Weekly Insulin, Satellite Bluetooth and AI Airspace Forecasting

This briefing covers the FDA approval of a once-weekly basal insulin for adults with type 2 diabetes, a commercial satellite link for compatible Bluetooth devices, an FAA pilot using predictive software to anticipate airspace congestion, and a genomic and fossil reconstruction that places the probable origin of bats in Europe.

Stories in this briefing

1. The FDA Approves a Weekly Insulin for Type 2 Diabetes

   The FDA has approved Lilly's Onswik, a once-weekly basal insulin for adults with type 2 diabetes. Four Phase 3 trials involving more than 3,400 adults found its average blood-sugar control was not inferior to daily basal insulins. The weekly schedule may reduce injection burden, but it does not prove better adherence or long-term protection from complications. Onswik is not approved for type 1 diabetes, children or adolescents, and low blood sugar remains a central safety risk.

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2. Six Satellites Open a Data Link for Bluetooth Devices

   Hubble Network has opened a satellite service that lets compatible Bluetooth Low Energy radios send small location and sensor packets without a cellular or dedicated satellite modem. Six satellites currently receive the signals, but devices need special firmware, cryptographic provisioning and a transmitter capable of +20 dBm. The company has not published audited availability or independent reliability results. This is an intermittent channel for tracking and sensing, not voice service, broadband or automatic connectivity for ordinary Bluetooth devices.

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3. The FAA Tests AI Forecasting for Airspace Congestion

   The FAA has begun a 90-day Washington-area pilot of SMART, software that combines schedules, weather, airport capacity and airspace conditions to predict congestion. It advises human traffic managers, who retain decision authority, and does not control or separate aircraft. Moving predictive analytics into daily airspace management is operationally significant, but no controlled results yet show fewer delays, cancellations, fuel use or emissions. The meaningful test will be forecast accuracy, accepted recommendations and delay minutes actually avoided.

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4. A New Family Tree Places Early Bats in Europe

   A reconstruction combining 103 bat genomes with 44 fossils places the probable origin of bats in Europe about 65 million years ago. It suggests their common ancestor could already fly and use laryngeal echolocation before modern bat families diversified. The genetic and anatomical evidence strengthens the family tree, but it is still a model, not the discovery of the first bat. The oldest complete skeletons are about 52 million years old, and no known fossil captures the transition into flight.

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