A fundamental principle of aeronautical engineering has been overturned

Yeah, headline is trash, discovery is super cool.

This technology is fundamentally different from the “rivulet (shark skin) process,” which is known as a typical aerodynamic drag reduction technology. The rivulet process mimics the fine longitudinal grooves in shark skin, and by carving grooves approximately 0.1 mm wide along the direction of airflow, it aligns the vortices that occur near the wall surface of turbulent airflow areas. DMR, on the other hand, delays the switch from laminar to turbulent flow by means of random and minute irregularities. The flow zones it affects and the mechanisms it employs are based on completely different concepts.

Very clear you didn’t read the article.

Yeah, the MythBusters even put golf ball dimples on a car and it got better gas mileage like 20 years ago.