This biodegradable drone made of fungi can disintegrate

A team of researchers from a variety institutions, including NASA’s Ames Research Centre, has developed a biodegradable drone that can disintegrate when it needs to, destroying evidence of its spying activities in the process. The drone is made of mycelium, the vegetative part of fungi, and has already completed its first flight.

According to Lynn Rothschild of NASA Ames, when the need for the drone to self-destroy arises, it need only dive into a puddle and “no one would know if you’d spilled some sugar water or if there’d been an airplane there.”

Ecovative Design, a material science company developing a new class of home-compostable bioplastics based on mycelium, grew the mycelia into a custom drone-shaped chassis. The drone is not entirely made of biodegradable material,  but the researchers are hoping to change this. The team did however use silver nanoparticle ink to print the device’s circuits.

When the researchers took the drone for a test earlier this month, the team was forced to use propellers, controls and batteries taken from an ordinary quadrocopter because the drone is not entirely made from biodegradable material.