Headline News

Tree-frog feet inspire glue with better grip

One day last week when I was running from one building to the other while at work I heard that familiar sound of the tree frog. At the time it was a nice distraction to think of that small amphibian with such a large voice. I remember the first fall in my first home out here and a tree frog took up residence in the shrub right outside my front door. That thing would croak and I thought it was in the house. I spent a number of nights trying to locate this thing thinking it was probably about the size of a cat for as loud as it was. Finally, I found the little bugger and it wasn’t any bigger than a Milk Dud. I was amazed that something so small could be so loud. Did you know that the Pacific Tree Frog is not only the smallest but the loudest amphibian of the Pacific Northwest? Their sound can be heard in some cases a mile away.

Tree Frogs use their sticky toe pads to climb around on rocks, leaves and branches looking for insects to eat. It was the ability of the Tree Frog to climb glass that got scientist interested. Researchers studied the toe pads of tree frogs to figure out what makes them stick to surfaces, and copied the idea for a new type of reusable tape.

This is just one of those useless facts that I sometimes find interesting. Here is a little creature that usually doesn’t live more than a year, has a great big voice and yet caused researchers to spend months and months trying to figure out just how they do it.

Some day soon when we have a tape that easily sticks and can just as easily be removed we will all be able to appreciate the Pacific Tree Frog just a little more.