Butterfly Hovering Mechanics Could Inspire Stealthy Micro-Aerial Vehicles

Hello and welcome to our May 13th edition. The STEAM Digest is a curated newsletter that brings you the latest in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics.

In today’s edition:

• Science - Butterfly Hovering Mechanics Could Inspire Stealthy Micro-Aerial Vehicles, and more.

• Materials - Fungus-Based Living Material Offers Biodegradable Alternative for Plastics, Emulsifiers, and Electronics.

• Biotechnology & Biomedical Technology - Light-Based 3D Printing Breakthrough Enables Precision-Guided Tissue Engineering.

• Engineering & Technology - Engineers 3D Print Superior Heat Exchanger Using AI Design, and more.

• Robotics, AI, Hardware, Software, Gadgets - AI Thinks Like Us—But Less Abstractly: New Study Reveals How LLMs Use Analogy Over Rules, and more.

• Astronomy, Space, & Astrobiology - The Universe’s Clock Just Ticked Faster: Hawking-Like Radiation May End It Sooner Than Expected, and more.

• Health & Medicine - Living Near Golf Courses May Increase Parkinson’s Risk, Study Finds, and more.

• Neuroscience - Mouse Brain Cells Encode Threat and Safety, Study Finds, and more.

• Environment & Earth Sciences - Ancient Alps Beneath the Ice: Uncovering the Secrets of Antarctica’s Gamburtsev Mountains, and more.

• Nature & Ecology - Herring Shift Spawning Grounds 800 km North After Fishing Disrupts Migration Memory, and more.

• Other Sciences & The Arts - Obsidian Trade Reveals Sophisticated Mexica Empire Economy and Ritual Order, and more.

Until Tomorrow,

~The STEAM Digest

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SCIENCE

Butterfly Hovering Mechanics Could Inspire Stealthy Micro-Aerial Vehicles:
Researchers have discovered that butterflies’ seemingly chaotic hovering is actually a finely tuned process driven largely by constant body pitch adjustments. Using high-speed video and deep learning models, they found that butterflies modulate their body and wing pitch angles to generate sufficient lift despite flapping at low frequencies. These insights could guide the development of micro-aerial vehicles (MAVs) that are lightweight, silent, and capable of delicate operations such as search-and-rescue, pollination, and wildlife monitoring.

pH-Controlled Molecules Could Boost Solar Cells and Medical Sensors: Researchers have discovered how to control energy flow in molecules using pH levels. By modifying tetracene molecules, they made the process of singlet fission—where one photon generates two excited electrons—switchable. This could lead to more efficient solar cells, new pH-sensitive medical sensors, and advances in quantum computing. The study shows the molecule glows in acidic environments and stays dark in alkaline ones, offering a promising tool for future technologies.

Graphene-Sandwiched Layers Reveal Exotic Melting Behavior via Topological Excitations: A team of international physicists, including Nobel Laureate Michael Kosterlitz, has uncovered how thin layers of materials like helium and aluminum melt when confined between graphene sheets. The study shows that while a single layer melts according to the well-known Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young (KTHNY) theory, additional layers display more complex and unexpected melting behaviors due to changes in topological excitations. Using machine learning to perform quantum-level simulations for up to 12 layers, the research deepens our understanding of phase transitions in confined systems, with potential long-term implications for materials science and quantum technology.

MATERIALS

Fungus-Based Living Material Offers Biodegradable Alternative for Plastics, Emulsifiers, and Electronics: Researchers have developed a biodegradable, high-performance material made from the living mycelium of the edible split-gill mushroom. Unlike conventional methods that chemically process fungal fibers, the team cultivated a strain rich in schizophyllan nanofibers and hydrophobin proteins, preserving its natural structure and function. The living material showed excellent tensile strength and self-reinforcing emulsifying properties, making it ideal for food, cosmetics, compostable packaging, and even biodegradable electronics. This “living fiber composite” is edible, non-toxic, and adaptable, offering a sustainable path for future materials.

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

Light-Based 3D Printing Breakthrough Enables Precision-Guided Tissue Engineering: Researchers have developed a light-based 3D printing technique to create microgels with precise internal architectures that guide cell growth, mimicking natural tissue structure. The microgels, customizable in shape and function, were used to align muscle cells into fibers and organize retinal cells into layers. They also promoted blood vessel formation and maintained structure after injection. This advancement brings researchers closer to developing minimally invasive, personalized therapies for tissue repair, wound healing, and organ regeneration.

ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

Engineers 3D Print Superior Heat Exchanger Using AI Design: UW–Madison engineers used topology optimization and metal 3D printing to create a compact, high-efficiency heat exchanger with twisty internal channels. The new design boosts power density by 27% and improves heat transfer over traditional straight-pipe models. Fabricated via laser powder bed fusion, the device was made possible by a patented method ensuring it could be both optimized and manufactured. This breakthrough could benefit aerospace and energy systems.

Engineers Boost Water Harvesting from Arid Air with Optimized Hydrogel Device: A team of engineers from the U.S., Chile, and Ireland has developed a faster and more efficient hydrogel-based system for extracting water from extremely dry air—achieving success even in the Atacama Desert. Their study improves on current methods by enhancing the water uptake speed of hydrogels using a polyacrylamide-lithium chloride blend, optimizing hydrogel thickness, and refining the air-gap collection design. The new device can produce up to 2 liters of water per day in 30% humidity and function at levels as low as 11%, offering a promising solution for water-scarce environments.

New Strategy Reduces Cracking in High-Performance Battery Cathodes: A research team has uncovered why single-crystal lithium nickel manganese oxide (LNMO) cathodes—used in next-gen batteries—develop internal cracks. The culprit is uneven lithium-ion diffusion, which causes stress and leads to cracking, especially under fast charging. To solve this, researchers added magnesium to the crystal structure, improving lithium mobility and structural stability. Magnesium-doped cathodes showed greatly reduced cracking and better performance during rapid cycling. The findings offer new design principles for more durable, high-energy batteries.

ROBOTICS, AI, HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, GADGETS

AI Thinks Like Us—But Less Abstractly: New Study Reveals How LLMs Use Analogy Over Rules: A study led by researchers shows that large language models (LLMs) like GPT-J generalize language patterns using analogy rather than grammatical rules—mirroring how humans handle unfamiliar words. The team tested the model on 200 invented adjectives (e.g., “friquish”) and found that it selected suffixes like “-ness” or “-ity” based on similarity to known words, much like people do. Unlike humans, however, LLMs rely on raw exposure to examples rather than forming abstract representations or dictionaries. This explains why LLMs need far more data to learn language compared to humans and could inform future AI development focused on improving efficiency and explainability.

New AI-Guided Workflow Enables Custom Enzyme Design for Sustainable Chemistry: Researchers have developed a novel workflow for designing enzymes from scratch using artificial intelligence and chemical intuition. The method converts miniature helical proteins into highly efficient, selective catalysts that can form valuable carbon–carbon and carbon–silicon bonds—reactions poorly supported by natural enzymes. The team's approach leverages the stability and adaptability of de novo proteins, incorporating non-natural cofactors and operating under a wide range of conditions. The success of this strategy, enhanced by a second round of structure-based optimization, marks a major advance in enzyme design with broad applications in green chemistry, drug development, and materials science.

Engineers Create Brain-Like Visual Processor for Real-Time Sensing and Memory: Engineers have developed a neuromorphic device that mimics the human brain by sensing motion, processing visual information, and storing memories—without an external computer. Made with molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂), the device uses atomic defects to simulate neuron-like behavior, enabling energy-efficient visual tasks like edge detection and memory formation. Unlike traditional systems, it doesn’t rely on high-power data processing, potentially allowing faster, real-time decision-making in autonomous vehicles and robotics. Future work aims to scale the device, integrate it with digital systems, and explore applications in infrared sensing for environmental monitoring.

ASTRONOMY, SPACE, & ASTROBIOLOGY

The Universe’s Clock Just Ticked Faster: Hawking-Like Radiation May End It Sooner Than Expected: A new study suggests that the universe may decay far sooner than previously thought. By extending the theory of Hawking radiation beyond black holes to objects like white dwarfs and neutron stars, the researchers calculated that the final stellar remnants could vanish in ~10⁷⁸ years, rather than the previously estimated 10¹¹⁰⁰ years. Surprisingly, neutron stars and black holes decay at similar rates, despite differing gravitational strengths. The work, which blends astrophysics, quantum physics, and mathematics, refines our cosmic timeline—and deepens the mystery of how everything ends.

Scientists Uncover How Mini Sand Dunes Form—on Earth and Potentially on Mars: A new study has revealed how "proto dunes"—tiny sand dunes just centimeters high—form on moist beaches and hard desert surfaces, solving a long-standing geological puzzle. The research combines high-resolution laser scanning in Namibia with computer modeling to show that these mini dunes develop as sand grains bounce from hard, flat surfaces to softer, rippled ones, triggering wind-driven accumulation. The model accurately reproduces dune growth in diverse conditions—including Colorado and Norfolk—and may help scientists understand similar formations on Mars.

Is Mars' Methane Really Martian? New Study Questions Curiosity Rover's Readings: A new study casts doubt on previous detections of methane by NASA's Curiosity rover, suggesting the gas may originate from the rover itself rather than from the Martian atmosphere. Researchers highlight pressure instabilities within the rover’s spectrometer and persistent Earth-based contamination in one of its sealed chambers. Methane levels in the contaminated foreoptics chamber are over 1,000 times higher than in Martian air samples, raising concerns that internal leaks may skew readings. The team proposes a simple experiment—retesting the same Martian air sample on consecutive nights—to determine whether the methane is planetary or a byproduct of the rover’s own systems.

New Technique May Detect 3D Gravitational Wave Motion Using Quasars: Astrophysicist Jeremy Darling of CU Boulder has proposed a new method to detect the universe’s gravitational wave background by measuring the apparent motion of quasars. Unlike existing techniques that monitor line-of-sight distortions, this approach aims to capture full 3D gravitational wave effects—detecting side-to-side and vertical spacetime ripples. Using precise astrometric data from the Gaia satellite, Darling analyzed how over a million quasars subtly shift relative to each other due to gravitational waves. Though no signal has been confirmed yet, the method may yield results with upcoming Gaia data releases, offering deeper insight into gravity and galaxy evolution.

HEALTH & MEDICINE

Living Near Golf Courses May Increase Parkinson’s Risk, Study Finds: A new study led by Barrow Neurological Institute and Mayo Clinic links residential proximity to golf courses with significantly increased Parkinson’s disease (PD) risk. Residents living within 1–2 miles of a golf course had nearly three times the odds of developing PD, especially in areas where groundwater is vulnerable to contamination. The findings point to high pesticide use on U.S. golf courses—up to 15 times higher than in Europe—as a likely contributor, raising concerns about waterborne environmental exposure. The study underscores the need for improved pesticide regulation and groundwater monitoring to reduce potential neurodegenerative health risks in affected communities.

Migraine Drug Ubrogepant Found to Relieve Early Non-Headache Symptoms: A large phase 3 clinical trial reveals that the migraine drug ubrogepant not only treats migraine headaches but also significantly reduces premonitory symptoms—such as light sensitivity, neck pain, dizziness, and fatigue—that occur hours before headache onset. In the double-blind crossover study involving 438 adults with migraine, participants who took a 100 mg dose of ubrogepant during early symptoms reported noticeable improvements within hours, compared to those on placebo. This makes ubrogepant the first acute migraine treatment shown to target these early, non-headache symptoms, though further studies are needed to confirm the findings.

Targeted Vitamin B3 Tablet Speeds COVID-19 Recovery: A new vitamin B3 tablet (CICR-NAM) developed at University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein speeds up recovery from COVID-19 by delivering nicotinamide directly to the gut. In a trial of 900 patients, those who took the tablet regained normal physical function significantly faster than those on placebo. The targeted release supports gut microbiome health and energy metabolism, reducing inflammation and aiding recovery. The study provides the first clinical evidence that microbiome-focused nutrient delivery can improve outcomes in viral infections.

NEUROSCIENCE

Mouse Brain Cells Encode Threat and Safety, Study Finds: Caltech and HHMI researchers discovered that distinct neuron groups in the mouse hypothalamus encode predator-related internal states rather than controlling specific fear behaviors. Using brain imaging, they found some neurons track predator presence, others signal safety in shelter, and a third group gauges threat imminence. The findings offer insight into how the brain processes fear and safety—knowledge that could inform research into anxiety and PTSD.

How Estrogen Cycles Shape Learning and Memory in the Brain: Researchers have used advanced laser microscopy to reveal how fluctuations in estrogen during the mouse estrous cycle significantly reshape hippocampal neurons, a brain region critical for memory and spatial learning. During the high-estrogen "proestrus" phase, dendritic spine density increases by 20–30%, enhancing synaptic connections and backpropagation of neuronal signals—both crucial for learning. These structural and functional changes lead to more reliable activity in "place cells," neurons involved in spatial navigation. The findings underscore hormone-driven brain plasticity and have implications for personalized medicine and understanding cognitive variability across hormonal cycles in both females and males.

Study Reveals Key Brain Network Behind Word Retrieval in Speech: Researchers at NYU have identified a critical left-lateralized network in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex that supports word retrieval during speech, particularly in auditory contexts. Using high-resolution electrocorticography (ECoG) in 48 neurosurgical patients, the team discovered two overlapping neural networks: one for semantic processing in the middle and inferior frontal gyri, and another for articulatory planning in the inferior frontal and precentral gyri. Their findings highlight the role of a previously underappreciated dorsal prefrontal region in linking sound to meaning, offering new insights for language neuroscience, clinical therapy, and brain-computer interface development.

ENVIRONMENT & EARTH SCIENCES

Ancient Alps Beneath the Ice: Uncovering the Secrets of Antarctica’s Gamburtsev Mountains: A new study reveals how the hidden Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains in East Antarctica formed over 500 million years ago during the birth of the supercontinent Gondwana. Though completely buried under kilometers of ice, this mountain range rivals the European Alps in scale. Researchers used zircon grains in ancient river sandstones to date the rise, collapse, and preservation of the mountains, suggesting they began forming around 650 million years ago and reached Himalayan heights before tectonic collapse around 500 million years ago. These findings help explain East Antarctica’s long-term geological stability and may guide future exploration of its hidden terrain.

Wastewater Alkalinization Could Capture 18 Teragrams of CO2 Annually, Study Finds: A new study shows that treating wastewater with alkaline minerals—particularly olivine—under aerobic conditions can significantly enhance ocean alkalinity and boost CO₂ removal from the atmosphere. This process, known as Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE), could sequester up to 18.8 ± 6.0 teragrams of CO₂ annually, especially in coastal regions between 20°N and 60°N. The method not only aids climate mitigation by storing carbon as dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) but also improves water quality, making wastewater treatment plants a powerful tool in combating climate change.

NATURE & ECOLOGY

Herring Shift Spawning Grounds 800 km North After Fishing Disrupts Migration Memory: A study led by Norway’s Institute of Marine Research has documented an 800 km poleward shift in the spawning grounds of Norwegian spring-spawning herring (NSS herring), from Møre to Lofoten. This change stems from age-selective fishing, which reduced older fish populations critical for teaching migratory routes to younger herring. Using fisheries data, acoustic-trawl surveys, and tagging of over 200,000 fish, researchers found that the 2016 cohort pioneered the northern route. As these younger fish came to dominate the population by 2021, the traditional southern migration route faded. The findings highlight how disrupting social learning in fish can reshape ecosystems and complicate fisheries management.

Australia Trials Eco-Friendly Weed Control Method with Promising Global Track Record: La Trobe University is leading a five-year project to test Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation (ASD)—a non-toxic, sustainable weed and pest control method—in Australian horticulture. Already successful in the US and Europe, ASD creates oxygen-deprived conditions using plant-based carbon sources like chicken manure or sugarcane molasses to kill weeds and soil-borne pathogens. The study will trial ASD on crops like strawberries and melons in Victoria and the Northern Territory, aiming to find optimal treatments for Australian conditions. The project supports environmentally friendly farming while reducing dependence on harmful chemical fumigants.

OTHER SCIENCES & THE ARTS

Obsidian Trade Reveals Sophisticated Mexica Empire Economy and Ritual Order:
A groundbreaking study reveals how obsidian artifacts from Mexico’s Templo Mayor illuminate the economic and ritual complexity of the Mexica (Aztec) Empire. Researchers from Tulane University and Proyecto Templo Mayor analyzed 788 obsidian items, identifying origins from eight geological sources, including Purépecha territory outside Mexica control. While 90% of ceremonial obsidian came from the prized green Sierra de Pachuca source, tool-use obsidian showed greater regional diversity, indicating robust long-distance trade networks. Over time, ritual use became more standardized and centralized, reflecting imperial consolidation and religious unification.

Ancient Names Reveal Hidden Social Dynamics in Biblical Israel and Judah:
A groundbreaking study applies ecological diversity statistics to over 1,000 ancient personal names from Iron Age inscriptions in Israel and Judah, revealing striking social contrasts between the two Hebrew kingdoms. Researchers from Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, and University of Haifa found that Israel had far greater name diversity, reflecting a more cosmopolitan, open society, while Judah’s diversity declined over time, likely due to increasing religious and political centralization. The method, typically used to study biodiversity, offers a powerful new lens for understanding cultural identity and social change in the ancient world.

Moving Sparks Innovation: Study Finds Nobel Winners Start Breakthrough Work Earlier by Changing Locations: Nobel Prize-winning scientists who move or work in multiple locations begin their groundbreaking research up to 2.6 years earlier than those who remain in one place, according to a study led by economists from Ohio State University and NYU Abu Dhabi. By analyzing over a century of data on Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry, and medicine, researchers found that exposure to new ideas through relocation or split appointments accelerates scientific creativity. The study highlights how changing environments fosters innovation—offering insights that may also apply to other creative fields.