This article discusses two of the several examples from Nature that serves as an inspiration for scientists and engineers— lotus leaf and gecko’s foot. Lotus leaf is superhydrophobic and exhibits self-cleaning properties. On the other hand, gecko’s foot can attach to any surface and move around quickly without leaving a mark. Both these phenomena are attributed to nanostructured hierarchical organization, which modulates or tunes the surface area. Applications of superhydrophobicity of the lotus leaf and adhesion of gecko’s foot are also mentioned. © 2021, Indian Academy of Sciences.