The first commercial applications, assuming it gets that far, could be in making silent fixed-wing drones, including for environmental monitoring and communication platforms.

It may also lead to other innovations such as pilotless searchand-rescue operations and unmanned environmental monitoring flights.

Today ecologists have orders of magnitude more data compared to just a decade ago, thanks to sustained public funding for basic science and environmental monitoring.

Researchers also believe that the material could be used to create remote environmental monitoring devices that self-destruct after collecting data.

The leap forward could affect everything from agriculture to financial markets, mineral exploration to environmental monitoring, navigation, warfare - and, of course, privacy.