A bat-inspired drone that navigates burning buildings using bathroom faucet sensors. A national conspiracy theory sparked by stars. Ten thousand trees planted in a single day in terrain no human could reach. This week on The Drone Network, Bryce Bladon explores three of the strangest and most surprising applications of drone technology happening right now — the weird, the wonderful, and everything in between.

Topics covered: the PeAR bat drone developed at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and its ultrasonic navigation system; the New Jersey drone panic of late 2024 and what the joint DOD/FBI/FAA investigation actually found; and Kosovo's drone reforestation program dropping 10,000 seed pods per day in previously inaccessible terrain.

The Drone Network documents the tech, economics, and people piloting the world's largest standardized drone imagery network. New episodes every week. Sponsored by Spexi Geospatial and LayerDrone. Learn more at Spexi.com and LayerDrone.org.

• (00:00) - Bats, stars, and 10,000 trees – drones did that?
• (01:10) - How to make a drone see in pitch darkness and flames
• (03:27) - How drones created a national conspiracy theory
• (06:43) - How Kosovo used drones to create new forests where people couldn't go
• (08:38) - The weird, the wonderful, and a third thing
• (09:30) - Sponsored by Spexi.com and LayerDrone.org