AI beats humans on the bridge

An artificial intelligence (AI) has beaten eight world champions at bridge. The win marks a “new milestone” for the AI, The Guardian said, because in bridge the players are working with incomplete information and must react to the behavior of several other players. “What we have seen represents a fundamentally important advance in the state of artificial intelligence systems,” said Stephen Muggleton, professor of machine learning at Imperial College London.

Novel “predicted Ukraine conflict”

According to The Times, a fantasy novel predicted Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with “surprising accuracy.” Mikhail Yuryev Third Reich: The Russia That Should Be, released in 2006, depicts a Moscow-backed uprising in eastern and southern Ukraine against a Western-instigated revolution. Russia’s leader, dubbed Vladimir II the Renovator, is absorbing referendum-approved lands in affected parts of Ukraine. The storyline closely resembles the events of 2014, when separatists in eastern Ukraine, backed by Russian troops, broke away.

Bear gets stuck on the porch

A black bear entering a home in New Hampshire got stuck on the porch before finally leaving after 45 minutes. “Naughty, NAUGHTY bear!!” Grafton’s Melissa Anne Kelley-Champney posted on Facebook after the encounter. “We do NOT eat the walls and the doorknobs! Worst houseguest ever!” The bear managed to walk after climbing out of a window and pushing open the door so she could get out. The bear is said to have weighed over 400 pounds.