Scientists With Nothing Better to Do Created a Bubble That Lasted 465 Days Before Popping

As a kid, most of us blew bubbles and tried to see which one lasted the longest. We are willing to bet that none of them lasted more than a few moments.

Our childhood attempts have been left in the dust after scientists pulled off the seemingly impossible. Researchers from the University of Lille in France created bubbles that can live for 465 days.

They took some liberties.

The authors of the study said that soap bubbles are fragile and ephemeral. We design bubbles made of a liquid film that can keep their integrity for more than a year in a standard atmosphere.

The team studied a bubble called agas marble. This was the first time scientists studied the lifespan of the bubbles, and they found that plastic beads packed on the bubble's shell can make it strong enough to be held in a hand or rolled along a surface.

The team blew three different types of bubbles, including soap bubbles, water-based gas marbles, and water-glycerol-based gas marbles.

The soap bubbles lasted less than a minute. The oldest survivor made it to 465 days after its birth.

The team believes that the glycerol was able to absorb water from the air and stop the bubble from draining water.

What is the point of a geriatric bubble?

The science could be used in consumer products.

New York University math professor Leif Ristroph, who has studied bubbles in the past, told NBC News that he thought the problem of preventing evaporation could have many practical applications.

I could imagine that it might be useful to armor the little droplets in aerosols and sprays to make them last longer in the air. Some sort of medicine that is sprayed and breathed in can be administered.

The researchers behind the study have not commented on the use cases of their titan bubble.

New Theory: The Universe is a Bubble inflated by Dark Energy.

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