Category Archives: Human Behavior

Sadrick Widmann, cidaas: there is a broad range of cybersecurity measures a company should implement nowadays – CyberNews.com

A set of tools for managing roles and access privileges of individual network entities to various cloud and on-premise applications is called Identity and Access Management (IAM).

The primary purpose of IAM is a single digital identity for everyone and everything. Once that is established, it must be observed and modified throughout the access cycle of each user or device.

We sat down with Sadrick Widmann, a cloud IMA-focused company cidaas CEO, to discuss the most pressing issues of this side of the field.

How did cidaas originate? What would you consider the biggest milestones throughout the years?

The idea for cidaas developed out of a customer project of WidasConcepts. At that time, a well-known German medical technology company was looking for a solution for its customer identity and access management that would allow not only the administration of identities but also their authentication and authorization on a central platform.After evaluating several software solutions, we came to the conclusion that no vendor mapped all the requirements "out-of-the-box" and that major development efforts would be necessary to configure the solution as desired. The result is cidaas Europes #1 Cloud Identity & Access Management.

Can you introduce us to your identity platform? What are its key features?

Cidaas is the leading European Cloud Identity & Access Management and delivers an out-of-the-box solution with which companies can establish a unified identity across all channels and the highest security. Cidaas is characterized in particular by feature completeness. Starting with the extensive authentication options for login or multi-factor authentication to our group management with which B2B use cases or family and friend scenarios can be easily implemented as well as our advanced consent management. But also, innovative functions like the Real World Identification with which the digital and the real-world identity of users can be linked.

For example, the access to stadiums or events can be managed, or the cidaas ID validator with which a digital identity verification can be performed via an AutoIdent, for example for the opening of a bank account or for the digital driver's license check, round off the platform.

One important characteristic of the cidaas platform, which our customers often highlight, is the Everything is an API approach and the event-based architecture of cidaas. The Everything is an API allows one to access all features of cidaas via API and the event-based architecture allows reacting in real-time to any event happening in the cidaas platform. Both features allow a perfect integration of cidaas into any software landscape or application.

What are the most common methods threat actors use to bypass various identity verification measures?

There are many different attack vectors in the context of authentication, but since the password is still the predominant authentication method, most attacks continue to be password-centric and follow classic attack patterns.

Therefore, brute force attacks are still one of the most common methods, in particular, brute force attacks with credential stuffing or credential cracking demonstrate high success rates. In these attack patterns, attackers utilize existing compromised credentials and variations of these to authenticate at different services and platforms. The biggest collection of leaked credentials haveibeenpwnd contains nearly 12 billion credentials.

Additionally, also classical Phishing attacks are still common and still show a much too high success rate.

The advantage of these attack patterns is the broad range of victims that can be reached as well as the ease of implementation, reducing the barriers of the attack, combined with a good success rate, it is perfect for any attacker.

The best way to overcome these attack patterns is to move to passwordless and multi-factor authentication to eliminate the password as an attack vector.

How do you think the recent global events affected the cybersecurity landscape?

The recent events had a huge impact on the cybersecurity landscape. Starting the Covid-19 pandemic has greatly changed the way we work. Remote work and distributed work are part of everyday life, which also meant that classic cybersecurity concepts had to change. Users are no longer located in the secure corporate network protected by firewalls, but all over the world. But it is not only the world of work that has changed; the pandemic has also had an impact on private life, giving digitization a further boost, at least in part.

Also, the recent development in Ukraine affects the cybersecurity landscape massively, especially since state players and also hacker collectives are getting in on the action. In addition to the actual threat situation, which has increased, the perceived threat situation is also decisive and shapes the cybersecurity landscape.

My hope is that recent global events will have a positive effect on cybersecurity and lead to increased investment in cybersecurity by companies and nations.

What are the main issues associated with password-based authentication?

We already discussed password-centric attack patterns, but the main issue with password-based authentication is the human. The human factor combines different human behavioral patterns which undermine the password. That starts with the reuse of passwords, users tend to use the same or a variation of the same password test123 and test1234, which makes it easy for the attacker to guess the password in a brute force attack.

Moreover, the users do not select random passwords but subconsciously use certain patterns to assign passwords. These patterns can be modeled by attackers to reduce the number of possible passwords (solution space). Basically, attackers do not need to test random passwords during an attack, based on leaked credentials and models which map the patterns of password selection, the solution space an attacker needs to test during an attack shrinks massively.

Besides quality identity management solutions, what other cybersecurity measures do you think every company should implement nowadays?

There is a broad range of cybersecurity measures a company should implement nowadays. Important are all measures known to secure the networks and internal infrastructure: firewalls, protection against malware, monitoring of software and hardware systems, antivirus software

Important is also to keep software and hardware up-to-date, sadly this is quite often not the case in many companies, and in particular outdated software is in place. Finally, security awareness within the company is an essential building block of cybersecurity.

As for personal use, what security measures can average individuals take to prevent their identity from being stolen?

As an individual, you can take different measures to reduce the risk of identity theft. Obviously, caution and thoughtful behavior are important. Additionally, individuals should move to passwordless authentication options if available, more and more digital services offer such options like many of our customers do.

Users should also start using multi-factor authentication, in particular for important services and sensitive data. But it is not only the individual who should take action, also companies and providers need to do their job and integrate identity & access management as well as other security solutions to protect their user data.

What do you think the future of identity and access management is going to be like? Do you think the use of biometrics is going to take off?

I am curious to see the future development of the Identity & Access Management market. There are some interesting trends, be it Zero-Trust, digital identity verification, or the connection between digital and real-world identity.

I am also quite sure the use of biometrics will take off, it is one of the most comfortable options for users, and most of the users are already used to it, due to the device biometrics like FaceID or TouchID on Smartphones. In particular, in the context of passwordless authentication, user comfort and therefore biometrics is important.

Would you like to share whats next for cidaas?

As a leading European Cloud Identity & Access Management, we have big plans for the future. We want to further strengthen our position in Europe and also expand into other markets. We also have some cool new features planned that will help our customers to implement Identity & Access Management perfectly.

We have already briefly touched on a few topics above, from zero trust to real-world identification (identifying users in the real world, e.g. at the point of sale or when accessing the stadium), which we will continue to drive forward with cidaas.

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Sadrick Widmann, cidaas: there is a broad range of cybersecurity measures a company should implement nowadays - CyberNews.com

This Shark Can Walk on Land to Survive Its Extreme Habitat – Smithsonian Magazine

An epaulette shark in the South Pacific Auscape / Universal Images Group via Getty Images

While sharks that walk on land may sound like the terrifying plot of a Sharknado movie, a recent study examined a species that truly can move out of water. But its hardly a nightmare-inducing skill: The small sharks can scoot about 90 feet across the land.

Theyre not sprinting. There are no ankle-biters coming to get anybody, biologist Forrest Galante, who was not involved with the new research, told the Associated Press in July. Its just this fascinating behavior taking place.

Called epaulette sharks, these docile creatures pose little risk to humansbut theyre still considered the toughest shark on the Great Barrier Reef, Jodie Rummer, a marine biologist at James Cook University in Australia and co-author of the paper, tells USA Todays Orlando Mayorquin. The species may provide scientists with valuable information about surviving in harsh environments.

In the research, published in Integrative and Comparative Biology in July, scientists studied the mechanics of how these sharks move, comparing their gait as newborns versus as juveniles.They assert that walking on land might be a survival strategy prompted not only by the sharks naturally severe habitat conditions, but also by climate change.

"Epaulette sharks live at the extremes," Marianne Porter, lead author of the study and a biologist at Florida Atlantic University, tells Live Sciences Joshua A. Krisch. "If we want to learn what happens to animals under the extreme conditions of climate change, looking at animals already living under these conditionsand understanding how they move and copemay be the first step."

Epaulette sharks (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) are about 3 feet long with paddle-shaped fins they use to walk, whether across the ocean floor or on dry land. They live in shallow watersamid coral reefs in the western Pacific Oceanaround New Guinea and northern Australia. These hardy sharks can survive oxygen deficiency for up to about two hours, which helps them persist in their challenging habitat.

You might not think of beautiful, tropical beaches as harsh, but in reality, tidepools and coral reef environments are pretty harsh, subjected to warm temperatures when the tide is out and a lot of changes, Porter tells The Guardians Richard Luscombe. These little sharks can move from tidepool to tidepool, allowing them to access new pools to forage for food, or tidepools with better oxygenated water.

In the study, scientists hypothesized that changes in thesharks body shapes as they grow would affect how they move, per a statement. Newborn epaulette sharks draw nutrients from an internal yolk sac until theyre about a month old, which causes their bellies to bulge. Juveniles, on the other hand, actively forage for worms, crustaceans and small fish, so theyre more slender, the authors write.

"Shape generally impacts the way we move," Porter tells Live Science. "Human babies walk differently to balance their giant heads, and we assumed that baby sharks would wiggle their bodies and move their fins differently to accommodate their giant bellies."

To test their hypothesis, the research team examined sharks during three gaits of the animals in water: slow-to-medium walking, fast-walking and swimming. Surprisingly, they found that markers such as overall velocity, fin rotation and tail beat frequency remained the same for newborns and juveniles.

Further researchincluding looking into how these sharks walk on landcould provide more information about why these movements dont change as the sharks age, per Live Science. And, per the paper, future studies could determine how climate change may have impacted these sharks' walking behavior.

Understanding how these animals do it and how theyre so successful could teach us a lot about what is needed to be able to survive in the future climatic conditions that were supposed to see, Porter tells USA Today.

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This Shark Can Walk on Land to Survive Its Extreme Habitat - Smithsonian Magazine

Rayland Baxter Announces New Album If I Were A Butterfly, Shares Origins of Title Track: Exclusive – Yahoo Entertainment

The post Rayland Baxter Announces New Album If I Were A Butterfly, Shares Origins of Title Track: Exclusive appeared first on Consequence.

Origins is a recurring new music series giving artists the opportunity to share exclusive insights into their latest release. Today, Rayland Baxter breaks down If I Were A Butterfly, the lead single and title track of his fourth album.

Nashville singer and songwriter Rayland Baxter has announced his fourth studio album and shared the title track, If I Were A Butterfly, on Tuesday (August 30th). The groovy, harmony-laden track is a fascinating foray into the sounds of If I Were A Butterfly,and its lush instrumentation compliments Baxters warm vocals and introspective lyrics perfectly.

According to Baxter, the new album centers its themes on the loss of his legendary father, Bucky Baxter, who was a member of Bob Dylans band and Steve Earls Dukes, and who appears on several ofIf I Were A Butterflys tracks. In addition to his late father, Baxter has enlisted some more heavy hitters for the album, including Lennon Stella (who provides backing vocals to If I Were A Butterfly), Shakey Graves, members of Cage The Elephant and Alabama Shakes, and more.

About the title track specifically, Baxter says that its just a song about growing up looking forward looking back about life and death birth and rebirth evolution and transformation of the mind, body, and spirit. These ideas may be macro, but Baxter makes sure to take these weighty concepts and infuse them with subtlety and intrigue across the five minute track. If I Were A Butterfly is certainly an emotional experience, but theres a dazzling lightness to the song that keeps you coming back for more.

Along with the track and album announcement, RayLand Baxter has shared the music video for If I Were A Butterfly, directed by Citizen Kane Wane. The singer/songwriter has also announced several US tour dates in support of If I Were A Butterfly; check out the tour dates below.

Story continues

Get an exclusive first look at the tracks music video, and read on for RayLand Baxters origins for If I Were A Butterfly.

If I Were a Butterly arrives on November 4th via ATO.

Butternut Squash Soup:

Rayland Baxter Origins Butternut Squash Soup

The origin of If I Were A Butterfly is simple I opened up the portal of space and time after eating some butternut squash and thyme soup.

Bucky:

I sat around a room surrounded by a spiritual web of silent stationary memories some friends came over to check on me from time to time they played a drum and a chord Bucky, Billy, and Tiger did the rest.

Cornfields:

I made this record amongst the cornfields of Kentucky. Theyre constant, everywhere you go, between Kentucky and Tennessee.

Evolution:

Nothing evolves faster than a butterfly.

Humanity:

Humanity RayLand Baxter Origins

In 1972, Jerome Kagan wrote that uncertainty resolution was one of the foremost determinants of human behavior. When we cant immediately gratify our desire to know, we become highly motivated to reach a concrete explanation. We want to eliminate the distress of the unknown a drive for certainty in the face of a less-than-certain world. This song is about living without that kind of closure.

Rayland Baxters 2022 Tour Dates:

11/4 Nashville, TN @ Grimeys In-Store11/5 Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West11/6 Charleston, SC @ The Windjammer11/11 Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl11/16 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Made11/18 Philadelphia, PA @ Ardmore Music Hall11/19 Washington D.C. @ The Hamilton

Rayland Baxter Announces New Album If I Were A Butterfly, Shares Origins of Title Track: ExclusivePaolo Ragusa

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Rayland Baxter Announces New Album If I Were A Butterfly, Shares Origins of Title Track: Exclusive - Yahoo Entertainment

An Increase in the Shark Population is Changing Human Behavior – News @ Northeastern – Northeastern University

Cape Cod resident Doug Fraser realized he had made the right decision to give up boogie boarding in favor of a standup paddle board the day a great white shark swam under him and rolled over to take a closer look.

From his standing position on the paddle board, Fraser was able to see the shark coming and the roll that exposed a dark, hollow-looking eye.

I switched from boogie boarding probably four to five years ago because you look a little too much like a seal when you sit there in the water with fins dangling, says Fraser, a writer who formerly covered the fishing industryand sharksin Massachusetts.

I really enjoyed boogie boarding, Fraser says. I changed my attitude.

There are no statistics on how many people have given up boogie boarding, surfing or long distance ocean swimming because they fear encountering one of the hundreds of great white sharks hunting for seals off the Atlantic-facing beaches of Cape Cod, a popular tourist destination spot in Massachusetts.

But there is no doubt the sharks growing presence has changed human behavior on and near those waters, especially after 26-year-old boogie boarder Arthur Medici was killed by a great white off Wellfleet on the Outer Cape nearly four years ago.

The Swim for Life charity event in Provincetown, Massachusetts, that draws hundreds of participants will, for the second September in a row, take place in shallow waters of the East End shoreline rather than the traditional deepwater route across Provincetown Harbor due to concerns about sharks, whose local population peaks in late summer and early autumn.

And at ocean-facing beaches from Chatham to Provincetown, lifeguards keep beachgoers close to shore, especially during high tide when sharks ride the swells parallel to the beach in the hunt for seals.

If they go waist deep or any further, lifeguards will call them back, says Leslie Reynolds, deputy superintendent of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

She says it used to be that lifeguards had to blow their whistles multiple times a day to get bathers closer to shore due to rip tides or big currents.

But now lifeguards report its a rare occasion when they have to wave people in, Reynolds says.

Behavior has changed. People have learned. Without a doubt, people are staying closer to shore, she says.

Peoples reluctance to go deep may also have something to do with the purple shark flags and giant billboards signaling the presence of great whites that greet beachgoers, messaging tips imported from South Africa and Australia, among other places with a large shark presence.

Its all part of an education program called Shark Smart.

A handful of years ago, after we talked to South Africa, we saw they were using shark flags, Reynolds says.

You go to any beach, and it will be up. Whether you see the shark or not there are sharks present, and you have to adjust your behavior when you are recreating in the water.

Also popular with the public is the Sharktivity app operated by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, which shows users the locations of white shark sightings.

The Sharktivity app registered dozens of great white sightings off Cape Cod during the week of July 17, with two being spotted off Nauset Beach in Orleans July 19 around the same time, one of which was only 50 yards from shore and moving toward the beach.

The sharks proximity to the surf line has been documented multiple times, with a recent study showing that great white sharks off Cape Cod spend 47% of their time in water less than 15 feet deep.

But hugging the shoreline for safetys sake wont work for the Capes surfing community, made up of residents and seasonal visitors.

Some surfers have banded together with other ocean recreation enthusiasts to form Cape Cod Ocean Community, which is raising funds for increased shark surveillance in the form of drones and spotter planes.

People whose enjoyment of the ocean is being threatened by great whites are not just surfers, says Heather Doyle, co-founder and chairperson of Cape Cod Ocean Community.

Its swimmers. Its people that used to dive for lobsters. Its boogie boarders, which used to be a pretty fun thing to do with your kids.

How long will it be before we only go up to our ankles? Doyle says.

Her organization has called on authorities, including officials from the Cape Cod National Seashore and Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, to embrace the use of advanced technology to promote shark safety.

Accelerating a pilot project to provide real-time data every time an acoustically tagged shark pings off a buoy containing a receiver would be one way for the seashore and shark conservancy to put your money where your mouth is, says Doyle, whose organization is doing its own fundraising for drones and spotter planes that could operate when lifeguards are off duty.

Not all the solutions are high tech, Doyle says. She says Australia has a Shark Stoppers program in which people in high towers look for sharks with binoculars.

Doyle says her organization analyzed several years of data from the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy and found tagged great whites pinged off receiver buoys around Cape Cod thousands of times last year.

Its certainly a reflection of our reality now.

The danger is much greater than it used to be. (The sharks) have not always been here to this degree, Doyle says.

The increased presence of great white sharks off Cape Cod is part of a conservation success story that has grabbed world-wide attention.

The local seal population rebounded in the decades following the Marine Animals Protection Act of 1972. Great white sharks soon followed.

They are hunting on the Outer Cape, close to shore, says shark expert Greg Skomal, of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

Since the 1990s the number off Cape Cod has increased, absolutely, he says.

A soon to be completed five-year study of the shark population should reveal some answers about the actual number of great whites off the coast of Massachusetts, Skomal says.

About 300 great white sharks have been tagged as part of the division of marine fisheries program, Skomal says.

HIs first tag of the season July 14 was a 12-foot great white off Chathams North Inlet, proof that large sharks still patrol the waters undetected by current technology.

Susan Mello, associate professor of communications studies at Northeastern University, says the Capes Shark Smart program is a good example of risk management communication.

The use of bullet points on the Cape Cod National Seashore website and the flying of the purple shark flag are ways to get complex information to the public in an easily digestible format, she says.

When youre in a situation where theres elevated fear, its really hard to get messages through so people can act on the information. Its why we teach little kids to stop, drop and roll during fire emergencies, Mello says.

Its important to distill information on how to reduce risk into its simplest form when fear is elevated.

The Cape Cod National Seashore also provides information about other risks such as rip tides, strong currents that put the shark danger in context, Mello says.

Thats important because media depictions of sharks focus on their potential lethality when there have been few shark fatalities in the U.S., Mello says.

The Florida Museum, which maintains an International Shark Attack File, says that in 2021 11 people were killed by sharks worldwide, a figure that pales in comparison to deaths by lightning strike.

Even so, a 2021 content analysis of more than 250 episodes of Discovery Channels Shark Weekwhich this year begins Sunday, July 24found many shows were framed around fear, risk and adrenaline, although 53% also included conservation messages, Mello says.

Its the Jaws effect, she says. Unfortunately in this situation, the media is at fault.

Sharks continue to make headlines this summer, with reports of six people bitten off Long Island in New York, none fatally, as of July 20.

But the recent attention to sharks also has given them star power.

An April 2022 report says that tourists and voters feel the beauty and ecological and economic benefits of great white sharks off Cape Cod outweigh the fear factor of having the worlds largest predatory fish swimming at times the length of a pool from the beach.

Social media users have found the fastest way to get a negative response is to post photos of dead sharks hanging on the dock at fishing tournaments.

When it comes to how people view sharks, there are two extremes, says Evan Prasky, a Ph.D. student in marine and environmental science at Northeastern University.

Some peopleincluding charter fishing crews and frequent anglersbelieve its OK to fish for sharks in small numbers, particularly if the population is rebounding, says Prasky, who is conducting an online survey of over 1,000 people about their perceptions of how shark depredation impacts fishing.

Other people are of the opinion that no shark should be taken under any circumstances, he says.

They are in complete denial that this animal is like another fish.

The protection around sharks is (a) great development, Prasky says. But he says some species are doing so well in the Gulf of Mexico that they can be harvested sustainably and responsibly.

Prasky was on Dauphin Island off the coast of Alabama in July for the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo, which brought back a shark fishing category for the first time since 2015.

Every one of the 10 to 12 tiger and bull sharks killed was handed over to scientists for dissection and provided a unique opportunity to sample large mature sharks, Prasky says.

Were basically getting as much information out of this animal as we can. Its a whole scientific process, he says.

Science or not, the display of a 14-foot tiger shark caused jaws to drop.

Its a show stopper, Prasky says.

For Fraser, seeing a great white up close while paddle boarding provided a jolt of adrenaline like no other.

You only have to see one under your board to realize how huge they are in comparison with you, he says.

The shark influx really came with a loss of innocence, says Fraser, who is in the trailer for Discovery Channels Shark Week.

The sense of the ocean as a playground is now mostly gone. In the back of your mind is the danger thats always there except in the dead of winter.

Fraser encountered the shark that eyeballed him two years ago, while paddle boarding off Nauset Beachabout 17 miles by road from Newcomb Hollow Beach where Medici died on Sept. 15, 2018.

The shark circled me twice while I was paddling in, Fraser says.

He remembers that the waves were great that day. He waited about a half an hour in hopes that the white shark had cleared the area, then paddled back out.

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An Increase in the Shark Population is Changing Human Behavior - News @ Northeastern - Northeastern University

Space For Humanity Will Send First Egyptian to Space Aboard Blue Origin’s NS-22 Flight – Kilgore News Herald

Sara Sabry is Selected as Space For Humanity's Second Citizen Astronaut to Experience the Overview Effect

DENVER, July 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Space For Humanity (S4H),a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, announced its selection committee has chosen Sara Sabry to become the organization's second sponsored Citizen Astronaut. Sara will become the first Egyptian to fly to space when she flies aboard Blue Origin's NS-22 flight.

Sara will become the first Egyptian to fly to space when she flies aboard Blue Origin's NS-22 flight.

Sara, 29, is an Egyptian mechanical and biomedical engineer and founder of Deep Space Initiative (DSI), a nonprofit which aims to increase accessibility for space research. Sara became Egypt's first female analog astronaut in 2021, when she was selected to complete a two week analog Moon mission, which simulated the extreme conditions astronauts experience in Space. She will join five other crew members including Coby Cotton, Mario Ferreira, Vanessa O'Brien, Clint Kelly III, and Steve Young aboard New Shepard to experience the cognitive shift of the Overview Effect and incorporate that new found perspective into a social impact project with the support of S4H's Citizen Astronaut Program (CAP).

"When we dare to dream big, we achieve things deemed impossible, we break boundaries, write history, and set new challenges for the future," said Sabry. "I am incredibly excited that Space For Humanity has offered me this opportunity and I am honored to be representing Egypt in Space for the first time. My ancestors have always dreamt big and achieved the impossible, and I hope to bring that back. This is just the beginning."

Sara earned her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in biology, chemistry, and pre-med at the American University in Cairo, going on to earn a master's in biomedical engineering from the Politecnico di Milano. She is now pursuing a PhD in aerospace sciences with a focus on space suit design. Fluent in Arabic, French, and English, Sara grew up in Cairo and currently resides in Berlin. She shared that kids in the Western world grew up watching rocket launches, but children in the Arab world were mostly unaware of these exploits, which is why she is co-founding the Space Ambassadorship Program with the Egyptian Space Agency, to shed light on the important research opportunities and potential to benefit life on Earth.

"Many Egyptians have lost hope in our future and my hope is that by going to space, I can contribute to changing that; to bring hope to people, and to make them proud of where they come from," added Sabry. "I believe that sharing my experience with the world will motivate the younger generation of Egyptians to pursue education and help change the perception of women, showing the world what we are truly capable of."

Sara is the second beneficiary of S4H's Citizen Astronaut Program, which sponsors exceptional candidates to experience the Overview Effect and then employ that new perspective to solve some of humanity's most difficult challenges.

S4H has partnered with Paragon, a strategic advisory group focused on conscious leadership development programs that shift perspective, to design and implement the first-ever training program built specifically for the Overview Effect. Citizen Astronauts participate in training modules designed to optimize their ability to navigate the Overview Effect experience, fully integrate that experience, and equip them to live and lead from an Overview Perspective.

"In order to address the challenges that we face on a global scale, we need to look at the Earth as the complex, interconnected system that it is," said Rachel Lyons, Executive Director of Space For Humanity. "One of the most powerful ways to generate that perspective is through the Overview Effect and viewing our planet from afar. We believe space is a tool for transformation, so we're dedicated to giving as many people access to this experience as possible. Congratulations to Sara on being selected for this life-changing adventure, we know she will be an incredible ambassador for our mission and look forward to seeing how she uses this opportunity to change the world."

S4H sent its first citizen astronaut, Katya Echazarreta, to Space aboard NS-21 on June 4, 2022. Katya is completing the third and final Application phase of the Citizen Astronaut Program, designing a "Life and Leadership Agreement" that outlines how she will continue to integrate and apply the value of the Overview Effect to her leadership role and humanitarian initiatives.

About Space for Humanity

Space for Humanity is expanding access to space for all of humanity. The nonprofit created the planet's first Sponsored Citizen Astronaut Program, giving leaders, from any walk of life, the opportunity to apply to go to space and experience the Overview Effect: the cognitive shift in awareness that occurs when a human being looks down on the Earth from space.

Through its citizen spaceflight program, leadership training, and collaborative efforts to educate the public, Space for Humanity is setting the stage to create the world we want, both here on Earth and throughout the cosmos. For more information, please visit http://www.spaceforhumanity.org

Space For Humanity Media Contact:

Sarah Nickell

sarah@nickellcommunications.com

About Paragon Performance Evolution

Paragon Performance Evolution is a leadership & high-performance resource that combines the bestof modern science, innovative technology and human behavior with timeless wisdom. They empower the world's elite performers to access and evolve their highest potential in all spheres of life. Paragon develops and implements customized programs for organizations and their people that create measurable change, allowing for greater productivity, inspired purpose, disciplined focus, and authentic communication.

Clients partner with Paragon to fuel positive shifts in humanity, greater impact in the world and meaningful systemic change and include Fortune 500 corporations, Tier 1 Military, law enforcement, Olympic and professional athletes and the YPO community. For more information, please visit http://www.performanceparagon.com.

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Space For Humanity Will Send First Egyptian to Space Aboard Blue Origin's NS-22 Flight - Kilgore News Herald

Technology Is Unable To Replace Human Behavior At The Moment – Nation World News

Rocio Lpez Fonseca has worked in the media since 2000.Most of these 20 years were in Noticistema, Radio Metropoli and Radio Vital.Specialization in the field of health began in 2004 and in 2009 he was part of the second generation of Diploma in Journalism in Public Health organized by the University Center for Health Sciences of UDG. Producer, editor, reporter and host of various information spaces, and special programs on health issues, always with doctors in various specialties to address the issues in a professional and objective manner. He is currently part of the team of the coronavirus program, UdG Television Pandemic, since the project started in March. He also has a podcast called Ask Rocks for his personal site, and his social network, as well as a social network addressing health and wellness issues.

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Technology Is Unable To Replace Human Behavior At The Moment - Nation World News

Did Nature Heal During the Pandemic Anthropause? – The New York Times

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In a typical spring, breeding seabirds and human seabird-watchers flock to Stora Karls, an island off the coast of Sweden.

But in 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic canceled the tourist season, reducing human presence on the island by more than 90 percent. With people out of the picture, white-tailed eagles moved in, becoming much more abundant than usual, researchers found.

That might seem like a tidy parable about how nature recovers when people disappear from the landscape if not for the fact that ecosystems are complex. The newly numerous eagles repeatedly soared past the cliffs where a protected population of common murres laid its eggs, flushing the smaller birds from their ledges.

In the commotion, some eggs tumbled from the cliffs; others were snatched by predators while the murres were away. The murres breeding performance dropped 26 percent, Jonas Hentati-Sundberg, a marine ecologist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, found. They were flying out in panic, and they lost their eggs, he said.

The pandemic was, and remains, a global human tragedy. But for ecologists, it has also been an unparalleled opportunity to learn more about how people affect the natural world by documenting what happened when we abruptly stepped back from it.

A growing body of literature paints a complex portrait of the slowdown of human activity that has become known as the anthropause. Some species clearly benefited from our absence, consistent with early media narratives that nature, without people bumbling about, was finally healing. But other species struggled without human protection or resources.

Human beings are playing this dual role, said Amanda Bates, an ocean conservation scientist at the University of Victoria in Canada. We are, she said, acting as threats to wildlife but also being custodians for our environment.

The research has actionable lessons for conservation, scientists say, suggesting that even modest changes in human behavior can have outsize benefits for other species. Those shifts could be especially important to consider as the human world roars back to life and summer travel surges, potentially generating an anthropulse of intense activity.

A lot of people will feel like they want to catch up on holiday travel, work travel, catch up on life, said Christian Rutz, a behavioral ecologist at the University of St Andrews who introduced the concept of an anthropulse in a recent paper. (He and Dr. Bates were also part of the team that coined anthropause.)

Humans will and should travel and should enjoy nature, he added. But I think it can be quite subtle tweaks to how we do things that can still have a huge impact.

When the pandemic hit, many human routines came to a sudden halt. On April 5, 2020 the peak of the pandemic lockdowns 4.4 billion people, or 57 percent of the planet, were under some sort of movement restriction, scientists estimated. Driving decreased by more than 40 percent, while air traffic declined by 75 percent.

These sudden shifts allowed researchers to tease apart the effects of human travel from the many other ways we shape the lives of other species.

We know that humans impact ecosystems by changing the climate, we know that they have dramatic impacts by changing land use, like razing down habitat and building shopping malls, said Christopher Wilmers, a wildlife ecologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. But this sort of strips all that away, and says, Oh, well, what are the impacts of human mobility itself?

With humans holed up in their homes cars stuck in garages, airplanes in hangars, ships in docks air and water quality improved in some places, scientists found. Noise pollution abated on land and under the sea. Human-disturbed habitats began to recover.

In March 2020, Hawaiis Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, a popular snorkeling destination, closed and remained shuttered for nearly nine months. The pandemic reset the visitor impacts to zero, said Kuulei Rodgers, a coral reef ecologist at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.

Without swimmers kicking up sediment, water clarity improved by 56 percent, Dr. Rodgers and her colleagues found. Fish density, biomass and diversity increased in waters that had previously been thick with snorkelers.

Indeed, scientists found that many species had moved into new habitats as pandemic lockdowns changed what ecologists have sometimes called the landscape of fear.

All animals are, you know, trying not to die, said Kaitlyn Gaynor, an ecologist at the University of British Columbia. That drive to survive prompts them to keep their distance from potential predators, including humans. We are noisy and novel and resemble their predators and in many cases are their predators, Dr. Gaynor said.

For instance, the mountain lions that live in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California typically stay away from cities. But after local shelter-in-place orders took effect in 2020, the animals became more likely to select habitats near the urban edge, Dr. Wilmers and his colleagues found.

Dr. Wilmers speculated that the mountain lions were responding to changes in the urban soundscape, which might typically be filled with human chatter and the rumble of passing cars. But as soon as those audio stimuli are gone, then the animals are, like, Well, might as well go see if theres anything to eat here, he said.

Just north, in a newly hushed San Francisco, white-crowned sparrows began singing more quietly, yet the distance across which they could communicate more than doubled, researchers found.

The birds also began singing at lower frequencies, a shift that is associated with better performance and an improved ability to defend territory and woo mates. Their songs were much more sexy, said Elizabeth Derryberry, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and an author of the study.

And it was overnight, she added. Which kind of gives you hope that if you reduce noise levels in an area, you can have immediate positive impact.

But the effects of human absence were nuanced, varying by species, location and time.

Multiple studies found that as traffic eased in the spring of 2020, the number of wild animals that were struck and killed by cars declined. But the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions soon crept back up, even as traffic remained below normal levels, one team of researchers reported.

Per mile driven, there were more accidents happening during the pandemic, which we interpreted as changes in animal space use, said Joel Abraham, a graduate student studying ecology at Princeton University and an author of the study. Animals started using roads. And it was difficult for them to stop, even when traffic started to rebound.

The lockdowns seemed to embolden some invasive species, increasing the daytime activity of Eastern cottontail rabbits in Italy, where their rapid expansion may threaten native hares, while disrupting efforts to control others. For instance, the pandemic delayed a long-planned project to cull giant, predatory mice from Gough Island, a critical habitat for threatened sea birds in the South Atlantic Ocean.

The mice, which likely arrived with 19th-century sailors, attack and feed on live bird chicks, often leaving large open wounds. I nicknamed them vampire mice, said Stephanie Martin, the environmental and conservation policy officer for Tristan da Cunha, the archipelago of which Gough Island is a part. Many chicks succumb to their injuries.

Scientists were set to begin an ambitious mouse-eradication effort when the pandemic hit, delaying the project for a year. In the intervening breeding season, with the vampire mice still running rampant, not one MacGillivrays prion chick an endangered bird that breeds almost exclusively on Gough survived. We lost a whole other breeding season, Ms. Martin said. It meant yet another year with no fledglings.

It is another illustration of humanitys dual roles: The mice are only on Gough because humans took them there. But now we absolutely need humans to cull them, Dr. Bates said.

These kinds of impacts added up all over the world, she said, as local conservation, education and monitoring programs were disrupted or deprived of funding. Spikes in wildlife poaching and persecution, as well as illegal logging and mining, were reported in multiple countries.

Economic insecurity might have driven some of this activity, but experts believe that it was also made possible by lapses in human protection, including reduced staffing in parks and preserves and even an absence of tourists, whose presence might typically discourage illegal activity.

Were not entirely the bad guys, said Mitra Nikoo, a research assistant at the University of Victoria. Were actually doing a lot more good than weve been giving ourselves credit for.

As people resume their normal routines, researchers will continue monitoring wildlife and ecosystems. If an ecosystem that appeared to benefit from humanitys disappearance suffers when people come flooding back, that will provide stronger evidence of our impact.

Its this reversal of the experimental or semi-experimental intervention that scientifically allows really robust insights into how environmental processes work, Dr. Rutz said.

Understanding these mechanisms can help experts design programs and policies that channel our influence more thoughtfully.

If we then strengthen the role as custodians and then continue to regulate pressures, then we can really tilt the role of humans in the environment to an overwhelmingly positive role, said Carlos Duarte, a marine ecologist at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia.

For example, one team of researchers found that with vacationers not traveling to the Greek island of Zakynthos in the summer of 2020, the loggerhead sea turtles that nest there spent more time close to shore in the warmer waters that are optimal for female egg development than they had in previous years.

The results suggest that tourists are driving sea turtles into cooler waters, slowing egg development and potentially reducing the number of clutches, or batches of eggs, the animals lay during the short nesting season, said Gail Schofield, a conservation ecologist at Queen Mary University of London and an author of the study.

Its a very narrow window of opportunity, she said.

Halting all tourism is not possible, she acknowledged. But designating a stretch of the shoreline as a protected turtle habitat and prohibiting swimming there in the early summer could provide an important refuge for the animals, she said.

When the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve reopened in December 2020, it instituted a strict new cap on daily visitors. It is now closed two days a week, up from one before the pandemic, Dr. Rodgers said.

Other changes could pay dividends, too, experts said: Building wildlife crossings over highways could keep some animals from becoming road kill, while mandating quieter car engines and boat propellers could curb noise pollution on land and at sea.

No one can say anymore that we cant change the whole world in a year, because we can, Dr. Bates said. We did.

Audio produced by Kate Winslett.

Link:
Did Nature Heal During the Pandemic Anthropause? - The New York Times

Think Twice. Should You Really Eat That? – Medscape

Sylvia Gonsahn-Bollie, MD

I'll never forget the day I ran 13 miles, only to find myself afterward staring at a menu with calorie counts. After my run, I was famished, so I hurried into the first restaurant I could find. It happened to be a popular fast-food restaurant where everyone makes happy childhood memories.

For nostalgia, I planned to order the breakfast platter. However, as I was about to order, I noticed that the platter contained 1440 kcal. That was more calories than I had burned in my 13-mile run! It wasn't worth all the energy I spent running. So, I decided to order a satisfying breakfast sandwich that contained a third of the calories.

My behavior is the type of change that proponents of including calorie counts on menus hope will occur.

In April, Britain became the most recent country to legislate adding calories to menus. However, listing calories on menus is not a new concept. In the United States, theAffordable Care Acthas required calorie listings on menus at restaurants with more than 20 locations since 2018. As a result, we are seeing minor impacts on individual food consumption due to menu labeling.

As anobesity specialistspecializing in personalized lifestyle optimization strategies, one of my keen interests is creating effective strategies to change unhelpful eating behaviors. Furthermore, I have maintained a significant amount of weight loss for over 8 years. Also, I have years of personal experience with reading calories on menus. So I'm enthusiastic to share my opinions.

According toBloomberg, Britain hopes that the measure will improve the country's highobesityrates. Theoretically, viewing the calories on menus decreases caloric intake and eventually reduces obesity levels. The great thing about rehashing an old idea is we can check the data instead of relying on idealism.

In the United States, data on calorie labeling before the FDA enforcement of menu labelingshowed little to no impacton calorie intake. However,more recent studieshave shown that caloric intake has decreased by 4% at fast-food chains since the US national implementation of menu labeling. Unfortunately, it's too early to see statistically whether there has been any impact on obesity rates.

I suspect that the pandemic weight gain has pushed some people to look at little more closely at the menu labels. We may start to see some benefits of menu labeling within the next few years.

Although nutrition optimization is a significant part of addressing obesity, focusing on "calories in" vs "calories out" isn't adequate. There areover 70 contributors to the energy imbalancethat leads to obesity. Nutrition is just one factor.

Furthermore, we must be aware of unintentionally contributing toweight bias. Weight bias is negative stereotypes about an individual based on their weight. People with obesity and minorities are disproportionately affected by weight bias. Specifically, there is an outdated notion that obesity is just a "lifestyle choice." Focusing only on calorie consumption can reinforce the misconception that obesity is a "lifestyle choice" instead of a complex multisystem disease. Moreover, nutrition choices do not occur in a vacuum. Similarly, racism andsocial determinants of healthalso contribute to the obesity epidemic and food choices by affecting access to equitable healthcare, healthy foods, safe neighborhoods, and more.

Only focusing on calories without consideration of overall nutrition content is shortsighted. First,all calories aren't equal. Calorie-counting focuses on the quantity of food.Newer studies showthat optimizing food quality is critical in obesity management.

For example, a decadent dessert may have the same calories as a superfood salad. But nutritionally, they are different.

Lastly, individual needs vary. The suggestion is to list the statement, "Adults need around 2000 kcal/d" on the menu. However, the 2000 kcal daily requirement is misleading. Specifically, individual caloric requirements vary depending on your health goals. For example, individuals seeking to lose weight may need to decrease their daily calories by 250-500 kcal/d. Therefore, providing a wide range of daily caloric intake would be more helpful. For example, a new statement should say, "Adults require 1200-2000 kcal/ d. Seek clinical advice for your individual needs."

"I know I shouldn't eat it, but." I wish I had a diamond for every time someone says that phrase. Unfortunately, the reality is that many people are aware that certain foods aren't the most nutritious choice. Therefore, menu calorie listings are confirmation but not a deterrent from eating less healthy foods.

Many factors, from habits to hormones, affect human food consumption. For example, hormones such asleptin and ghrelindrive our appetite. But obesity is one of many factors that can lead to hormonal dysregulation that affects physical hunger. Additionally,psychological factorsalso affect influence hunger and eating behaviors. One example is emotional eating. Eating to celebrate or to soothe emotional pain is an often overlooked driver for consuming excess calories. Lastly,old ordering habitsare hard to break. Routine ordering and traditions may explain why people continue to order the same foods despite menu labeling.

Given the complexity of human behavior, labeling the menu may not be enough for meaningful change. Individuals may need to find ways to form new habits, such as trying new restaurants or menu items.Restaurants may need to provide attractive healthier options, reduce portion sizes, or omit certain unhealthy items.

Mental health advocates raise concerns that menu labeling may beharmful to people with eating disordersor disordered eating. I agree that calories on menus can be triggering for some people. I am a former chronic dieter and calorie-counter. Now I support other high-performing women healing from disordered eating and eating disorders. It is crucial to put safeguards such as unlabeled menus in place. Also, clinicians can check in with vulnerable patients to assess the impact of menu labeling.

The COVID-19 pandemic collided with the preexisting obesity pandemic in 2020. It was a startling reminder of why our wellness can't wait. People withobesityandother metabolic diseasesare more likely to havecomplications of COVID-19. If we want a healthier future, it is imperative we optimize our health now by effectively addressing obesity and metabolic diseases.

Proponents of menu labeling are optimistic that it will lead to changes to reduce obesity. Unfortunately, it will take many years to see the impact of menu labeling. Even still, it is essential to recognize menu labeling is just one component of addressing obesity. Obesity is caused by more than "calories in" vs "calories out." Obesity is a complex disease with external and internal influences. Addressing obesity requires both public health and individualized strategies.

Lastly, in our zeal to optimize health by reducing the obesity epidemic, we must never forget the humanity of people living with obesity. Obesity is a disease, but it doesn't define the person. People are not obese. People have obesity.

Sylvia Gonsahn-Bollie, MD, DipABOM, is an integrative obesity specialist, specializing in individualized solutions for emotional and biological overeating. Connect with Dr Bollie at http://www.embraceyouweightloss.com or on Instagram @embraceyoumd. Her bestselling book, Embrace You: Your Guide to Transforming Weight Loss Misconceptions Into Lifelong Wellness is Healthline.com's Best Overall Weight Loss Book 2022 and Livestrong.com's The 8 Best Weight-Loss to Read in 2022.

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Think Twice. Should You Really Eat That? - Medscape

The BBC is making a three-part Mark Zuckerberg documentary for Facebooks 20th anniversary – Yahoo Entertainment

The BBC has already started preparing for Facebook's 20th anniversary in 2024: The broadcaster has announced that its factual entertainment team has commissioned a three-part documentary about Mark Zuckerberg and the social network he founded. Facebook's story is pretty well-known at this point, and it's common knowledge that Zuckerberg originally designed it to connect students at Harvard. And that the Winklevoss twins sued the Meta chief, claiming he stole their idea. BBC, however, aims to present a "definitive account" of Mark Zuckerberg and the social network he founded.

That means no dramatized events like in the 2010 David Fincher-directed film starring Jesse Eisenberg. Instead, BBC promises access to "key players, insider testimony, personal journals and rare archive material." Mindhouse, the TV production company behind the project, will also examine the rise of the social media and how it has changed human behavior and interaction. It's unclear if the documentary will also examine Facebook's role in spreading fake news around the world.

Nancy Strang, Minhouse Creative Director, Mindhouse, said in a statement:

"The remarkable story of Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook is one of the tales of our time. He has arguably done more to transform human behaviour and connectivity than any other person this century. I'm thrilled that we've been given this opportunity to tell the extraordinary inside story of the social media giant, and the man behind it."

The docuseries, which has a working title of Zuckerberg, has no premiere date yet. But it will air on BBC Two and will be streamable from BBC iPlayer when it comes out.

Read more from the original source:
The BBC is making a three-part Mark Zuckerberg documentary for Facebooks 20th anniversary - Yahoo Entertainment

Radware Employs Blockchain Technologies to Thwart Bots – Security Boulevard

Radware this week revealed it added blockchain technologies to its Bot Manager platform to thwart attacks designed to evade completely automated public Turing tests to tell computers and humans apartbetter known as CAPTCHA challenges.

Dr. David Aviv, CTO for Radware, said that while a CAPTCHA challenge can be an effective way to determine if an application is being accessed by humans, bots that access application programming interfaces (APIs) could easily circumvent that approach.

Radwares blockchain technologies require any endpoint to establish a virtual identity by downloading a lightweight micro-cryptominer to access an application or API. Radware is then able to use algorithms to collect metrics between endpoints and applications via an Ethereum-based blockchain ledger deployed in the cloud. That ledger establishes intent by tracking legitimate proof of work on the endpoint created by the micro-crypto miner each time that endpoint interacts with an application or API and establishes a level of trust, said Aviv.

A zero-trust approach to security means that if an endpoint attempts to access resources outside the scope of policies defined by an IT team, that endpoint is deemed untrustworthy. Any additional access requests will be blocked by the Bot Manager platform, said Aviv.

In effect, Radware is using blockchain technologies to apply gamification techniques and track behavior to better thwart sophisticated bot attacks without impacting application experiences, he added.

Radware reported that between 2021 and 2022 its research showed a 144% increase in fourth-generation bot attacks that mimic human behavior; these bots can mimic mouse movements, keyboard strokes, clicking and scrolling. Cybercriminals have also been employing a variety of anti-CAPTCHA plugins and CAPTCHA-solving farms to evade such challenges altogether.

Bots adversely impact everything from application experiencesby consuming resources that could be allocated to real usersto enabling scalpers to harvest tickets to concerts and sporting events via API calls made to a Web application. Blockchain technologies present an opportunity to significantly minimize that activity without having to rely on CAPTCHA technologies that are increasingly ineffective, said Aviv.

In addition, theres an opportunity to diminish cybercriminals return on investment in bots, making the cost of employing them far exceed any financial benefit, he added.

Its too early to say what impact blockchain technologies might have on cybersecurity, but its apparent that there will soon be new classes of tools available to cybersecurity teams that leverage immutable ledgers to enforce zero-trust IT policies. Most organizations, however, are not likely to be able to set up and maintain a blockchain ledger on their own, so, in the meantime, these technologies will likely be consumed via some type of cloud service.

Its not clear whether blockchain technologies will put an end to the bot mitigation arms race that has raged for years. Each time technologies are developed to mitigate them, the sophistication of the bots themselves has increased in response. But soon, employing bots with malicious intent will not be nearly as easy as it is today.

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Radware Employs Blockchain Technologies to Thwart Bots - Security Boulevard