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How do flies walk on ceilings? - Diary

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Boots made for walking - on ceilings
Boots made for walking - on ceilings

Under wood

The invertebrates you'll find if you lift a chunk of wood play a vital part in the ecosystem. Explore the magic of log life.

Learning to fly

The science which keeps life aloft is complex - but fascinating. Discover how invertebrates achieve mastery of the air.

October 23rd - after noon
2pm
Adam and the geckos - no, not a rock'n'roll band. He explains how their extraordinary sub-molecular foot technology keeps them crawling across the hotel ceiling.

Warwick Vardy4pm
Our geckos and frogs were lent to us by Warwick Vardy of Oxford who has been collecting and breeding rare amphibians and reptiles ever since he was thirteen. 'I don't really like lending my animals out for filming as it encourages people to import them and they can get stressed out' says Warwick, 'but I don't mind if it's educational like Science Shack'.

His first love was the very rare Red Kneed Tarantula which was officially said to be extinct in its native Mexico. A local British pet shop owner gave him what the owner thought was a dying Red Kneed Tarantula. On taking it home Warwick discovered it was on its back because it was engaged in the quite normal annual shedding of its skin.

He later discovered it came with some other tiny ones the pet owner hadn't seen in the vivarium. Soon Warwick had bred hundreds of the blighters! He offered to repopulate Mexico with Red Kneed Tarantulas but the officials he spoke to did not take up his offer.

If you are a Mexican government official contact us now and (if you go down on your knees) Warwick will forgive you and help repopulate your beautiful country with Red Kneed spiders.

5.30pm
This afternoon Adam met hundreds of flies and Dr Hywell Jones, a tribologist at the University of Sheffield Hallam. Which means he makes a living observing how things rub against things.

Ceramics, plastics, you name it. All crucial for understanding how all types of machinery work. To do the observing he uses a very powerful electron microscope.

Hywell JonesFor Science Shack he abandoned his beloved scuffed ceramics and took some amazing pictures of flies' feet. They have hairs and claws and two suction looking thingies - all very well designed.

6.30pm
As you may have noticed our walking on the ceiling practice hasn't yet taken place! Filming ALWAYS takes longer than you expect. But the hook-and-eye boots, the magnets, the vacuum cleaners, and the scaffolding are ready and waiting for the 'suckers' to arrive tomorrow.

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