Both the British and American teams have shown that the intricate design of these microscopic¹ setae can be reproduced using synthetic² materials. Dr Geim calls the result “gecko tape”. The technology is still some years away from commercialisation, says Thomas Kenny of Stanford University, who is a member of Dr Fearing's group. But when it does reach the market, rather than being used to make wall-crawling gloves, it will probably be used as an alternative to Velcro, or in sticking plasters. Indeed, says Dr Kenny, it could be particularly useful in medical applications where chemical adhesives³ cannot be used.
While it is far from obvious that geckos' feet could inspire a new kind of sticking plaster, there are some fields—such as robotics—in which borrowing designs from nature is self-evidently the sensible thing to do. The next generation of planetary exploration vehicles being designed by America's space agency, NASA, for example, will have legs rather than wheels. That is because legs can get you places that wheels cannot, says Dr Kenny. Wheels work well on flat surfaces, but are much less efficient on uneven⁴ terrain⁵. Scientists at NASA's Ames Research Centre in Mountain View, California, are evaluating an eight-legged walking robot modelled on a scorpion⁶, and America's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding research into four-legged robot dogs, with a view to applying the technology on the battlefield.
Having legs is only half the story—it's how you control them that counts, says Joseph Ayers, a biologist and neurophysiologist at Northeastern University, Massachusetts. He has spent recent years developing a biomimetic robotic lobster⁷ that does not just look like a lobster but actually emulates⁸ parts of a lobster's nervous system to control its walking behaviour. The control system of the scorpion robot, which is being developed by NASA in conjunction with the University of Bremen in Germany, is also biologically inspired. Meanwhile, a Finnish technology firm, Plustech, has developed a six-legged tractor for use in forestry⁹. Clambering over fallen logs and up steep hills, it can cross terrain that would be impassable in a wheeled vehicle.
Other examples of biomimetics abound¹⁰: Autotype, a materials firm, has developed a plastic film based on the complex microstructures found in moth¹¹ eyes, which have evolved to collect as much light as possible without reflection. When applied¹² to the screen of a mobile phone, the film reduces reflections and improves readability, and improves battery life since there is less need to illuminate¹³ the screen. Researchers at the University of Florida, meanwhile, have devised a coating inspired by the rough, bristly skin of sharks. It can be applied to the hulls¹⁴ of ships and submarines to prevent algae¹⁵ and barnacles from attaching themselves. At Penn State University, engineers have designed aircraft wings that can change shape in different phases of flight, just as birds' wings do. And Dr Vincent has devised a smart fabric¹⁶, inspired by the way in which pine cones¹⁷ open and close depending on the humidity, that could be used to make clothing that adjusts to changing body temperatures and keeps the wearer cool.
 
From hit-and-miss to point-and-click
Yet despite all these successes, biomimetics still depends far too heavily on serendipity¹⁸, says Dr Vincent. He estimates that there is only a 10% overlap¹⁹ between biological and technological²⁰ mechanisms²² used to solve particular problems. In other words, there is still an enormous number of potentially useful mechanisms that have yet to be exploited. The problem is that the engineers looking for solutions depend on biologists having already found them—and the two groups move in different circles and speak very different languages. A natural mechanism²¹ or property must first be discovered by biologists, described in technological terms, and then picked up by an engineer who recognises its potential.
This process is entirely²³ the wrong way round, says Dr Vincent. “To be effective, biomimetics should be providing examples of suitable technologies from biology which fulfil the requirements of a particular engineering problem,” he explains. That is why he and his colleagues, with funding from Britain's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, have spent the past three years building a database of biological tricks which engineers will be able to access to find natural solutions to their design problems. A search of the database with the keyword “propulsion”, for example, produces a range of propulsion mechanisms used by jellyfish, frogs and crustaceans²⁴.

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