Now a company spun out of a university research group called nanoGriptech has taken the science out of the lab and into the market, through a number of newly available products promised to deliver enhanced grip and reusability.

A research team involving Professor Metin Sitti, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, made important strides forward in mimicking the adhesive qualities of geckos' feet last year. Like other groups at the University of Kiel and Stanford University, Sitti's team took inspiration from the millions of microscopic hairs covering the animal's feet and legs.

Called setae, these tiny projections bind with surfaces at a molecular level as a result of van der Waals forces. Adding further to the foot's continued stickiness is the ability to dust itself off, as the lateral friction caused when the toes drag across a surface shakes off the larger dirt particles. Meanwhile, smaller particles are deposited among the setae and in the skin folds below, driving a self-cleaning process with each and every stride.