Geckos

Gecko's Stickiness Inspires New Surgical Bandage

...juries, has tiny "hills and valleys," similar to those found on the gecko's feet, a Harvard-MIT team reports. This bit of natural engineering allows geckos to cling to almost any surface, even upside-down. Overlaying the clingy structures is a coating of glue that enables the new bandage to stick onto...

Geckos in Biological News

Feats of strength begin a lizard's day

...als known to mark dawn and dusk through visual displays, rather than the much better known chirping, tweeting, and other sounding off by birds, frogs, geckos and primates. Ord studied four species of Jamaican forest lizard: Anolis lineatopus , Anolis sagrei , Anolis grahami , and Anolis opalinus . Fe...

New family of gecko discovered by researchers from the U of Minnesota and Villanova University

...scovered a new family of gecko, the charismatic large-eyed lizard popularized by car insurance commercials. Scientists have long been interested in geckos and their evolution because they are key biodiversity indicators and are found on nearly every continent. Researchers are also interested in the gecko...

Elephant engineers

...t the Mpala Research Center in Kenya between 2004 and 2007, the author of the report, Robert M. Pringle of Stanford University, found that Kenya dwarf geckos (Lygodactylus keniensis) showed a strong preference for trees which had been damaged by browsing elephants (Loxodontia africana). In fact, the local ...

Sticky questions tackled in gecko research

... Calgary biologist who is trying to figure out how geckos can cling to virtually any surface, including glass. Unlike most creatures, geckos dont use sticky secretions to help them hang on, i...logy. Its one of the only studies to look at how a geckos unique toe pads enable it to move through its natu...

US-French research team to barcode an entire ecosystem

...funded by the Moore Foundation, which tested the feasibility of such a large undertaking. That project was limited to genetic barcoding of the fishes, geckos and selected insects. In the spirit of leaving no stone unturned, larvae and contents of animals' guts will be fair game in the full project. "We'l...

Acoustics World Wide press room now open

...t. Joseph D. Warren, Stony Brook University http://www.acoustics.org/press/154th/warren.html LIZARD EARS AND ANCESTRAL HEARING Learning how geckos hear as the sound travels not only from outside to in, but across their mouth cavities. Catherine Carr, University of Maryland http://www.acoustics...

Geckos: It's not always about sex

... Australian Bynoe's gecko. This line of all-female geckos doesn't need sex or a male to reproduce and, contrary to expectations, these "Wonder Woman" geckos can run farther and faster than their sexually rep...y of Melbourne in Australia. Kearney's interest in geckos started during his undergraduate years in Australi...

Geckos in Biological Technology

New angle on gecko research

... geckos are very adept at climbing through difficult terra... in mimicking it for application to robotics." geckos have long been known for their remarkable abilitie... This study adds a new angle to previous research: geckos must be on an incline in order to trigger the depl...

Sticky gecko feet: The role of temperature and humidity

...fect of temperature and humidity on the ability of geckos to stick to glass, expecting that neither would ha...ass. For example, under very humid conditions, geckos stick with twice the force compared to dry conditions at low temperatures. At high temperatures, geckos stick comparatively poorly and the humidity level ...

'Sticky nanotubes' hold key to future technologies

...ecisely how the tubes adhere to each other could lead to a method for dispersing them. The findings also promise to help researchers understand how geckos are able to stick to surfaces, a trait that could translate into practical uses for industrial and military applications. Tiny branching hairs call...

Using nanotech to make Robocops

...orce they share. Van der Waals is the weak attraction that molecules have for one another when they are brought close together, used, for example, by geckos when they stick to a ceiling. ...