An Italian scientist has come up with an idea for a Spider-Man like climbing suit. The suit would use the sticky million-hair technology employed by geckos and…SPIDERS.

It is generally accepted that the microscopic hairs adhere to the surfaces, not by gripping in the traditional sense, but by using intermolecular phenomena called van der Waal forces, which are the same that allow an atom’s protons not to burst apart.

Adhesion strength drops exponentially as the surface area and weight increases, so creating the same effect in a human-sized subject has been considered impossible.

However, Professor Nicola Pugno has calculated how sufficient stickiness could be generated in the same way to support an adult human’s bodyweight.

This would be achieved by creating gloves and shoes coated in an hierarchical structure of carbon nanotubes to provide the same effect.