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United Nations Report Warns of Potential Extinction of One Million Plant and Animal Species

The United Nations has issued an assessment sounding the alarm that one million plant and animal species are at risk of extinction due to human-related changes to the Earth’s natural landscapes. This poses a dire threat to ecosystems upon which people all over the world are dependent for survival, according to a New York Times report. The human degradation of the environment has further been exacerbated by global warming, it added. “Biodiversity is caught between the stark, local effects of human action, like deforestation, and the diffuse but steadily worsening global effects like climate change. This report says the combination is more devastating than the sum of its parts,” stated Adam Langley, PhD, an associate professor in Villanova University’s Department of Biology. Consumerism is a driving factor in the rapidly deteriorating situation, Dr. Langley said. “It’s becoming clear that no amount of information can overwhelm the will of the consumer, whether it's the greed of the wealthy or desperation of the poor. Producers and consumers act out of personal interests, not out of their fondness for wildlife.” Government action must lead the way in alleviating the severity of the direction in which biodiversity loss is headed, according to Dr. Langley. “To make the drastic changes we need, the solutions must come from the top. Governments must recognize the enormous subsidy we receive from intact ecosystems in the form of food, fiber, clean water and air. In our world, valuing biodiversity means putting a price on it—and paying the price when we degrade it.” He added, “When I see reports like this, I’m struck that, in the history of Earth, we are the first species that is able for foresee an extinction event. We can predict it in painful detail. Avoiding that demise would be truly unique, but we’ve yet to see if human nature has that capacity.”

Is it Time to Rethink Digital Transformation? Join our experts May 02 to Find Out!

Organizations are rethinking digital transformation. After some high-profile failures, innovation being treated as a sideshow, and elusive ROIs, organizations are reshaping their digital visions and their tactics for getting there. With greater clarity about what the future enterprise will look like and what it will take to compete in redefined industries, companies are pivoting away from digital for the sake of innovation to digital for the sake of the business. Join us and catch Dave Pearson, Research Director and Team Lead for IDC Canada's Infrastructure Solutions Research Group presenting: ‘The New Infrastructure Data World ’ at IDC Directions 2019 in Toronto on May 02. Data growth and capacity concerns continue to the be the number one stress on data centers in Canada. At the same time, IT is expected to support Digital Transformation (DX) and new business initiatives at nearline speed.  What will your next generation of infrastructure need to look like to support the variety of workloads, applications, and data sources your organization requires, from core to cloud to edge? Find out in Dave's breakout session at IDC Directions in Toronto   Location St. James Cathedral Centre: Snell Hall 65 Church Street | Toronto Date May 2, 2019 Time 8:00 AM - 8:30 AM - Registration & Networking Breakfast 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM Conference Program Register Today before it's too late!  If you're a member of the media and would like to attend this event, please contact Cristina Santander at csantander@idc.com

The next threat to election meddling? Brain Hacking

Almost 15 percent of Americans have reported changing their opinion on political or social issues because of a social media post, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. “What if, immediately before spreading polarizing social media posts, our adversaries flashed subliminal images known to induce a type of anxiety called state anxiety? Evidence suggests people would perceive those posts in a more emotional way. Those images could, in turn, influence their voting behavior,” said Dr. Jay Heslen, an expert in intelligence and cybersecurity policy and assistant professor of political science with a joint appointment in the Katherine Reese Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and the School of Computer and Cyber Sciences at Augusta University. “Successfully manipulating the cognition of a few thousand people in order to influence their perception of events could be enough to change the result of an election.” Heslen’s current research project focuses on whether exposure to certain visuals or sounds, including subliminal prompts, can induce a negative emotional arousal on people. He’s interested in learning whether that emotional state, called state anxiety,  can then influence behavior in a specific, predefined way – a concept he calls neurocognitive hacking. Although research using subliminal prompts is not new and has had mixed results, Heslen’s approach is novel. He uses a specific kind of visuals previously shown to trigger people’s unconscious discriminatory behaviors toward outsiders. “Neurocognitive hacking could potentially be used as a weapon in cyberwarfare,” said Heslen, who worked as an intelligence officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency and the United States Air Force for more than 20 years, specializing in combatting terrorism, counterintelligence and strategic cyber intelligence. “We need to study these capabilities not only for our own understanding but to create sound policies and countermeasures to defend ourselves against others who may use them on us.” With 68 percent of Americans on Facebook and 73 percent on YouTube, according to another Pew Research Center survey, neurocognitive hacking could be a national security problem, Heslen said. “As we advance our understanding of the brain and its processes, including how to manipulate it, we will need to provide neurocognitive cybersecurity to people who use information and communication technologies,” Heslen said. “This will be especially true as we spend more time in virtual worlds.” Heslen is available to discuss: ·       How neurocognitive hacking can influence people’s behavior ·       Why neurocognitive hacking is a powerful weapon of cyberwar ·       What kinds of policies should the government create to protect itself and its citizens from neurocognitive hacking Heslen is a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve and has served in military operations on four continents to include humanitarian relief operations in Mozambique and South Africa as well as an operational tour in Afghanistan. In his capacity as a reservist, he is currently assigned to the National Intelligence University pursuing an advanced degree in strategic intelligence. Contact us to schedule an interview with Dr. Heslen or learn more about his expertise.

Securitized loan modification and loan performance

After the collapse of the housing market, the wave of foreclosures in the US changed the economic landscape of many neighborhoods across the country. Some academics and policymakers have argued that the renegotiation of those loans was a much better alternative than foreclosure and that incentives should have been offered to financial institutions to encourage it. However, little research exists to understand the performance of loans that were modified. Gonzalo Maturana, assistant professor of finance, takes a close look at loan modifications made early in the recent housing crisis to better understand the value of offering incentives to modify securitized non-agency loans. According to Maturana, researchers contend that the small number of loan modifications added to the number of foreclosures during the subprime crisis. His analysis consisted of slightly more than 835,000 non-agency securitized loans that became delinquent between August 2007 and February 2009. Maturana found that loan “modification reduces loan losses by 35.8% relative to the average loss, which suggests that the marginal benefit of modification likely exceeded the marginal cost.” Additionally, modifications resulted in fewer liquidations. He also found that modifications were particularly useful “in preventing future loan losses in times of large increases in delinquencies when servicers are more likely to be working at full capacity.” Source:

No net neutrality means no safeguards

The FCC's net neutrality ends today. Changes may not be drastic, at least at first, but since they will likely be slow, consumers won't realize the effect until it's too late, says Johannes Bauer, chair of MSU's Quello Center and professor in the Department of Media and Information. “Under the framework taking effect today, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are free to differentiate services as long as they are transparent about it," Bauer says. "I do not expect any immediate and drastic changes, such as the blocking of websites or the throttling of legitimate traffic. Some of the newly gained freedom is desirable, as it will allow experimentation with new business models. It may gradually result in more price and quality differentiation, such as lower prices in exchange for slower access speeds and higher, guaranteed service quality for specific services such as high quality videoconferencing or interactive gaming. This is already happening in ways that are not fully transparent to consumers. What is new is that the local access provider now also has more freedom to experiment. In the past, providing higher capacity access was cheaper than differentiation of services which requires additional network management efforts and costs. One concern is that the present framework does not put any safeguards into place that would prevent unreasonable discrimination. Appeals to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will likely be slow and the ability of the agency to resolve disputes has not been tested in network neutrality matters. Another concerns is that many of these changes will happen gradually and not be noticed by consumers and other observers until some major unexpected and undesirable effect is visible.” Source: