It looks like enough of us believe in fairies after all, but it's not Tinkerbell who is flying this time. Scientists from Tampere University in Finland have developed a 0.2-inch (4 mm) robot that uses wind and light energy to soar through the air. Their'flying aero-robot based on light-responsive materials assembly' - FAIRY - weighs just 1.2 milligrams, meaning it can be blown about by even a gentle breeze. It resembles a dandelion seed or'pappus', with super-fine bristles poking from two wings which gently flap when activated with light. The'flying aero-robot based on light-responsive materials assembly' (pictured) - FAIRY - weighs just 1.2 milligrams so can be blown about by even a gentle breeze.

Face shields offer no protection against coronavirus if an infected person nearby sneezes without a mask on, a study shows. Researchers used computer models to visualise the spread of droplets around a face shield ejected by a human sneeze from 3ft (1m) away. It reveals'vortex rings' produced by the sneeze carry infectious particles to the face shield in less than a second and stick to the edges of the plastic. Researchers say if the timing of this wave of coronavirus particles coincides with the face shield wearer breathing in, the person can become infected. Wearing a face mask has a negative impact on our ability to communicate with others, according to a new survey.

Existing methods that aim to automatically cluster data into physically meaningful subsets typically require assumptions regarding the number, size, or shape of the coherent subgroups. We present a new method, simultaneous Coherent Structure Coloring (sCSC), which accomplishes the task of unsupervised clustering without a priori guidance regarding the underlying structure of the data. To illustrate the versatility of the method, we apply it to frontier physics problems at vastly different temporal and spatial scales: in a theoretical model of geophysical fluid dynamics, in laboratory measurements of vortex ring formation and entrainment, and in atomistic simulation of the Protein G system. The theoretical flow involves sparse sampling of non-equilibrium dynamics, where this new technique can find and characterize the structures that govern fluid transport using two orders of magnitude less data than required by existing methods. Application of the method to empirical measurements of vortex formation leads to the discovery of a well defined region in which vortex ring entrainment occurs, with potential implications ranging from flow control to cardiovascular diagnostics. Finally, the protein folding example demonstrates a data-rich application governed by equilibrium dynamics, where the technique in this manuscript automatically discovers the hierarchy of distinct processes that govern protein folding and clusters protein configurations accordingly. We anticipate straightforward translation to many other fields where existing analysis tools, such as k-means and traditional hierarchical clustering, require ad hoc assumptions on the data structure or lack the interpretability of the present method. The method is also potentially generalizable to fields where the underlying processes are less accessible, such as genomics and neuroscience.