At first glance, a gecko skittering up a wall and a flat-screen television attached to the same wall have little in common.
But researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have made the connection.
First they showed the previously unappreciated role of geckos’ tendons and bones in the little lizards’ ability to climb up walls without slipping. Then they used that knowledge — plus a large helping of human ingenuity — to create an adhesive device that can hold the television securely on a wall.