News tagged with geckos
Inspired by gecko feet, scientists invent super-adhesive material
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 ...
Feb 16, 2012 |
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Dry printing of nanotube patterns to any surface could revolutionize microelectronics
(PhysOrg.com) -- Watch a gecko walk up a wall. It defies gravity as it sticks to the surface no matter how smooth it appears to be.
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Jan 22, 2010 |
4.9 / 5 (28) |
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Secrets of the gecko foot help robot climb (w/ Video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- The science behind gecko toes holds the answer to a dry adhesive that provides an ideal grip for robot feet. Stanford mechanical engineer Mark Cutkosky is using the new material, based on ...
Aug 24, 2010 |
4 / 5 (3) |
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From nature, robots
(PhysOrg.com) -- To a robot designer like Sangbae Kim, the animal kingdom is full of inspiration. "I always look at animals and ask why they are the way they are," says Kim, an assistant professor of mechanical ...
Sep 25, 2009 |
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British team builds model showing metamaterials could be used to create gecko toe like adhesion
(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. ...
Jan 27, 2012 |
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New gecko insights inspire even stronger adhesives
At first glance, a gecko skittering up a wall and a flat-screen television attached to the same wall have little in common.
Mar 14, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
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Mozilla to go after Android, Apple with cheap phone OS
Mozilla, which brought the free web browser Firefox to the masses, now wants to do the same for mobile users, with a new open source operating system that could drastically slash smartphone prices.
Feb 28, 2012 |
5 / 5 (4) |
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Robots with fins, tails demonstrate evolution
(AP) -- Robots wag their tail fins and bob along like bathtub toys in a pool at a Vassar College lab. Their actions are dictated by microprocessors housed in round plastic containers, the sort you'd store ...
May 29, 2009 |
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Zhejiang University researchers design gecko inspired robot
(PhysOrg.com) -- Those of you who paid close attention in biology (or zoology) class may recall that the gecko can climb any vertical substance known to man, with the exception of Teflon, without much trouble ...
May 27, 2011 |
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Nanowrinkles, nanofolds yield strange hidden channels
Wrinkles and folds are ubiquitous. They occur in furrowed brows, planetary topology, the surface of the human brain, even the bottom of a gecko's foot. In many cases, they are nature's ingenious way of packing ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 23, 2011 |
3.4 / 5 (5) |
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Oldest pregnant lizard fossil discovered
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new paper published in Naturwissenschaft reveals a fossil from 120 million years ago that proves that some lizards were not laying eggs but rather giving birth to live y ...
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jul 22, 2011 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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Robot fish can trick the real thing
Scientists have long turned to nature for inspiration and innovation. From unlocking the secrets of spider silk to create super-strong materials to taking hints from geckos for new adhesives, clues from the ...
Mar 08, 2011 |
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Invasive night geckos outcompete local day geckos
The nocturnal house gecko is an aggressive island invader with a bad reputation when it comes to interaction with the locals. House geckos have already contributed to the demise of many similar species active ...
Jun 07, 2011 |
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Humidity makes gecko feet stickier
Geckos have amazingly sticky feet. Their stickability comes from billions of dry microscopic hairs that coat the soles of their feet. However, when humidity increases, gecko feet stick even tighter to smooth ...
Oct 15, 2010 |
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Copying geckos’ toes
Geckos are famous for their ability to walk up walls and scamper across ceilings. The dry-adhesive surface of geckos’ toes has inspired many attempts to copy this ability in an artificial material. Isabel ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Sep 05, 2011 |
5 / 5 (5) |
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Gecko
Aeluroscalabotinae Eublepharinae Gekkoninae Teratoscincinae Diplodactylinae
Geckos are small to average sized lizards belonging to the family Gekkonidae, found in warm climates throughout the world. Geckos are unique among lizards in their vocalizations, making chirping sounds in social interactions with other geckos. An estimated 2,000 different species of geckos exist worldwide, with many likely yet to be discovered. The name stems from the Indonesian/Javanese word Tokek, inspired by the sound these animals make. The Malay word for gecko is cicak.
All geckos, excluding the Eublepharinae family, have no eyelids and instead have a transparent membrane which they lick to clean. Many species will, in defense, expel a foul-smelling material and feces onto their aggressors. There are also many species that will drop their tails in defense, a process called autotomy. Many species are well known for their specialized toe pads that enable them to climb smooth and vertical surfaces, and even cross indoor ceilings with ease (it is believed that the van der Waal's force may contribute to this capability). These antics are well-known to people who live in warm regions of the world, where several species of geckos make their home inside human habitations. These species (for example the House Gecko) become part of the indoor menagerie and are often welcome guests, as they feed on insects, including mosquitoes.
The largest species, Delcourt's gecko, is only known from a single, stuffed specimen found in the basement of a museum in Marseille, France. This gecko was 60 cm long and it was native to New Zealand. It was probably wiped out along with much of the native fauna of these islands at the end of the 19th century, when new predators were introduced there. The smallest gecko, the Jaragua Sphaero, is a mere 16 mm long and was discovered in 2001 on a small island off the coast of the Dominican Republic.
For more information about Gecko, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
