In sad news for supporters of vigilante justice everywhere, scientists have revealed the web-swinging abilities of Spider-Man would not be feasible in the real world.
Researchers from Cambridge University say the superhero would need 43ins hands and size 114 feet to stick to a wall without falling off.
The experts found that as climbing animals grow in weight and size, the amount of body surface needed to be "sticky" increases exponentially.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A mutant crime-fighter such as Peter Parker would therefore need sticky pads covering 40 per cent of their body to scale buildings.
"As animals increase in size, the amount of body surface area per volume decreases: an ant has a lot of surface area and very little volume and an elephant is mostly volume with not much surface area," said lead researcher David Labonte.
"This poses a problem for larger climbing animals because, when they are bigger and heavier, they need more sticking power. But they have comparatively less body surface available for sticky footpads.
"This implies that there is a maximum size for animals climbing with sticky footpads – and that turns out to be about the size of a gecko."
There is one other possible solution to the problem and that's to make your sticky footpads even stickier, notes the Daily Telegraph.
"We noticed that within some groups of closely related species, pad size was not increasing fast enough to match body size yet these animals could still stick to walls," said the report's co-author Christofer Clemente.
"We found that tree frogs have switched to this second option of making pads stickier rather than bigger. It's remarkable that we see two different evolutionary solutions to the problem of getting big and sticking to walls."
There is some hope for those still wishing to imitate Spider-Man, Engadget observes.
"The findings show that bigger animals partly overcome their size through stickier pads, and this has implications for the creation of large-but-flexible synthetic adhesives that aren't practical right now," writes Jon Fingas.
"There may never be a real Peter Parker, then, but the studies showing why he can't exist might just lead to some technological breakthroughs."
-
Wikipedia: Is ‘neutrality’ still possible?Feature Wikipedia struggles to stay neutral as conservatives accuse the site of being left-leaning
-
A House of Dynamite, After the Hunt, and It Was Just an AccidentFeature A nuclear missile bears down on a U.S. city, a sexual misconduct allegation rocks an elite university campus, and a victim of government terror pursues vengeance
-
Book reviews: ‘Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife’ and ‘Make Me Commissioner: I Know What’s Wrong With Baseball and How to Fix It’Feature Gertrude Stein’s untold story and Jane Leavy’s playbook on how to save baseball
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designationThe Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
