Robobugs, Gecko Tape, and Nature's Inspiration

In the last four billion years, Mother Nature has evolved some amazing feats in engineering. That's why UC Berkeley professor Robert Full spends so much time studying how cockroaches, crabs, lizards, and other creepy-crawlies move through the world. His groundbreaking research on animal locomotion not only deepens our understanding of biology but has also inspired such wonders as a mechanical crab, robotic cockroach, and self-cleaning adhesive tape based on a Gecko's foot.

Spinning Out the Future of Computing

The computer industry is headed toward a brick wall. Within a decade or so, Moore's Law–which predicts that the number of transistors that can be packed on a silicon integrated circuit doubles every 18 months–will run up against the laws of physics. To keep processing speed on the ever-increasing fast track, scientists and engineers are experimenting with entirely new kinds of devices that could be the building blocks of tomorrow's computers. UC Berkeley physicist Joe Orenstein's research is in the realm of "spintronics," a field that could lead to computers that store and process information in the spins of individual atoms.

Engineering Evolution

UC Berkeley chemical engineer David Schaffer is bucking family tradition and working to improve the delivery of gene therapies that have the potential to fight neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's, Lou Gehrig's disease (Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS), and even cancer.

Robert Full studies nature's "extremes of performance," like the stick-to-it-iveness of geckos, to extract principles that can be used by human engineers.