Researchers have made a breakthrough discovery about the behavior of bubbles and droplets in fluids. The finding could have applications in areas such as microcapsules for medical controlled-release applications and production of nanostructures.

The researchers noted that drops of liquid formed an extremely thin liquid thread that forms so slowly that there is enough time to solidify it into a filament or wire. By adding a prepolymer to the water and then exposing the liquid to light to bring about photopolymerization, the scientists were able to create solid fibers less than 100 nanometres wide.

(P Doshi et al. 2003 Science 302 1188)