The Stickiest *Non-Sticky* Substance

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Thanks to Dr. Mark Cutkosky, Tony Chen, Amar Hajj-Ahmad, and the rest of the Biomimetics and Dexterous Manipulation Lab at Stanford University for showing us the power of gecko adhesives.

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References:

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Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:
Meg Noah, Bernard McGee, James Sanger, Elliot Miller, Brian Busbee, Jerome Barakos M.D., Amadeo Bee, TTST, Balkrishna Heroor, Chris LaClair, John H. Austin Jr., Eric Sexton, John Kiehl, Anton Ragin, Diffbot, Gnare, Dave Kircher, Burt Humburg, Blake Byers, Evgeny Skvortsov, Meekay, Bill Linder, Paul Peijzel, Josh Hibschman, Mac Malkawi, Mike Schneider, John Bauer, Jim Buckmaster, Juan Benet, Sunil Nagaraj, Richard Sundvall, Lee Redden, Stephen Wilcox, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Michael Krugman, Cy 'kkm' K'Nelson, Sam Lutfi

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Written by Derek Muller & Petr Lebedev
Edited by Trenton Oliver
Animation by Ivy Tello
Filmed by Derek Muller & Albert Leung
Additional video/photos supplied by Pond5 & Getty Images
Music from Epidemic Sound
Exec. Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, and Emily Zhang

[bdmlstanford]

Thanks so much to Derek and team for visiting our lab! This was a great video on our gecko-inspired adhesives, and the best explanation yet of Van der Waals forces.

[Nighthawkinlight]

Definitely the most impressive gecko tape I've seen. Neat stuff

[FeeshUnofficial]

I remember years ago as a young teen reading in a science magazine that someone was developing this. It's so cool to actually learn about the progress

[a.lollipop]

I had a school project about biophysics and me and my group chose to talk about the geckos' adhesion, the van der waals forces are only one part of the very complex mechanism these animals use to climb! It's crazy how seemingly simple things in nature can be so complex and how we can learn from these things to build cool stuff. Great video :)

[CadeVoidlighter]

I'm blown away by how Vertiasium finds such fascinating topics all the time. I love so much learning fun things like this!

[fish]

Idea that a living organism, and somewhat large at that, uses van der waal forces to move is mindblowing

[XiadaniLicarayen]

@5:01 "we cannot make what the geck has" loved the level of awe he has for the geckos architecture

[georgebaggy]

I remember watching a seminar on this topic during my UCSB freshman chemical engineering orientation tour in 2009. Crazy to see the early research I learned about coming to fruition 14 years later.

[virgilashruf]

I _LOVE_ that you've published this. My nine year old has started a new theme at school this month, called biomimicry... I'm going to show this video to her; she'll love it.

[MajorMinorGolf]

My grandfather has a PhD in zoology and biology. I'll never forget the day when he showed me a scientific journal entry with a picture of this and how fascinating they were to him. He is an ichthyologist, so it wasn't his area of expertise; however, there were always some facts he could add to a situation or story, and how he described that truly humbled me at the time and still does. I credit my grandfather for my curiosity and thank creators like you for making me extremely proud of him, highlighting fascinating things in our universe, and invigorating those who are hungry for more knowledge. Thank you.

[cjxgraphics]

I really thought those little ridges would be going the other direction, and gripping into whatever they were holding! But this is even more interesting. Looking forward to where this tech could lead in a few years/decades!

[matthysloedolff]

I remember in one of my nanotechnology courses at university around 2012 one of the physics lecturers told us about people investigating this sort of technology. Amazing to see it in action.

[alejandroescalera]

Hello Derek,

I have an idea for a video. In chemistry, I learned that in redox reactions, electrons transfer, but it was never quite explained how or why exactly they do it. I would love a video about this process, which I found out is explained using quantum mechanics. That way, I might finally understand how the electrochemical potential table forms and why different organisms are an-/aerobic on a deeper level. If you (not Derek) read this and also wonder how this works, I would appreciate if you could give this comment a push so that Derek sees it.

Thanks, keep up the good work, and greetings from Switzerland.

Alejandro

[Mannorsch]

This exact effect was the reason I studied materials science in my masters. It's just incredible how far we have come, that we are able to use such effects on materials that *.*

[scuzyprod.]

one of the most mind blowing episodes i've seen on this channel

[DarkAngelEU]

I remember people telling me gecko tape would NEVER be possible, even the guy inventing this tape says so, but he still persisted and they developed something that comes pretty close to it. This is amazing!
Another dream come true <3

[davvaz]

Wow i remember when i was younger, my family didn't have cable so i was stuck watching local TV. One of my favorite shows was on PBS kids called Wild Kratts. These 2 guys taught you all about animals but one of my favorites was the Gecko. The guys in this show had Gecko-inspired suits which i always wanted to be real. This is really making my childhood dreams come true

[theuglybunny]

I hope one day this technology is adapted as plasters/medical tape.
My newborn requires an NG tube for feeding and we have to tape it to his cheek, but he is allergic to adhesive and we are now in a battle over managing his poor skin degrading.
It makes me happy to think how future families in similar situations could benefit from this concept.

[MrJackhammer]

Gecko: *elegant, unique solution for climbing things*
Squirrel: "SO ANYWAY, I JUST DIG MY CLAWS IN LIKE THIS"

[booster]

I used to have a Crested Gecko - I loved watching him climb. They curl their toes upward to release their grip, and lay them flat to support their weight. It was fascinating to watch.