If you watch one video today, make it this one — the shot of chocolate sauce sliding off a pristine pair of white tennis shoes looks like pure CGI. But it's real. As Tuan Nguyen explains at SmartPlanet, what you're looking at is a new type of spray-on silicon coating that dries into a nano-scale structure that literally repels liquids.

Reader support makes our work possible. Donate today to keep our site free. All donations DOUBLED!

It's so good that it can waterproof your iPhone, make your clothes impervious to stains, and protect all manner of goods against rust and water damage.

We live in an era in which retail giants do everything in their power to drive down the quality of the goods we buy, forcing us to consume more than ever. Technology like this is can be one small part of our effort to collectively push back against an ever-rising tide of disposability.