"Something in their system tells them to turn it on at 10 degrees," Higham said. "If you only use it when you need it, then you are not going to subject it to damage."

There are advantages for the lizard to not use its adhesive system on level surfaces, Higham said -- mainly to run faster.

"Having that extra speed can help them run away or catch something," he said.

Higham suggested that the study of the gecko's grip could lead to the development of military and other applications, including gloves and shoes that could adhere to a variety of surfaces and allow people to scale walls. In the YouTube video, Russell proposes surgical applications to close wounds and picture hangers that would not require a sticky residue. The study could also lead to a robot made in the gecko's image.

"In a bomb scare or military-type situation, where having humans go in might not be really safe, you can send in a little robotic gecko and explore a dangerous situation," Higham said.

I remember seeing this on some tv show recently, I can't remember, prolly NOVA or something on the Science channel. Interesting (and possibly quite fun) applications if they can figure it out well enough to imitate it.