Tree frogs inspire reusable adhesive

Inspired by the toe pads of tree frogs and crickets, researchers in India have created a sticky coating that is strong and reusable.

When conventional adhesive tape is pulled off a surface, cracks form on the tape, which also picks up dust and other particles. The researchers reported in the journal Science that tree frogs’ toe pads contain “microscopic channel patterns” that stop cracks from forming.

“Underneath these patterns, there are fluid vessels, glands and blood vessels,” said Animangsu Ghatak of the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur. Ghatak and his colleagues added tiny fluid vessels in their model adhesive and found they increased adhesion thirtyfold.