The Gecko Grip

In warmer climates lives a small creature that has amazed and bewildered human observers for thousands of years—even inspiring engineers at NASA. The Gecko’s most amazing characteristic is its ability to walk effortlessly on vertical or even overhead surfaces, despite the fact that its feet are not sticky nor do they possess any form of suction cups.

The Gecko’s adhesion is far superior to anything man has been able to design. Thus British Aerospace and NASA, are now working to perfect synthetic gecko grippers. They hope to be able to use them to enable robotic spacecraft to grab space debris; for high-end braking systems, and closing wounds without stitches.