# Winged microchip is smallest-ever human-made flying structure

- Link: https://www.widthness.com/winged-microchip-is-smallest-ever-human-made-flying-structure-2/
- Published: 2021-11-06T10:00:24-05:00
- Author: Curated by Theresa Wysocki

Image: A 3D microflier sits next to a common ant to show scale. Image credit: Northwestern University. National Science Foundation – November 4, 2021. 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. […] Click here to view original web page at www.nsf.gov