tapping into van der Waals forces

Van der Waals bonding, normally referred to as weak, is strong enough to hold a gecko hanging upside down form the ceiling. The trick is to have enough of the bonding. Though not replicating the gecko's adhesion, researchers at Berkeley have made a polypropylene material utilizing the same type of micro hair surface as the gecko's feet. The material exhibits outstanding friction properties, just by altering the surface geometry. Up next is replicating the geometry of the gecko hairs to tap the van der Waals forces of the world.

I imagine that racing will never be the same, once this idea is applied to tires.