Though superhero fantasies tend to manifest themselves in poor, super power-less knockoffs that sell for much too high a price on eBay, there is one superhero that might become a reality: an italian researcher has made claims that materials similar to that which geckos use to cling to walls and ceilings can be recreated and implemented for climbing the Empire State Building…just like Spiderman.

Nicola Pugno is a professor at the Polytechnic of Turin, and will have his paper Towards a Spiderman suit: large invisible cables and self-cleaning releasable super-adhesive materials will be published in Condensed Matter, a journal by the Institute of Physics, according to The Register. He is certain his research could pave the way towards fully-capable Spiderman-like suits by using material similar to that of the foot hair of geckos.

Though more practical uses are being brainstormed by those interested in his research, Pugno is confident that small-scale practical implementation would be a waste of a potentially huge breakthrough in science; why settle for practicality and versatility when there are Spidey suits to manufacture?

Gecko foot hair is comprised of carbon nanotubes, which can be recreated (assumedly with some difficulty) to utlize the clingy properties of a gecko’s own hairs. Not stopping there, those same nanotubes could be recreated as cables (think web strands) with unbelievable strength for the suspension of huge objects.

Some are considering the potential of such cables for use with skyscraper cleaners, but we all know those very cleaners would rather be swinging around New York City with their Spidey suits than wasting time cleaning windows they will only be scurrying on later.

Small, insignificant matters like the composition of the human body versus that of a gecko have not been addressed to this point; the amount of strain suspending oneself from the side of a building would undoubtedly be quite taxing on joints, muscles and so on.

What really matters is the potential is there. Who wouldn’t go through a few joint replacements and muscle reconstructions for a few hours of Empire State Building time?

Related:

Entry was posted on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 at 3:12 pm under Science and technology, Technology.

Read more entries by Triston McIntyre.
Stumble It!