the researchers say that such small flying machines could one day be used as spies, or for injecting harmful chemicals.

There you go, fixed that for you.

There was a time when I could have seen the banner of a newspaper called the "Post Independent" without instinctively interpreting it as a rather sad coda to the hopeful "Pre-Independent" and the once proud "Independent".

Ultimately, the team developed its own fabrication process. Using laser micromachining, researchers cut thin sheets of carbon fiber into two-dimensional patterns that are accurate to a couple of micrometers

Interesting how carbon-fiber is becoming the new 'it' material. Formula 1 cars started using it years ago for its light weight and low weight-to-stiffness ratio. Now, Tour-de-France bikes are all made of it and the new Boeing plane uses it quite a bit now, not to mention our new insect robot overlords.

Unfortunately, the stuff is really brittle, but that problem can be dealt with via clever engineering.

That's 60 milligrams, despite the erroneous caption. Impressive, and, as you say, scary; but no more so than cyborg moths.

Aha, I thought so, from the second page of the article:

"The researchers are also working on an onboard power source. (At the moment, the robotic fly is powered externally.) Wood says that a scaled-down lithium-polymer battery would provide less than five minutes of flying time."

Every little flying robot so far has run into the same problem.

Cyborg moths? Chemical injecting flies?

So, I'm gonna go buy like, 8 bug-zappers this weekend (and hope I don't end up on a potential terrorist watch list now).

DARPA, how I loathe thee...

I'll bet I could impale one of those flybots with my middle finger.

No, maybe we should use bot flies against em.

Just what we need - more of the government taking money from us to make us "safer" from the threats it creates.