Scientists ask: what if Spider-Man was real?
If Spider-Man was real, he would be forever falling off vertical walls and struggling to maintain credibility as a superhero, new research suggests.
Cambridge University scientists have discovered that the adhesive footpads that make spiders, tree frogs and geckos such amazing climbers are limited by body size. They simply would not work for a creature as big as a human – unless he had impossibly large feet.
A person would need sticky pads covering 40 per cent of the body’s surface to scale skyscrapers like Spider-Man, according to the researchers. In practical terms, that would equate to a shoe size of 145.
The study could assist the development of new adhesives.