PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Nature helps to solve a sticky problem

Beetle foot pads may inspire novel man-made adhesives

2011-04-06
(Press-News.org) New York / Heidelberg, 6 April 2011

The arrays of fine adhesive hairs or 'setae' on the foot pads of many insects, lizards and spiders give them the ability to climb almost any natural surface. Research by James Bullock and Walter Federle from the University of Cambridge in England found that the different forces required to peel away these adhesive hairs from surfaces are what allows beetles to adhere to diverse surfaces, thereby reducing the risk of detachment. Their study, published online in the Springer journal Naturwissenschaften – The Nature of Science, reports the first adhesive force measurements from single microscopic setae in a live animal.

The adhesive hairs on the feet of leaf beetles are known to take three distinct shapes; pointed, flat (spatula-tipped) and disk-like. They are arranged in specific patterns across the beetle's feet, indicating different biological functions for each hair type. Given their small size (only 1/200th of a millimeter across), there existed no way to determine their individual properties. Bullock and Federle therefore devised a method for measuring the in vivo stickiness of each hair using a fine glass cantilever. By observing the deflection of the cantilever through a microscope, the force needed to detach each hair was calculated.

Results in male beetles showed that the disk-like hairs adhered with the highest force, followed by spatula-tipped and then pointed hairs. Disk-like hairs were also stiffer than either flat or pointed hairs, likely providing stability to the pad. Bullock and Federle suggest that it is these disk-like hairs in particular which allow male beetles to achieve strong adhesion on smooth surfaces. This ability is also important for the males during copulation to hold on firmly to the back of the females. The other hair types, being easier to 'un-stick', may help the beetle to rapidly detach its feet when running upside down.

Before these natural structures can be replicated as synthetic adhesives, a better understanding of their detailed function is needed. The authors conclude, "The question of how forces in natural adhesive systems run from the single-hair to the whole-animal level is a central, unresolved problem. Its understanding will be a prerequisite for the design of bio-inspired synthetic adhesives."

INFORMATION:

References
Bullock JMR and Federle W (2011). Beetle adhesive hairs differ in stiffness and stickiness: In vivo adhesion measurements on individual setae. Naturwissenschaften – The Science of Nature. DOI 10.1007/s00114-011-0781-4

The full-text article is available to journalists on request.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

WHOI-led team locates Air France wreckage

2011-04-06
A search team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has located the wreckage of Air France Flight 447 some 3,900 meters, or nearly 2.5 miles, below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean off Brazil's northeastern coast. The team left the port of Suape, Brazil, aboard the vessel Alucia on March 22, arriving at the search site on March 25. After one week of searching, one of the mission's three autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), the REMUS 6000s, detected debris on the seafloor. A second vehicle was dispatched to the area for more detailed sonar mapping and ...

Economics, physics are roadblocks for mass-scale algae biodiesel production, study finds

2011-04-06
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Companies looking to engineer an eco-friendly diesel fuel have more red lights in their path. According to Kansas State University researchers, making petroleum diesel completely green would not only bend the laws of physics, it would cost too much green. "Fossil fuels are limited, and since we can't use more than what Earth offers, a lot of people are looking for alternative fuel sources like algae," said Peter Pfromm, professor of chemical engineering and member of a K-State interdisciplinary team that analyzed oil produced by algae as a source of ...

Force of acoustical waves tapped for metamaterials

Force of acoustical waves tapped for metamaterials
2011-04-06
Washington, D.C. (April 5, 2011) -- A very simple bench-top technique that uses the force of acoustical waves to create a variety of 3D structures will benefit the rapidly expanding field of metamaterials and their myriad applications—including "invisibility cloaks." Metamaterials are artificial materials that are engineered to have properties not found in nature. These materials usually gain their unusual properties—such as negative refraction that enables subwavelength focusing, negative bulk modulus, and band gaps—from structure rather than composition. By creating ...

Reduce Foodservice Utility and Maintenance Costs by Improving Water Quality

Reduce Foodservice Utility and Maintenance Costs by Improving Water Quality
2011-04-06
The Link Between Water & Utility Costs A foodservice location uses a significant amount of water, which can directly result in increased utility costs. Water bills and electricity bills are actually linked expenses. Water quality, specifically high levels of hardness and TDS, can cause inefficiencies in equipment that either heats or cools water. This image shows the heating element inside a boiler-based steam oven. As little as a 1/4" of scale buildup can decrease energy efficiency by nearly 40%. Imagine a typical combi oven that costs $1500 a year in electricity: ...

Inexpensive new instruments test building sealants under real-world conditions

2011-04-06
Washington, D.C. (April 5, 2011) -- Sealants, like weather stripping, are what separates the inside from the outside of a building, byproviding a barrier that prevents water from seeping in, for example, or heat from leaking out. The challenge, says research chemist Christopher White of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is predicting when they will fail. Current methods test sealants statically, by placing them outdoors for long periods of time, to measure their resistance to the elements. The problem, says White, is ...

AGU journal highlights -- April 5, 2011

2011-04-06
The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published or accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) and Paleoceanography (PA). In this release: New study says 2 degrees Celsius warming may be unavoidable by 2100 Icelandic volcano exonerated for harsh winter of 1783-1784 Droughts and floods becoming more common in northern Australia Improved model reproduces deadly European heat wave Tree ring record chronicles major pre-Hispanic droughts in Mesoamerica Antarctic and Greenland ice sheet melting accelerating Anyone ...

OSU chemist developing solution to nerve agent exposure

OSU chemist developing solution to nerve agent exposure
2011-04-06
Scientists are working to develop a new drug that will regenerate a critical enzyme in the human body that "ages" after a person is exposed to deadly chemical warfare agents. Christopher Hadad, Ph.D., professor of chemistry at The Ohio State University (OSU), is leveraging Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) resources to help develop a more effective antidote to lethal chemicals called organophosphorus (OP) nerve agents. "This project is a combination of synthetic and computational organic chemistry conducted through OSC at Ohio State, and biochemical studies conducted ...

Historian says history of nuclear power needs to be addressed

2011-04-06
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The long-standing conflicts over nuclear power and the risks of radiation exposure are nothing new – in fact, the debate over the damaged Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant in Japan are similar to arguments happening between scientists, governmental agencies and the public since 1945, according to an Oregon State University expert on the history of science. Historian Jacob Hamblin is the author of the 2008 book, "Poison in the Well: Radioactive Waste in the Oceans at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age." He specializes in the history of the Cold War era, with a particular ...

Fewer multiple births in states with insurance coverage for infertility

2011-04-06
Faced with the prospect of costly in vitro fertilization (IVF) but with no help from insurance coverage, some infertile couples feel pressure to transfer multiple embryos in an attempt to ensure that the IVF is a success. This can lead to higher rates of twin and triplet births and prematurity. But having insurance coverage could curtail the costs associated with these multiple births, according to a new study by researchers at Yale School of Medicine. Published in the current issue of Fertility and Sterility, the study found that the 15 states, including Connecticut, ...

Centage Corporation Makes Enterprise-Class Financial Reporting Analytics Available to Small to Mid-Size Organizations

2011-04-06
Centage Corporation, a leading provider of integrated budgeting software, forecasting, consolidation and financial reporting solutions for small to mid-sized companies (SMB) today announced a new product in the Maestro line of financial reporting software: Analytics Maestro. Analytics Maestro extends the current Planning Maestro and Budget Maestro budgeting software reporting capabilities by bringing the power and flexibility of enterprise-class OLAP (online analytical processing) multi-dimensional reporting to the smaller organization. Centage's Maestro line of financial ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Public take the lead in discovery of new exploding star

What are they vaping? Study reveals alarming surge in adolescent vaping of THC, CBD, and synthetic cannabinoids

ECMWF - delivering forecasts over 10 times faster and cutting energy usage by 1000

Brazilian neuroscientist reveals how viral infections transform the brain through microscopic detective work

Turning social fragmentation into action through discovering relatedness

Cheese may really be giving you nightmares, scientists find

Study reveals most common medical emergencies in schools

Breathable yet protective: Next-gen medical textiles with micro/nano networks

Frequency-engineered MXene supercapacitors enable efficient pulse charging in TENG–SC hybrid systems

Developed an AI-based classification system for facial pigmented lesions

Achieving 20% efficiency in halogen-free organic solar cells via isomeric additive-mediated sequential processing

New book Terraglossia reclaims language, Country and culture

The most effective diabetes drugs don't reach enough patients yet

Breast cancer risk in younger women may be influenced by hormone therapy

Strategies for staying smoke-free after rehab

Commentary questions the potential benefit of levothyroxine treatment of mild hypothyroidism during pregnancy

Study projects over 14 million preventable deaths by 2030 if USAID defunding continues

New study reveals 33% gap in transplant access for UK’s poorest children

Dysregulated epigenetic memory in early embryos offers new clues to the inheritance of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

IVF and IUI pregnancy rates remain stable across Europe, despite an increasing uptake of single embryo transfer

It takes a village: Chimpanzee babies do better when their moms have social connections

From lab to market: how renewable polymers could transform medicine

Striking increase in obesity observed among youth between 2011 and 2023

No evidence that medications trigger microscopic colitis in older adults

NYUAD researchers find link between brain growth and mental health disorders

Aging-related inflammation is not universal across human populations, new study finds

University of Oregon to create national children’s mental health center with $11 million federal grant

Rare achievement: UTA undergrad publishes research

Fact or fiction? The ADHD info dilemma

Genetic ancestry linked to risk of severe dengue

[Press-News.org] Nature helps to solve a sticky problem
Beetle foot pads may inspire novel man-made adhesives