Odell Beckham’s Helping Hands – the Tech Behind the Catch

nautil.us

11 points·dnetesn··5 comments

"... Beckham’s are custom-made versions of the Nike Vapor Jet 3.0, which features molded fingers, a “strategic mesh,” and “MagniGrip CL” on the palms and fingers. MagniGrip CL is a sticky material made from a mix of neoprene and silicone designed to help receivers hold on to a ball."

That's about the only "tech" in this article. Wish they would've done a little bit more like go into why neoprene and silicone are particularly good at gripping a football (which is made out of ...?).

Yea I thought the most interesting thing was the very brief mention of "Future models might use one of the gecko-inspired materials that let people climb up walls using Van der Waals attractive forces."

I think there have been attempts at trying to create Gecko-like adhesives like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geckel. But I am pretty sure there are a lot of details that Geckos have evolved/optimized for - surface area/shape of their setae/legs, angle of contact from their hyperextended toes, ability to stick in different humidities etc. - that would be difficult to recreate for football receivers on the field to actually take advantage of Van der Waals forces.

This stuff: https://www.inventables.com/technologies/suction-cup-tape was first "widely" used on the bottom of the Palm Pre charger. It's great to have around, provided you can keep the surface somewhat clean.

Sounds like NFL footballs are still leather, although it's a steer hide and not pigskin: http://www.livestrong.com/article/361972-what-is-the-officia... http://www.wilson.com/en-us/football/nfl/wilson-and-the-nfl/...

I thought Cris Carter only caught touchdowns.

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