Evolution has already solved many of the challenges engineers are confronted with on a daily basis. Think about octopuses, for example. We frequently report on soft robotics here at Gizmodo. Octopuses are essentially brilliant, eight-armed soft robots.
Even the strongest artificial glues are completely useless when you try to apply them underwater, but somehow shellfish are able to hold fast to rocks to deter predators from trying to carry them away. Clearly, nature has already figured out how to make glues that work underwater, and now researchers may have…
In the future, we’re all going to be Spiderman. At least, those of us who can afford super-sticky light-controlled wall-climbing spider boots.
Have you ever gotten a piece of tape wet and noticed it loses its stickiness? Water and adhesives usually don’t mix, but researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have created a new type of glue that works in wet environments because it only hardens when a voltage is applied.
Despite the name, Scotch tape wasn't invented by the Scottish. It was invented by a college dropout named Richard Drew from Minnesota who worked for a small sandpaper company founded in 1902 called Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, later known as 3M. The name "Scotch" itself has an origin story almost as interesting…
Researchers at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, or AIRT for short, have developed a remarkable new adhesive that can solidify (stick) or liquify (unstick) at room temperature with a blast from a UV light.
Imagine taking off a band-aid or medical tape, not grimacing in pain as the bandage adhesive pulls hair and skin cells with it. That is what 3M is promising with their new silicone tape technology, which bonds with skin in a way that other tape adhesives don't.
