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How a gecko walks on the ceiling - a billion micro-hairs on its paws

Have you ever seen a gecko calmly walk on a window pane — upside down? It's as if gravity doesn't affect it. It's not magic. It's nanotechnology that nature invented millions of years ago.

Sit down and imagine a gecko's foot under a microscope. It has millions of tiny hairs on it. And each hair branches into hundreds of even smaller ones. In total, there are about a billion hairs on one foot! Each such hair is a thousand times finer than a hair on your head.

When a gecko presses its paw against the ceiling, these hairs come so close to the molecules of the surface that a special force arises between them - Van der Waals. This is such a weak attraction that is everywhere in nature. Between one hair and the ceiling - almost nothing. But a billion hairs together - and the gecko holds on tighter than you do on a tightrope.

Scientists have calculated that a single gecko weighing 70 grams can theoretically hold 130 kilograms. That's like a small kitten holding a grown man on its paws!

The most interesting thing is that gecko paws never get dirty. Dust simply doesn't stick to them. Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are already creating special clothing for climbers based on the gecko's principle. Perhaps soon your sneakers will also be able to stick to the wall.

Nature is the best engineer. She invented what humans have been working towards for billions of years.