Science & technology | Every last drop

How to get all the toothpaste out of the tube

With a super-slippery surface

A GNARLED TOOTHPASTE tube, squeezed and twisted out of shape in a vain attempt to extract its remaining contents, haunts many a bathroom. But not, perhaps, for much longer. Colgate-Palmolive, an American consumer-goods giant, has taken up an invention by a pair of experts in super-slippery surfaces to produce toothpaste tubes that promise to deliver every last scrap of their contents.

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Every last drop”

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