Credit: A 3D microflier sits next to a common ant to show scale; Northwestern University
'Microfliers' could monitor air pollution, airborne disease and environmental contamination
Engineers have added a new capability to electronic microchips: flight.
About the size of a grain of sand, the new flying microchip, or "microflier," does not have a motor or engine. 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.
