Thanks are due to Geekologie for their lesson in “Non-Newtonian Fluids.”
Move fast and it acts sort of like a solid (which is why the guy can run across it). Move slow and it acts like a liquid (which is why the other guy sinks).
They should dig cannels across the country, fill it with this stuff, and use ‘em as highways. That would certainly put an end to the greatest menace facing our society right now: slow people in the left lane.
This would also be a sweet booby trap — sorta like that secret invisible bridge at the end of Indiana Jones and Last Crusade. “Only the most cunning hero, possessing fleet feet and an understanding of non-Newtonian fluids, will be able to cross moat and reach the Amulet of Awesomeness.”
