Science
Researchers Levitated a Small Tray Using Nothing but Light – WIRED
One day a “magic carpet” based on this light-induced flow technology could carry climate sensors high in the atmosphere—wind permitting.
Their simulations estimated that a 6-centimeter plate could carry 10 milligrams of cargo in the mesosphere under natural sunlight. Ten milligrams may not sound like much; a drop of water weighs five times as much. But engineering advances have shrunk silicon chips into dust-sized sensors far smaller than that. These smart dust systems can fit a power source, radio communication, and a data-collecting sensor in cubes only a millimeter across. Researchers can do a lot when you give them a cubic millimeter…
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