In addition to mastery of traditional calligraphy, the art of engraving requires a high degree of virtuosity, since the artist works on a tiny surface area where every curve, every thickness of line counts.

UNESCO: Culture

The result, they claim in a paper that will appear this month in the Journal of Physical Chemistry, is a nanofibre material with an extremely high ratio of surface-area to volume.

ECONOMIST: Space-age soot

Washing generally involves high temperatures, fine sprays (and hence a large surface area) and a lot of sloshing around of water, all of which promote efficient chemical stripping.

ECONOMIST: Indoor pollution

The typical barrel of a high-power rifle has exterior grooves, called flutes, to reduce weight and create more surface area to enable the barrel to cool faster.

FORBES: Fiber-Optic Sensors Set Stage for Extreme Snipers