Now you can be Spider-Man!

Move over Spider-Man - mere mortals may be coming to a ceiling near you.

British scientists have used the secrets of one of the natural world's greatest climbers - the gecko - to produce a sticky fabric tape with the lizard's super-adhesive abilities.

Humans could even use it to walk on walls like the comic-book superhero Spider-Man, according to a study.

Researchers at the University of Manchester spent two years developing the tape after studying the mechanics of the gecko's skills.

They managed to create a self- cleaning, re-attachable dry adhesive. Now, they say, it won't be long before gloves made from the material are in use.

The material uses plastic fibres, each less than a micrometre in diameter, to achieve its incredible properties. A university spokesman said: 'The adhesive - gecko tape - contains billions of tiny plastic fibres similar to the natural hairs covering the soles of geckos' feet.

'The research team believes it won't be long before Spider-Man gloves become a reality,' he added.

A one-inch square piece of the tape would currently cost about £3,000 to manufacture. But it is hoped commercial development will bring the price down.

An adult would need the palms of both hands completely covered in the fabric to be able to hang from a ceiling.

Researchers in the U.S. had already discovered that intermolecular forces - called van der Waals forces - were produced by the billions of tiny hair-like structures, or spatulae, on a gecko's toe. These forces, which arise when unbalanced electrical charges around molecules attract one another, allow the animal to hang upside down on polished glass.

The Manchester team, led by Professor Andre Geim, a specialist in nanotechnology, has created artificial spatulae, each of which is about two thousandths of a millimetre in height.

They plan to produce larger pieces of the tape and to strengthen them so each piece can be used indefinitely, according to the journal Nature Materials, which published the data.

Professor Bob Full of the University of California, who was involved in the research, said: 'Uses for the tape are nearly unlimited. It's like Velcro without the need for an opposite.'