Making Water Act Like Mercury

I don't like to put too many commercials on my blog, but this is science! All the science papers/news stories I've been collecting about hydrophobic surfaces have resulted in an actual Rust-o-Leum product you can buy at Home Depot. This really repels water. Caveats apply: it's a 3-step treatment to put on and it will wear off. But look at what it did to that boot! Ideas for biochemistry demos on the hydrophobic effect? I wonder if this is powerful enough to make a large-scale model of a protein fold up ... I'll have to think about it ...

More about the technical details on the Popular Science blog.