GECKOS INSPIRE 'SPIDER-MAN' GLOVES (STA BREAKING NEWS and ARCHIVES)

by STANews , Wednesday, November 19, 2014, 12:01

The 70kg climber tested the pads hundreds of times on the glass wall without any failures

The way geckos climb has inspired a device that allowed a 70kg man to scale a glass wall like Spider-Man.

Much research has gone into trying to unlock the clever way that little geckos climb.

But trying to use gecko adhesion to work at larger scales - such as on a human hand - without any loss of performance has proven difficult.

The hand-sized silicone pads created by a team at Stanford University keep their adhesive strength at all sizes.

They employ the same attractive and repulsive forces between molecules - known as van der Waals forces - that geckos use.

Although the forces are very weak, the effect is multiplied across the many tiny hairs that cover the toes of a gecko, allowing them to stick firmly to surfaces.

MORE...http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30119330