Stick to Walls Like Spiderman - Gecko Tape

I know it’s not just me that’s thought how awesome it would be to scale the walls Spiderman style, which is why I thought this Gecko Tape would be appreciated by others than myself.

Scientists at UC Berkeley and Lewis and Clark College created a new material capable of keeping things stuck on walls in an invention which I imagine could be likened to an advanced form of Velcro. A 2cm square can hold a pound of weight, so the possibilities are really quite spectacular. Unlike other adhesives like tape which dull with use, the Gecko Tape works better each time.

“A new material relies on millions of tiny plastic fibers that can grip solids as the fabric slides across them, then quickly release those objects when pulled away vertically,” Gizmodo explains.

They haven’t found a way for you to attach it to yourself (yet) but the tape has been proven to work well to keep objects like art on walls or bandaging wounded limbs.

“The gecko has a very sophisticated hierarchical structure of compliant toes, microfibers, nanofibers and nanoattachment plates that allows the foot to attach and release with very little effort,” said Berkeley prof Ron Fearing of his inspiration. “The gecko makes it look simple, but the animal needs to control the directions it is moving its toes—correct movement equates to little effort.”