"Together with the rolling of larger droplets, this ‘bubble dance’ also removes any contaminants from the lizard’s back. In other words, gecko skin is unwettable and self-cleaning. It is also inherently antibacterial. “The hairs seem to kill the bacteria not with chemistry or anything, but [they] seem to penetrate the bacteria,” Greg says. Although it is lethal to microbes, larger cells – such as human stem cells – are not harmed by this spiky surface."
"“There are a lot of pressures now, where you have to publish or perish, so to speak,” says Jolanta. “But Greg and I have a very firm philosophy that science is about discovery and just basic human curiosity. A lot of our projects just come about from really never growing up,” she says. “We’re always at that five-year-old stage, where we pick things up and we look at them.”
I agree. Always be five years old.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160114-one-gecko-has-skin-so-waterproof-the-water-literally-jumps-off
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Always loved the humble gecko and their mastery of van der waals forces, this just adds to their wonder.
ReplyDeleteI'm particularly intrigued by the idea of a physical active defence against bacteria. Not just stopping them from entering the body, but actually killing them on contact without chemicals. Reminds me of Species 8472.
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