Gecko Tape May Have Us Climbing The Walls

If you follow this blog, you know that I’m no fan of rechargeable batteries. The majority of our battery customers use batteries in wireless microphones, and the performance of rechargeables in this application has real problems.

Still, we do support the concept of reuse in the products we sell whenever possible. One good example is Velcro’s One Wrap Straps. They’re handy and can used many, many times without creating any waste

Reusable tape? Now there’s an idea!

Thanks to Geico Insurance, everybody knows what a gecko is. Real geckos can’t talk, but they do have a very special characteristic that makes them amazing characters. They can walk upside down as easily as they walk right side up. Wall climbing? No problem!

What’s that got to do with tape? Stick with me for a minute.

The geckos’ trick, according to National Geographic, involves millions of microscopic hairs on the pads of their feet. Each hair, or seta, provides a miniscule adhesive force called van der Waals, which operate over very small distances but bond to just about anything. Robert Full, a biologist at the University of California at Berkeley, believes that adhesives can be developed that are as strong (and infinitely reusable) as what geckos have on their feet.

I doubt that this technology will work its way down to the point of having reusable gaffers tape anytime soon, but it could happen someday.

Meanwhile, imagine yourself hanging upside down from the ceiling. That would be cool.

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