Posted 10:22 AM by Blah blah

Tape Lets You Walk Up Walls Like Spider-Man (Science)

Wow! With help from a gecko, scientists invent tape that lets you walk up walls like Spiderman (The Independent):

"The tape mimics the natural adhesive used by gecko lizards to walk upside down on a ceiling, and tests have shown that it is sticky enough to support someone who wants to change a light bulb without using stepladders.

An Anglo-Russian team of researchers took two years to develop the tape after studying the secret of the climbing abilities of the gecko...The soles of the gecko's feet are coated with millions of microscopic hairs. Each creates tiny forces of molecular attraction when in contact with a solid surface.

When all the hairs of its feet make contact, the combined adhesive force is stronger than many man-made glues, with the added benefit that its feet can be peeled away from the surface at any time to allow it to move one leg at a time. Professor Andre Geim, director of Manchester University's Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology, used the principle to make reusable adhesive tape in collaboration with the Institute for Microelectronics Technology in Chemogolovka, Russia.

A 2mm-square segment of the tape was strong enough in one test to support a Spiderman toy - 15cm high and weighing 40g - by one hand from a glass ceiling. This means that covering the two palms of a man with the tape would enable his full weight to be supported, the scientists report in the journal Nature Materials."

By the way, when will people ever get the spelling of "Spider-Man" right? It's NOT spelled "Spiderman." As a huge Spidey fan since childhood, I should know.