Tiny sensors inspired by gliding seeds could monitor the environment

By Michael Le Page

Tiny wireless sensors inspired by floating seeds could be used to measure environmental factors such as pH – but they could also have military applications.

John Rogers at Northwestern University in Illinois and his colleagues have developed sensors whose shape is modelled on seeds like those of maples that spin or glide down to the ground so they can disperse further. Because the sensors are smaller than many of the seeds they mimic – some are less than a millimetre across – and can …