Don't play misty for me

Researchers at MIT in the US are claiming a breakthrough in the development of  coatings that prevent glass from steaming up.

Although the coverage surrounding the finding concentrates on car windscreens the technology may be suitable for spectacle lenses as well.

The change is centred around a testing regime but as the paper describes  both hydrophobic and hydrophillic properties are needed to achieve an optically sound solution to misting and, in cars, freezing of water droplets that form on glass. This conflicting need, known as Zwitter wettability, mixes both water loving and water repelling properties to achieve the result.