Duncan Irschick, Biology, and Al Crosby, Polymer Science and Engineering, with Walter Federle of Cambridge University, have been awarded a three-year, $900,000 grant from the Human Frontiers Science Program (HFSP) in Strasbourg, France, to study bioadhesion in geckos and insects.
Shape of Things to Come: Mimicking nature's complex shaping
Inspired by nature's ability to shape a petal, and building on simple techniques used in photolithography and printing, researchers Ryan Hayward of Polymer Science and Engineering, Christian Santangelo of the Physics Department and their colleagues have developed a new tool for manufacturing three-dimensional shapes easily and cheaply, to aid advances in biomedicine, robotics and tunable micro-optics.
Stick to It!: Gecko feet lead to super-adhesive 'Geckskin'
If you are inspired and intrigued by gecko feet, it turns out you are not alone. If you aren't, perhaps you should be. It seems that for ages, biologists have been amazed by the power of gecko feet, which let these five-ounce lizards produce an adhesive force roughly equivalent to carrying nine pounds up a wall without slipping. Now, a team of polymer scientists and a biologist have discovered exactly how the gecko does it, leading them to invent "Geckskin," a device that can hold 700 pounds on a smooth wall.
Scientists design new nanotech technique for lower-cost materials repair
In the super-small world of nanostructures, a campus team of polymer scientists and engineers has discovered how to make nano-scale repairs to a damaged surface equivalent to spot-filling a scratched car fender rather than re-surfacing the entire part. The work builds on a theoretical prediction by chemical engineer and co-author Anna Balazs at the University of Pittsburgh.
