Geckskin, a super-strong adhesive device developed by campus researchers that can hold 700 pounds on a smooth wall, has been named one of the top five science breakthroughs of 2012 by CNN Money.
Inspired by the footpads of geckos, Geckskin was created by Michael Bartlett, a doctoral candidate in Polymer Science and Engineering, polymer scientist Alfred Crosby and biologist Duncan Irschick, who has studied the gecko’s climbing and clinging abilities for more than 20 years. The researchers published their findings in the journal Advanced Materials last February.
“Amazingly, gecko feet can
Elena T. Carbone, associate professor of Nutrition, and Elaine Puleo, associate dean for Research in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, have received a two-year, $189,476 grant to assess the impact of new policies implemented as part of “Live Well Springfield,” a project to expand healthy eating and physical activity in that city.
A one-year, $112,501 grant from the state Department of Higher Education’s Vision Project is funding the design and teaching of service-learning courses on campus. The new money will support faculty members to develop new courses or to adapt existing courses by adding a service-learning component.
An international team of microbiologists led by Klaus Nüsslein, associate professor of Microbiology, has found that a troubling net loss in diversity among the microbial organisms responsible for a functioning ecosystem is accompanying deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
Contributing geometric and topological analyses of micro-materials, mathematician Robert Kusner aided experimental physicists at the University of Colorado (CU) by successfully explaining the observed “beautiful and complex patterns revealed” in three-dimensional liquid crystal experiments. The work is expected to lead to creation of new materials that can be actively controlled.