Keeping Sticky Feet Clean

Science News_ v. 167, Jan. 8, 2005, p. 21, "Twinkle Toes: How geckos'' sticky feet stay clean" is a good one to save in you "Amazing Creation" folder.

Oh, sure, evolution can explain everything (one way or another, even if there's no evidence the explanation could work), but these little lizards' feet belong on a list of things that should give evolutionists headaches and/or nightmares. Scientists had already examined the amazing ability of these feet to stick strongly to all sorts of surfaces (using molecular/atomic scale forces!) and yet peel off easily when they need to.

Now, in a report in the Jan. 11 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers have "showed that gecko feet are 'self-cleaning.' " As near as I can figure from the description, the tiny fibers on the footpads are simply just the right size and shape that, even though they stick to surfaces, they don't stick too strongly to individual dust and dirt particles, so the particles are more strongly attracted to other surfaces than to the fibers.

Until Next Time,

David Bump
Philippians 3: 13 Brethren, I
count not myself to have
apprehended: but [this] one thing
[I do], forgetting those things
which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which are
before, 14 I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus.

http://home.att.net/~david.bump