | 6 comments

Ever wish you can keep your car clean without having to wash them everytime? NeverWet^TM spray may be the answer you are looking for. NeverWet^TMcreated by Ross Technology Corp is a silicon-based spray which can form superhydrophobic surface to many materials it sprayed on.

We know that hydrophobic means water (hydro) Fearing (phobic). A hydrophobic substance will avoid as much contact with water as it can, one good example is cooking oil.

Superhydrophobic is a term to describe a substance’s characteristic with water. It has the same characteristic as hydrophobic, but the characteristic is shown much stronger. When a droplet of water sits on a surface, it forms a contact angle based on what type of surface it sits on. If the surface is hydrophobic, it will have a contact angle of 90 degrees to 180 degrees. If the surface is superhydrophobic, it will have a contact angle of at least 150 degrees.

NeverWet^TMspray can form a superhydrophoic coating to prevent items from getting wet. Some application of the spray are, preventing electronics from water damaging, water-proofing clothes, preventing bacterial growth, and maintaining clear view for car windows. There are many applications for NeverWet^TMspray such as anti-icing, anti-corrosion, anti-bacterial, and self-cleaning. However, all of these applications have one central idea: to keep water away.