MIT’s Freaky Non-Stick Coating Keeps Ketchup Flowing

Fast Coexist ^ | 5/22/2012 | Austin Carr

[bkopto]

When it comes to those last globs of ketchup inevitably stuck to every bottle of Heinz, most people either violently shake the container in hopes of eking out another drop or two, or perform the "secret" trick: smacking the "57" logo on the bottle’s neck. But not MIT PhD candidate Dave Smith. He and a team of mechanical engineers and nano-technologists at the Varanasi Research Group have been held up in an MIT lab for the last two months addressing this common dining problem.

The result? LiquiGlide, a "super slippery" coating made up of nontoxic materials that can be applied to all sorts of food packaging--though ketchup and mayonnaise bottles might just be the substance’s first targets. Condiments may sound like a narrow focus for a group of MIT engineers, but not when you consider the impact it could have on food waste and the packaging industry. "It’s funny: Everyone is always like, 'Why bottles? What’s the big deal?' But then you tell them the market for bottles--just the sauces alone is a $17 billion market," Smith says. "And if all those bottles had our coating, we estimate that we could save about one million tons of food from being thrown out every year."

Check out what happens when you pour ketchup out of a LiquiGlide-coated bottle:

[wbill]

We don’t even buy bread anymore, she just makes her own

Yeah, Mrs WBill bakes a lot of her own bread, too. Problem is that it's so good that it doesn't stick around the house very long! (which frankly, isn't really good for us, either :-) )

For simple PB sandwiches and other utilitarian uses, we use "Nature's Own" bread, or Target's store brand. No HFCS in either one. And they taste pretty good.

Like I said, we're not psychotic about it, just a little more careful. I was just surprised at what foods contain HFCS, and what I need to keep an eye on. For instance, I'd monitor my kids' soda intake, or the number of cookies they might have for dessert. But, if they said "I'm still hungry, I'd like another Peanut Butter sandwich", I'd not think twice about getting them one.

[taildragger]

OK....

Add it to oil for 2 stroke engines for lower friction...

To enable the "comeback" of the 2 stroke?