Thursday, October 16, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Robotic insects to revolutionize agriculture

Published 6 May 2025
– By Editorial Staff
An early version of the robotic insect from MIT.
2 minute read

Researchers are developing different types of robotic insects. The idea is that they will revolutionize agriculture when other pollinators are threatened with extinction, but also to be able to engage in surveillance.

Today, a large proportion of the world’s pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, are heading towards extinction, with the UN estimating that nearly 35% are threatened with extinction globally. However, robotic insects are not intended to replace real insects, but rather to develop agriculture.

Pollination is critical to the entire food industry, as 75% of the world’s food grown depends on pollination. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) believe that with artificial pollination, using robotic insects, farmers could in the future grow fruit and vegetables in multi-storey warehouses. This, in turn, is said to increase yields while reducing some of the harmful environmental effects of farming.

For some time, researchers have been working on developing various robotic insects. Earlier versions of the robotic insect consisted of four identical units, each with two wings, combined into a rectangular unit about the size of a microcassette.

Now, much smaller and more durable robotic insects have been developed. The new robots can hover for about 1 000 seconds, which is more than 100 times longer than previously demonstrated. At the same time, they weigh about the same as a paper clip and can fly much faster.

– Compared to the old robot, we can now generate control torque three times larger than before, which is why we can do very sophisticated and very accurate path-finding flights, said researcher Kevin Chen in a press release.

The goal is to achieve a flight lasting longer than 10,000 seconds. They also want to improve its precision so that it can land and take off from a flower, which it currently cannot do.

Photo: Harvard SEAS

Inspired by the crane fly

Researchers at Harvard University have also been working on developing robotic insects. RoboBee can fly, dive and hover like a real insect. The robot weighs only one-tenth of a gram and has a wingspan of three centimeters. The idea is that RoboBee could be used for artificial pollination, but also for surveillance and rescue operations.

However, researchers have long struggled to land it effectively, but now they have found a solution. Taking inspiration from nature, a seemingly graceful landing has been upgraded for RoboBee.

The crane fly spends much of its short life landing and taking off, and it has a strong ability to cushion the landing using its long legs that almost act as shock absorbers. Since the robot’s size and shape were already similar to the crane’s, the researchers chose to develop the robot’s legs like the crane’s.

However, RoboBee is still unable to fly without external energy and is wired. The idea now is to continue developing the robot.

– The longer-term goal is full autonomy, but in the interim we have been working through challenges for electrical and mechanical components using tethered devices, said researcher Robert Wood, from Harvard, in a press release.

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Vultures collect archaeological finds

Published yesterday 7:26
– By Editorial Staff
The bearded vulture is an endangered species that lives in mountainous regions of Asia, Africa and southern Europe.
3 minute read

Researchers have discovered hundreds of years old human artifacts in vulture nests – including shoes, crossbow arrows, and a spear.

Many bird species have a habit of collecting various artificial objects, such as plastic pieces, strings, or debris, to bring to their nests. Often this is about building nests and these materials are simply readily available to the birds.

Bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchidae), found primarily in Australia and New Guinea, also have a habit of decorating their homes with advanced methods to impress females. They build structures and collect colorful items such as shells, flowers, stones, and also plastic objects.

Larger birds such as eagles, falcons, and vultures also collect items for their nests, but something unique to many of these bird species is that the same nest can be reused for generations if it’s in a good location. In this way, birds continue to use the same nest, and thus also fill them, for centuries.

Reused for Hundreds of Years

The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is a bird species that lives in mountainous areas in Asia, Africa, and southern Europe, and this behavior of reusing nests has been documented in this species.

The endangered species often builds nests in cliff caves, mountain cliffs, or on ledges, and many of these regions are often dry, especially in European mountain ranges where the species frequently resides. Particularly in cave-like structures, conditions can become ideal for long-term preservation, and researchers have now examined this more closely.

Researchers in Spain examined twelve abandoned bearded vulture nests in an area in southern Spain where the species became extinct 70–130 years ago. In total, they found 226 human-made objects in the nest layers.

Natural Museums

Among other things, they found a slingshot, shoes, a crossbow arrow, a spear, a decorated sheepskin, and fragments of a basket that the bearded vultures used as material to build their nests. Many of the objects were made from esparto grass, a traditional fiber plant used in the Mediterranean region for thousands of years. What surprised the researchers was the age of the objects – many of them were hundreds of years old.

One shoe was dated to be 675 years old and the sheepskin was 650 years old. The basket piece was younger and dated to 150 years old. The objects were also in surprisingly good condition.

“Thanks to the solidity of Bearded Vulture nest structures and their locations in the western Mediterranean, generally in protected places such as caves and rock shelters with relatively stable temperature and low humidity conditions, they have acted as natural museums, conserving historical material in good condition”, the researchers write in the study published in the journal Ecology.

Time Capsules

In addition to the artificial objects, researchers also found 2,117 bones, 86 hooves, 72 leather remains, 11 hair remains, and 43 eggshells. Bearded vultures actively collect bones and objects for their nests, and these findings provide interesting information about the species’ diet since medieval times, as well as about wild animal populations and human-animal interactions in the area.

The eggshells also enable further studies on environmental toxins and pesticides and whether there may be any connection to why the species became extinct in the area. The hope is also that the objects can be used to provide important information regarding reintroduction of the species.

The study shows how old nests can function as time capsules that preserve both natural history and cultural history information. The findings provide not only insights into the bearded vulture’s past, but also about people’s lives in these mountain areas hundreds of years ago.

WHO sounds alarm: Common infections becoming impossible to treat

Published 14 October 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Bacteria develop resistance when antibiotics are used incorrectly or unnecessarily.
2 minute read

Common infections are becoming increasingly difficult – and sometimes impossible – to treat.

New data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that one in six bacterial infections globally is resistant to standard antibiotics, threatening millions of lives and straining healthcare systems worldwide.

According to WHO’s latest report, antibiotic resistance increased in over 40 percent of the tracked combinations of bacteria and drugs between 2018 and 2023, with average annual increases of 5 to 15 percent.

— Antimicrobial resistance is outpacing advances in modern medicine, threatening the health of families worldwide, says WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The report, based on data from over 100 countries, shows that one in three infections in WHO’s South-East Asia and Eastern Mediterranean regions were resistant to antibiotics, compared to one in five in Africa.

Overuse of antibiotics

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites evolve to resist the drugs designed to kill them.

This is primarily driven by overuse and misuse of antibiotics in humans, animals, and agriculture. Poor infection control, limited access to quality medicines, and inadequate sanitation and clean water further exacerbate the problem.

WHO estimates that bacterial AMR directly caused 1.27 million deaths in 2019 and contributed to nearly five million deaths globally. Without action, experts warn that resistant infections could cause an estimated €2.7 trillion in global GDP losses annually by 2030.

“We must innovate”

The greatest danger comes from certain disease-causing gram-negative bacteria, as their protective outer shell makes them difficult to kill and they often develop drug resistance. E. coli and K. pneumoniae, two common causes of bloodstream infections, show alarming resistance levels.

Globally, more than 40 percent of E. coli strains and 55 percent of K. pneumoniae strains were resistant to third-generation cephalosporins – the first-line treatment for many serious infections. In parts of Africa, levels exceed 70 percent.

— Our future also depends on strengthening systems to prevent, diagnose and treat infections and on innovating with next-generation antibiotics and rapid point-of-care molecular tests, declares the WHO Director-General, who as usual calls for more resources to be allocated to vaccination programs.

— We must use antibiotics responsibly, and make sure everyone has access to the right medicines, quality-assured diagnostics, and vaccines, the statement reads.

USA: Cognitive abilities declining among young adults

Published 11 October 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Economic stress, digital dependency and an uncertain job market may be behind the increase, according to researchers.
2 minute read

An increasing number of adults in the United States are experiencing problems with cognitive abilities such as concentration, memory, or decision-making. The increase has primarily occurred among adults aged 18 to 39.

The study is based on data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, an annual telephone survey conducted by state health departments in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers examined data on brain health between 2013 and 2023. A total of 4.5 million responses were recorded during the study period.

Increased most among young adults

The results, which are presented in Neurology, show that there has been a sharp increase in cognitive impairment problems with concentration or memory, for example during the study period. The increase began in 2016 and has continued to rise since then.

Between 2013 and 2023, cognitive impairment among adults without depression increased from 5.3 percent to 7.4 percent. Among young adults aged 18 to 39, the increase was most pronounced, more than doubling from 5.1 percent in 2013 to 10.2 percent a decade later.

Digitalization may contribute

However, the causes of the increase remain unclear, researchers say. It may partly be due to increased awareness among young adults that makes them more likely to acknowledge brain health issues.

But I certainly don’t think it is the sole cause at all, says study co-author Ka-Ho Wong, a public health scientist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, in a press release.

Wong believes that economic stress, job market uncertainty, and increased dependence on digital tools play a major role. As an example, Wong notes that while his parents can remember their home phone numbers from childhood, younger adults “can barely remember our own cell phone numbers half the time”. The results indicate, however, that doctors and public health officials should pay greater attention to brain health among young adults.

If they report it, we need to address it, says Wong.

Professor: We’re trading source criticism for speedy AI responses

The future of AI

Published 9 October 2025
– By Editorial Staff
AI has become a natural companion in our daily lives - but what happens if we stop thinking for ourselves and take the chatbot's answers as truth?
2 minute read

Professor Olof Sundin warns that generative AI undermines our fundamental ability to evaluate information.

When sources disappear and answers are based on probability calculations, we risk losing our source criticism.

— What we see is a paradigm shift in how we traditionally search, evaluate and understand information, states Sundin, professor of library and information science at Lund University in southern Sweden.

When we Google, we get links to sources that we can, if we want, examine and assess the credibility of. In language models like Chat GPT, users get a ready-made answer, but the sources often become invisible and frequently completely absent.

— The answer is based on probability calculations of the words you’re interested in, not on verifiable facts. These language models guess which words are likely to come next, explains Olof Sundin.

Without sources, transparency disappears and the responsibility for evaluating the information presented falls entirely on the user.

— It’s very difficult to evaluate knowledge without sources if you don’t know the subject, since it’s a source-critical task, he explains.

“More dependent on the systems”

Some AI systems have tried to meet the criticism through RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation), where the language model summarizes information from actual sources, but research shows a concerning pattern.

— Studies from, for example, the Pew Research Institute show that users are less inclined to follow links than before. Fewer clicks on original sources, like blogs, newspapers and Wikipedia, threaten the digital knowledge ecosystem, argues Sundin.

— It has probably always been the case that we often search for answers and not sources. But when we get only answers and no sources, we become worse at source criticism and more dependent on the systems.

Research also shows that people themselves underestimate how much trust they actually have in AI answers.

— People often say they only trust AI when it comes to simple questions. But research shows that in everyday life they actually trust AI more than they think, the professor notes.

Vulnerable to influence

How language models are trained and moderated can make them vulnerable to influence, and Sundin urges all users to consider who decides how language models are actually trained, on which texts and for what purpose.

Generative AI also has a tendency to often give incorrect answers that look “serious” and correct, which can damage trust in knowledge in society.

— When trust is eroded, there’s a risk that people start distrusting everything, and then they can reason that they might as well believe whatever they want, continues Olof Sundin.

The professor sees a great danger to two necessary prerequisites for being able to exercise democratic rights – critical thinking about sources and the ability to evaluate different voices.

— When the flow of knowledge and information becomes less transparent – that we don’t understand why we encounter what we encounter online – we risk losing that ability. This is an issue we must take seriously – before we let our ‘digital friends’ take over completely, he concludes.

Language models

AI services like ChatGPT are built on language models (such as GPT-4) that are trained on enormous amounts of text. The model predicts which word is likely to come next in a sentence, based on patterns in language usage.

It doesn't "know" what is actually true – it "guesses" what is correct based on probability calculations.

RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)

RAG combines AI-generated responses with information retrieved from real sources, such as the top three links in a Google search.

The method provides better transparency than AI services that respond entirely without source references, but studies show that users nevertheless click less and less on the links to original sources.

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