Meeting Abstract
The remarkable, climbing abilities of geckos have attracted the attention of biologists for over 200 years. The progress they made towards understanding gecko adhesion up to the year 2000 is reviewed. The elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of gecko adhesion catalyzed an explosion of interest in this phenomenon from 2000 onwards and resulted in the participation in gecko-inspired research of an increasing number of biologists, along with physicists, chemists, materials scientists, and engineers. Many such investigators took up the challenge of adapting the principles of gecko adhesion to the fabrication of synthetic simulacra and the applications to which these can be put. Others were stimulated to undertake field and laboratory studies to explore the evolution and field-relevant deployment of the gekkotan adhesive system, and to elucidate how it became interpolated into the mechanics of lizard locomotion. We briefly review these more recent contributions and suggest how greater interaction between various camps of investigators can potentially accelerate progress in both the understanding of the mechanisms of gecko adhesion and the application of its principles for technological advancements. The “gecko effect” provides an example of natural nanotechnology that originally arose at least 100 million years ago, and on multiple independent occasions since then. This mosaic history provides the opportunity to assess what is necessary and sufficient for its functioning. Integration between teams that study the biological system, and those who design bio-inspired synthetics will lead to a deeper level of understanding in three core areas (ecology and evolution; function, biomechanics and performance; and material science) and an invigorated impetus for the development of eco-inspired synthetics.
