The early NACA airfoil shapes were derived from two-dimensional drawings and all calculations being done on two dimensions extruded out to three. Initial Wing foils contain the same foil shape from root to tip. Later as they got more advanced they realize they could do a lot to help stability of an aircraft by changing the airfoil from the root to the tip of the aircraft. In particular they found if they used a higher lift airfoil at the tips of the wings then they could retain control when the root of the airfoil stalled. Now they've gone to almost a four-dimensional analysis where they look not only changing the airfoil from route to tip but also doing some three-dimensional piles on the front of an airfoil. This was discovered after the piles or nubs on the front of a whale's fence were understood to actually cause areas of faster and slower AirSpeed over the foil as those nubs channeled incoming air to certain areas over the foil. This greatly decreased stall speed for the airfoils. there's still a lot of improvements that can be made to airfoils. No one is looking at the electrostatic effects of dry air over non-conducting foils which are increasingly becoming more common such as carbon fiber and other things. If done right you can section an airfoil between conductivity and non-conductive sections to actually have the air create certain areas of huge electricity charge which can create a lot of forces on its own. Remember a simple dry air flowing over a non-conductive surface of the right type can create a huge electrostatic charge on that surface.