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Stanford University makes its own Gecko-inspired wall climbing pads
Military types are obsessed with the Gecko because of the unique structure of its feet, which enable it to climb walls like Spider-man. Earlier this year, DARPA told the world that one of its labs had built a pair of pads that would enable a 218-pound person wearing 50 pounds of gear to pretend that they're Tobey Maguire. Of course, the method for building the pads was a closely guarded secret, but a team at Stanford University believes that it's cracked the formula. In essence (really paraphrasing here), the group started with PDMS -- polydimethylsiloxane -- a composite more commonly found in water-repellant coatings, skin moisturizers and at least one franchise burger joint's chicken nuggets. The substance was then molded into microwedges to increase the surface area, and crammed into a hexagonal plate with a handle. Testing is still underway, and as you can see in the video below, it's not the most exciting thing to see -- but we figure that millions of teenagers are currently adding this to their gift lists in the hope of making it easier to sneak in and out on a Friday night.
Soldiers of the future will climb walls like Spider-Man
The mad scientists at DARPA are encouraged to come up with crazy schemes to provide the US with an edge in future military campaigns. It looks as if the Z-Man Program, presumably subtitled "project make soldiers climb walls like Spider-man," has come to a successful conclusion. Copying the physical structure of a Gecko's toe, a team at Draper Laboratory, Cambridge, Mass., has constructed a pair of paddles that enable a 218-pound human to scale a wall with a 50-pound load strapped to their back. Naturally, it'll be a while until we see snipers scaling enemy buildings with this sort of tech, but it's a damn sight more useful than suction cups or a strong rope and a lot of pulling.
