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Scientists Develop Tiny Bug-Like Flying Robot

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Scientists Develop Tiny Bug-Like Flying Robot

Tiny bug-like robots can jump and flap their wings to fly in the air. Researchers at the University of California (UC) Berkeley have recently designed insect-scale microbots that could have numerous important applications, like assisting humans in tasks such as remote sensing, searching for survivors after natural disasters and space exploration due to their small size, insect-like maneuverability and easier navigation in challenging terrains, the German news agency reported.

Researchers Palak Bhushan and Claire Tomlin told the TechXplore website: "Fliers and jumpers can overcome obstacles and reach their next destination, in contrast with those that have to walk like ants."

The researchers inspired the bug-like robot idea from the fruit fly, saying this development aims to "demonstrate flapping wing motion at this size scale using onboard motors and mechanisms."

Small flying insects typically generate lift by performing large wing strokes. One of the key challenges for the researchers while developing this robot was to create small actuators than are able to generate large enough rotations to drive the artificial wings.

The second microbot developed by the researchers is a jumping bot that measures 17mm x 6mm x 14mm in size and weighs 75 milligram. The tethered version of this robot can jump six times per minute, landing perfectly on its feet. To jump up by 8mm in height, the bot consumes approximately 6.4mW of power.

Small jumping insects generally push the ground rapidly with their legs while performing a jump. This instantaneous power demand is far too high to reproduce using an onboard motor. To overcome this challenge, the researchers have used motors to store energy in an onboard mechanism and then rapidly release this energy, which allows the robot to perform jumps.

Bhushan and Tomlin said: "Motors are heavy, tough to fabricate at small scales, and require special control signals to operate them. In order to simplify fabrication and control, we ensured that our design is able to operate using a single motor by making the other required functions occur passively."

In their future work, the researchers plan to focus on the development of more efficient motors, to perfect their design further and prepare for when batteries small enough to support their bot are finally released.

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Louvre Museum's Denon Gallery Damaged by Water Leak, Mona Lisa Unaffected

A view shows the Porte des Lions, the new public entrance to the renovated Denon wing (Aile Denon) at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, December 2, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
A view shows the Porte des Lions, the new public entrance to the renovated Denon wing (Aile Denon) at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, December 2, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
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Louvre Museum's Denon Gallery Damaged by Water Leak, Mona Lisa Unaffected

A view shows the Porte des Lions, the new public entrance to the renovated Denon wing (Aile Denon) at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, December 2, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
A view shows the Porte des Lions, the new public entrance to the renovated Denon wing (Aile Denon) at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, December 2, 2025. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

The Louvre museum's Denon gallery, where its most valuable paintings are displayed, was hit by a water leak on Thursday evening, although the area which houses Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa was unaffected, said a Louvre spokesperson.

The spokesperson said the water leak had been stopped in the early hours of Friday and that the gallery would soon re-open.

The leak happened in the room 707, where paintings from 19th century French artist Charles Meynier and 16th century Italian artist Bernardino Luini are displayed. The water caused some damage to a ceiling painted by Meynier, Reuters reported.

The water leak is the second in less than three months in a museum that has gone through a spate of recent setbacks - including a spectacular jewel heist, strikes and a massive ticket fraud investigation- that have put its management under intense scrutiny.

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Forbes Travel Guide Grants Red Sea Destination the World’s First Comprehensive Destination Accreditation

This accreditation follows a year of rigorous efforts and meticulous evaluations aimed at elevating hospitality standards across The Red Sea. - SPA
This accreditation follows a year of rigorous efforts and meticulous evaluations aimed at elevating hospitality standards across The Red Sea. - SPA
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Forbes Travel Guide Grants Red Sea Destination the World’s First Comprehensive Destination Accreditation

This accreditation follows a year of rigorous efforts and meticulous evaluations aimed at elevating hospitality standards across The Red Sea. - SPA
This accreditation follows a year of rigorous efforts and meticulous evaluations aimed at elevating hospitality standards across The Red Sea. - SPA

Red Sea Global announced in a press release today a historic milestone in the global tourism sector as The Red Sea became the first destination ever to receive a comprehensive accreditation from Forbes Travel Guide.

This accreditation follows a year of rigorous efforts and meticulous evaluations aimed at elevating hospitality standards across The Red Sea. The process included a strategic collaboration with Forbes Travel Guide to develop and implement exceptional service standards across five key stages of the guest journey: reservations, land transport, marine transport, air transport, and guest experiences, SPA reported.

Red Sea Global CEO John Pagano stated: "At Red Sea Global, we have always believed that true luxury is defined not only by the beauty of a place, but by how guests feel throughout their entire journey. Receiving Forbes Travel Guide’s accreditation at a destination level is a powerful testament to the culture of exceptional service we have embedded across our teams and operators at every guest touchpoint. This is not merely a hotel standard, but a fully integrated destination-wide system."

Forbes Travel Guide CEO Hermann Elger also praised the milestone, saying: "We congratulate Red Sea Global and The Red Sea team on earning the world’s first accreditation of its kind as a Verified Destination. This achievement marks a significant moment for the hospitality industry. Delivering and sustaining service excellence at a destination scale requires deep commitment across every stage of the guest experience—from booking to farewell. The Red Sea has successfully established a new international benchmark for tourism destinations."

To ensure the consistency of this excellence, Red Sea Global established 182 precise service standards, organized into eight core categories: personalized service, courtesy, efficiency, cleanliness, luxury, comfort, technical skills, and professional appearance. These standards were embedded through a comprehensive institutional framework integrating training, communication, and continuous review, ensuring guests experience this level of excellence throughout the entire destination—not only within resort boundaries.

In parallel with this accomplishment, the first resorts opened at The Red Sea were included in Forbes Travel Guide’s prestigious Star Awards list for this year. The list featured three iconic properties: Six Senses Southern Dunes, The Red Sea; The St. Regis Red Sea Resort; and Nujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve.

Forbes Travel Guide ratings are known for their objectivity and independence, with anonymous inspectors posing as guests to evaluate hundreds of exacting standards focused on service excellence and facility quality. Assessments also extend to intangible elements that shape memorable stays, such as a property’s ability to enhance well-being and the unique sense of place created by design and location.

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SpaceX Launches 12th Long-duration Crew to ISS

NASA’s Crew-12 members, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot walk out of the Operations & Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center before transport to Launch Complex 40, ahead of their launch to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 13, 2026. REUTERS/Steve Nesius
NASA’s Crew-12 members, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot walk out of the Operations & Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center before transport to Launch Complex 40, ahead of their launch to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 13, 2026. REUTERS/Steve Nesius
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SpaceX Launches 12th Long-duration Crew to ISS

NASA’s Crew-12 members, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot walk out of the Operations & Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center before transport to Launch Complex 40, ahead of their launch to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 13, 2026. REUTERS/Steve Nesius
NASA’s Crew-12 members, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot walk out of the Operations & Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center before transport to Launch Complex 40, ahead of their launch to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 13, 2026. REUTERS/Steve Nesius

A SpaceX rocket lifted off from Florida early on Friday with a crew of two US NASA astronauts, a French astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut headed to the International Space Station for an eight-month science mission in Earth orbit.

The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket, topped with an autonomously operated Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Freedom, was launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, along Florida's Atlantic Coast, at about 5:15 a.m. EST (1015 GMT).

A live NASA-SpaceX webcast showed the 25-story-tall vehicle rising from the launch tower as its nine Merlin engines roared to life, gulping 700,000 gallons of fuel per second, emitting clouds of vapor and a reddish fireball that lit up the predawn sky, Reuters reported.

The four crew were set to ‌reach the space ‌station on Saturday afternoon after a 34-hour flight, docking with ‌the orbiting ⁠laboratory platform some ⁠250 miles (420 km) above Earth.

The mission, designated Crew-12, marks the 12th long-duration ISS team that NASA has flown aboard a SpaceX launch vehicle since the private rocket venture founded in 2002 by billionaire Elon Musk began sending US astronauts to orbit in May 2020.

Crew-12 was led by Jessica Meir, 48, a veteran astronaut and marine biologist on her second trip to the space station, nearly seven years after making history with NASA colleague Christina Koch by ⁠completing history's first all-female spacewalk.

Joining her was Jack Hathaway, 43, ‌a former US Navy fighter pilot and rookie ‌astronaut; European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, 43, a master helicopter pilot from France; and Russian cosmonaut ‌Andrey Fedyaev, a former military pilot on his second mission to the ISS.

Upon ‌arrival, the team will get busy with a host of scientific, medical and technical research tasks in microgravity, according to NASA.

Those include studies of pneumonia-causing bacteria to improve treatments on Earth, and experiments with plant and nitrogen-fixing microbe interactions to boost food production in space.

Crew-12 will be welcomed aboard ‌the space station by three current ISS occupants - NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev.

Four Crew-11 ⁠members who were ⁠supposed to have stayed aboard until the arrival of Crew-12 departed a few weeks early, when an undisclosed serious health condition affecting one forced an unprecedented medical evacuation flight home in mid-January.

The ISS, which spans the length of a football field and ranks as the largest human-made object in space, has been continuously operated by a US-Russian-led consortium that includes Canada, Japan and 11 European countries.

The first hardware for the outpost was launched more than a quarter century ago. It was conceived as part of a multinational venture to improve ties between Washington and Moscow following the Soviet Union's collapse and the end of Cold War rivalries that spurred the original US-Soviet space race in the 1950s and 1960s.

NASA has said it is committed to keeping the space station operating until the end of 2030.