Sticking power

Want to walk on the ceiling?

All it takes is a bit of fancy footwork

A. If Keilar Autumn, an expert in Biomechanik at Clark College in Portland, Oregon, has his way, the first footprints on Mars won't be human. They'll belong to a gecko. Gecko toes have legendary sticking power - and the Clark College scientist would like to see the next generation of Martian robots walking about on gecko-style feet. A gecko can whiz up the smoothest wall and hang from the ceiling by one foot, with no fear of falling.

B. Autumn is one of a long line of researchers who have puzzled over the gecko's gravity-defying footwork. Earlier this year, he and his colleagues discovered that the gecko's toes don't just stick, they bond to the surface beneath them. Engineers are already trying to copy the gecko's technique - but reptilian feet are not the only ones they are interested in.

C. Some of the most persistent 'hanging' creatures are insects. They can defy not just gravity, but gusts of wind, raindrops and a predator's attempt to prize them loose. Recent discoveries about how they achieve this could lead to the development of quick-release adhesives and miniature grippers, ideal for manipulating microscopic components or holding tiny bits of tissue together during surgery. 'There are lots of ways to make two surfaces stick together, but there are very few which provide precise and reversible attachment,' says Stas Gorb, a biologist in Tübingen, Germany, working on the problem.

D. Geckos and insects have both perfected ways of doing this, and engineers and scientists would dearly love to know how. Friction certainly plays a part in assisting horizontal movement, but when the animal is running up a slope, climbing vertically or travelling upside down, it needs a more powerful adhesive. Just what that adhesive is has been hotly debated for years. Some people suggested that insects had micro-suckers. Some reckoned they relied on electrostatic forces. Others thought that intermolecular forces between pad and leaf might provide a firm foothold.

E. Most of the evidence suggests that insects rely on 'wet adhesion', hanging on with the help of a thin film of fluid on the bottom of the pad. Insects often leave tiny trails of oily footprints. Some clearly secrete a fluid onto the 'soles' of their feet. And they tend to lose their footing when they have their feet cleaned or dried.

F. This year, Walter Federle, an entomologist at the University of Würzburg, showed experimentally that an insect's sticking power depends on a thin film of liquid under its feet. He placed an ant on a polished turntable inside the rotor of a centrifuge, and switched it on. At slow speeds, the ant carried on walking unperturbed. But as the scientist slowly increased the speed, the pulling forces grew stronger and the ant stopped dead, legs spread out and all six feet planted firmly on the ground. At higher speeds still, the ant's feet began to slide. 'This can only be explained by the presence of a liquid,' says Federle. 'If the ant relied on some form of dry adhesion, its feet would pop abruptly off the surface once the pull got too strong.'

G. But the liquid isn't the whole story. What engineers really find exciting about insect feet is the way they make almost perfect contact with the surface beneath. 'Sticking to a perfectly smooth surface is no big deal,' says Gorb. But in nature, even the smoothest-looking surfaces have microscopic lumps and bumps. For a footpad to make good contact, it must follow the contours of the landscape beneath it. Flies, beetles and earwigs have solved the problem with hairy footpads, with hairs that bend like the bristles of a toothbrush to accommodate the troughs below.

H. Gorb has tested dozens of species with this sort of pad to see which had the best stick. Flies resist a pull of three or four times their body weight - perfectly adequate for crossing the ceiling. But beetles can do better and the champion is a small, blue beetle with oversized yellow feet, found in the south-eastern parts of the US.

I. Tom Eisner, a chemical ecologist at Cornell University in New York, has been fascinated by this beetle for years. Almost 30 years ago, he suggested that the beetle clung an tight to avoid being picked off by predators - ants in particular. When Eisher measured the beetle's sticking power earlier this year, he found that it can withstand pulling forces of around 80 times its own weight for about two minutes and an astonishing 200 times its own weight for shorter periods. 'The ants give up because the beetle holds on longer than they can be bothered to attack it,' he says.

J. Whatever liquid insects rely on, the gecko seems able to manage without it. No one knows quite why the gecko needs so much sticking power. 'It seems overbuilt for the job,' says Autumn. But whatever the gecko's needs are, its skills are in demand by humans. Autumn and his colleagues in Oregon have already helped to create a robot that walks like a gecko. Mecho-Gecko, a robot built by iRobot of Massachusetts, walks like a lizard - rolling its toes down and peeling them up again. At the moment, though, it has to make do with balls of glue to give it stick. The next step is to try to reproduce the hairs on a gecko's toes and create a robot with the full set of gecko skills. Then we could build robots with feet that stick without glue, clean themselves and work just as well underwater as in the vacuum of space or crawling over the dusty landscape of Mars.

Ques. Look at the following statements and the list of scientists below. Match each statement with the correct scientist. A, B, C or D

List of Scientists
A Kellar Autumn
B Stas Gorb
C Walter Federte
D Tom Eisher

• 1. Some insects use their ability to stick to surfaces as a way of defending themselves.
• 2. What makes sticky insect feet special is the fact that they can also detach themselves easily from a surface.
• 3. Gecko feet seem to be stickier than they need to be.
• 4. A robot with gecko-style feet would be ideal for exploring other planets.
• 5. Evidence shows that in order to stick, insect feet have to be wet.

Ques. Which paragraph contains the following information?

6. Some of the practical things a gecko-style adhesive could be used for
7. a description of a test involving an insect in motion
8. three different theories scientists have had about how insect feet stick
9. examples of remarkable gecko movements

Ques. Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-G below.

A stick to surfaces in and out of water.
B curl up and down.
C are washed and dried.
D resist a pull of three times their body weight.
E start to slip across the surface.
F leave yellow footprints.
G have hairy footpads.

• 10. Insect feet lose their sticking power when they
• 11. If you put ants on a rapidly rotating object, their feet
• 12. Beetles can stick to uneven surfaces because they
• 13. The toes on rob ots like Mecho-Gecko

Click To View Answers

Ques. Complete the following sentences with correct form of adjectives.

1. Jeremy is 10 years old. Jenny is 8 years old.
Jeremy is (old) ____________ ______ Jenny.

2. The Alps are very high. They are (high) _____ _______________ mountains in Europe.

3. An ocean is very large.
It is (large) ____________ _______ a sea.

4. A Rolls Royce costs a lot of money. A BMW costs less.
A Rolls Royce is (expensive) _______ ________________ _____ a BMW.

5. John's results were bad. Fred's were very poor.
Fred's results were (bad) _________ _____ John's.

6. This exercise is not very difficult. It's ____________ ______ I expected.

7. The weather is not good today. It's raining
I hope the weather will be (good) _____________ next week.

8. People are not very friendly in big cities.
They are usually (friendly) ________________ in small towns.

9. In a republic, the President is (important) _____ ______ _______________ person.

10. People say that Chinese is (difficult) ______ ____________ to learn than English.

Click To View Answers

Ques: Complete the following sentences with the correct word: like or as.

11. My sister is not at all __________ me.

12. I've had my hair cut, _________ you can see.

13. Tom has joined a telephone company _________ product manager.

14. When James was a student, he worked every summer ________ a waiter.

15. My friend Mary looks __________ Madonna.

16. Tom qualified ________ an engineer before attending a business school.

17. Julie is completely overworked.
She works _______ a slave!

18. Today is Friday, so today, _________ on every Friday, we wear casual wear.

19. Strong leaders, _________Winston Churchill, are few and far between.

20. He's a very good swimmer.
He can swim ________ a fish!

Click To View Answers

Questions: True or False?

1. The customers want two tables.

2. There are two customers eating together.

3. The two customers order the same starter.

4. Both customers order the Thai chicken for their main course.

5. The customers order cold drinks.

6. Both customers order a dessert.

Click To View Answers

Gap-fills

7. A table ................ Two please.

8. Are you .............. to order?

9. what would you .......... For your starter?

10. I’d ............ French onion soup, please.

11. What ............ you like to drink?

12. I’ll ............. a fresh orange juice.

Click To View Answers

Name:

Phone:

Answers:

1. D
2. B
3. A
4. A
5. C
6. C
7. F
8. D
9. A
10. C
11. E
12. G
13. B

Grammar Test:

Answers:

1. older than
2. the highest
3. larger than
4. more expensive than
5. worse than
6. easier than
7. better
8. friendlier
9. the most important
10. more difficult
11. like
12. as
13. as
14. as
15. like
16. as
17. like
18. as
19. like
20. like

Listening Comprehension   Eating out

Answers:

1. False
2. True
3. False
4. True
5. True
6. False
7. For
8. Ready
9. like
10. like
11. Would
12. have

The ability to communicate or convey our messages effectively is the most important of all life skills. Communication is simply the act of exchanging information from one to another, whether this is verbal or non-verbal, written or visual. Keeping a conversation going is something of an art, and not everyone is born with this art but this is something that can be learned efficiently. Effective verbal communication is dependent on a number of factors and cannot be fully isolated from other important interpersonal skills such as non-verbal communication, listening skills and clarification. Clarity of speech, remaining calm and focused, being polite and following some basic rules of etiquette will all aid the process of verbal communication. Communication skills are crucial for building strong foundation for a successful future career of students. In today’s competitive era, communication skills in business are the most sought after quality of an educated person. Reading, writing, listening carefully and speaking effectively are the four most important communication skills for students.

What deserves more attention is that most of the students do not feel comfortable to address the masses or express themselves in public. This is where the students lack the expressive skills. Our everyday programs and teaching methodology are designed to develop these expressive skills, as we strongly opine that students need to learn how to communicate effectively and get the full attention of the listeners/audiences.

Our programs aim at the overall development of an individual not only for the exams but for their bright future as well.

English is the prime business language and it has become a necessity for people to speak English if they are to enter a globalized work environment. The process of learning English can be challenging and time consuming, we can see that it is also valuable to learn and can create opportunities to study/work across the globe!

Many people around us are not lucky enough to go to a brilliant English medium school, while most of those who studied in English medium schools are not able to express themselves well in English or lack the confidence to converse in English. This meant that even though the students learnt English as a subject, they still do not have many opportunities to brush up their grammar and spoken English skills. This later becomes the biggest hurdle for them in their way to success. The current generation of youth that had big dreams and wanted to make a difference suddenly realized after coming into the global platform after their studies that how much they have missed upon the functional English Language Learning! In today’s competitive era, it has become essential that people communicate fluently and efficiently if they want to progress in these cut throat competition times. Unless you have excellent English speaking skills, and knowledge of correct grammatical structures, there will always be a limit to your success and you will always be hindered by your own shortcomings!

Our Grammar and Spoken English course is designed in such a way that it caters to need of every individual who aims to carve a niche in the society. It covers a wide range of topics and everyday situations that will help the learners to overcome this shortcoming in their personal as well as professional life.

All time management begins with planning.

Do you often feel stressed out because you are not able to manage your time while preparing for exam? Time is undoubtedly one of your greatest tools for success in exams like IELTS and PTE where all the modules are supposed to be completed within the given/allotted time periods, and here you truly can't afford not to use it wisely.

In simple words, time management means consciously knowing how much time you should put and spend on a specific activity or question type. Learning how to manage your time gives you a laser focus on the most important things.

Time in exam hall is one of the key factors on how well you score. Besides proper preparation and study for exam, it is important to manage time in exam. All the language proficiency tests though are designed to assess your language still defer in their requirement to write, describe the subjects and even the time factors which affects the scoring. Time management is important in IELTS as well as PTE.

IELTS and time management: The IELTS Reading module requires the test-taker to read three passages and answer 40 questions in 60 minutes. Test-taker can work at his/her own pace. But how much time should he/she be spending on reading and how much time on answering the questions? IELTS writing Module requires test-taker to complete two writing tasks within the given time limit.

PTE and time management: Our day long reading orientation for both IELTS and PTE, will help you how to identify different question types and also be instrumental in learning how to locate and find answers in the given time period. The same pattern would be followed in the classroom during the training and preparation sessions classes in order to make the student comfortable and confident about his/her time management skills. Own your growth and your schedule.