Via Slashdot, here’s a NewScientist article on how “Corkscrew cups could keep space drinks flowing”.

Space tourists may one day drink coffee served in “cups” made from corkscrews of ribbon-like material that miraculously keep liquid suspended in their centre.

Holding liquids this way could solve the tricky problem of getting fluid out of an open container in microgravity, researchers say. They add that the same approach may also prove useful to nanotechnologists working with tiny samples of liquid.

Not to mention space tourists trying to drink their space beer. Which makes me wonder if anybody has done any brewing or distilling in orbit.

The article continues,

On Earth we rely on gravity to get liquids to pour from an open container. But getting liquid out of a container in microgravity requires pumping it out, for example sucking it through a straw.

Often, this is a frustrating process, as the fluid breaks up into globules because of the way pressure inside the liquid interacts with the shape of most containers.