For several years scientists have been studying how geckos manage to climb up and remain on very sheer surfaces. Recently scientists at the University of Dayton have created an adhesive inspired by the gecko's remarkable ability.

A potential treatment for paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury is to route control signals from the brain around the injury by artificial connections. These results are the first demonstration that direct artificial connections between cortical cells and muscles can compensate for interrupted physiological pathways and restore volitional control of movement to paralysed limbs.

A lightweight, silicon-based solar cell that can be installed on curved surfaces such as fabrics could be used for a broad range of applications. A paper online this week in Nature Materials (http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nmat2287) describes the new device, one of the most efficient flexible solar cells designed so far.