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To: T L Comiskey who wrote (43900)	4/26/2004 11:32:01 AM
From: lurqer	Respond to of 89467

Spiders' sticky secret revealed Bremen - Research into how spiders stick to almost any surface could lead to innovative adhesive technology. Scientists have found that jumping spiders are capable of carrying over 170 times their own body weight while clinging upside down. In the first research of its kind, the team from Switzerland and Germany examined the jumping spider's "foot" to find out how the creature managed to stick to almost any surface. Their research, published in Britain's Institute of Physics journal Smart Materials and Structures, shows that the "van der Waals" adhesive force is behind the spiders' sticking power. That same adhesive force could be harnessed to create spacesuits which would stick to the walls of a spacecraft. Professor Antonia Kesel, head of the Bremen-based research group, said: "One possible application of our research would be to develop Post-it notes based on the van der Waals force, which would stick even if they got wet or greasy. "You could also imagine astronauts using spacesuits that help them stick to the walls of a spacecraft - just like a spider on the ceiling." Scientists used a special microscope to make images of the jumping spider's foot. Tiny hairs called setules which stick to another tuft of hair on the bottom of the spider's leg are what holds the creature onto the underlying surface. The van der Waals force acts between individual molecules that are within a nanometre of each other - about 10 000 times more narrow than the width of a human hair. Unusually, this adhesive force is not affected by its surrounding environment. Kesel said: "We carried out this research to find out how these spiders have evolved to stick to surfaces, and found that it was all down to a microscopic force between molecules. We now hope that this basic research will lead the way to new and innovative technology." - Sapa-dpa news24.com While this is interesting and it's nice to be reminded about van der Waals force from an almost forgotten chemistry class, I don't believe this is as "cutting edge" as the article implies. See Gecko tape will stick you to ceiling newscientist.com lurqer lurqer

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (43900)	4/26/2004 12:22:03 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 89467

Da Vinci Invented Car Forerunner By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News April 25, 2004 — A spring-propelled car conceived by Leonardo da Vinci five centuries ago could have paved the way for the Mars rovers, an eight-month study of a drawing by the Renaissance genius has revealed. Drawn on sheet number 812r of the Atlantic Codex in 1478, when Leonardo was 24 years old, the sketch has been translated into a one-third scale model at the Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence. Amazingly, the wooden 5-foot by 5-foot, 6-inch model, on display at the museum until June 5, has proved what has been doubted for centuries: the machine actually moves. "It is the world's first self-propelled vehicle. It was designed to operate as a robot and could travel for about 40 meters. It featured a programmable steering and a brake that could be released at distance by an operator with a hidden rope," Paolo Galluzzi, director of the museum, told Discovery News. Basically anticipating the car, the contraption was conceived as a special effect machine at Renaissance festivals. It would have worked like a child- spring propelled toy, with the springs wound up by rotating the wheels in the opposite driving direction. Leonardo probably envisaged someone hiding behind a curtain who would pull the string to release the brake. As well as other drawings in which Leonardo (1452-1519) anticipated inventions such as the airplane, the helicopter, submarine, the steam engine, the tank, and many other devices, the sheet of Atlantic Codex do not contain a single word of explanation. For centuries scholars puzzled over the drawing. Several attempts were made to recreate the vehicle, but none worked. "Everybody thought that Leonardo powered the car with the two big leaf springs shown in his sketch. Instead, the power is provided by coiled springs inside the tambours," Galluzzi said. The new interpretation came from Carlo Pedretti, director of the Armand Hammer Center for Leonardo Studies in Los Angeles, who noticed a kind of squiggle in the sketch eventually identified as coiled springs. With the help of U.S. robotics expert Mark Rosheim, the museum first created a digital model, then a fully functioning model. The model showed that the programmable steering mechanism, consisting of wooden blocks arranged between gears, allows the spring-propelled vehicle to go straight, or turn at pre-set angles, but only to the right. "The model has revealed a wonderful complexity that now is very clear. Looking at it carefully, it does resemble the Spirit space vehicle used on Mars," Pedretti told Discovery News. dsc.discovery.com