Welcome back to another edition of Cool Stuff Ride Home, where we have some of the more

interesting, intriguing, and cool stories from around the world and throughout history.

I'm Reggie Rizu alongside Marcus Path on today's episode, a plastic film that mimics

shark skin may actually help airplanes fly a little greener, and is there a benefit to

fluoride in public water systems?

On this day in history, the Empire State Building is dedicated by President Herbert Hoover. That's all

coming up on cool stuff. Turning now to ZME science and author Tudor Terita. Airplanes might soon

fly a little greener thanks to an idea borrowed from sharks. An Australian

startup has created a thin plastic film with tiny grooves that mimic shark skin, which helps

the animals move efficiently through water. When applied to aircraft, this film can reduce

drag, cut fuel use, and lower carbon emissions, all without redesigning the planes themselves.

Developed by Micro-Tau, that's T-A-U, the material mimics the dermal denticles that let sharks glide effortlessly through water.

For a Micro-Tow spokesperson speaking to the publication, New Scientist, quote,

we can get 4% or even slightly more at cruise conditions, end quote, referring to fuel savings in that instance.

It's a modest sounding number, but multiply it by the roughly 100,000 daily flights happening across the world, and the impact is quite massive.

In aviation, where every percentage point counts, say 4% efficiency boost could mean saving billions in fuel and thousands of tons of carbon.

Henry Balinski, a physics-trained lawyer-turned entrepreneur, founded Micro Tao after winning a U.S. Air Force Innovation Challenge in 2015.

The military wanted to reduce its massive $10 billion annual fuel

bill. Balinski offered his solution, use UV light to etch shark skin patterns onto aircraft film.

He told the publication Bloomberg Green, quote, I proposed modifying a computer chip manufacturing

method, and frankly, I didn't expect to hear anything back,

end quote. But the pitch worked. Soon, Balinski was demonstrating prototypes at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,

...