Research shows with unprecedented accuracy what happens to soap as it spreads on water

A bowl of water sprinkled with pepper flakes sits ready on Mahesh Bandi's kitchen countertop. Bandi, a professor of physics at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), wets the tip of a chopstick with liquid soap, amusement written on his face, and asks his dinner guests their predictions: what will the flakes do when the soap meets the water's surface?