Do you remember this story from a couple of years ago? A disgruntled virtual ex-wife murdered her virtual ex-husband. Both husband and wife were characters in an interactive online game called Maple Story. The fickle virtual husband suddenly decided to divorce his lovely virtual wife without a text message, digital alimony, or an offer of virtual marriage counseling. The virtual ex-wife was left wondering what went wrong in their virtual relationship and cried many virtual tears. However, her creator wanted some good old-fashioned non-virtual revenge and erased the virtual husband.

The virtual murderer, a 43-year-old Japanese piano teacher has been arrested and maybe charged with a real life crime. No not murder, illegal access onto a computer and manipulating electronic data, if convicted, she could face a prison term of up to five years or a fine up to $5,000. The murder weapon was the login information the woman got from the 33-year-old office worker (virtual husband's creator) when their characters were still happily married. She sneaked into his Maple Story account and killed the character. The man went to the police when he discovered that his online character was dead.

According to Jason Rybka, our About guide to Video Game Cheats, Maple Story is an on-line and very unique type of game and one that will certainly require a bit research prior to really being able to grasp the full enjoyment of the title. Check out his Maple Story cheats. Photo: Morgue File

• Additional Reading
• Police Technology and Forensic Science
• Computer and Video Game History
• History of Firearms

Today, on September 27, 2013, the famous search engine plus, Google turned fifteen. Yes still a teenager.

However, did you know that Google has a special philanthropic branch? Google.org is worth checking out, and could be a possible source of funding or support if you're a non-profit. Google.org has also made investments in renewable energy research and emerging technologies.

Today, besides being Google's anniversary, also marks the twenty-five billionth download on the Google Play app store.

• Who Invented Google?

Credit for the invention of the first practical parachute frequently goes to Sebastien Lenormand who demonstrated the parachute principle in 1783. However, parachutes had been imagined and sketched by Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) centuries earlier. Illustration: Faust Vrancic

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• History of Flight
• History of Airships and Balloons

With our kids heading back to school, it's time for us to take a good look at the state of the union for math and science in this country (USA). It's discouraging to admit that students in this country are lagging behind in those subjects. That's right, the math and science scores for kids in this country are sad. It has been reported that by the time our students are ready to leave high school - ready to enter higher education and the labor force - they are doing so badly with science they are significantly weaker than their peers in other countries, and that our idea of "advanced" is clearly below international standards.  But our kids are no dummies, whatever the reasons are, let's all pull together and help change things.

A great primer for understanding inventing is Young Inventors - Inventing 101 written for students and geared for three different levels, with advice for teachers and parents. Invention stories, learning about the patent system, understanding what a patent search is, and more is included with this primer.

Hello, I'd like to thank Kate for letting me know about "100 Awsome Engineering Projects For Kids". As the name suggests, the website has 100 great experiments that will let kids construct, play, learn and grow, all while they study the fundamentals of engineering.

Illustration by Mary Bellis