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This Behind the Scenes clause was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation .
Materials scientistAli Dhinojwalacame to the U.S. nearly two decennium ago to earn a Ph.D. , building upon a chemical engineering education in India and leaving behind his own factory and business . " I uprise up in a business family so it was an obvious career option , " he said . " I quickly realized the factory was miss a research element so I came to the United States to take that knowledge because graduate training was not as prepare in India at that meter . " And while he still visits his family , as far as his career is concerned , he ’s never look back . In 2002 , Dhinojwala first learned about the special toe social system of the gecko lizard when he attended a conference . Now , Dhinojwala and his colleagues are making find in the turn field of honor of gecko - inspired engineering . By the early part of this decade , scientists were already trying to develop a celluloid adhesive inspired by the gecko ’s foot , and with good reason . Unlike glue and other sticky adhesives , gecko adhesion leaves no residue behind , does n’t put down over meter , and in an curious twisting , a gecko ’s feet are self cleaning ( more about that later ) . The gecko ’s ability to adhere to vertical surface — even take the air upside down on ceiling — is due to the special hierarchical structure of its toes . The toe are covered with microscopic hairs call setae that further split into hundred of smaller complex body part called spatulae , each only millionth of a meter across . With its specialized foot , a gecko ’s adhesive friction is so substantial it can harbour more than 100 times its weight . " There is no mucilage involved , " Dhinojwala said . or else , the grip ensue from a physical place cognize as the van der Waals impel , a ephemeral attraction that can occur from mote to atom at the scale of molecules . When a gecko places its foot on the wall and wave its toes , the tiny spatulae get so penny-pinching to the nooks and crannies on the rampart ’s control surface that their atoms interact with the atom of the wall , convey the van der Waals force into play . To tighten or loosen its grip , the gecko curl and uncurl its toes , recapitulate the process more than 15 times per second gear .
The gecko has a unique ability to scamper across sheer surfaces, even when those surfaces are vertical walls.
