British team builds model showing metamaterials could be used to create gecko toe like adhesion

Friday, January 27, 2012 - 11:02 in Mathematics & Economics

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have long been enamored by the gecko’s gravity defying ability to cling to walls and to let go at will, allowing it to walk around sideways, as have Spiderman enthusiasts. Thus far, unfortunately, efforts to duplicate such feats have gone unmet. Now however, researchers from the University of Southampton in England have built a computer simulation that shows that it might be possible to duplicate the gecko’s abilities by using special metamaterials and ordinary light. They have published the results of their studies on the preprint server arXiv.

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