Two teams of engineers, one funded by the state of Louisiana and one based at the University of California, Berkley, have previously put the blame on the Army Corps of Engineers and on a weak layer of ground below the canal walls.

NPR: Panel's Report Assigns No Blame in Levee Failures

The result is that any coating, such as an antibacterial layer, would be "self-repairing" after small amounts of damage, as the molecular chains just below the damaged layer re-cover the surface.

BBC: Coating heals itself after damage

The eerie light probably came not from the substance itself, but from the boundary between it and the glass layer below.

ECONOMIST: Combinatorial chemistry

When pressurized water is fed over such an intersection, the pressure pushes down the thin layer of rubber, separating it from the fluid below, and it clamps shut the fluid channel below, like stepping on a hose.

FORBES: Science Beyond Belief

Unlike credit scoring systems (like Fico) that can't see the layer of activity below credit card and loan payments, Fiserv tracks consumer accounts, debit card payments and online bill-pay habits.

FORBES: Global 2000

The effect of these strengthened winds whipping across the sea surface is to bring deeper, more carbon-rich water up from below, thus reducing the surface layer's capacity to absorb more CO2 from the air.

ECONOMIST: Climate change

The sea ice expanded during Southern Hemisphere autumn and winter in response to the development of a fresh, cool surface water layer, which floated on the denser, warmer salty sea water below.

BBC: Melt may explain Antarctica's sea ice expansion