The surprising science of squeaky sneakers

• Nature Video

• 25 February 2026

The surprising science of squeaky sneakers

The mystery of why soft shoes squeak on hard floors may be solved, according to new research

Dan Fox

Dan Fox

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It’s not just shoes that squeak when they slide over a hard surface. Bike brakes, rubber tyres, even some biomedical implants such as artificial hips have been known to squeal as soft and hard surfaces come into contact with each other.

Read the paper: Squeaking at soft–rigid frictional interfaces

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