Gecko Feet Inspire Amazing Glue That Can Hold 700 Pounds On Smooth Wall

For years, biologists have been amazed by the power of gecko feet, which let these 5-ounce lizards produce an adhesive force roughly equivalent to carrying nine pounds up a wall without slipping. Now, a team of polymer scientists and a biologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have discovered exactly how the gecko does it, leading them to invent "Geckskin," a device that can hold 700 pounds on a smooth wall.

pretty amazing feat.

"Amazingly, gecko feet can be applied and disengaged with ease, and with no sticky residue remaining on the surface," Irschick says. These properties, high-capacity, reversibility and dry adhesion offer a tantalizing possibility for synthetic materials that can easily attach and detach heavy everyday objects such as televisions or computers to walls, as well as medical and industrial applications, among others, he and Crosby say.

absolutely amazing stuff.

according to the article this could have many applications.

ScienceDaily

I'm sorry, but I've had various movies on the brain lately, and this one made me think, "Welcome to the wonderful world of Spiderman!"

Now all we have to do is design a functioning webshooter, along with the formula for extra-strength synthetic webbing!

It's a great breakthrough with many interesting applications. But it always makes me chuckle when we congratulate ourselves for mimicking something nature invented hundreds of millions of years ago

reply to post by kn0wh0w


Finally, I can stop nailing things to dead geckos to hang them on my wall.

whew