We have covered the earth with nanobits to track air quality and the results are astonishing. The atmosphere is full of nanobots.

"Nanobots Used to Track Air Quality Ironically Make Air Quality Much Worse"

Sounds like an Onion headline honestly.

How many nanobits in a nanobot?

Depends on whether the last nanobit is used for parity or data.

Someone is going to aspirate these things.

Including frogs and birds.

Yeah, this could get pretty ugly.

There is a video that demonstrates and explains the nano bots in the article and near the end of the video they stated that the bots are made out of biodegradable materials that will degrade with time/rain

Everything degrades over a long enough timescale, even plastics and metals. The question is what damage they do to ecosystems on their long cycle to be atomized and recycled.

No, it says "Some of the microfliers are built" with such a material.

What about magnets for collection?

Pretty sure any magnet strong enough to attract one of these from the distances required would also induce a voltage on any sufficiently long wire that’s moving through the flux lines. i.e. might cause problems for your car, for airplanes, etc.

Neither the researchers nor the media outlet said anything about pollution

FTA

> It's neither a bird nor a plane, but a winged microchip as small as a grain of sand that can be carried by the wind as it monitors such things as pollution levels or the spread of airborne diseases.

I meant no one said anything about monitoring pollution

> as it monitors such things as pollution levels