Oobleck (corn starch and water) will do this too. But presumably they already knew that. The article describes it as being known to happen in “complex fluids,” but that it was news that it happens in “simple fluids.” Presumably silly putty and oobleck are “complex fluids?”

It’s a new, generalizable material-science property at STP. Those almost always find practical uses.

That sounds like a lot of work for someone to go do for a quanta article about something neat a researcher noticed.

Maybe it will not have any mmediate application. But guess what? It's still cool! And that can be its very own reward if you let it.

Oh, btw: electricity was a novelty toy for several long decades with no major practical applications. But that eventually changed because people kept researching it. And it changed the world.

You made an account to say that?