Latest news with #OFI
Winnipeg Free Press
13 hours ago
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Maeve Kyle, Irish trailblazer and 3-time Olympian, dies at 96
DUBLIN (AP) — Maeve Kyle, who became Ireland's first female track-and-field Olympian when she competed at the 1956 Melbourne Games, has died. She was 96. The Olympic Federation of Ireland said Wednesday that Kyle was a 'trailblazer for women's sport.' The cause of death was not announced. 'She competed at three consecutive Olympic Games – Melbourne 1956, Rome 1960, and Tokyo 1964 – at a time when women had to overcome huge prejudice and when opportunities in international athletics were extremely limited,' the federation said in its announcement. The federation also praised the breadth of Kyle's career. 'A sprinter and middle-distance runner, she represented Ireland in the 100m and 200m sprints in 1956 and 1960, and went on to reach the semifinals of the 400m at the age of 36 in Tokyo 1964, cementing her status as one of Ireland's all-time greats on the track,' the statement added. Kyle also represented Ireland more than 50 times in field hockey. 'We have lost a legend of Irish Olympic sport who rose to the top despite huge challenges in 1950s Ireland. She was an inspiration to us all. May she rest in peace,' OFI president Lochlann Walsh said. ___ AP Sports:
Straits Times
17 hours ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Ireland's first female track-and-field Olympian Kyle dies at 96
Maeve Kyle, Ireland's first female track-and-field Olympian, has died at the age of 96, the Olympic Federation of Ireland said on Wednesday. Kyle, who also earned more than 50 caps for the Irish national hockey team, appeared in the Melbourne 1956 Olympics, competing in the 100m and 200m races, becoming the first Irishwoman to compete in the discipline at the Games. "She competed at three consecutive Olympic Games... at a time when women had to overcome huge prejudice and when opportunities in international athletics were extremely limited," the OFI said in a statement. Kyle reached the semi-finals in both 400m and 800m races at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. She won bronze in 400m at the European Indoor Athletics Championships two years later. "We have lost a legend of Irish Olympic sport who rose to the top despite huge challenges in 1950s Ireland. She was an inspiration to us all," said OFI President Lochlann Walsh. REUTERS
Irish Daily Mirror
18 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Tributes paid to pioneering Irish Olympian who has passed away
The Olympic Federation of Ireland has led the tributes for Ireland's first female track and field Olympian Maeve Kyle, who has passed away at the age of 97. Kyle, who was born in Kilkenny in 1928, competed at three Olympic Games - Melbourne 1956, Rome 1960, and Tokyo 1964 – and is rightly described by the OFI as a trailblazer and pioneer of women's sport. The 'Kilkenny kitten' represented Ireland as a sprinter and middle-distance runner - Kyle competed in the 100m and 200m in the 1956 and 1960 Games, and qualified for the 400m semi-finals in 1964 at the age of 36. The following year, she took bronze in the European indoors and, at 41, reached the Commonwealth Games final. Away from the track she also earned 58 caps for Ireland's hockey team, while she also competed at tennis, sailing, swimming and golf. Kyle later became a coach and mentor and helped establish the Ballymena & Antrim Athletics Club. Former Irish Olympic athlete and Irish international hockey player Maeve Kyle with Katie Taylor in 2012 (Image: ©INPHO/Cathal Noonan) The Irish Sports Council presented her with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. In the same year, she received the European Coaches Association Lifetime Achievement Award. She was also appointed an OBE for her services to sport. OFI president Lochlann Walsh said: 'We have lost a legend of Irish Olympic Sport who rose to the top despite huge challenges in 1950s Ireland. She was an inspiration to us all. May she rest in peace.' Peter Sherrard, the OFI's chief executive, added: 'Our thoughts today are with Maeve's extended family, friends and relatives. Her achievements in life gave inspiration to so many Irish women who followed in her footsteps as Olympians." Athletics Northern Ireland also paid tribute to Kyle's achievements in a statement. "The use of the term 'legend' has become overused in the world of sport but in referring to Maeve in such terms is to grossly underestimate her career as an athlete and her contribution to athletics, and especially women's athletics, both in Northern Ireland and throughout the Island of Ireland," the statement read. "If Maeve was determined and successful as an athlete she was equally, if not more so, as an administrator. It is hard for the present generation to appreciate the environment that female athletes competed in in the latter part of the 20th Century. Maeve Kyle at an Irish Olympic training camp in New South Wales in 2000 (Image: ©INPHO/Phil Carrick) "It was only in the 1950's that the NI Women's Association was formed and Championships began to be held and it was the Kyles who were primarily responsible for its formation and development." An Athletics Ireland statement read: "Maeve's contribution to Irish athletics, including her coaching work with Ballymena & Antrim AC and her unwavering support for emerging athletes in Northern Ireland and beyond, has left an indelible mark on our sport. "Maeve Kyle was more than a legend; she was a torchbearer who lit the path for those who followed. Her legacy lives on in the athletes she inspired and the standards she set. "On behalf of the athletics community across Ireland, Athletics Ireland extend our heartfelt condolences to her daughter Shauna, her granddaughter Indy, to the extended Kyle and Shankey families, her many friends, and all those whose lives she touched through her extraordinary career and enduring legacy." Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
Los Angeles Times
25-06-2025
- Science
- Los Angeles Times
How AI and robot hives are lowering the risk of bee colony collapse in California
Lifting up the hood of a Beewise hive feels more like you're getting ready to examine the engine of a car than visit with a few thousand pollinators. The unit — dubbed a BeeHome — is an industrial upgrade from the standard wooden beehives, all clad in white metal and solar panels. Inside sits a high-tech scanner and robotic arm powered by artificial intelligence. Roughly 300,000 of these units are in use across the U.S., scattered across fields of almond, canola, pistachios and other crops that require pollination to grow. It's not exactly the romantic vision of a beehive or beekeeper lodged in the cultural consciousness, but then that's not what matters; keeping bees alive does. And Beewise's units do that dramatically better than the standard hive, providing constant insights on colony health and the ability to provide treatment should it start to falter. The U.S. has observed a startling uptick in the number of die-offs since the mid-2000s as beekeepers have struggled to keep pace with the rise of disease-carrying mites, climate extremes and other stressors that can wipe out colonies. That's endangering billions of dollars in crops from almonds to avocados that rely on the pollinators. This past year saw the worst colony losses on record. Beewise has raised nearly $170 million, including a $50 million Series D earlier this month, and it has a plan to change the industry. AI and robotics are able to replace '90% of what a beekeeper would do in the field,' said Beewise Chief Executive and co-founder Saar Safra. The question is whether beekeepers are willing to switch out tried and true equipment. Ultimately, the fate of humans is tied to that of bees. Roughly 75% of crops require pollinators, with nuts and fruits particularly dependent. While other species of bees and insects can play a role, they can't replace honeybees. 'There would essentially be no crop without the bees,' said Zac Ellis, the senior director of agronomy at OFI, a global food and ingredient seller. The beehive hasn't seen much technological innovation in 170 years. The Langstroth hive, named after the American reverend who patented it in 1852, is a simple wooden box with frames that can house the queen and her worker bees, larvae and honey. 'Langstroth hives are easy to work with, break down, build up, manipulate frames, make splits' and move, said Priya Chakrabarti Basu, a Washington State University bee researcher. These boxes are the backbone of the agriculture industry and the high-value crops that are heavily reliant on the 2.5 million commercial hives that crisscross the U.S. on semitrailers. Beekeepers with thousands of hives will travel from as far away as Florida to provide pollination services for California's $3.9 billion almond crop in spring before moving on to other states and crops. 'Almonds are one of the largest pollination events in the world,' said Ellis, who uses Beewise's hives on 30% of the acres he manages. 'Typically, a grower needs two hives per acre,' each with up to 40,000 bees. Pollinating the 10,000 acres of almonds, walnuts and pistachios he oversees requires millions of bees doing the brunt of the pollination work. The number of hives and demand have created a problem, though: Beekeepers are only able to check on their colonies' health every week or two. But a growing number of threats to bees means entire colonies can be wiped out or weakened past the point of no return in just a few days. Toxic pesticides, a changing climate and a sharp uptick in the invasive, disease-transmitting varroa mite since the 1980s have contributed to the rise of what's known as colony collapse disorder. The exact role each of these issues plays in wiping out colonies is unclear, but they are also likely interacting with each other to take a toll. 'You are rarely going to find a bee who is only, for example, stressed by a mite or a bee who's stressed by a disease only or a bee who's only stressed by poor nutrition,' Chakrabarti Basu said. 'It is always a combination.' The impacts, though, are clear. From the 12-month period starting last April, more than 56% of commercial colonies were wiped out, according to the Apiary Inspectors of America. Beekeepers have taken a major economic hit as a result: Between last June and March, colony losses cost beekeepers an estimated $600 million, according to the Honey Bee Health Coalition. While a new hive design alone isn't enough to save bees, Beewise's robotic hives help cut down on losses by providing a near-constant stream of information on colony health in real time — and give beekeepers the ability to respond to issues. Equipped with a camera and a robotic arm, they're able to regularly snap images of the frames inside the BeeHome, which Safra likened to an MRI. The amount of data they capture is staggering. Each frame contains up to 6,000 cells where bees can, among other things, gestate larvae or store honey and pollen. A hive contains up to 15 frames and a BeeHome can hold up to 10 hives, providing thousands of data points for Beewise's AI to analyze. While a trained beekeeper can quickly look at a frame and assess its health, AI can do it even faster, as well as take in information on individual bees in the photos. Should AI spot a warning sign, such as a dearth of new larvae or the presence of mites, beekeepers will get an update on an app that a colony requires attention. The company's technology earned it a BloombergNEF Pioneers award earlier this year. 'There's other technologies that we've tried that can give us some of those metrics as well, but it's really a look in the rearview mirror,' Ellis said. 'What really attracted us to Beewise is their ability to not only understand what's happening in that hive, but to actually act on those different metrics.' That includes administering medicine and food as well as opening and closing vents to regulate temperature or protect against pesticide spraying. Safra noted that after two hurricanes hit Florida last year, BeeHomes in the state were still operational while many wooden hives were destroyed. That durability and responsiveness has Ellis convinced on expanding their use. Today, BeeHomes are on 30% of his acres, but he said within three years, they're aiming for 100% coverage. Whether other growers and beekeepers are as keen to make the switch remains to be seen, though, given nearly two centuries of loyalty to the Langstroth design. The startup wants to more than triple the number of BeeHomes in use, reaching 1 million in three years. 'We're in a race against time,' Safra said. 'We might have the best product on planet Earth in 15 years, but it doesn't matter' if there aren't any bees left. Ellis likened the hives to a Ritz-Carlton for pollinators. The five-star stay appears to suit bees well: Beewise says its units — which it leases to provide pollination services at what it says are market rates — have seen colony losses of around 8%. That's a major drop compared to the average annual loss rate of more than 40%, according to Apiary Inspectors of America, a group that tracks colony health. 'The asset is the bees, that's the revenue-generating asset,' said Safra, noting that losing more than 40% of those assets makes it hard for businesses to cover labor to maintain hives, trailers to transport them and other fixed costs. Beewise expects to have $100 million in revenue this year, and Safra said it's a year away from profitability. The company declined to share the valuation for its Series D. It has competition in the bee-saving technology realm. Some companies like Dalan Animal Health are developing vaccines to protect bees against disease. BeeHero and Beeflow (sensing a pattern?) are among those that provide sensors for monitoring health in hives and fields. Both can help improve outcomes at Langstroth hives, but they still require regular beekeeper maintenance. Chakrabarti Basu from Washington State and her colleagues are also working on using AI to detect bees entering hives. 'The more data sets we can give, the better it'll be trained,' she said. 'Pattern recognition — it could be monitoring a brood frame, it could be looking at anything for estimating colony health or any aspect of colony health — I think AI will probably get better at it.' Kahn writes for Bloomberg.
The Star
24-06-2025
- Science
- The Star
How robotic hives and AI are lowering the risk of bee colony collapse
Lifting up the hood of a Beewise hive feels more like you're getting ready to examine the engine of a car than visit with a few thousand pollinators. The unit – dubbed a BeeHome – is an industrial upgrade from the standard wooden beehives, all clad in white metal and solar panels. Inside sits a high-tech scanner and robotic arm powered by artificial intelligence. Roughly 300,000 of these units are in use across the US, scattered across fields of almond, canola, pistachios and other crops that require pollination to grow. It's not exactly the romantic vision of a beehive or beekeeper lodged in the cultural consciousness, but then that's not what matters; keeping bees alive does. And Beewise's units do that dramatically better than the standard hive, providing constant insights on colony health and the ability to provide treatment should it start to falter. The US has observed a startling uptick in the number of die-offs since the mid-2000s as beekeepers have struggled to keep pace with the rise of disease-carrying mites, climate extremes and other stressors that can wipe out colonies. That's endangering billions of dollars in crops from almonds to avocados that rely on the pollinators. This past year saw the worst colony losses on record. Beewise has raised nearly US$170mil (RM729mil), and it has a plan to change the industry. AI and robotics are able to replace "90% of what a beekeeper would do in the field,' said Beewise Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Saar Safra. The question is whether beekeepers are willing to switch out what's been tried and true equipment. Ultimately, the fate of humans is tied to that of bees. Roughly 75% of crops require pollinators, with nuts and fruits particularly dependent. While other species of bees and insects can play a role, they can't replace honeybees. "There would essentially be no crop without the bees,' said Zac Ellis, the senior director of agronomy at OFI, a global food and ingredient seller. The beehive hasn't seen much technological innovation in 170 years. The Langstroth hive, named after the American reverend who patented it in 1852, is a simple wooden box with frames that can house the queen and her worker bees, larvae and honey. "Langstroth hives are easy to work with, break down, build up, manipulate frames, make splits' and move, said Priya Chakrabarti Basu, a Washington State University bee researcher. These boxes are the backbone of the agriculture industry and the high-value crops that are heavily reliant on the 2.5 million commercial hives that crisscross the US on semi-trailers. Beekeepers with thousands of hives will travel from as far away as Florida to provide pollination services for California's US$3.9bil (RM16.7bil) almond crop in spring before moving on to other states and crops. "Almonds are one of the largest pollination events in the world,' said Ellis, who uses Beewise's hives on 30% of the acres he manages. "Typically, a grower needs two hives per acre,' each with up to 40,000 bees. Pollinating the 10,000 acres of almonds, walnuts and pistachios he oversees requires millions of bees doing the brunt of the pollination work. The number of hives and demand have created a problem, though: Beekeepers are only able to check on their colonies' health every week or two. But a growing number of threats to bees means entire colonies can be wiped out or weakened past the point of no return in just a few days. Toxic pesticides, a changing climate and a sharp uptick in the invasive, disease-transmitting varroa mite since the 1980s have contributed to the rise of what's known as colony collapse disorder. The exact role each of these issues plays in wiping out colonies is unclear, but they are also likely interacting with each other to take a toll. "You are rarely going to find a bee who is only, for example, stressed by a mite or a bee who's stressed by a disease only or a bee who's only stressed by poor nutrition,' Chakrabarti Basu said. "It is always a combination.' The impacts, though, are clear. From the 12-month period starting last April, more than 56% of commercial colonies were wiped out, according to the Apiary Inspectors of America. Beekeepers have taken a major economic hit as a result: Between last June and March, colony losses cost beekeepers an estimated US$600mil (RM2.6bil), according to the Honey Bee Health Coalition. While a new hive design alone isn't enough to save bees, Beewise's robotic hives help cut down on losses by providing a near-constant stream of information on colony health in real time – and give beekeepers the ability to respond to issues. Equipped with a camera and a robotic arm, they're able to regularly snap images of the frames inside the BeeHome, which Safra likened to an MRI. The amount of data they capture is staggering. Each frame contains up to 6,000 cells where bees can, among other things, gestate larvae or store honey and pollen. A hive contains up to 15 frames and a BeeHome can hold up to 10 hives, providing thousands of datapoints for Beewise's AI to analyse. While a trained beekeeper can quickly look at a frame and assess its health, AI can do it even faster, as well as take in information on individual bees in the photos. Should AI spot a warning sign, such as a dearth of new larvae or the presence of mites, beekeepers will get an update on an app that a colony requires attention. The company's technology earned it a BloombergNEF Pioneers award earlier this year. "There's other technologies that we've tried that can give us some of those metrics as well, but it's really a look in the rearview mirror,' Ellis said. "What really attracted us to Beewise is their ability to not only understand what's happening in that hive, but to actually act on those different metrics.' That includes administering medicine and food as well as opening and closing vents to regulate temperature or protect against pesticide spraying. Safra noted that after two hurricanes hit Florida last year, BeeHomes in the state were still operational while many wooden hives were destroyed. That durability and responsiveness has Ellis convinced on expanding their use. Today, BeeHomes are on 30% of his acres, but he said within three years, they're aiming for 100% coverage. Whether other growers and beekeepers are as keen to make the switch remains to be seen, though, given nearly two centuries of loyalty to the Langstroth design. The startup wants to more than triple the number of BeeHomes in use, reaching 1 million in three years. "We're in a race against time,' Safra said. "We might have the best product on planet earth in 15 years, but it doesn't matter' if there aren't any bees left. Ellis likened the hives to a Ritz-Carlton for pollinators. The five-star stay appears to suit bees well: Beewise says its units - which it leases to provide pollination services at what it says are market rates - have seen colony losses of around 8%. That's a major drop compared to the average annual loss rate of more than 40%, according to Apiary Inspectors of America, a group that tracks colony health. "The asset is the bees, that's the revenue-generating asset,' said Safra, noting that losing more than 40% of those assets makes it hard for businesses to cover labor to maintain hives, trailers to transport them and other fixed costs. Beewise expects to have US$100mil (RM429mil) in revenue this year, and Safra said it's a year away from profitability. The company declined to share the valuation for its Series D. It has competition in the bee-saving technology realm. Some companies like Dalan Animal Health are developing vaccines to protect bees against disease. BeeHero and Beeflow (sensing a pattern?) are among those that provide sensors for monitoring health in hives and fields. Both can help improve outcomes at Langstroth hives, but they still require regular beekeeper maintenance. Chakrabarti Basu from Washington State and her colleagues are also working on using AI to detect bees entering hives. "The more data sets we can give, the better it'll be trained,' she said. "Pattern recognition – it could be monitoring a brood frame, it could be looking at anything for estimating colony health or any aspect of colony health – I think AI will probably get better at it.' – Bloomberg
