Electronic chips with sensors and transmitters the size of dust grains will be able to spy on enemy movements in real time, monitor disease and environmental pollution.

Engineers have developed the smallest flying structure by humans: a tiny microchip, with wings

The ‘micro-flyers’ come in the size of a grain, plus or minus, and do not need an engine of any kind. They catch a ride on the wind, similar to the way in which seeds with ‘wings’ are able to be carried along for hours and for hundreds and several kilometers – until they are comfortable. However, unlike seeds from nature, the flying micro-aircraft can carry sensors, energy sources, antennas for transmitting information through all means for storing information.

You can talk a lot about the science and engineering behind the development, and they are really interesting. The researchers were inspired by the aerodynamic properties of various floating seeds, and developed a simple creation process in which the shape of the flying objects can be drawn on a two-dimensional surface. Once the micro-flyers are detached from the surface, they fold themselves into a 3D shape. This means that the micro-flyers can be manufactured as easily and at the same cost as making chips today. And by implication, one can certainly think of millions of flying micro-aircraft with a total volume of several cubic meters, which are dropped from an airplane to monitor an entire area on the ground.

Despite the good intentions, it seems clear that the micro-drones can find a warm home in the bosom of the military system. The most advanced armies in the world have been fantasizing for more than twenty years about “smart dust” – the ability to fill the air with sensors that will monitor… well, everything.