We’ve got Gecko Tape

If you watched our Research Director, Mark Miodownik, give the 2011 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, you might remember his explanation of why/how geckos manage to climb the walls as they do: This is, of course, due to the hair-like structures (spatulae tipped setae) on each of their toes.

Well...our latest addition to the Materials Library collection - Gecko Tape - uses these same principles to enable what should be the impossible. See the photo below, which demonstrates how well it works.

The Materials Library (at the heart of the Institute of Making) will open its doors in the Somerset House in early 2012.  Join our mailing list and be the first to be notified when we're ready to take visitors.

Gecko Tape demonstration sees Mark hanging from the cieling:

Photo by Claudia Eulitz

Mark explains how geckos stick to walls during the 2011 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures: