Have you ever wondered how octopuses are able to cling their tentacles onto practically everything they come across? Probably not, but i'm gonna tell you how they do it anyways. Octopus use what is called their "suckers", or those white round things in that picture above. These "suckers" are responsible for the tentacles ability to cling onto things. Researchers from Livorno, Italy discovered through using a microscope that each and every sucker is rimmed with tiny concentric grooves responsible for sealing onto things in the deep sea. Scientists have since become fascinated with this discovery and have tried to replicate the octopuses sucker by developing soft-bodied robots. These robots were then used to simulate the ability of the sucker to latch onto different uneven objects at great water pressures. The results these scientists got from their experiments were magnificent as the suckers were able to latch onto every test object they placed the suckers on.
Courage, Katherine Harmon. "Octopus Suckers Have Groovy Secret for Strength." Scientific American Blog Network. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, A DIVISION OF NATURE AMERICA, INC., 1 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 June 2017.
Seeing as the robot suckers where tested underwater I'm quite curious if they still work effectively on land with normal air pressure. I also wonder if the groves still help the suckers overall compared to a normal suction cup.
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