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Scientists Discover What Makes Geckos Stick
Scratch-O-Matic writes "This story at CNN explains how gecko feet are sticky due to an electro-mechanical phenomenon rather than a chemical glue, as had been previously assumed. The gecko is one of just a few animals capable of climbing vertical and beyond-vertical surfaces that are smooth and dry. Researchers have discovered that the secret to the adhesion lies in millions of tiny hairs called
'setae.' Each hair is the width of two human hairs, and contains about 1000 little pads at the end. The pads are so tiny that they actually cling to the surface at the molecular level, due to van der Waal forces. A gecko using all of its setae and pads at the same time could support 280 pounds. Seems to me that his should be easily replicated in the coming age of nanotechnology." Other readers point to the AP story, as carried by Yahoo! and also playing at Salon.
Wait, this isn't about car insurance...
This study sponsored by the "The Association For Producing Low Cost Sticky Notes".
I'd imagine we could put the sticky note out of business if we could get markers to write on geckos with......
Boy! the mental picture of a gecko 'supporting' 280 pounds is not a pretty one. Poor little geckos..
air and light and time and space
Researchers have discovered that the secret to the adhesion lies in millions of tiny hairs called 'setae.' Each hair is the width of two human hairs, and contains about 1000 little pads at the end
Wait... each hair is twice as thick as a human hair, AND each Gecko has MILLIONS of them? Wouldn't a gecko need to be the size of a boar to have that much hair?
All I need to climb walls are hairy palms? I'll get right on that!
Karma: Marginal (mostly due to the border around the website)
This has been known about since 2000 at least; we used to have endless discussions over the fact that geckos have the impressive ability to stick to ceilings in a vacuum, discussions on topics such as:
a) how did they find out the details? Did it involve a research assistant, a glass container, a vacuum pump and a large supply of geckos?
b) How did Geckos evolve this feature? Are geckos secretly descended from a life form that can stick to the outside of space craft?
c) Alternatively, does this prove that creatures are designed rather than evolved, and the design process is a bit more like the PhD process than anything else; some little godling spends millenia working on geckos in order to submit some paper 'An alternative mechanism for achieving stickiness in creatures' only to have it discredited by a board of professors who have always used suction and thats how they believe all creatures should stick.
The 280 lb gecko they used for the experiment simply asked for more donuts when questioned about the validity of the scientists claims.
--It's Pimptastic!--
The LENGTH of the hair is twice as thick as a human hair.....
Stick some Big Red in your eye and 'read a little closer'.
Honesty may be the best policy, but apparently by elimination, dishonesty is the second best policy.
They figured how Gecko's stick to glass surfaces, but they never figured out how they let go! Another fifty years of research to figure that out...sheesh!
Just like slashdot. Heck, they even cover stories they already covered... you know.. just in case we missed it the first time. :)
-Restil
Yes... yes.. I know.. mod me down.. its ok.
Play with my webcams and lights here
Yeah and don't forget Slashdot covered it too over two years ago (June 8, 2000)
What's this? Mozilla climbs walls now?
:)
Time to get a new nightly build!
(Yes, I'm aware Gecko is just the rendering engine!
How to stick turtles to the ceiling?
JET Program: see Japan, meet intere
Lab equipment for studying herpi-podiatry: $68,000
Salaries for scientists and lab assistants: $230,000
Ticket to "Spiderman": $8.50
The fact that this was discovered only after getting the idea from the Spiderman movie: priceless.
c-hack.com |
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I would like to do gekko experiments at home; right now, I'm using industrial magnets.
Any chance someone could post a link to the most recent "setae at home" clients?
Thanks in advance,
-- Terry
Um...
I think if you do (ahem) that so much, it'll be your wife climbing the walls.
Was that pun intended or unintended.
(He said the gecko's poo was hard, and you mentioned "solid evidence")
I have too much time on my hands...
.noitacidem deen uoy siht daer nac uoy fI
The trick is not getting a dead gecko to stick on a wall, the trick is prying it off before it gets stinky.
On a different note, where are the obligatory Mozilla comments?
Hate me!
Just in case anyone didn't know,
gecko (gk)
n. pl. geckos or geckoes
Any of various usually small tropical and subtropical lizards of the family Gekkonidae, having toes padded with setae containing numerous suction cups that enable them to climb on vertical surfaces.