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 of polymer scientists ...
Materials Science
Feb 16, 2012
15
0
Just as we can feel whether we are lying on a soft blanket or hard rocks, our cells sense whether they are in a soft or rigid mechanical environment. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying cells' ability to detect tissue ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 3, 2015
0
1087
Researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and University of Costa Rica asked why spiders do not stick to their own sticky webs. Repeating old, widely quoted but poorly documented studies with modern equipment ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 1, 2012
3
0
Tree frogs have specially adapted self-cleaning feet which could have practical applications for the medical industry.
Plants & Animals
Jul 3, 2011
1
0
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Apollo Moon Program struggled with a minuscule, yet formidable enemy: sticky lunar dust. Four decades later, a new study reveals that forces compelling lunar dust to cling to surfaces -- ruining ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 17, 2009
5
0
(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, ...
In extreme slow-motion, a molecule of medicine entering a cell receptor would look a little like a Soyuz space capsule docking at the International Space Station. It would brake here, boost there; rotate, translate and then, ...
Nanophysics
Nov 21, 2016
0
795
A new separation process that depends on an easily-distinguished physical difference in adhesive forces among cells could help expand production of stem cells generated through cell reprogramming. By facilitating new research, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 7, 2013
0
0
Many geckos inhabit trees, often living high in the canopy. Relying on their incredible adhesive strength to help them break their fall, they jump from trees, and land on either leaves or relatively smooth tree trunks. How ...
Materials Science
Jun 27, 2017
0
98
Light driven movement is challenging in nonliquid environments as micro-sized objects can experience strong dry adhesion to contact surfaces and resist movement. In a recent study, Jinsheng Lu and co-workers at the College ...
