Geckos feet stickier in humid environments

摘要

Geckos are amazing creatures - put them on a sheet of glass turn them upside down and they cling to the surface, but what do they do in humid environments? It is known that geckos cling to smooth surfaces via van der Waals forces with no need for additional adhesives - the soles of their feet are covered in millions of self-cleaning microscopic spatula-shaped hairs or setae. In humid environments diey need to hold on even tighter but scientists weren't sure how.