Ivy on a wall, which may hold the key to stronger airsoft gear If you’ve ever had to clear out the garden and found ivy growing up the side of your house, you will understand how much of a pain it is to remove! But now, a team at Ohio State University are looking into this adhesive property of ivy, and how it could be applied to other situations. The team are studying the tiny particles that give the ivy its strong grip, with the view of creating better industrial and medical adhesives, as well as creating stronger body armour. When it is climbing, ivy secretes microscopic particles which have an extremely low viscosity (the informal concept of thickness), which means they can work their way into any nooks and crannies on whichever surface they are attached to. There is a lot of complicated science behind this involving proteins, evaporation and the like (we won’t bore you with the details) but when the adhesive from the ivy dries, it stays stuck. This is why ivy is capable of surviving natural disasters and the enraged gardeners alike! The biomedical engineering professor leading the team, Mingjun Zhang, said, “Ivy is very resistant to various environmental conditions, which makes the adhesive a particularly interesting candidate for the development of armour coatings. It's very difficult to tear down, even in a natural disaster. It's one of the strongest adhesive forces in nature. Because of the potential capabilities of this adhesive strength, the U.S. Army are interested in using it to strengthen their body armour systems, and have jointly funded the research to try and make it happen. It is also believed that the adhesive qualities may come in useful when it comes to healing wounds after injuries or surgery. If applied correctly, do you think we could see these adhesive properties creeping their way into airsoft gear and other mainstream functionalities? Or will they be kept purely for military adaptations? Let us know in the Facebook comments.