Charged 2026

Category: Story Time

  • Astrophysics, Loving Science, and Inspiring: An Interview with Dr. Storchi Bergmann

    Dr. Thaisa Storchi Bergmann is a Brazilian female astrophysicist whose work on LINER-type galaxies is shaping the way we currently look at space. My team, Hidden Figures, decided to do a youtube video about her life and her accomplishments as a scientist, to spread awareness on prominent women scientists in their field.

    When the Hidden Figures team sent Dr. Storchi Bergmann sent an email disclosing the video we made for her, we were not expecting to receive such a response back. We were actually able to set up a time and date to interview her to pick this Astrophycisist’s mind over a video call. We had three interviewers: Maria Del Rosario Garcia-Chilla, Kyungsoo “Kevin” Kim, and myself: Isabella Beeco.

     

    Beeco: “In past interviews, you mentioned liking science since you were a kid, but what made you interested in science while growing up? Did it come from a family or role model, or was it a love you discovered on your own?”

     

    Storchi Bergmann: “I think I discovered more on my own and maybe I also was lucky to have good teachers. My science teachers were always good, and then I think this had an influence on why I like to do science. I think you guys mentioned in the video already that I had a small lab that I assembled with the help of my father. My father was an accountant and saw that I liked science, so he helped me build a small lab. He would buy my microscopes and solutions for chemical reactions. He would support me and buy materials for me. He was very supportive, but it was more my own desire and my good science teachers.” 

     

    Garcia-Chinchilla: “Your article on Galaxy NGC 1097 in 1993 marks an important discovery of a black hole in a LINER-type galaxy. Can you take us back to that day and tell us about what you saw and your work life?”

     

    Storchi Bergmann: “By the time that I began to work on active galaxies, actually I did my thesis on active galaxies, and at that time it was the late 80s. I finished my Ph.D. in 1987. At that time, we had the idea that these active galaxies that had bright emission lights from the nucleus were the ones that had the black hole. So I was interested in those galaxies, partially because I wanted to understand and observe the black holes. And over the years, with the launch of the space telescope it became more clear that not only the active galaxies have black holes, but most galaxies that had a center concentration of mass, because there are a few galaxies that are very diffused and don’t have a central bulge. For example, the milky way has a bulge so it has a black hole because it has a dense structure of stars. But for example, the Magellanic clouds that are neighbors to our galaxy, are diffused or irregular galaxies, and these ones, we don’t see evidence of black holes, so far. So it looks like most of these big galaxies, like the Milky Way and M87 Galaxy, that we looked at had a black hole in the center. I used a different method in my research paper than the Hubble uses. Hubble looks at the gas and the monument of stars. The Hubble would be able to see more because the view of the Hubble is much better at spatial resolution. So one point over the surface of the earth, because you are above the atmosphere, instead of seeing one point you see many many points, so you can see a structure inside the points that you see in a round base telescope. The resolution points .05 while the telescope without the new optics we have now is 1. So, it is 20 times better now. Inside this one second, the Hubble had 400 points (400 times more). They could see the velocity of the stars when you observe inside these regions increases much more than you would expect if there wasn’t anything there. If it was only stars, then you would expect a small increase in the velocity. But with a black hole, there is a high increase in the velocity in the stars due to the gravitational pull of the black hole. In order to see the pull of this black hole, you have to be very very close to the black hole. When the Hubble was launched, it could observe nearby galaxies that were not active and saw blackholes in those inactive galaxies.

     

    By 1990, this idea was getting more clear that not only the active galaxies had black holes, but also other inactive galaxies. So, when I published my paper, Galaxy NGC 1097 had a LINER nucleus that was something that people were not sure if it was a black hole or an inactive nucleus. SO when I showed the broad emission lines from the doppler effect, it showed that there was gas rotating at velocities at 1000 rotations per second, the only option was that it could be a black hole pulling this gas down. So I saw gas emission, I could calculate the velocity, and the only explanation was that it was a black hole. Still, there was this idea that only active galaxies had black holes, so I showed that they didn’t need to be active. It was interesting because it was a transient event, because people had observed it before, but didn’t see this. So I observed it at the moment where the nucleus captured a star and disrupted it.”

     

    Beeco: “What has been the focus of your research recently?” 

     

    Storchi Bergmann: “Now we have this idea, that most systems have black holes, and models of galaxy evolutions show that if you only use gravity, dark matter, and bionic matter that you see, you would build an even expansion of the mini-verse, you would have galaxies that would be too big. The conclusion is, how do we avoid making galaxies bigger than what we see. When we look at the galaxies we see that there is a limit to the size of a galaxy, but this limit is not well explained. So we had to put some feedback, and this feedback then attributed to a black hole in the center would capture matter, then become an active nucleus, then the black hole when the matter is captured it produces Slite when the disk gets hot and out force, which is a forceful ejection of matter. So you see some energy coming from the surrounding region of the black hole, and this energy pushes mass away and a galaxy grows by adding more mass. If you have some feedback effect that pushes some matter away, you can avoid making the galaxy too big. The idea is that in the evolution of a galaxy the black holes form together at the beginning of the universe, and eventually there are some phases when the galaxies are active when the gas is captured by the black hole, making an accretion disk and shines and pushes gas. The evolution of the galaxies at the beginning of the universe 13.7 billion years ago, the galaxies were born 13.4 billion years ago, and apparently, the black holes were formed with the universe. There is a feedback effect for when the black hole captures matter, and then the galaxies become so big. This feedback is predicted by the models but is also seen in nature. A few years ago, I was more worried about how the gas arrives at the center, which\ is an important physical problem because it has to lose some momentum to go into the black hole. So I worked a bit on this, and now I am working on the feedback processes. Can we see this feedback? Because the models see some feedback is coming to visualize the galaxies as they are. I am calculating this feedback. But right now, I am seeing a little less feedback than we need. On the other hand, I am doing only optical studies and maybe I need to do other methods, like other wavelengths. Optical studies only show you ionized gas, but we should also look at neutral and molecular gas. We are interested in looking at molecular gas because lots of galaxies have an abundance of this in the center of their galaxy. This molecular gas is best observed by radio wavelengths like with the Alma Telescope. I am trying to map these feedbacks because we need the feedback to reproduce the galaxies as it is. Does nature support these recipes? I am looking to see if the observations replicate what these models need. On the other hand, we need to look at other gas phases and look at the changes of the accretion disks. 

    I am also doing the same things with other objects as well. The other project is what is the effect of the black hole when it is active in the evolution of the galaxy: the feedback effect.”

     

    Beeco: “Was there a moment in your career where you realized that this was the perfect job for you?”

     

    Storchi Bergmann: “It was when I was a teenager preparing to go to college, I was not sure what I was going to be in my profession. So I chose architecture, actually, and took the exams. I was lucky that the physics institute was near the architecture institute, and we had a physics course for architects, and we would go to the physics institute for classes. Every Time I went there I would look at the labs, and then my love for science from my childhood and teenage years came back to my mind, and I was like ‘What am I doing in architecture? I want to be a scientist.’ I think that was an enlightening moment. I never had much of a role model in science; I just did it because I liked it. My role model was actually a cousin, two years older, who loved architecture so I chased after hers. But then I realized that that was her dream and not mine. I thankfully realized it soon enough and changed majors after 6 months at the architecture institute. I think that was the moment.”

     

    Garcia-Chinchilla: “Are there any women you worked with that you think deserve more recognition? If so, who?”

     

    Storchi Bergmann: “Well I would say that my advisor is one of them, Miriani Pastoriza. She is an Argentinian woman who came to Brazil and founded the Extragalactic Astronomy group. She began the group. When I arrived at my institute for my Ph.D., she was the only one who could advise me on astronomy, which was interesting and she arrived one year before me. She had some political issues; she was almost arrested in Argentina, and she came to Brazil and found this job before she did her Ph.D., using her largest telescope at the time in Argentina, the big 2.5m telescopes in Argentina Cordoba Observatory (before Chile). So she would go even with her baby girl, and she would take her to the telescope because they couldn’t afford any care. She receives some recognition in Argentina and South America, but she deserves worldwide recognition.

     

    Beeco: “How has changing technology impacted your research?”

     

    Storchi Bergmann: “I think that the main impact in my research was the beginning of the integral fumes spectrographs. When I began you could either do imaging or spectroscopy, which would isolate a part of the galaxy, but then around 2000 the integral fumes spectrographs came along which combined the ability of imaging and spectrographs. Each pixel of the image had a spectrum graph, it is like 3d. You have a data cube instead of a 2d image. We use it to study the image and take spectrographs of the image, and get it all together. This technology is revolutionizing the study I do, especially for studying the gas flows in space. This is one example that is important. Programming and big databases are now more accessible to look at other observatories’ public data. Your research in the database and see a large enough sample of the data you would use. Of course, technology is always improving, and it is revolutionizing our discoveries. Also, adaptive optics, which the Nobel prize winners used, which shoots lasers that make an image which distorts in the atmosphere they can tell how the deformation should be.”

     

    Garcia-Chinchilla: “As a teacher and a mother, do you have suggestions that we should implement in schools and universities to increase or maintain interest in science?”

     

    Storchi Bergmann:  “I think that the kids are already interested in science. We shouldn’t make them lose interest, because it is amazing that when I have given talks at schools, mainly my kid’s schools, I realize that kids from 10 -12 years old are the most interested in science. In terms of interaction and questions, they want to know everything. They ask and ask and ask and ask, and I would get exhausted. For example, I would go to school and give classes to kids in that age range, but 13-14 was a totally different story. Many are looking at themselves and doing other things, and only a couple of them are interested, but when they were ten years old, all of them were interested. So I don’t know what makes them lose this. I don’t have the statistics, but I think that 80% of the kids are interested in science and when they are older it is like 20%. I don’t know if the schools are not interesting enough or they aren’t showing science as if it is not joyful. So I think we have to maybe work better during this age to keep them interested.

     

    I have a colleague here named Daniela Povoni who is the director of our planetarium, and she has special programs for high school girls. And she is very successful, she makes astronomy activities for everyone to do together. I think there are some interesting activities that are out there that we could work better on.”

     

    Beeco:  “As someone who is an inspiration to many students in astrophysics, what is some advice you have for them moving forward in their careers?”

     

    Storchi Bergmann: “If they like and are ready for the subject, well I think it is wonderful. I still love it and there are so many topics that we don’t know about, and those new students could expand the knowledge of astrophysics. The most interesting thing about science to me is that every day you make a new discovery. You are discovering new things and adding knowledge into the world. For me, this is very appealing. So if you want a life of discovery, do research. Astrophysics is very exciting because we leave our little planet earth and look at the universe and the big picture. There are so many things to be discovered out there.

     

    Another thing is that if you want to be a successful astrophysicist, you have to be good at computing and math. It’s important for you to try to develop this ability even if you don’t have a natural talent. Don’t give up too soon before persevering. Practice practice practice, and you will become good at those things.

     

    Sometimes, in the past, parents have talked to me because they were worried that their kids were going into fields without many opportunities. They were worried their kids would have to become professors at some universities. And nowadays, some researchers that left the Ph.D. went to work in different fields, a friend of mine went to work at an oil company. Because the major teaches you useful computing skills and mathematics, you can apply yourself to many different fields. Another girl that I know now works in a computing company that works with databases. So I think that in science, you develop so many skills that are desirable in other areas, like big data and computing, and critical thinking. If you want to be a researcher, which I love, you can. But if you change your mind, you can use the things you learned for different careers. This is what I say to calm the parents. Their kids aren’t losing time; they are developing practical skills. Some of my students went to work in the university, to research, or to different industries. I didn’t have a student of mine who didn’t have a good job to go into.”

    Garcia-Chinchilla: “Since you were just talking about your field going into other fields, do you get to collaborate with other professionals, like engineers or chemists? If so, do both fields benefit from working together?”

     

    Storchi Bergmann: “I, myself, didn’t do this much, but a colleague of mine wanted to do some research and she needed equipment to do this research. She hired some engineers and project scientists to create a group to build things. So, I am more into observing and interpreting data and models, but some people like my colleague enjoy building things and collaborating. And actually, when I visited her and her institute, I got to know a lot of astronomers and a few engineers socially. When I learned about their life and how much they earned, I discovered that engineers earned more than the astronomers at the institute who were in charge, because they had to make all of the equipment the astronomers used. There are some interactions that interact a lot, especially when building instruments and testing them. I think it is common, mainly in institutes. Since I work at a university, I do less of it because the university is more teaching and researching and advising students whereas institutes here don’t teach and they develop infrastructure.”

     

    Kim: “Since you are now in the leading position in your field of study, and have a lot of students and colleagues. Who was the most unique connection you have made in your profession?”

     

    Storchi Bergmann: “That is a difficult question. Earlier I mentioned my advisor who I admire very much, but I also admire a lot of my other colleagues. I did, however, have two outstanding students. One was a guy who had a very very large capacity of work. He was the database guy, and he would analyze everything in such a short time. He would finish a problem I gave him within one night and come the next day with it solved. He was my first Ph.D. student, actually. He did so much work, that when he finished the work I gave him, he would work with other professors. Another one was a student I advised in observations. He also wanted to do some modeling. He was really clever in a sense, and he wanted to do some modeling, so he learned by himself how to model. He is now a professor in San Paulo and is still doing his models. These two students really impressed me with their efforts and dedication. I say that I had two outstanding students and my advisor, who faced a lot of adversities. My advisors wouldn’t take excuses from students and were really tough because of what she went through and she is a model to follow. The close collaborators I have worked with are also very admirable. I do not have any idols however, I just recognize clever people.”

     

     Kim: “Last question: when you switched to astrophysics did you have any moments of doubt? If so, how did you overcome this hesitation.”

     

    Storchi Bergmann: “I switched from architecture to astrophysics, because I didn’t really think too much into what I wanted to do and ended up picking architecture because my cousin also did. I didn’t research in advance. In our university, we have an astrophysics major and a physics major. The astrophysics major is very similar to the physics one except you take one astrophysics course per semester. So, by the end of 8 semesters, you have 8 disciplines of astrophysics. Some students arrive in astrophysics thinking they will just romanticize astronomy and telescopes but then realize it’s physics and lots of work. Like I would go to the observatory once a semester because I was working so much. Some students think they will just look at the sky every night. You have to read a lot and be informed about the major you want to join and decide if this is what you want. If you don’t read, you will be disappointed. Now we have google, this information is at your fingertips.”

  • The Evolution from Fossil to Monster

    Humankind as a species is over 200,000 years old. We are travelers, storytellers, and connoisseurs of legends and tales. For thousands of years, mankind has entertained our children and fellow tribesmen with fables and stories of the unknown, the cryptic and the mythological. It is a unifying factor in our world. Every story needs a strong villain to maintain equilibrium and for many, the villain was the monster. From Greek and Roman to Japanese and Native American, fantasy and folklore have been influenced from the history of this planet. All cultures have created monsters to fuel their fears. Either to rationalize the unknown or to provide comfort for themselves, men and women of the past have created these stories for purposes that have been lost to time. Yet, monsters are alive and real today, be it in between a page or in a culture. These beasts came from our imaginations. However, many of these terror-bringers were imagined based on fossils, skeletons, or unknown sightings that frightened the inhabitants of their lands. 

    From tales of creation, to the flood, and even tales of doom, every culture has unifying legends. Some cultures produced monsters so terrifying that they were hidden and lost to time, while some have been immortalized in books, movies, and videogames. The primal fear of the unexplainable had to be justified through something tangible by mankind. Two monsters that have fueled the nightmares of children and men; two giants of terror that were produced from the unknown, can now be explained.  

    THE CYCLOPS:

    Cyclops are a cannibalistic giant race bearing a distinct feature: a singular eye in the center of their forehead. Notable cannibals and warriors in Greek mythology, the cyclops were born from the Greek God Poseidon but were cast away because of their grotesque ugliness. In Greek stories and in pop-culture, cyclopes have been used as a formidable opponent to heroes and heroines. The most well known depiction of the cyclops race comes from Homer’s The Odyssey. Other notable depictions have been seen in The Cyclops (1957), Wrath of the Titans (2012), and Tron: The Odyssey (2017). 

    According to Homer, Polyphemus was the cyclops leader on the isle in which Odysseus was stranded on his return home. Polyphemus was a sheep herder and a brutal warrior. During Odysseus’ time on the island, Polyphemus severed a man in half with a single bite and crushed a man in his grasp. A nightmarish scene that captures our fears of these cannibal giants; the infamous cyclops look, from Greek vases to modern day, has endured the test of time.Cyclops from “Seventh Voyage of Sinbad”. Director Nathan Juran

    Their faces look eerily similar to elephant skulls:Elephant Skull. Photo courtesy of Felipe Romao

     

    These skulls can easily be viewed as a horrific mono-visual monster. Ancient Greece had two different species of elephants roaming the area: The Cyprus Dwarf Elephant and the Cretan Dwarf Mammoth. Such large skulls would have to be supported by tremendous bodies. These skulls sported massive tusks and teeth which were perfect for crunching the bones of men.  

    In the early 20th century, Paleontologist Othenio Abel suggested that the inspiration of cyclops comes from the fossilized skulls of pygmy elephants found in the ancient Greek region. Found on Cyprus, Crete and many other surrounding Grecian islands, these ancient dwarf elephants died around 11,000 BCE. These elephants had a shoulder height of five feet, with an averaged- size femur of over two feet. Anatomically, elephant and human femurs look similar, which is a proposed explanation to the human element of the cyclops. From these basic anatomical parallels, the cyclops could have been born. When the image of the cyclops was mixed with human fear and superstition, the cyclops became the monster we know today: a giant cannibal terror. 

     

    Courtesy of Bella Beeco
    Elephant Skull transforming into a Cyclops Skull, Courtesy of Bella Beeco

    THE YACUMAMA:

    The Yacumama is a South American tale that derives its nature from the Amazon river. Meaning “The Water Mother” in Peruvian, the tale dates back to that of the Incan civilization in the 13th century. A massive 30 meter serpent monster, the Yacumama had jaws that could swallow a man whole. In her legends, any animal or man that disturbed her waters became her prey. The local indigenous people would blow on conch horns to protect themselves before entering the water, believing the Yacumama would reveal herself if present. 

    South America has many depictions and lore of snakes. The Aztec and Incan civilizations both had powerful gods depicted as these slithering creatures. The Aztecs had Quetzalcoatl who created mankind. The Incas had Amaru who was the water God and protector of the rivers. The legend of the Yacumama can be traced back to the 15th century when it was told to the Spanish Conquistadors. 

    A modern depiction of the Yacumama: 

    Photo of a Yacumama Statue in Parque Tematico Peru. Courtesy of Mike Dreckschmidt

    As anacondas and rivers in South America are mutually inclusive, the pairing of Yacumama and her watery home was natural. South America is home to thousands of rivers including the Amazon, and is home to 169 species of snakes, including the world’s heaviest species: the Green Anaconda. The largest Green Anaconda recorded weighed over 500lbs and was nearly 20 feet long. The longest snake species, the Reticulated Python, which measured over 25 feet long, is not native to South America but is a related species to the Anaconda. While these are the largest snakes ever measured in current day, the largest snake ever found hails from South America: The Titanoboa.

    Titanoboa fossil size model. Courtesy of Darren Pepper

    The Titanoboa fossil found in Colombia created a fear of all ancient snakes. Weighing in at over 2,500 lbs. and reaching up to nearly 50 feet in length, this behemoth snake truly could have swallowed a man whole. This dinosaur-sized serpent could strangle and crush every living organism that came within striking distance until its extinction 56 million years ago. If these snake fossils had been found by natives in South America prior to the official paleontological discovery, a giant water serpent named Yacumama could have certainly been created to explain the phenomena. The Yacumama is possibly an exaggeration of a sighting of a large wild anaconda, or it could have been a fossil based explanation from an earlier find of a titanoboa fossil. A massive serpent, a man eater, and a terrifying hunter from the depths, the Yacumama was definitely a monster that inspired fear, but it is also a monster that can be flushed into explanation. 

     

    References:

    • Aym, Terrence. “History Mysteries: The Legendary Yacumama, Mysterious Monster of the Amazon.” Salem-News.com, Salem-News.com, 16 Aug. 2010, www.salem-news.com/articles/august162010/monster-amazon-ta.php.
    • Combing, Beach. “Cyclops Origins.” Beachcombing’s Bizarre History Blog, Beachcombing’s Bizarre History Blog, 8 July 2011, www.strangehistory.net/2011/06/07/cyclops-origins/.
    • Dreckschmidt, Mike. “Terrifying Legends of Peru #3: Yacumama and Sachamama.” Traveling and Living in Peru, Peru Exprience S.A.C, 6 Aug. 2020, www.livinginperu.com/terrifying-legends-peru-3-yacumama-sachamama/.
    • “Green Anaconda: National Geographic.” Animals, National Georgraphic, 10 Oct. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/g/green-anaconda/.
    • Hennings, Julie, and Harry Lynch. “Birth of a Monster.” EarthDate, Burea of Economic Geology, www.earthdate.org/birth-of-a-monster.
    • Juran, Nathan, director. Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. Columbia Pictures, 1958.
    • Pepper, Darren. Titanoboa, Www.prehistoric-Wildlife.com., 2011, www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/t/titanoboa.html.

  • Insect robots: How do they fly?

     

    “How do airplanes stay afloat?”

    “The same way a bird stays afloat.”

    When we give that answer to a kid, we fondly realize the connection between nature’s creatures and machines, and that the nature influenced creation of many machines from time to time. That is why the Wright brothers spent a great deal of time observing birds in flight and realized that when birds soared into the wind, the air flowed over the curved surface of their wings, and thus generated lift which helps them stay in flight. They noticed the wings of birds minutely, and realized that they change the shape of the wings to turn and maneuver, and thus flaps and stabilizers were born in the airplane wings. In a similar fashion, various insects and birds have influenced designs of many machines for their structural and aerodynamic ability. These creatures not only helped design the structural and aerodynamic systems of large machines, but attracted considerable attention from scientists and engineers for small-scale robots. Today we deep dive into the world of small robots and how they fly!

    Insects were the first organisms on Earth to take to the skies – estimates on the origin of insect flight range from ~320 to ~400 million years ago (Misof et al., 2014). That is a long, long time before vertebrates achieved this feat. Over time, insects mastered their flying ability, and achieved great perfection in speed, agility, and grace in the air. By design, insects such as hover flies and birds such as hummingbird have remarkable abilities to hover in the air, as well as being able to perform aerobatic maneuvers such as sideways or backward flying. The technique that they use is called a flapping wing motion. This remarkable ability is a key in the design of small-scale aircraft for surveillance or reconnaissance. Traditionally, engineers designed a medium to large scale aerodynamic vehicle with traditional mechanical linkage systems (Van Breugel et al., 2008). However, when it comes to an unmanned small-scale aerial vehicle (or even micro-scale that mimics the size of an actual small insect such as a hover fly), one of the key challenges in traditional designs was that the flapping-wing action was not stable because of the power and weight ratio that needs to be achieved to match the hovering and flying abilities of the insects and birds observed in nature.

    Historically, there have been a number of research efforts that focused on the mechanical and structural aspects of a small-scale flying robot design. One such project was the Entomopter project in Georgia Tech (Michelson et al., 1998). The researchers used a chemical muscle to produce linear actuation strain. Two sets of rigid wings (front and back) were placed, and chemical muscle actuated them. Other traditional designs of small-scale flying robots used gears and links for the movements needed for of an airborne vehicle.

    How do the “insect” robots get up in the air?

    In order to achieve a flapping action in-flight to gain altitude, sweeping and the pitching motions are needed to be achieved. The current design is set up to exploit resonant properties, as exhibited by flying insects, to reduce the energy expenditure and to provide amplitude amplification for the wing sweeping motion (Bolsman, 2010). Design objective for a small-scale flying machine is to reproduce a reference motion based on the kinematics of insects. Insects and birds perform wing flapping and adjustments of the body orientation in order to control speed, altitude and orientation of the flight. As shown in the figure below, to transfer this analogy to a micro-robot, the sweeping motion of the wings are emulated as a steady-state motion. The details of a control system can be found in advance literature (Bolsman, 2010). However, in simple terms, the design takes into account a constant resonance frequency, and a maximum wind sweeping stroke. As the stroke increases (shown by the extreme lines in the figure), the wings generate lift. The mass of the device (as in an insect) is centered towards the geometric center of the device, resulting in maximum possible stability. This is the stage where the robots get airborne and continue hovering.

    Lift: Flapping wing motion with sweeping stroke

    How do the “insect” robots move in the air?

    The hovering is the first state of condition that the robots achieve, similar to an insect. The figure above shows a simple two wing device. Each wing is designed to have independent controls to change flapping In order to change the direction to left or right, so that each wing is capable of having a different sweeping motion. This inevitably creates a sweeping motion that are not equal in each wing, and results in a rotation in the direction of the difference. An insect performs these exact same maneuvers to create a rotational motion for left-right (rolling) movement.

    As shown in the figure, the center position holds the center of mass for the whole assembly. As such, changing the center position of the sweeping motion will change the direction of flight as well. This is performed by shifting the positions of the effective centers of pressure of the left and right wings. This invariably creates a backward motion (or pitch), and more power from the device’s power source provides a required forward motion while maintaining the achieved altitude.

    How strong are these “insect” robots?

    A simple model of a small-scale flying robot has been described here to depict the fundamentals that are derived from an insect or a small bird for flapping motion design. A fully fledged flying micro robot has more control systems that are able to achieve a full range of motions if needed, with more complicated actuations that are associated with multiple wings and wing rotations. In addition, structural integrity is also a key factor which, surprisingly, is also derived from insects. One of the most fascinating and extraordinary creatures in earth are ants, they can carry objects several times of their body weight. Ant’s neck has a very sturdy construction by nature, because of the fact that they lift the large weights with their mouth, and the load is transferred through the neck. Researchers found from models that an ant’s neck can withstand loads of about 5,000 times the ant’s body weight! (Nguyen, 2012). This design is also simulated to be able to provide the micro robots a sturdy yet very lightweight construction, a critical requirement for such a device.

    Ultra-light, small scale robots are in use for surveillance, military operations, rescue missions, medical sector, hazardous material test/retrieval, and many other scenarios. We will continue to see the marvelous development of these micro machines, inspired by the insects and small birds around us, while pondering over the question: “how birds fly?”

    References:

    1. Bolsman, C. T. (2010). Flapping wing actuation using resonant compliant mechanisms: An insect-inspired design.
    2. Van Breugel, F., Regan, W., & Lipson, H. (2008). From insects to machines. IEEE robotics & automation magazine, 15(4), 68-74.
    3. Misof, B., Liu, S., Meusemann, K., Peters, R. S., Donath, A., Mayer, C., … & Niehuis, O. (2014). Phylogenomics resolves the timing and pattern of insect evolution. Science, 346(6210), 763-767.
    4. Michelson, R. C. (2000). S. Patent No. 6,082,671. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
    5. Michelson, R. C., & Reece, S. (1998, March). Update on flapping wing micro air vehicle research-ongoing work to develop a flapping wing, crawling entomopter. In 13th Bristol International RPV/UAV Systems Conference Proceedings, Bristol England(Vol. 30, pp. 30-1).
    6. Nguyen, V. N. (2012). Development of a Finite Element Model of an Ant Neck Joint for Simulation of Tensile Loading(Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University).

  • To the Depths (a sci-fi short story)

    “What’s the password?” Said the person whose eyes peeked through the crack in the door.

     

    “Cal.” Mel growled. Mel would have been stunning if xe didn’t currently resemble Odysseus during the worst of his trials. Xe was soaked through to the bone, chiton stuck to xer form like a second skin, and xer hair was only saved from complete disaster by the many, many pins in it that would be a nightmare to get out and that Mel probably wouldn’t completely accomplish for many weeks.

     

    “You’ve looked better.” Cal said mildly.

     

    Mel growled again and shoved xer way inside.

     

    The aforementioned Cal backed up without complaint chuckling lightly as he headed back behind his bar.

     

    Mel, who was raised with common decency– unlike some people– closed the door behind xem and gracefully avoided the squeaky floorboard as xe followed behind.

     

    “You promised me Rome, Cal.” Mel said, knocking sharply on the bartop.

     

    “And Rome you had.” Cal returned, tossing Mel the towel he’d been looking for. Mel took it and began drying xemself. “Or, at least a version of it. Let me get you a new chiton, and you’ll be back out and exploring in no time.” So saying, the bartender ducked down to rummage behind the bar, placing various items on the bartop to be out of the way.

     

    “Oh!” Cal popped back up, startling Mel. “Don’t you dare sit on my barstools while you’re still wet they’re ori-”

     

    “Original to the saloon, yes, I know Cal.” Mel rolled xer eyes.

     

    Cal pouted a bit, but went back to his search.

     

    Mel turned to lean against the bar and peruse the space while xe waited out the clattering behind xer. Cal’s saloon didn’t look exactly like it had stepped it’s jangling, spurred boots right out of a spaghetti western, but it was an incredibly close call. Rough wood floors, hard leather seats, dim lighting, and the scars of all of the many brawls the place had seen were certainly telling, but Cal’s had its own quirks. The changing stalls that lined the front wall by the door, for one thing. The metal on those stalls was painted with painstaking care to look wooden, but enough bottles and glasses had been thrown at them over the years that the shine of the metal came through the chipped paint. The leather seats were surprisingly well padded, and the alcohol stock came from everywhere and everywhen in this universe, and others besides. Cal himself was his own oddity, no one knew how many Cals were before him, or how many would come after, or if some of them were the same, but Cal was a good sort. Mel wouldn’t work with him if he wasn’t.

     

    There weren’t too many patrons this go round, only a few regulars who were looking for something, and a relatively new guest, a nervous young lady who had some rather long, webbed fingers, scales, and big, bright eyes. Mel though that she might find what she was looking for in the city outside.

     

    Mel turned xer contemplation back to the bar, where Cal’s shuffling was now sounding more purposeful, and to the oddities that had been displaced onto the bartop.

    “What even is half of this stuff?” Mel muttered.

     

    There on the bar seemed to be a host of items with no discernable pattern. There was a bayonet without a gun, a glowing amulet, a few small bottles of what looked to be antivenoms, three plants that were either incredibly alien or incredibly extinct for how odd they were, and what appeared to be an astrolabe made for the use of someone who didn’t have hands or bifocal vision.

     

    Cal made a triumphant noise as he finally came up from behind the bar, holding a bright green mass of cloth in his hands. He passed it over to Mel, and xe went to the nearest changing booth.

     

    Xe returned, mostly dry and carrying the sopping wet orange garment xe had been wearing, and passed it over the bar to Cal, who grimaced before chucking it underneath the bar. Mel heard a wet thunk and a louder crash before a light hum let xem know that Cal had put xer old outfit in his dryer.

     

    “So tell me.” Cal said, automatically going to fix xem a drink. “What has you so upset about this Rome?”

     

    “When I asked for Rome, I expected a Colosseum, some of those famous Roman Roads.” Mel returned.

     

    “What do you mean?”

     

    “There aren’t any.” Mel said.

     

    “… There aren’t any… roads?” Cal asked, sliding xer drink over to xem.

     

    “No.” Mel gave a sardonic smile. “This Rome seems to be the love child of Rome and Venice. All of the streets are paved with water.” Xe took a sip of xer drink, making an appreciative sound. “That’s how I got into that state. It was too dark. I fell into a canal.”

     

    Cal snorted before quickly covering it and making Mel another drink.

     

    “Well, that certainly is a new one, but not the strangest reality this place has visited.” Cal said.

     

    It was Mel’s turn to snort. “True enough.”

     

    Cal finished a drink for both of them this time and they saluted each other with their glasses.

     

    “Did you spot anyone who might join us? Or anyone that might become a regular?” He asked.

     

    “Mmmm. There were some.” Mel allowed. “The mermaids all seemed to clock me as someone not from around here, and there were a few young women that seemed to have the air of revolution around them. We might end up losing a regular, rather than gaining one.” Mel turned to look at the fish-girl, and Cal followed xer gaze.

     

    “Well,” he nodded slowly “if it happens, it happens. Now, what’s this about mermaids?”

     

    “Not like you’re thinking. Mermaid is a profession here, sort’ve like street sweepers mixed with traffic directors. For a fee, a mermaid will lead your boat through a canal to where it needs to go and protect it from minor damage, or they’ll dive to the bottom of the canal and retrieve items you may have dropped. I also got the impression that they were paid by the city to keep the canal’s clean of trash and debris that was too heavy for the current to sweep away.” Mel said. “And, most of them are young women, interestingly enough.”

     

    “Hm. This will need some investigating.”

     

    A headshot of the Lochmaenean woman, Aure.

    The next day, Cal came down late to the bar floor. Mel had been out in Rome for a few hours already and Cal was expecting her to be out a while longer. He left his regulars to Ka’al, the new kid needed to work some time and this trip was shaping up to be a slow one.

     

    [Excuse me.] Cal startled a bit at the sudden appearance of his newest customer, a young Lochmaen woman, at the bar. He watched her webbed fingers as she continued to sign. [My name is Aure. Is there any way I can get some clothing to go outside?]

     

    “Aure? Well sure you can, although,” Cal gave Aure a once over, “Although, you probably don’t want to go out until dark, what with the scales and everything. But the dark will make it hard for you to communicate…”

     

    [I can speak.] Aure signed in return. [I don’t when I’m around humans who can see because it makes them nervous.]

     

    “Hmmm.” Cal tapped his fingers on the bartop. “May I see? I’ll understand if you don’t want to speak, but honestly?” Here he leaned in, as if inviting Aure into a confidence. “I don’t know if I count as human anymore. I’ve owned this bar for a very, very long time.” He cocked his head to the side, “Or was it no time? Concepts tend to get a bit muddled if you stay here long enough, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He grinned at her. Aure smiled back helplessly.

     

    “If you insist?” Aure said. Her voice was low but light, a tone that could easily carry a fair distance before it needed to be raised, but still incredibly lyrical. What probably made the humans she had met before nervous were her very large, slightly translucent teeth. When she opened her mouth the rows of teeth were reminiscent of a shark or a cartoon piranha. Cal thought that they must retract into her face as when she closed her mouth her face was incredibly human in shape, ignoring the purple scales, the barely visible gills, and the slightly bioluminescent eyes and hair.

     

    “Let me get you an appropriate outfit.” Cal said, ducking underneath the bar for just the right thing. He emerged with a pale pink bundle of fabric which he handed off to Aure, along with a small paper.

     

    “What?” Aure wobbled the paper.

     

    “Instructions on how to put on the chiton. It’s not as intuitive as it looks.” Cal replied.

     

    Aure thanked him and took the clothes and paper to the furthest changing booth.

     

    Cal began to idly clean the bar, keeping an eye on the door, when he caught sight of Aure making her way back.

     

    “I think, miss Aure, that you have the potential for being mistaken for a siren if you go out there.” Cal mused. Aure ducked her head.

     

    “A siren?” Came a voice from the door.

     

    Both Cal and Aure looked over to see a young woman who was obviously local standing in the doorway, haloed in the light of the setting sun. The young woman had olive skin, light brown hair, dark eyes, the build of a runner, was noticeably taller than Aure, and had an air about her that said that she was used to commanding respect. She seemed to take in the anachronistic bar in which she found herself— Cal who was wearing a vest and fitted dress shirt, Aure, who was obviously inhuman with her dark purple scales, webbed appendages, and a tail, and the other alien patrons— in stride, closing the door behind her, and making her way to a seat at the bar, somehow avoiding the squeaking floorboard in the process.

     

    Aure found herself quickly pinned by the gaze of the other woman. She felt those dark eyes roam over her as if she were having her soul measured against the value of one of the Pure Pearls which had brought her planet to the Assembly’s attention.

     

    “You are the siren?” The woman demanded softly.

     

    “My name is Aure.” Aure just barely managed to reply. She was nearly blinded by the smile the other woman sent her.

     

    “I’m Penelope, I think the two of us will get along famously.” So saying, Penelope turned to rummage through the bag on her waist, finally giving up her hold on Aure’s lungs so she could catch her breath.

     

    Cal was about to say something, when Penelope made a noise of triumph and turned back to the others at the bar.

     

    “So, I don’t suppose either of you is good at decoding things?” Penelope said, slapping down a piece of parchment on the bartop.

     

    “Hn. Not my area of expertise.” Cal admitted.

     

    Aure had already drawn the parchment towards her and clicked to herself as her large eyes roved over the words.

     

    “I have it.” Aure said.

     

    “You do?” Cal asked.

     

    “Already?” Penelope asked.

     

    “Not, not the message.” Aure said, “But I know what kind of code it is. It’s a shift cipher. I believe the key is the number five so…” Aure looked up.

     

    Cal caught her drift and produced a pen and paper from behind the bar, quickly passing it to Aure.

     

    “You see, a shift cipher is a very simple one, really, but effective. See, at the top of the message here is a date?” She pointed, Cal and Penelope both nodded. “Well the V the 5 in the date is darker than the rest of it, which means it’s important. It is also the rightmost 5 in the date, which I believe means that the cipher is shifted to the right by five. A shift cipher is made by writing out all of the letters or symbols of whatever writing system you are using, and then rewriting them underneath with the applied shift so, with a right shift of five:

     

    A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

    Becomes

    F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E

     

    So for the message you would take the letter from the original alphabet, and replace it with the cipher version. To decode it, simply work in reverse.” Aure showed them.

     

    “It’s so simple!” Penelope grunted in frustration.

     

    “Only if you know what to look for.” Aure tried to reassure the other woman.

     

    “So, what does the message say?” Cal got them back on track.

     

    “It says: To the General: the tunnels within tunnels were a genius idea, and no one will be the wiser. I’m having my people take over important positions on the route. Soon our communication will be unbreakable and undetectable, then it is on to the next phase. For the Glory of the Atlanteans.” Aure read.

     

    “Atlanteans?” Cal asked.

     

    “Atlanteans.” Penelope snorted. “Most of the patrician men are obsessed with the idea that there is some underwater civilization that is incredibly advanced and that, if they find the civilization, they will be welcomed with open arms into paradise.”

     

    “Well that’s…” Cal trailed off.

     

    “Really stupid.” Aure finished. She ducked her head at the approving look Penelope sent her way.

     

    “It really is.” Penelope agreed. “Aure, how would you like to join me, and my Nereides?”

     

    “What?”

     

    “The Nereides are a group of young women who don’t believe that Atlantis exists, but believe that it could and want to build it.” Penelope said. “With your help decoding messages and notes, we can take back what the patricians have been keeping from us to build our future.”

     

    “You, but won’t it be obvious that something is going on? I mean I don’t exactly look…”

     

    “It doesn’t matter.” Penelope insisted. “The Nereides will adore you, and if anyone takes issue with how you look we have places to hide you, people you can go to for protection. If I say you are an emissary of the Gods, no one would dare call me a liar.”

     

    “You must have some pull, miss.” Cal said, skeptically.

     

    “I am a Vestal.” She said proudly, “I can go where I please in the city, I am a woman that most men wouldn’t dare to talk down to.”

     

    Cal gave a low whistle of appreciation.

     

    “Please, Aure, at least meet the others. You could do an incredible amount of good.” And with Penelope looking at her, hope and a righteous fervor shining in her eyes, what else could Aure do?

     

    “Okay.”

     

    Mel came back to the bar a few minutes before midnight— and a few hours after Aure and their newest guest had departed for the most secret places of Rome— and looked around. “So, what did I miss?”