British University Stung by Bee loss

British University Stung by Bee loss 
by James Foytlin

Its an odd tale one reminiscent of a creepy sci-fi thriller ,a British university has been stung by a Bee theft .On Tuesday the university reported the theft of several thousand bees that were part a multi-million dollar neuroscience research project .Scottish Police are appealing for information after four bee hives containing  British black bees were stolen from a medical school in the city of Dundee.Police are keen to trace a white van and two men that were seen near the area on May 8.

Dr Chris Connolly lead researcher on the Dundee neuroscience project, who had reported the bees missing Sunday said in the ultimate understatement ,"This theft will undoubtedly hamper our research,"

The bees are described as "very unique" and identification should be easy. Dundee University's medical school has been investigating the potential effect of pesticides on bee learning and health. Dr. Connolly has speculated that who ever did this knows what they are doing and that the bees may have been stolen for breeding, or for selling to specialist bee-keepers.

Jetman Yves Rossy

Jetman Yves Rossy
by James Foytlin

Yves Rossy and his Jet Pack made a low key historic flight over the Grand Canyon. The Swiss adventurer, dubbed JetMan, weathered a set back Friday when he had to cancel his flight last minute due to red tape and various safety issues.The FAA only gave Rossy the green light less than an hour before he was scheduled flight Friday.

Despite the setback Rossy did not give up and on Saturday strapped his Jet Pack back on and took to the skies for a five-mile and eight-minute flight. Rossy has in the past rocketed above the English Channel as well as Swiss Alps.

Rossy's custom-built jet suit weighs 120lb with a  79" wing span. It's four engines give it enough thrust to reach average speeds of 125mph .

JetMan Rossy, who flew fighter jets for 17 years in the Swiss Air Force soared 200 feet above the canyon rim reaching speeds of up to 190mph before opening his parachute and landing safely on the canyon floor.  .

1997: Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov resigns after 19 moves in a game against IBM's Deep Blue

1997: Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov resigns after 19 moves in a game against IBM's Deep Blue
by James Foytlin 

On May 11, 1997, a new world chess champion was created when grandmaster Garry Kasparov resigned after only 19 moves in a game against IBM's Deep Blue. The chess-playing computer was developed by scientists at IBM. This was the sixth and final game of their match, which Kasparov lost two games to one, with three draws.

Garry Kasparov, was a chess prodigy from Azerbaijan. At 21 Kasparov beat the reigning champ Anatoly Karpov to become the youngest world champion in history. Kasparov  complied a FIDE (Federation International des Echecs) score of 2800, and a winning streak of 12 consecutive world chess titles. At the time of the match with Deep Blue Kasparov was considered to be the greatest chess player of all time.

Early Chess-playing computers had little success playing against accomplished chess masters , but all that changed in 1985, with "Chiptest" developed by a Carnegie Mellon doctoral student named Feng-hsing Hsu . Hsu went to work for IBM, and in 1989 as part of a team led by developer C.J. Tan created a computer capable of competing against the best of the best chess players in the world. Thus the supercomputer, Deep Blue was born. Deep Blue could calculate 100 billion to 200 billion moves in the three minutes . The time allotted to a player per move in standard chess match.

Deep Blue first challenged Kasparov in 1996, but was no match for the grandmaster known for his remarkably unpredictable play.  Kasparov went on to defeat the computer by switching strategies mid-game. Deep Blue challenged again In 1997, however Kasparov abandoned his traditional swashbuckling style, taking  a more defensive approach. Unfortunately this played in the Deep Blue's strength's and Kasparov finally went down to defeat .