[Stoat]

"Gecko tape was proved as a concept a few years ago by our group," comments Prof Andre Geim of the University of Manchester.

"Since then, there have been several steps in the right direction to reach its commercial availability and the current papers are yet another one. But it requires a giant leap to make gecko tape available in shops, which we all are looking forward to."

 

Here's the Free Republic thread from 2006 where the developers said that the notion of "Spiderman feats" wouldn't be possible.

Engineers create gecko-inspired high-friction micro-fibers

Lots of progress in just a couple of years!

[kms61]

I’m curious what hard core climbers would think about this. I suspect they’d regard it as unsporting.

[Stoat]

[FoxInSocks]

Geckos are neat creatures, and it’s fun to watch them run around. They were helpful in controlling the household mosquito population when I was Okinawa.

[Nachoman]

Still, I’m hanging on to my duct tape.

[TCats]

Would imagine keeping the fibers clean would be one of the greatest challenges.

[boocoowell]

And here I thought all those sumbitches were good for was eating insects and selling insurance.....

[Doogle]

future Darwin candidates placing orders now

[Stoat]

Ping

[skinkinthegrass]

known as setae, on geckos' toe pads....I still prefer my claws, for digging....Geckos prefer rocks, trees and sheer vertical surfaces.

[HawaiianGecko]

I just knew I'd be an inspiration someday... :-)

[ShadowAce]