Secrets of a gecko's sticky fingers.(Brief Article)

Industrial chemists can learn a thing or two about sticking to their task from the behaviour of the gecko.

These small tropical lizards are the undoubted masters of the art of climbing vertical surfaces. They can even scurry up sheets of ultra-smooth polished glass on the tips of their strange, bulbous-tipped fingers. But, until now, after decades of investigations into the anatomy of the lizards' feet, scientists have been unable to explain how these powerful adhesive forces are generated.

Now, it appears that the gecko's exceptional climbing ability is due to van der Waals forces, weak electrostatic forces of attraction between molecules, according to a …