This photo sequence shows the “gobbling droplets” phenomenon. A jet of liquid is unstable because of surface tension and usually breaks into small droplets. The addition of minute quantities of polymeric molecules provides an additive elastic stress which stabilizes the liquid column. In this situation the terminal droplet has the time to gobble many of its incoming neighbors before its detachment. Photo by Jose Bico and Christian Clasen, used courtesy of Prof. Gareth McKinley.