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The United Kingdom, as well as parts of the USA and Canada, have reported experiencing thick layers of fog, now being dubbed as Fogvid-24. The name has been derived from COVID-19 because exposure to this fog has reportedly made people sick with cold/flu-like symptoms.
The phenomenon has now fueled conspiracy theories online. While some mention “alien spores,” others have called it a “chemical mist.” Some have even claimed it was a methane explosion. In the wake of this, netizens have also come up with the theory that this alleged hazardous fog could be Smart Dust.
For those unaware, Smart Dust refers to a kind of miniaturized and often invisible wireless devices with sensors, cameras, and communication systems that transmit data, collect it back to a base, and then process it.
In fact, the U.S. government’s DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) also has a funded Smart Dust Project, which aims to develop a sensor and communication mechanism that can be incorporated into a cubic millimeter package. It is part of the agency’s SHIELD program and originated in the early 1990s.
Now, amid the ongoing fog conspiracy theory online, people have speculated that the current phenomenon was linked to DARPA’s Smart Dust venture. Here are some comments regarding the same on the social networking site, X.
“Could this strange fog happening in multiple states and cities be Smart Dust? DARPA has a patent on Smart Dust back in the ‘90s I’m sure it’s been perfected in 2024 and the use of AI now,” a person wrote.
“The fog is smart dust...,” one person wrote.
“Who had a Mysterious poisonous fog on their bingo card for 2025? WTF is going on? #Smartdust #Darpa,” a netizen asked.
“The fog people have been seeing. Is called ‘smart dust’ invented by Dr. Pister. In 1997 it’s used to blanket monitor communications or to detect radiation. With over 26m. Illegal immigrants in America. They are sweeping concerns,” another netizen wrote.
“#SmartDust Now they're just using nanotech and smart dust instead... DARPA neural networks are suspected to have infected the majority of the world's population... All around the world what you can see isn't fugg,” a user wrote.
Notably, there is no official confirmation that the latest misty condition has anything to do with Smart Dust or DARPA.
Exploring more about Smart Dust in the wake of the latest fog-related conspiracy theories
According to the website maize.io, Smart Dust refers to “a system of many tiny microelectromechanical systems such as sensors, robots, or other devices, that can detect light, temperature, vibration, magnetism, chemicals, and other stimuli.”
Meanwhile, nanowerk.com defines it as “wireless networks of sub-millimeter-scale autonomous computing and sensing platforms not larger than a grain of sand. Smart dust senses and records data… and transmits that data wirelessly to larger computer systems.”
In simpler terms, it refers to the miniaturization of technology, the concept that officially emerged in 1992 as part of a RAND (Research and Development Corporation) project in the United States.
By the mid-1990s, Smart Dust research had actively begun, and in 1997, Dr. Kristofer S. J. Pister, Joe Kahn, and Bernhard Boser from the University of California, Berkeley, published the first notable research proposal on the concept and defined Smart Dust as a “way to deploy intelligent wireless sensors.” Soon, DARPA funded the project due to its potential military applications.
Today, Smart Dust has become the ultimate nanotechnology to collect data and transmit it back to the base for further analysis. The dust is now made up of microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS, also known as motes. They now help in the detection of light, sound, humidity, stress, acceleration, vibrations, temperature, power supplies, computing, and even wireless communication in outer space.
The benefit of Smart Dust lies in its minuscule size, which also allows it to stay suspended in the environment for an infinite amount of time. Not only that, but its components can be 3D printed, which is why it has also become a significant part of the Internet of Things (IoT), helping in its productivity, compliance, and safety.
In 2019, Smart Dust was further improved when UC Berkeley researchers developed a “smallest volume, most efficient wireless server simulator” which was an upgrade of StimDust, the “first, ultrasonic neural dust sensors” created in 2016. It has applications in the healthcare industry and is intended to treat disease in real time and incorporate patient-specific approaches.
It is noteworthy that there are no substantiated reports that the fog cover in the UK, the USA, Canada, and elsewhere has anything to do with Smart Dust, and it is nothing more than speculation.
Likewise, the term Fogvid-24 isn’t official but an internet coinage, and there’s no confirmation from verified sources that exposure to the thick, particle mist has led to cold/flu-like symptoms.
However, the condition has indeed affected the holiday season’s air and train travel and motorways. Over 20,000 people in the UK and 3.8 million drivers in the USA have been impacted, as per CBS News. In the New Year, the fog is expected to clear up and be replaced by rain and snow worldwide.
