Oh, As you're no doubt aware, dealing with waste down here on planet Earth is a big problem.

But the amount of debris floating around in space is also rapidly growing, with

more than 20,000 objects larger than 10 centimeters in diameter orbiting Earth at speeds of up to 28,000 kilometers per hour.

This space junk is made up of defunct satellites, bits of spacecraft, spent rockets, and when this debris collides with a working satellite, for example,

the damages and losses can run up a costly bill of millions of dollars.

To make things worse, each collision can trigger a chain

reaction resulting in even more debris. As the amount of space debris increases,

so too does the growing threat of damage to passenger carrying spacecraft

and even to the International Space Station.

But as we'll hear, the answer to this problem could lie in the feet of the gecko.

Hey there, welcome back to 30 animals that made Smarter, an original podcast from the BBC World Service.

The podcast which investigates the amazing ways in which animals have inspired us. If you've enjoyed listening to our previous podcasts, I'd really appreciate you spreading the word and telling your friends

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Right in this episode number 17 we'll be hearing how Gecko's feet have inspired

super adhesive materials that could be useful inside the human body as well as helping us to clear up waste in space.

Until now, capturing space debris has been far from easy. This is because suction cups don't work in a vacuum,

which if I'm honest is something I hadn't considered until now. And traditional sticky

substances like tape and glue can't handle the freezing temperatures of space.

But now, thanks to Gecos, or more precisely, their feet, a team at Stamford University in the United States of America and NASA's

Jet Propulsion Laboratory may have found the solution, a new kind of robotic sticky arm

...