![]() Their analyses of a material’s overall properties (such as density, strength and melting point) can help engineers and other researchers select materials that are best suited to a new application. ![]() Materials scientists can design new materials or analyze existing ones. Materials scientist: A researcher who studies how the atomic and molecular structure of a material is related to its overall properties. But they are best known for being able to climb slick surfaces, owing to special structures on the bottom surfaces of their feet. These reptiles eat insects, worms and even the occasional small bird. Some 2,000 different species of this lizard exist, in a wide range of colors. Gecko: A small to medium sized reptile found in warm to equatorial regions of the world. Friction generally causes a heating, which can damage a surface of some material as it rubs against another. It’s a region dominated by snow cover much of the year.īiologist: A scientist involved in the study of living things.įriction: The resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving over or through another material (such as a fluid or a gas). ![]() The edge of that circle is defined as the northernmost point at which the sun is visible on the northern winter solstice and the southernmost point at which the midnight sun can be seen on the northern summer solstice. The high Arctic is that most northerly third of this region. Those impacts may include drought, flooding, wildfires, extreme heat and extreme storms.Īrctic: A region that falls within the Arctic Circle. This term is an adjective for something that has features that can be described in three dimensions - height, width and length.Īdaptation: (in biology) The development of new programs, processes, policies and structures to make communities and their inhabitants better able to head off - or at least withstand - the dangerous impacts of a warming climate. Until now, scientists didn’t know that bump shape would make the difference between gripping and slipping, Dhinojwala says.ģ-D: Short for three-dimensional. Taller bumps seem to give more traction, those tests showed. The team used a 3-D printer to make models of the bumps. But those on the polar bears looked a bit different. All but the sun bear had bumps on their paw pads. The group compared paws of polar bears, brown bears, American black bears and a sun bear. He is an animal biologist who now works at Syracuse University in New York. So he and Dhinojwala turned to polar bears.Īustin Garner joined their research team. But “we can’t really put geckos on the ice,” Orndorf says. He’s a materials scientist at Akron who studies friction and ice. ![]() That gecko work intrigued Nathaniel Orndorf. He also has studied what makes gecko feet sticky. Explainer: What is friction?ĭhinojwala is a polymer scientist at the University of Akron in Ohio. His team shared the finding November 1 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. That extra grip could keep polar bears from slipping on snow, says Ali Dhinojwala. They work sort of like the rubbery nubs on the bottom of baby socks. Super-small structures on the bears’ paw pads offer extra friction. Tiny “fingers” can help polar bears get a grip. ![]()
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