US engineers create ‘smallest-ever human-made flying structure’

Context

Engineers from Illinois’ Northwestern University have created an electronic microchip or “microflier” with flight capabilities, which can help monitor air pollution levels and airborne diseases.

About

• This microflier is the “smallest-ever human-made flying structures”.
• The research has been published in Nature and is featured on the cover of the journal.
• Size: about the size of a grain of sand.
• Working: It does not require an engine or a motor. Instead, it catches flight on the wind — much like a maple tree’s propeller seed — and spins like a helicopter through the air toward the ground.
• These microfliers also can be packed with ultra-miniaturised technology, including sensors, power sources, antennas for wireless communication and embedded memory to store data.