"Blimey! Me hands are stuck to this cup o' tea!"
Posted on 02/17/2012 11:26:05 AM PST by LibWhacker
ScienceDaily (Feb. 16, 2012) — For years, biologists have been amazed by the power of gecko feet, which let these 5-ounce lizards produce an adhesive force roughly equivalent to carrying nine pounds up a wall without slipping. Now, a team of polymer scientists and a biologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have discovered exactly how the gecko does it, leading them to invent "Geckskin," a device that can hold 700 pounds on a smooth wall.
Doctoral candidate Michael Bartlett in Alfred Crosby's polymer science and engineering lab at UMass Amherst is the lead author of their article describing the discovery in the current online issue of Advanced Materials. The group includes biologist Duncan Irschick, a functional morphologist who has studied the gecko's climbing and clinging abilities for over 20 years. Geckos are equally at home on vertical, slanted, even backward-tilting surfaces.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
"Blimey! Me hands are stuck to this cup o' tea!"
Interesting.
Wonder how long can “Geckskin” hold that 700 pounds?
Geckoman!
The gecko obviously can make it release whenever it wants. A “command adhesive” would be the most interesting possibility.
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Ok, now you Gingrich supporters are really digging to the bottom of the barrel to support your guy.
Someone better trademark Gecko Feet quickly, or Michelle Obama will own it. (She could also trademark Tyrannosaurus-Feet Are Mine.)
This is really cool. I have admired geckos my whole life. I love when tech advances come from simply trying to copy Gd’s magical world. Well, they kind of all do, don’t they?
now if they could only come up with a glue that would hold my louvers to my rear window! even had the 3M experts around. couldn’t do it.
no matter what I do, in a month or so, the upper corners are coming off. even when I don’t drive the car! it’s aluminum to glass, so good luck lizard!;-)
Yeah! It would be great if it could hold up my Flat screen TV with out falling in the middle of a Super Bowl some year!
We have a gecko. For the past 11 years. He (she?) has never really done anything that would lead me to believe his feet are magically sticky. Occasionally, he’ll stand up straight against a wall of his cage for awhile, but that is about it for “feats” with his feet.
Unless you’re mounting it to something like masonry or solid wood, maybe old fashioned TV mounts are the best way to go here. The limiting factor would not be the gecko glue but the strength of the surface to which it was clinging. If all you succeeded in doing was pulling the paper or paint off the surface of some drywall or plaster, that would stink. Most flatscreens now have anchors in a standard pattern on the back.
Or keep those driver and side window deflectors from eventually flopping around!
Have you ever given him the chance? Try mounting pieces of plexiglass to the wall and ceiling of his cage. He might do tricks for you.
“Silicone sealant” might do the trick there. It takes several hours to cure, but once it does it sticks stubbornly to both metal and glass. Both surfaces should be clean, of course, and tape or the like used to keep the joint motionless until the cure completes.
Gotcha! Had to mount special hardware and find the hidden 2x4s in the wall to mount my flat screen.
Finding studs behind drywall can be a bear. I usually end up using the poke method with an awl or ice pick, then mending the holes with spackle and matching paint. I have a stud sensor tool but it can’t always be trusted as it can “see” wiring and plumbing too.
Well, if they can invent an extra strength version of this stuff, maybe Rosie O’Donnell could be mounted to a wall (and left to hang).
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