cleaning cars, and the German company BASF is developing a spray-on Lotus-Effect coating that may one day be applied to paper, leather and textiles.The lowly Stenocara beetle in southern Africa’s Namib Desert has inspired another new technology, this one for harvesting drinking water from fog.In 2001, scientists discovered that the insect’s back is covered with microscopic hydrophilic, or “water-loving,” bumps. The sides of the bumps and the valleys between them have a wax coating that repels water. The tops of the bumps are not waxed.