US researchers have developed the world's smallest fully programmable robots, on a scale of 0.2-0.5 millimeters, the same size as microorganisms that cause diseases like dysentery and schistosomiasis.
US researchers have developed the world's smallest fully programmable robots, on a scale of 0.2-0.5 millimeters, the same size as microorganisms that cause diseases like dysentery and schistosomiasis.
In most people's sci-fi nightmares about robots trying to wipe out humanity, the robots tend to be big. But wouldn't they be more deadly if they were tiny? 0.2-0.5 millimeters is bigger than bacteria or viruses, but it's the size range of many single-cell protozoans.
That possibility is bad enough, but we'd better hope no one figures out how to make these things self-replicating. Think that sounds far-fetched? Evolution figured it out with single-cell organisms 2 billion years ago, and they haven't faltered since.