The physical properties of the stick insect pad secretion are independent of body size.

Many insects use adhesive organs to climb. The ability to cling to surfaces is advantageous but is increasingly challenged as animals grow, due to the associated reduction in surface-to-volume ratio. Previous work has demonstrated that some climbing animals overcome this scaling problem by systematically altering the maximum force per area that their adhesive pads can sustain; their adhesive organs become more efficient as they grow, an observation which is also of substantial relevance for the design of bioinspired adhesives.

Fabrication of Amyloid Curli Fibers-Alginate Nanocomposite Hydrogels with Enhanced Stiffness.

Alginate hydrogels are biocompatible, biodegradable, low-cost, and widely used as bioinks, cell encapsulates, three-dimensional culture matrices, drug delivery systems, and scaffolds for tissue engineering. Nevertheless, their limited stiffness hinders their use for certain biomedical applications. Many research groups have tried to address this problem by reinforcing alginate hydrogels with graphene, carbon nanotubes, or silver nanoparticles.

On the use of nanomechanical atomic force microscopy to characterise oil-exposed surfaces.

Oil-exposed surfaces are susceptible to carbonaceous deposits (CDs). In turn, deposits are responsible for fouling, compromising performance and reducing profitability across the hydrocarbon value chain. An understanding of the deposition behaviour of these organic molecules is therefore imperative.