Gecko Feet Inspire Sticky Tape

Makarand writes "Geckos have the remarkable ability to climb the most smooth surfaces and hang from glass ceilings with a single toe. Their feet are covered with millions of nanoscopic keratin hairs that can exert an intermolecular force - called van der Waals force - producing an adhesive effect on surfaces they walk on. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon have been able to mimic the adhesive ability of Gecko feet with a synthetic material that could find applications in new types of vehicle tires or allowing robots to climb walls. The material is made by using a mould created by a lithographic process and consists of a flexibile and strong substrate covered with 100 million nanoscopic hair each centimetre square. It might take several more years before Gecko tape is made commercially available to the wanna-be Spiderman, but he will have to thank the Gecko for that, not the spider."

Cool

[Timesprout]

but how exactly do you store thousands of geckos with their backs glued to a roll of plastic ?

Interesting name.. haven't heard it before...

[evilviper]

called van der Waals force

Decent name. Although, I would have prefered: climb der waals.

Geckoman?

[CptChipJew]

Spiderman sounds way cooler than Geckoman though. I mean, what's Geckoman going to use instead of a web-shooter, his super long tongue shooter? Who would make a comic book character that does such a silly thing. Oh...wait... [pathfinder.com]

Re:Wow

[dj_paulgibbs]

brings a whole new meaning to hanging about.

But . . .

[DrMrLordX]

. . . can it help you save on your car insurance?

Oh wait, that's Geico not . . . uh nevermind

wait wait

[lingqi]

so you are saying that to become spider-man, i just need a lot of tiny hair in my palms / fingers, right?

I'll start working on that right now! who can wait that few years before this stuff is commercially available, when you can produce it safely* and natually?

*safely - wear goggles.

Anbody else read Spyware??

[Lispy]

Argh! Whenever I read Gecko I feel an instant itch to fire up Regedit...

Bleh

[Pinguu]

It might take several more years before Gecko tape is made commercially available to the wanna-be Spiderman, but he will have to thank the Gecko for that, not the spider."
Well if you were a wanna-be Spiderman wouldn't you have the spider to thank aswell?

Nope

[Zog The Undeniable]

I just looked under my copy of Mozilla 1.3 and it doesn't appear to have any feet. WTF?

Geckoman! Geckoman!

[Anonymous Coward]

Geckoman, Geckoman
does whatever a Gecko can
sticks to wall, any type
catches thieves just like flies
look out here comes the Geckoman

Re:Cool

[Anonymous Coward]

The same way I store all those Jehovah Witness people.

Re:wait wait

[tankdilla]

I've heard of a way to get hairy palms. It hasn't seemed to work thus far though. Guess it takes a certain level of mastery.

Re:Geckoman?

[pj7]

his super long tongue shooter?
I'm sure it would be a big hit with the ladies. ;)

Seuss

[TummyX]

100 million nanoscopic hair each centimetre square


Is it just me or also you? I think you talk like Dr. Seuss too.

yes! geckoman

[lingqi]

you know, he gets more airtime [yahoo.com] than spiderman, for sure... and he comes fully insured! Parker is probably harder to get coverage for than Jackie Chan...

Get your own gecko feet for free

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

You don't need expensive research or fancy nanohairs : just wear ski boots for a full month without taking them off and we'll guarantee your feet will become sticky enough to climb any smooth surface.

No need for web shooter

[MarcQuadra]

He could just totally awe the enemy by LICKING HIS OWN EYEBALL and keeping a straight face. I always thought that was weird.

Re:They won't call it Gecko Tape though

[Troed]

From the link:

Non-Adhesive, Self-Griping Tape

Cool. I buy that also - but in those stores it's called "Bondage Tape" ..

do they have nanoshampoo?

[WormholeFiend]

to clean the "flexibile (sic) and strong substrate covered with 100 million nanoscopic hair each centimetre square."

Covert Ops

[mothrathegreat]

I wonder how long the CIA and secret services around the world have been climbing around air vents planting bugs and so on using this stuff.

CRASH!!! ..... FREEZE ...... [frenzied submit clicking] .... BANG!

In all seriousness though this could be cool for so many things, walking about in zero g (not as much fun, I know) , professional thieves will love it (they're probably stealing some now). The list just goes on.

I'm guessing it would be like velcro...

[SolemnDragon]

I can see it now: Experiment Aborted Due to Robotic Feet Getting Stuck Together...

And you could end up having to apply depilatories to unstick your GeckoBots? Or your Geckos... in which case you'd have one massively angry gecko horde on your hands... but you'd be the only one still able to climb the walls to get away...

Re:Interview

[dbrutus]

20th century warning sign
Please do not walk on the grass
21st century warning sign
Please do not walk on the walls

Re:Cool

[Rick.C]

Read the package label:

"Store in a cool dry place."

I guess you'd have the ask the geckos what's coo'.

As opposed to WHAT kind of tape?

[ianscot]

"Sticky tape" -- Whatever will they think of next?!?

Seriously, I'm looking at this article and thinking, it could hold x-and-so weight per square centimeter, to release you peel from the side slowly, it loses its stickiness with multiple uses, it's too expensive to make right now and it's a little bit fragile... Just exactly how superior would this be to -- ta dum -- a roll of heavy-grade packing tape? Other than the expense and the fragility of it, it seems to have accomplished basically the same traits.

Maybe the normal tape leaves behind a film of adhesive, where this doesn't? And this is faster to apply and release -- though only for Geckos so far? The accomplishments and accolades should pile up any minute. (Beat. Beat. Still waiting...)

I'll take Tape Woman and her sidekick, Post-it Gal, over whoever this Gecko-based hero is -- at least for now.

Re:Geckos don't stick to everything...

[malia8888]

I live in Hawaii ; and, have watched many geckos scamper on the walls. My former husband, a big, burly football coach, loved to try to "tame" our house geckos. He fed them coffee creamer and bits of mashed potato. One day he felt he had succeeded in allaying the fears of one of these timid wall crawlers. One of the big ones was holding his ground and didn't move upon his approach..

Coach called to me and smiled as he showed me this little creature no longer feared him and held his ground. The more-than-vacant expression seemed to escape my husband. The gecko was dead.

I laughed too hard. We are divorced.