Higher Frequency

Real or not real?

NOPE NOT REAL.

More after the original post…

Here’s a photo going around of a supposed micro aerial vehicle modeled after a mosquito, with various scary Big Brother-esque abilities such as taking DNA samples and installing RFID tags in your skin. It’s completely fake, although it’s a very nifty idea. I don’t mean to ruin your fun. I only bust these lies because I love you.

But the original post says I should do some “research” before declaring it fake, so here’s some more info: Although there are RFID tags smaller than the head of a needle, that’s still be larger than the needle shown in this picture. Also, the “sources” listed are to press releases about a lab that takes high speed videos of butterfly flight, like the one I featured last week, and not referring to any “mosquito spybots”.

The current smallest MAV is a recent DARPA project called The Hummingbird (video included at the link), thus named because it is the size and shape of a hummingbird. There’s lots of “artist’s interpretations” and such, like the one above, but wind instability of these tiny imaginary things that have never been built means that they will remain unbuilt for the near to distant future.