If you like ketchup, but hate having to pound on the bottle to get the condiment flowing, MIT engineers' new LiquiGlide bottle coating may make you very happy.
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Remember when you had to pound the bottom of glass ketchup bottles to get the ketchup out? It was so frustrating. The ketchup would either suddenly plop out in a big glob, or you'd get tired of waiting and have to fish it out with a butter knife, which was really messy. But then came the plastic squeeze bottle -- heaven! The ketchup came out pretty easily and smoothly, although you could never get it all out, and would have to throw out the bottle with several burgers' worth of ketchup still left. Soon, those once-innovative squeeze bottles may seem quaint. Because now there's LiquiGlide.
A crew of Massachusetts Institute of Technology mechanical engineers and nanotechnologists created the new, nonstick coating to help all kinds of condiments effortlessly glide out of their bottles, from ketchup and mayonnaise to relish and mustard. Despite some challenges in finding food-safe materials to use, the team did find them, and their project took a mere two months to complete. Now the development team is working hard to sell LiquiGlide to bottle companies. Let's hope they're successful [source: Rogell].
