Profile

I’m a PhD student at the University of Glasgow, and I do work with tree frogs. Tree frogs are several species of frog, which can jump and climb through the rainforests throughout the world. They can do so because they have specially adapted pads on the ends of their toes which allow them to stick onto many surfaces, even glass . They stick as a combination of: a) the cells on their toe pads, which have a distinctive hexagonal pattern, with deep channels between each cells , and b) a watery fluid produced by the pad to help with sticking. The fluid levels need to be just right for the frog to stick effectively – think about making a sandcastle; with too much or too little water, its difficult to get the sand to stick right, however with just the right ratio of water to sand, you can. Similarly, tree frogs are able to keep their pads at an ideal fluid level for sticking, and the channels between each cell help to control this when it is climbing. All this occurs passively, as in the frog doesn’t need to think about this, and can climb without having to think too much about it. The great thing about this way of sticking, is that they can do this many times every day, sticking and detaching their feet over and over again. If there was a piece of sticky tape which could be used over and over repeatedly, then that would be a pretty good invention. This leads on to the idea behind my research. I test the frogs’ pads under a variety of conditions – rough surfaces, wet surfaces etc. – places where modern tapes and glues often fail to work. Frogs may have adaptations to their pads which allow them to stick in these sort of conditions, and so could inspire the invention of ‘smart’ adhesives which can work in a variety of places, and have many uses.

First thing I’ll do when I get into the University, is go to the lab to see how the frogs are. Their tanks are kept moist and warm, just like the rainforest they are from, and so I check to see that they are all happy . I’ll also feed them 3 times a week on crickets, which they love to hunt and eat. The rest of my day depends on where I am with my experiments. Either I’ll be testing the climbing abilities of the tree frogs, or I’ll be writing up work that I’ve done recently. Between all of this, I’ll be having meetings with my group, going to talks at the University and reading up on new research.