The miniaturization trend that has produced computers, televisions and telephones that fit in shirt pockets is coming to satellites. A smaller satellite is, after all, easier and cheaper to get into orbit.

Tiny electronic spies the size of an aspirin could one day provide key intelligence for troops in the field, scientists say.

Adding a new dimension to the world of creepy-crawlies, researchers at the Sandia National Laboratories have developed mobile, electronic micro-bugs - sensor-equipped robots the size of a nickel. The lab sees the devices as potential environmental monitors or antiterrorist agents - capable of silently scampering under a door, quietly rolling into a corner and eavesdropping on whatever is going on inside.

Mechanical engineers at Vanderbilt University are working with DARPA to develop tiny robotic spies.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed tiny robot spies that collaborate to record an area that is too dangerous for humans to enter.

The Pentagon has announced a $60 million project to study how insects and reptiles fly, crawl, climb, and smell. The research will help them develop micro-robots for surveillance, reconnaissance, mine-detection and other tasks.