LEGO works are usually self-limiting, forcing you to build from static platforms on flat surfaces, but LEGO-based tape lets you take those designs into three dimensions, attaching them to walls and ceilings around you.

Developed by Nimuno, a design studio inspired by LEGO, the flexible tape can be cut into different lengths and features adhesive backing so it can be attached to walls, floors and other objects.

Roads, trains, houses and castles can sprout from basically any surface, turning your entire domicile into a veritable kingdom of abstract and concrete LEGO creations. A few rolls costs around $10 – pretty good for something so cool.

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Quite possibly the best material innovation since duct tape, Sugru is likewise firm but flexible, letting you shape it (works like rubbery putty) then set it while still expecting it to have some give and resistant to water, heat and cold.

The applications are effectively infinite, but some examples: join anything you would ordinarily use glue to do, fix holes in shoes, sculpt custom grips for favorite tools, bumpers to protect your devices, create shower hooks or toothbrush holders for your bathroom.

Less annoying than hot glue guns or heavy-handed than superglues, Sugru can still connect just about anything, including but not limited to aluminum, steel, ceramics, glass and wood as well as most plastics and rubbers.

Mixed and solidified in a low-heat process, the silicone-based product is adaptable and aimed at do-it-yourselfers who want to fix everyday problems around the house or come up with novel solutions to minor household annoyances, all at around $12 a pack from your local hardware or craft store – definitely not cheap, and may have mixed results depending on surface material or texture (experiment before deploying!).

The post Moldable Glue: DIY Fix-Anything Adhesive Acts Like Rubber first appeared on Gajitz.

When you think of foam dart-blasting guns, Nerf is probably the first name that pops into your head. Mattell has unveiled a line of blasters that have the potential to knock king Nerf from its throne. Called BOOMco, the guns themselves are attractive, but nothing extraordinary. What’s really interesting is the darts.

Until now, the standard type of projectile bursting forward from this type of plastic gun was a highly inefficient dart with a suction tip. They had to be aimed carefully at a flat surface in order to stick – and even then, they only stuck about 20% of the time. Other darts, with tips made of that weird sticky stuff, were collectors of lint and pet hair, rendering them useless rather quickly. Matell’s Chem Lab spent years creating SmartStick, an indisputably superior dart-sticking adhesive.

SmartStick is smart enough to stick only to its designated targets. It won’t adhere to walls, skin, clothes, animals, or anything other than the BOOMco targets. The proprietary technology doesn’t lose stickiness over time; it can stick and re-stick without accumulating gunk or becoming worn out. Your dart gun battles are about to get way more awesome.

(GIF via: FastCo)

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On the scale of sticky stuff, gecko feet are right near the top of the list. They can cling to just about any surface and never lose their clinging power. Humans have been studying them for decades to try to understand just how they can do the amazing things they do. Now, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology are trying to recreate the stickiness of the gecko foot in a reusable tape that will never lose its ability to stick.

The secret to the gecko’s foot stickiness that never wears out comes down to tiny hair-like structures called setae. When a gecko foot adheres to a surface, the setae form a temporary molecular bond with that surface. But when the gecko takes another step, it creates friction by dragging its foot across the surface. Dirt and little pieces of debris – which would continue to stick to tape and eventually remove all of its stickiness – simply roll off of the setae or get pushed into the folds of the gecko’s skin. This ability to the setae to easily slough off debris they pick up along the way is what keeps gecko feet infinitely sticky.

The team of researchers replicated the forms of setae by creating elastic microhairs. They stuck sheets of the synthetic setae onto sheets covered in microscopic debris, then replicated the press-slide-press movement of a gecko’s foot. While the initial tests didn’t recreate the never-ending stickiness of the gecko foot, it showed amazing promise. Besides reusable sticky tape, the self-cleaning adhesive could be used for clothing closures and medical applications – along with who knows what else in the future.

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