All Articles Tagged As: gecko

Scientists reach the heights with gecko-inspired tank robot (11/3/2011)

Researchers have developed a tank-like robot that has the ability to scale smooth walls, opening up a series of applications ranging from inspecting pipes, buildings, aircraft and nuclear power plants to deployment in search and rescue operations. ...> Full Article

When bird meets machine, bioinspired flight (11/25/2010)

Working at a crossroad between biology and engineering, scientists have modeled and are now mimicking the ingenious natural design of falling geckos, gliding snakes, cruising seagulls, flapping insects and floating maple seeds to improve the design of air vehicles. ...> Full Article

Humidity makes gecko feet stickier (10/16/2010)

Geckos have amazingly sticky feet. Their stickability comes from billions of dry microscopic hairs that coat the soles of their feet. However, when humidity increases, gecko feet stick even tighter to smooth surfaces, so how do they do it? Kellar Autumn and his colleagues have found that increased humidity softens the keratin that makes up the sticky foot-hairs, allowing them to deform and stick tighter to surfaces than hairs in dry conditions. ...> Full Article

Learning from lizards (9/22/2010)

Geckos are masters at sticking to surfaces of all kinds and easily unsticking themselves. Inspired by these lizards, a team of engineers has developed a reversible adhesion method for printing electronics on a variety of tricky surfaces such as clothes, plastic and leather. Designed by researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the stamp easily can pick up electronic devices from a silicon surface and print them on a curved surface. ...> Full Article

Secrets of the gecko foot help robot climb (8/27/2010)

The science behind gecko toes holds the answer to a dry adhesive that provides an ideal grip for robot feet. Stanford mechanical engineer Mark Cutkosky is using the new material, based on the structure of a gecko foot, to keep his robots climbing. ...> Full Article

Gecko's lessons transfer well (1/26/2010)

Rice graduate student Cary Pint has come up with a way to transfer forests of strongly aligned, single-walled carbon nanotubes from one surface to another -- any surface -- in a matter of minutes. The template used to grow the nanotubes, with its catalyst particles still intact, can be used repeatedly to grow more nanotubes, almost like inking a rubber stamp. ...> Full Article

New angle on gecko research (8/6/2009)

Scientists discover trigger that deploys geckos' amazing grip ...> Full Article

'Gecko vision': Key to the multifocal contact lens of the future? (5/8/2009)

Nocturnal geckos are among the very few living creatures able to see colors at night, and scientists' discovery of series of distinct concentric zones may lead to insight into better cameras and contact lenses. ...> Full Article

As Sticky as a Gecko - but Ten Times Stronger! (10/28/2008)

Successful construction of a gecko-inspired adhesive that is ten times stronger than a gecko, at about 100 newtons per square centimeter. ...> Full Article

New gecko-like adhesive shakes off dirt (9/12/2008)

Researchers create first adhesive that cleans itself after each use without the need for water or chemicals, much like the remarkable hairs found on the gecko lizard's toes. ...> Full Article

Scientists create gecko-inspired bandage (2/19/2008)

Researchers and colleagues have created a waterproof adhesive bandage inspired by gecko lizards that may soon join sutures and staples as a basic operating room tool for patching up surgical wounds or internal injuries. ...> Full Article

The Pitter Patter of Little Feet . . . Climbing Straight Up a Wall (1/30/2008)

New adhesive is first to mimic quick catch and rapid release traits of a gecko's foot ...> Full Article

Sticky questions tackled in gecko research (12/27/2007)

Velcro, Superglue and Post-It Notes... Three things that started out as obscure inventions but are now indispensable for everyday life. So what will the next idea to stick with modern society look like? The answer may lie in the tiny toes of a humble lizard, according to a University of Calgary biologist who is trying to figure out how geckos can cling to virtually any surface, including glass. ...> Full Article

Now it's not just Spiderman that can scale the Empire State Building (8/30/2007)

Physicists have found the formula for a Spiderman suit. Only recently has man come to understand how spiders and geckos effortlessly scuttle up walls and hang from ceilings but it was doubted that this natural form of adhesion would ever be strong enough to hold the weight of real life Peter Parkers. ...> Full Article

Synthetic Adhesive Mimics Sticking Powers of Gecko and Mussel (7/21/2007)

Geckos are remarkable in their ability to scurry up vertical surfaces and even move along upside down. Their feet stick but only temporarily, coming off of surfaces again and again like a sticky note. But put those feet underwater, and their ability to stick is dramatically reduced. ...> Full Article

Nanotube Adhesive Sticks Better Than a Gecko's Foot (6/19/2007)

Mimicking the agile gecko, with its uncanny ability to run up walls and across ceilings, has long been a goal of materials scientists. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Akron have taken one sticky step in the right direction, creating synthetic 'gecko tape'� with four times the sticking power of the real thing. ...> Full Article