(Via Robot Wisdom)   Maybe you UC folk know these people?
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-08/lcc-sph082202.php
Working at Lewis & Clark College, the University of California at Berkeley,
the University of California at Santa Barbara, and Stanford University,
the interdisciplinary team:
* confirmed speculation that the gecko's amazing climbing ability
depends on weak molecular attractive forces called van der Waals forces,
* rejected a competing model based on the adhesion chemistry of water
molecules, and
* discovered that the gecko's adhesive depends on geometry, not surface
chemistry. In other words, the size and shape of the tips of gecko foot
hairs--not what they are made of--determine the gecko's stickiness.
To verify its experimental and theoretical results, the gecko group then
used its new data to fabricate prototype synthetic foot-hair tips from two
different materials.
"Both artificial setal tips stuck as predicted," notes Autumn, assistant
professor of biology at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore. "Our
initial prototypes open the door to manufacturing the first biologically
inspired dry, adhesive microstructures, which can have widespread
applications."

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URL: http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/000187.html
Date: 2002-09-23T11:47:57-08:00
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