Say What You Will, the Thing is Miraculous

No one likes cork taint of course. But you have to hand it to cork—the substance is remarkable. In structural composition, a cubic centimeter of cork contains roughly 40 million 14-sided cells arranged in rows and filled with a mixture of gases similar to oxygen.  With a specific gravity of 0.25, cork is four times lighter than water, yet highly elastic, capable of snapping back to its original shape after withstanding 14,000 pounds of pressure per cubic inch. Cork is impervious to air, almost impermeable by water, difficult to burn, resistant to temperature changes and vibration, does not rot, and has the ability to mold itself to the contour of the container it is put into—to wit, the neck of a wine bottle.