Robert Full: Learning from the gecko's tail

http://www.ted.com Biologist Robert Full studies the amazing gecko, with its supersticky feet and tenacious climbing skill. But high-speed footage reveals that the gecko's tail harbors perhaps the most surprising talents of all.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Robert
• Full
• TEDTalks
• TED
• talks
• robotics
• engineering
• biomimicry
• biomutualism
• biology
• geckos
• feet
• tail
• mechanics

[hastilachincula]

I love these TED videos. They make me think again, unlike most youtube vids.

[boorens18]

um yes they do? Think about it like this....Even if there is a god, then still the majority of people have still got it wrong because they're in the wrong religon. Odds are they are killing themselves over an imaginary friend.

[spaik007]

noo, so painful to see all these videos of people from a few years ago being so hopeful that obama will do anything progressive.. at all

[spaik007]

so in the future could rock climbers, or maybe in need of stealth, have use of a robot tail put on humans? could be inconvinient, but an idea

[098anne]

Great talk! Communication has been humanity's Achilles heel for ever. Maybe we do need instructions.

[mrlowdangle]

great talk!

maybe we'll have gecko gloves shoes and stick on tails in the future.. for climbing and jumping

or maybe we'll just inject gecko genes, and grow our own pads+nano hairs? o.O

[TimothyParadox1]

Ironically, mother nature knows nothing. The watchmaker is blind. :D

[YODAZDAD]

I'm gonna go throw my Gecko of a skyscraper be right back lol

[YODAZDAD]

Really Great!

[colinlikeschapstick]

This is BRILLIANT. A real step in the right direction, in my opinion. da Vinci said we should learn from nature; holistic technologies that use nature's principles.

To me, this is where science will really find the most incredible discoveries. Why base our technology on human discoveries, which are juvenile and incomplete, when we can base them on nature's methods, something that has been perfecting them for millions upon millions of years?

Mother Nature knows all :D