Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW Vol. 5 Num 1116 Sat. July 21, 2007       StarTech Geckel This handout photo shows gecko feet. Geckos have long fascinated engineers because of their ability to skip up vertical surfaces and scurry along ceilings, yet without using any adhesive. The lizards employ a mechanical principle called contact splitting. Their feet have a pad of ultra-fine hairs, called setae, each of which are split up into hundreds of flat tips. The ends temporarily rearrange electrons on the walking surface, creating an electrodynamic attraction. The glue, dubbed "geckel," can have innumerable uses, say the inventors, whose research was published on July 18 in Nature, the weekly British journal. PHOTO: AFP