The quite amazing Lotus flower

I've always known that the Lotus flower was a beautiful blossom, and many religions, such as Buddhism, count it among their symbols for worship. But it has many other wonderful, and quite amazing qualities too. First, the plant's flower, tubers (roots), seeds and young leaves are all edible, which is great.

Now for the amazing part. These plants grow out of muddy, dirty waters, but they always remain clean and pristine. They are insanely water repellent. Water simply rolls right off, taking any dirt with it. This attribute, dubbed the Lotus Effect, intrigued scientists enough to study the plants leaves so that they could replicate it. What they found was that on the surface of the leaf there are very, very tiny spikes. These micro-nodules prevent water from touching the surface of the leaf, so the leaf never gets wet. There could be tons of applications, and surely will be, for manufacturers to create water repellent fabrics, surfaces and who knows what else. Even NASA is looking to use this type of technology to keep space shuttles free of dust when flying out in space. Nature really is brilliant!