Meet Shawn Pandya, The Third Indian-Origin Woman To Space-Travel – Huffington Post India

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"Since I was a kid, I loved space, I loved the stars. So this kind of is a realisation of a life-long dream," says Shawna Pandya who is set to become the third Indian-origin woman to travel in space. The 32-year-old will undertake the expedition with eight others in 2018.

A neurologist by profession, Pandya works as a general physician at the Alberta University Hospital in Canada. On her expedition, she will be conducting experiments with bio-science and medical science, as well as studying the effects of microgravity on health and physiology. She will also study climate change as a part of the Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere (PoSSUM) project.

The Mumbai-born Canadian doctor is one of the two candidates selected from 32,000 people under the Citizen Science Astronaut programme. "All my junior high science projects or reports, they were all space related ... I think the idea of doing something that's so adventurous and really pushes the bounds of exploration, and the fact that you'd get to space really, really resonated with me," Pandya told CBS.

So, after she earned a B.Sc. in Neuroscience, she went on to do her post graduation in space sciences from the International Space University. She then pursued her MD in Medicine from the University of Alberta.

It isn't just her academic record that impressive. Pandya is an international taekwon-do champion and Hindustan Times reports that she trained with a Navy SEAL in Muay Thai. According to a report in the Indian Express, she is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and has even walked the runway as a model. Add to that her fluency in Russian, French and Spanish.

It seems that space exploration is not the only thing on this brilliant young woman's mind. She is also an integral part of the team preparing to undertake a 100-day underwater mission called Project Poseidon, at the Aquarius Space Research Facility in Florida.

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'Indica: A Deep Natural History Of The Indian Subcontinent' Is More Compelling Than Sci-Fi

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Meet Shawn Pandya, The Third Indian-Origin Woman To Space-Travel - Huffington Post India

Mike Adams – The Health Ranger: Big Pharma’s Secret Global …

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The Health Ranger Mike Adams gives a special presentation Big Pharma's agenda to make sure you die broke, as well as neo-eugenics and how it ties into food contamination and vaccines. Why are they pushing so hard to get you to take vaccines when the science shows that vaccines doesn't really work?

The pharmaceutical industry makes money from sickness and disease, so it's in their interests for you never to obtain a reasonable standard of health, and that you exist in a degenerative disease zone where they can extract all the money you've worked so hard to earn for your entire life. Adams explains why alternative health treatments which are cheaper, safer, more effective and more readily available than pharmaceuticals, are suppressed by Big Pharma, because you can't patent superfoods, pomegranate seeds, walnuts, or any other natural product of nature. Bio-engineered foods, combined with the synthetic compounds in pharmaceuticals, and toxic personal products like shampoos and deodorants, are combining to create a highly toxic environment for our body, turning your liver into a toxic waste dump and preventing your vital organs from functioning properly.

Adams also discusses medical experimentation on humans beings conducted by pharmaceutical companies, the government and the military, explaining how we are all unwitting guinea pigs being bombarded with innumerable different attacks on our health as part of the global population reduction agenda being promoted and funded by elitists like Bill Gates. http://www.healthranger.org/

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Mike Adams - The Health Ranger: Big Pharma's Secret Global ...

Saudi Arabia funds new cancer biology professorship – GW Hatchet (subscription)

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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is funding a new professorship in the School of Medicine and Health Science, according to a University release Wednesday.

Edward Seto, the associate director for basic sciences at the GW Cancer Center, was installed as King Fahd Professor of Cancer Biology Monday according to the release. It is unclear exactly how much Saudi Arabia contributed for the professorship.

Seto, who is also a professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine, studies cancer epigenetics and histone deacetylase enzymes, or HDACs, in order to treat cancer. Seto is working to turn off genes and transform cancer cells to normal cells, according to the release.

Im honored today to be given this opportunity to contribute, no matter how small, to the GW Cancer Center, the medical school, the university and to the educational ambitions and goals of the late King Fahd, Seto said in the release.

The newly installed professorship is named in honor of King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who was the countrys minister of education from 1954 to 1960 and ruled Saudi Arabia from 1982 until his death in 2005.

Abdullah Al-Saud, King Fahds grandson and Saudi Arabias ambassador to the United States, said in the release that his grandfather was committed to education and helped build Saudi Arabias national education system.

Im very happy to be here and very happy to be part of the celebration of something that somebody I knew was behind, Al-Saud said in the release.

Provost Forrest Maltzman said Saudi Arabia and GW began working on education together under the late King Fahd in the 1990s, according to the release.

GWs education school began partnering with a Saudi Arabian institution, Taibah University, for a doctoral program in educational leadership in 2015.

We are grateful for King Fahds vision and generosity, Maltzman said in the release. The King Fahd Professorship of Cancer Biology will enhance the ability of Dr. Seto and support the GW Cancer Centers research initiatives.

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The Ethics of Innovation: Creativity, Machines, and Artificial Intelligence – Kootenay News Advertiser

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Most experts say we are not ready for the massive job losses that will happen because of automation.

In most instances, we think we are interested in innovation, but we are mostly interested in incremental innovation such as changing the proverbial flavour of the ice cream, adding a blade to a razor, or buying a welding robot.

A bigger step is social innovation, the changing of mindset, attitude, and culture. As they say, culture beats strategy every day.

Many have figured out that if we dont learn to think differently, we will not solve our big problems.

A better toothbrush may be important, but it has little to do with finding ways to address complex issues such as racism, terrorism, violence, or even the inability for rich countries like ours to get people working, feed impoverished children, or address mental health issues.

The key to social innovation is deep listening, according to Pauline Oliveros, the kind of dialogue that builds understanding, acceptance, and partnership.

It wasnt very long ago, when people with differences--women and minorities of all kinds-- endured violence and state-level oppression. Residential schools are a clear example of state-sponsored and legalized violence.

But social innovation processes allowed us to change, for equity to evolve, and eventually become the rule of law.

But letting go of old ways is challenging. The process may require an active forgetting or relearning, a long period of healing, and an active phase of reconciliation.

The work done in South Africa, for example, under their Truth and Reconciliation agenda is not so much about boosting poverty rates directly, but empowering and healing so that oppressed people can address generations of collective trauma.

Social innovation may help us come together, but of all the kinds of innovation, I put quantum innovation as the most misunderstood.

A quantum social innovation is the leap from one state of social consciousness to another, the kind of change that has made meditation an important social signal for this era.

Some think that quantum innovation is impossible because it requires a system to evolve in ways that are posthuman.

What is posthuman? It means getting beyond a limiting anthropocentric perspective where humans are the centre of everything--something Indigenous people all over the world have known for millennia.

Those who study consciousness, neuroscience, computation, biological evolution, and creativity point to studies in evolutionary adaptation, quantum physics, and photosynthesis to identify non-linear change where a system, species, or structure evolves beyond its current form.

What we have discovered is that quantum change is all around us. The sub atomic level reveals evidence that not only is time not linear, but that one particle can be in two places at one time. This is the kernel of what is known as quantum computing.

The biological perspective reveals many examples of quantum change such as how cells or photons do more than regenerate, but evolve to create new forms.

Neuroscience tells us that consciousness extends beyond our brains to our bodies and perhaps even beyond.

In my view, artificial intelligence (AI) offers us potentially new ways of addressing our human limitations and offers a chance to refocus our energy on posthuman ethics.

New automobiles with assisted technologies are a clear example of the ways in which machines are assisting human beings.

We have already created new interfaces with machines that may give us a peak into a future where machines help us in unexpected ways.

The question that many ask in the field of artificial intelligence is what will we do when robots put 60% of human beings out of work?

Many commentators see a global depression coming because soon robots will eliminate millions of jobs.

Before this happens, we must think about these challenges to human productivity and the human economy.

Might robots make us enough money so that we dont have to work? It depends on who owns them or programs them doesnt it?

Did you know that the current economy could not function without robots?

Artificially intelligent agents make the stock markets fairer by taking the human element out, so that trades can be conducted ethically and so that catastrophic events can be mitigated.

Just as artificially intelligent umpires will make our sports, like tennis, fairer, the same will happen to arenas where there is human error or emotion.

Ethics is the key discipline when addressing artificially intelligence and automation.

Soldiers who work with sentient machines (i.e. bomb disposal robots) consider their machine partners as persons and give them human levels of loyalty and respect. Is this loyalty to the inanimate ethics?

Can sentient machines help us make better ethical judgements and eventually help us be better, more compassionate humans?

Can robots assist us to create jobs?

Can they identify and predict where we will face not just say weather and traffic issues, but where violence and conflict might emerge?

Can they lead us into useful court/medical/negotiation simulations where win-win outcomes will help us avoid conflict, ecological exploitation, and war?

Or will they simply steal our jobs and put our global economy into a tail spin?

In my view, machines can help us evolve if we focus on evolving ethical ways for human beings to advance our mutual well-being with the planet.

What will we do? Instead of asking how machines can help us be more innovative, let us ask machines to assist in becoming more ethical.

Stan Chung, PhD is the author of I Held My Breath for a Year available at stanchung.ca.

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The Ethics of Innovation: Creativity, Machines, and Artificial Intelligence - Kootenay News Advertiser

Ascension, Livingston, St. James parishes pick up pieces after tornadoes – The Advocate

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State and local emergency preparedness officials in Livingston, Ascension and St. James parishes spent much of Wednesday assessing damage from Tuesday's tornadoes that left some homes splintered and a few residents hospitalized for injuries.

The officials will be out in the field again tomorrow, joined by FEMA employees, hoping that the cumulative damage the state suffered, in this area and in New Orleans East, will be followed by a federal disaster declaration.

"We're trying to get a federal declaration, to get some help for these people," said Mark Harrell, director of the Livingston Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

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Governor John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency.

In Livingston Parish, two people were seriously injured when the tornado blew apart their home in Killian. At least eight homes were damaged in Watson, where four people were injured.

Except for at the homes struck by the tornado in Livingston Parish, power had been restored to all other areas of the parish, Harrell said on Wednesday.

In St. James Parish, the tornado struck down in the community of Lemannville near the Sunshine Bridge, with two injuries reported.

"We had some pretty severe damage," St. James Parish Sheriff Willy Martin said Wednesday. "I think we had a number of about eight houses totally destroyed and 15 to 20 with extensive damage."

Others had minor damage, said Martin, who expected to get the complete numbers at some point Wednesday and expected there would be 25 to 30 homes affected.

One of those injured was an elderly man who was trapped in his trailer home, Martin said. Neighbors were able to free the man, who was taken to an area hospital, he said.

Entergy reported Wednesday morning that more than 45 utility poles were down in Ascension and St. James parishes.

For customers that can safely accept power, service restoration is anticipated for Wednesday evening, Entergy officials said.

The Ascension Parish School Board office in Donaldsonville and the school district's Head Start building were without power Wednesday and remained closed.

Rick Webre, the director of the Ascension Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said Wednesday it appears that the tornado that came for Donaldsonville touched down southwest of the city, then traveled northeast across the city, with most of its destruction centered along St. Patrick Street, near the city's historic district.

Elsewhere in the parish, the tornado caused damage to the CF Industries complex on the Mississippi River. The Ark Veterinary Clinic, close to River Road and near the plant, was badly damaged by the storm.

One minor injury was reported in Donaldsonville on Tuesday, with three minor injuries reported outside the city limits, in Ascension Parish.

Entergy reported early Wednesday that it was working to restore power to approximately 500 customers in the downtown Donaldsonville area, which includes Patrick Street, as well as on several other streets in the vicinity.

The company estimated that the majority of those without power in Donaldsonville area should see it restored by Wednesday evening.

The Red Cross had set up a shelter on Tuesday night, but nobody checked in and the shelter closed Wednesday, said Donaldsonville Fire Chief Chuck Montero, one of the local officials on hand at the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office command center set up in a trailer in the parking lot of a Donaldsonville church.

On Wednesday morning, city employees operated a backhoe to pick up debris behind the row of wood-frame houses that were in the path of Tuesday's tornado.

The houses, with broken windows and roofs that had been damaged or torn away, stood quiet and empty, their residents having taken shelter elsewhere.

A more than a century-old cemetery on St. Patrick Street, near the damaged homes, escaped the tornado's winds; the stately headstones and wrought iron fence of the Bikur Sholin Cemetery, established in 1856, were unharmed.

Also unharmed was the home of Daisy Eames, 98. Eames said that her carport and her shed were blown away by the tornado. .

A neighbor's home to the right of Eames' house was in tatters.

"The Lord could have taken my house, too," Eames said.

She added, "He didn't take one life."

Advocate staff writers Grace Toohey and David J. Mitchell contributed to this story.

Follow Ellyn Couvillion on Twitter, @EllynCouvillion.

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Ascension, Livingston, St. James parishes pick up pieces after tornadoes - The Advocate

FIP: Ascension Preview: What’s Next From Uncle John’s Friends? – FloSlam

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FIP: Ascension Preview: What's Next From Uncle John's Friends?

Now the promotion is ready to build off the more successful moments from Everything Burns 2017 with Saturday's FIP: Ascension.

Your FloSlam subscriptiongets you access to both the live streamand replayof the event, as well as the previous day's Style Battle S1:E2. Signing up gets you access to theevent plus every other live event on our calendar AND our ever-expanding library of past pro wrestling cards.

Cage is a monster of a man, able to toss men around with a disturbing ease. However, he's also able to land standing moonsaults and shooting star presses, something that looks almost completely unnatural when done by a man of his size.

Yehi has held the title for over 250 days. However, he has never faced a challenge as great as Cage while defending his title.

Stone repeatedly challenged Davis to participate in a wrestling match, rather than engage in the no-rules tactics native to FIP. Then, after appealing to Davis to battle on the level, Stone scored the win by knocking out Davis with the help of a chain.

After his behavior at Everything Burns, Stone now has to face Davis again. This time, can Davis end the 250 day run of Stone as champion?

It's clear the group intends on causing havoc in and out of the FIP ring. But what have they got in store at Ascension? And WHO is Uncle John?

Hopefully fans get answers on Saturday night.

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FIP: Ascension Preview: What's Next From Uncle John's Friends? - FloSlam

Complete Construction Contractors owner arrested on counts of post-flood contractor fraud in Ascension – The Advocate

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Update: 3:25 p.m.: A state district judge set bail Thursday for a Baton Rouge man arrested in multiple cases of contractor fraud in Ascension Parish at $635,000, sheriff's deputies said.

Matthew Morris, 39,21313 Turkey Creek Drive, Baton Rouge, remained Thursday afternoon in Ascension Parish Prison near Donaldsonville, Chief Deputy Bobby Webre said.

Sheriff's deputies booked Morris on Wednesday with 12 counts each of residential contractor fraud and of prohibited activities and sanctions, 11 counts of engaging in the business of contracting without authority, nine counts of misapplication of payments, six counts of theft of assets of aged persons and filing or maintaining false public records, deputies said.

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GONZALES Authorities arrested the owner of a Baton Rouge company, Complete Construction Contractors, Wednesday morning on allegations he defrauded more than a dozen Ascension Parish homeowners who flooded in August, the sheriff said.

Sheriff Jeff Wiley said Matthew Morris, 39, the owner of the company, used a complicated contract to rack up thousands of dollars in claims assistance fees, grossly over-billed or billed people for work that had not been done, and collected residents insurance payments with inflated or fraudulent bills.

Ascension Parish sheriff's deputies said they had received 13 criminal complaints against Morris since December over allegations of contractor fraud on home restoration jobs stemming from the August flood. Six of those complaints were filed by homeowners who are 60 or older, deputies said. The company is often known by the abbreviation CCC.

Wiley said he believes the case could extend into other nearby parishes and noted law enforcement authorities in Livingston Parish are already expressing interest in looking into the case. He added that he believes some victims may still be out there thinking they only had a civil remedy and may not have thought to file a criminal complaint.

I look forward to his day in court when he will be held accountable, Wiley said. I dont think we have heard the last of this case. I think theres a trail of misery and trail of victims that is yet to be identified.

Separately, the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors is actively investigating several complaints the board has received about Complete Construction since the flood, the boards compliance director said Wednesday.

Brad Hassert, the director, said the board, which isnt authorized to look at contract disputes, is focused at this time only on claims related to mold remediation work performed by the company.

Ascension Parish sheriffs deputies said investigators have learned that, though Morris was billing people for mold remediation, he didnt have a valid mold remediation license at the time.

Contractor board online records do show Complete Construction is currently licensed to do commercial, residential and mold remediation work, but Complete Construction did not get its first mold remediation license until Nov. 4, months after the August flood.

In 2015, the board found Complete Construction guilty of hiring unlicensed contractors for a large commercial job and was fined $1,000, the maximum allowed under the law, Hassert said. Morris has paid the fine.

Morris business office and his home in Baton Rouge's Mallard Lakes subdivision off Hoo Shoo Too Road where Complete Construction also has a 6,300-square-foot spec home for sale were searched Wednesday morning shortly before he was arrested at his office. The parish Sheriffs Office, the Louisiana State Attorney Generals Office and the U.S. Secret Service Task Force jointly investigated the fraud allegations, deputies said in a news release.

A woman answering the phone at Complete Construction's office on Perkins Road Wednesday afternoon said Morris was not available and offered "no comment" on the allegations against the company's owner.

The homeowners told Ascension deputies that they signed contracts with Complete Construction Contractors that covered demolition, drying, mold remediation and reconstruction but never received cost estimates despite repeated requests.

Wiley said the fine print in Complete Constructions contracts purported to allow Morris to make change orders while he was dealing directly with residents insurers and raising costs without homeowners realizing it until it was too late.

Residents began to receive inflated invoices that totaled two-thirds of their insurance payouts after demolition was finished, leaving a funding shortage to finish their jobs, deputies said.

When homeowners terminated the agreements, it was then that Morris mailed them bills for the claims assistance fees and 50 percent of the cost of the overall job, deputies said. Morris also placed liens on some homeowners properties that prevented them from continuing to receive their insurance payments.

Morris, 21313 Turkey Creek Drive, Baton Rouge, was booked Wednesday with 12 counts each of residential contractor fraud and of prohibited activities and sanctions, 11 counts of engaging in the business of contracting without authority, nine counts of misapplication of payments, six counts of theft of assets of aged persons and filing or maintaining false public records, deputies said.

Morris remained in Ascension Parish Prison near Donaldsonville late Wednesday awaiting the setting of bail, deputies said.

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Complete Construction Contractors owner arrested on counts of post-flood contractor fraud in Ascension - The Advocate

Tour Ascension executive director among leadership academy graduates – Weekly Citizen

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Brandie Richardson

The Louisiana Travel Promotion Association (LTPA), a non-profit organization that represents the state's travel and hospitality industry, recently announced their 2016 graduates of their Louisiana Tourism Leadership Academy. Among the 22 graduates was Tracy Browning, Executive Director of Tour Ascension.

LTLA has been a tremendous opportunity for those interested in learning more about Louisianas tourism industry, and we are proud of the 2016 graduating class, said Jill Kidder, LTPA President and CEO. It is our hope that these professionals will utilize their new-found knowledge and experience to better themselves, their organizations and their state.

The year long leadership class met every other month at various locations around the state to help tourism-related organizations with skills such as advocacy, product development, leadership and management, networking and marketing.

"I thought this would be a grate learning and educational tool to participate in," Browning said. "It also is networking and meeting other people that do the same things that we are involved in. It was a great way to meet other people in the state."

She said one of the biggest tools she took away from the class to help boost tourism in Ascension Parish is advocacy, along with how bills pass through legislature.

"It was an education part for me, understanding how it was relative back to our business and how it can affect us."

Other 2017 graduates included representatives from organizations and parishes such as St. Tammany Parish, Bayou Country Childrens Museum, the Louisiana Office of Tourism, New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation and Nottoway, Oak Alley and the Myrtles Plantations, to name a few.

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Tour Ascension executive director among leadership academy graduates - Weekly Citizen

Girls soccer playoffs: Mount Carmel dominates East Ascension, moves to quarterfinals – The Advocate

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The Mount Carmel soccer team would like nothing more than to repeat as the Division I state champion.

The Cubs took a step in the right direction against East Ascension in a second-round playoff game Wednesday. Mount Carmel controlled the ball from the opening whistle, and outshot its opponent 24-0.

That combination was too much for the Spartans, and the Cubs posted a 3-0 victory at Pan American Stadium in New Orleans' City Park.

The victory sets up a quarterfinal against District 6 rival Dominican. That game will be played at 6 p.m. Monday at Pan American. Those teams played to a scoreless tie in the district finale Jan. 28.

Offense wasnt a problem for Mount Carmel against East Ascension, however, their shots did take some time to fall.

We started off a little nervous, and we knew we had to get it together, said Mount Carmels Maddy Murret, who scored two goals against East Ascension. We got our confidence up after missing a few early shots. Thats definitely one of the most frustrating things, when youre taking shots, but they arent going in. Once we had one, we settled down.

Mount Carmel (20-5-2) set the tone early with five close-range shots in the first 12 minutes. Though those attempts missed, the attack wore on the Spartans. The Cubs eventually found the net in the 15th minute when Sydney Blue assisted Jo Galloway for a 1-0 lead.

The Cubs continued to fire at the Spartans net, and outshot East Ascension 17-0 before halftime. Murret scored the other goal of the half when she lined a shot from mid-box to center-net during the 34th minute. She increased Mount Carmels lead in the 45th minute after firing to the top right corner from about 10 yards out.

Mount Carmel coach Pavlos Petrou substituted liberally midway through the second half, and the Cubs still continued to control possession, though they failed to score again.

Petrou was quite pleased with his teams effort, especially with the ball at its feet.

The offense was clicking today, he said. Especially in the first half, there was so much one-touch play, and six or seven pass combinations. We created a lot of good chances. Maybe sometimes we were a little wasteful, but I was happy with the way we came to play. We werent afraid to take our chances.

East Ascension coach Chris Goodall knew his team was in for a difficult battle against the defending state champion. He took pride that his team allowed only one goal in the second half.

Theres a reason were No. 19 and theyre No. three, Goodall said. I was so happy with the second half and that we went (35) minutes with them (not scoring). They got the third goal, and (Petrou) didnt sub everyone out straight away. I was very proud of our defense there.

East Ascension finished 10-9-5.

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Girls soccer playoffs: Mount Carmel dominates East Ascension, moves to quarterfinals - The Advocate

Public policy with a true human face – World Bank Group (blog)

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The other day I forgot my cellphone at home. On our way to her school my three-year old daughter asked me why I had forgotten it. I dont know, I was distracted I guess, I answered back, only to be faced with another why question from her. Of course, it didnt stop there. After the third why I really couldnt come up with anything sensible to say and, I confess, I wasnt finding the line of questioning amusing anymore. Yet, that very short exchange pretty much summed up the case for applying behavioral insights into public policy. How?

Chances are you have sometimes forgotten something unintentionally. We humans forget things from time to time and miss deadlines without meaning to do so. We really try to exercise, eat healthy, and lose weight but find it hard to do so. And if that salt shaker is at your restaurant table you are much more likely to add salt to your plate than if it is not. We tend to go with the flow and we often dont think hard enough about why we do the things we do. This is the reason we find the relentless why questions from a toddler so charming; were simply not used to questioning ourselves why we do certain things.

Even more telling, when asked we often dont even have a good intuition as to whats really behind many of our actions. This doesnt just apply to mundane tasks like carrying your cellphone around or adding salt to your plate. Ask yourself how did you get to support or disagree with the latest policy reform proposed by your government. Did you read the draft legislation from beginning to end to come up with your position or did you just rely on what someone else said about it, perhaps drawing on what the newspaper or politician you typically like said? Drawing on such shortcuts is not always wrong. In fact, they make perfect sense as a way of coping with the enormous complexity that surrounds us. Applying behavioral insights into public policy is nothing more than taking seriously these simple truths.

Nudging in Latin America The very good news is that the application of behavioral insights into public policy is happening already, in Latin America too. And one of the most encouraging lessons from the applications thus far is that small changes in public policy can have big impacts. In Peru, a simple but clever intervention by the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the World Bank and others, aims to change childrens and teachers attitudes towards learning by emphasizing how being smart is something every student can work on. This draws on the growth mindset literature, which highlights that when students believe they can get smarter, they understand that effort makes them stronger. The intervention, which cost only 20 cents per student, resulted in an increase of student test scores of a sizeable magnitude.

This finding is particularly important for less privileged socioeconomic groups, which may have a greater tendency to view smartness as an unchangeable trait, as shown in a most comprehensive survey done in Chile. And many other interventions are being explored by MineduLab, the innovation lab of the Ministry of Education in Peru, to address education related challenges such as teacher absenteeism, teacher motivation, improving student performance, increasing parents engagement, and reducing drop-out rates.

The World Bank has partnered with authorities at all levels to implement projects on a variety of fields. In Guatemala and Costa Rica, jointly with the United Kingdoms Behavioral Insights Teamthe pioneer among government units to apply behavioral insights into public policythe effort achieved an increase in tax compliance through reaching out to taxpayers by letters and text messages. In Costa Rica we partnered with the municipality of Belen, as well as with the organization ideas42, and improved water conservation by informing households of how their water consumption compared to the average in their neighborhood.

Behavioral method: learn, test and adapt

An important contribution of behavioral insights into public policy is the method itself. It starts with a clear definition of what is the problem at hand, stated without any assumptions as to the drivers of the behavior in question. This is easier said than done as often we have entrenched preconceived ideas about what those drivers may be. It follows with a systematic series of why question, not unlike my three-year olds, that should guide some analysis and diagnosis of the behavior of the individuals involved. Finally, and key to the method, is the emphasis on an iterative process in which we set things up in a way to have fast and frequent feedback loops so that we can continually learn, test, and adapt.

Rigorous testing requires the type of administrative data that tax authorities or mandated scholastic achievement tests provide. This is needed to unequivocally establish the causal impact of interventions which are often deceptively simple and that often run counter the myth that big problems always require big solutions. At the same time, looking ahead, we may need to start considering how these behavioral insights can also inform public policy in areas that may be important but where we may not have as much data or opportunities for randomized interventions.

Despite those challenges the range of topics where behavioral insights are being applied keeps expanding. Ideas42, mentioned above, is exploring the application of behavioral science to improve case management for women affected by intimate partner violence in Bolivia. Technology can be a significant factor in expanding the scope of behaviorally-informed interventions. In Mexico, the Presidents Office is working with the UKs Behavioral Insights Team and Unicef, in a new two-way SMS system where both parties can send messages called Prospera Digitalone of the first of its kind in the worldto give expecting mothers a way to interact and influence the advice they receive, create personalize appointments, and plan for emergencies as well as the delivery.

Why not? Imagine if we could make this type of intervention more like the norm rather than the exception. Imagine if public policy recognized our very human weaknesses and that deliberately paused to ask why with the relentless of a toddler and the rigor of the scientific method. Imagine if doing so we could make public policy more effective.

As the World Bank, governments, and partners continue experimenting and applying behavioral science in government programs and policies, we will share with you through this series Small changes, big impacts: applying #behavioralscience into development every two weeks, the latest development and thinking in the region. Join us and share your thoughts, your work and thinking.

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Public policy with a true human face - World Bank Group (blog)

New ASU program combines law, psychology – Arizona State University

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February 9, 2017

Sometimes during a trial a lawyer will get angry, a witness will speak out of turn or a defendant will have an outburst. The judge will then calmly instruct the jury to disregard what just happened.

In theory, its supposed to keep emotion and bias out of the legal system. In reality, ASU assistant professor Jessica Salerno said, its hard for humans to separate thoughts and emotions so neatly.

Jessica Salerno

So much of the legal system has to do with people making decisions, and people judging other peoples behaviors, she said. Its inherently psychological. Trying to make a legal system run well would be difficult without understanding what affects peoples decisions.

The recently established Program on Law and Behavioral Science takes that into account. It brings ASU experts such as Salerno together across disciplinesThe Program on Law and Behavioral Sciences has affiliated faculty from the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, the Department of Psychology, the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and the School of Social Work. that meet at the intersection of law and behavioral science including psychology, law, forensics and criminology to conduct research and teach students in new ways that they hope will improve the legal system by making it more analytical and fair.

Associate professor and program co-founder Nick Schweitzer said research into law and psychology has grown in recent years, with scholars the world over realizing the importance of understanding how the fields intersect and influence each other in the legal process.

For example, psychologists might assist the court in understanding a criminal's mental state or determine whether a jury might be biased against a defendant based on race. The field has also helped reshape how police conduct eyewitness lineups and interviews.

Schweitzers own work has been cited by the U.S. Federal Courts to demonstrate how jurors weigh expert evidence in trials. And the work of one of the programs affiliated faculty members, Regents Professor Michael Saks, was instrumental in a U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding the psychological effects of smaller vs. larger juries.

Nick Schweitzer

At ASU, the Program on Law and Behavioral Sciences provides both an opportunity for cross-disciplinary research among scholars, as well as new academic offeringsthat include undergraduate and masters degrees in forensic psychology and a doctorate in law and psychology. Classes for the new program will begin in fall 2017.

According to Schweitzer, both the quality of the faculty and the emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration at ASU stand to make the program one of the strongest ... both in terms of size and caliber of people.

This year, Salerno, anaffiliated faculty member, was awarded the Saleem Shah Early Career AwardThe Saleem A. Shah Early Career Development Award is given for demonstration of significant early career achievement in forensic psychology, or related fields of law. Forensic psychology combines general training in psychology with specialized course work in criminal law, criminal behavior, the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders and legal decision-making. for her research into the role of emotion in the legal decision-making process.

Some of Salernos recent work has looked at how gruesome crime-scene photos and victim impact statements affect jurors. Shell be teaching a legal psychology course this fall but is equally excited at the prospect of strengthening research efforts by reaching across traditional fields of study.

The potential for this kind of collaboration is one of reasons I came to ASU, she said.

Last years winner of the Saleem Shah Early Career Award also hails from ASU. Assistant professor and fellow program faculty affiliate Tess Neal received the award for her research into expert bias in legal testimony.

Michael Saks

Thats the highest distinction you can get in our field for early career awards, Schweitzer said, adding that Saks recently received the Award for Distinguished Contribution to Psychology and Law, the highest distinction in the field at the opposite end of the career spectrum.

An ASU alum, Schweitzers work focuses on how neuroscience is used in court, in cases where brain scans that may reveal a psychological disorder are used as evidence. Hes thrilled to now be able to continue working with Saks.

Saks, who has been researching medical malpractice, is similarly enthused at the prospects of the new program.

Psychology has come to play an important role in the making of better law, policy and practices, he said. It has combined with forensic science to be part of ongoing reforms of that field, with economics to create behavioral economics, and will play an essential part in the movement to reduce injuries and deaths in health care.

The students and faculty in this new program will learn, teach and do research in these and numerous other areas where interdisciplinary innovation involving behavioral science is needed.

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New ASU program combines law, psychology - Arizona State University

Game Theory: Google tests AIs to see whether they’ll fight or work together – Neowin

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Understanding how logical agents cooperate or fight, especially in the face of resource scarcity, is a fundamental problem for social scientists. This underpins both our foundation as a social species, and our modern day economy and geopolitics. But soon, this problem will also be at the heart of how we understand, control, and cooperate with artificially intelligent agents, and how they work among themselves.

Researchers inside of Googles AI DeepMind project wanted to know whether distinct artificial intelligence agents worked together or competed when faced with a problem. Doing this experiment would help scientists understand how our future networks of smart systems may work together.

The researchers pitted two AIs against each other in a couple of video games. In one game, called Gathering, the AIs had to gather as many apples as possible. They also had the option to shoot each other to temporarily take the opponent out of play. The results were intriguing as the two agents worked harmoniously until resources started to dwindle; at that point the AIs realized that temporarily disabling the opponent could give each of them an advantage and so started zapping the enemy. As scarcity increased so did conflict.

Interestingly enough, the researchers found that introducing a more powerful AI into the mix would result in more conflict even without the scarcity. Thats because the more powerful AI would find it easier to compute the necessary details, such as trajectory and speed, needed to shoot its opponent. So, it acted like a rational economic agent.

However, before you start preparing for Judgement Day, you should note that in the second game trial, called Wolfpack, the two AI systems had to closely collaborate to ensure victory. In this instance, the systems changed their behavior maximizing cooperation. And the more computationally powerful the AI, the more it cooperated.

The conclusions are fairly simple to draw, though they have extremely wide-ranging implications. The AIs will cooperate or fight depending on what suits them better, as rational economic agents. This idea might underpin the way we design our future AI and the methods we can use to control them, at least until they reach the singularity and develop superintelligence. Then were all doomed.

Source: DeepMind Via: Verge | AI image via Shutterstock

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Game Theory: Google tests AIs to see whether they'll fight or work together - Neowin

AIVITA Biomedical to Present Skin Care Technology and Products at 15th Annual South Beach Symposium – PR Newswire (press release)

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IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --AIVITA Biomedical today announced it will present details of its patented skin care technology and commercial line of skin care products at the upcoming South Beach Symposium in Miami Beach, Florida. The conference, taking place February 9-12 at the Loews Hotel Miami Beach, will be attended by physicians and practitioners seeking the latest therapies, technologies and procedures in medical and aesthetic skin care.

The South Beach Symposium is a 4-day conference which offers multiple educational tracks allowing medical professionals from both clinical and aesthetic dermatology practices to participate in focused education. AIVITA's Chief Executive Officer, Hans S. Keirstead, Ph.D., will meet with key opinion leaders to discuss AIVITA's new product lines. AIVITA's Chief Science Officer, Gabriel Nistor, M.D., will lead a Continuing Medical Education course in Thursday's session "Anti-Aging Medicine for the Dermatologist." Dr. Nistor's course, titled Stem Cells and Growth Factors in Skin Rejuvenation, will detail advancements in the understanding and application of human stem cell-derived growth factors for skin rejuvenation. On Friday, AIVITA Biomedical Scientific Advisory Board member Dr. Zoe Draelos, M.D. will chair a special symposium, "The Science of Topical Therapy, RX, OTC and Cosmeceuticals," in which she will present research she conducted on AIVITA's skin care advancements. The company will also have a scientific poster on display highlighting the findings of a clinical study which demonstrated improvements in several key areas of visible skin aging using the company's proprietary formulation.

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AIVITA Biomedical to Present Skin Care Technology and Products at 15th Annual South Beach Symposium - PR Newswire (press release)

Legislation Would Require Strategic Plan for NASA Human Spaceflight – Space.com

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A new bill would require NASA to develop a strategic plan for human Mars missions more detailed than existing documents, like this "Journey to Mars" infographic.

WASHINGTON Legislation recently introduced in the House and Senate wouldrequire NASA to develop a detailed studyabout how it would achieve a long-term goal of humans on Mars.

The Mapping a New and Innovative Focus on our Exploration Strategy (MANIFEST) for Human Spaceflight Act, jointly introduced Jan. 24 by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas), is intended to build upon a 2014 National Academies report on human space exploration pathways.

The key portion of the bill would require NASA to develop a strategic plan for a series of missionsleading up to human missions to Mars. It also amends a 2010 NASA authorization act, the most recent such bill to be enacted, by making "human exploration of Mars, including the establishment of a capability to extend human presence to the surface of Mars" a key goal of NASA's human spaceflight program. [NASA's Vision for Astronauts on Mars]

"By requiring a strategic plan from NASA, this bill will help focus existing resources towards achieving our long-term goal oflanding a human on Mars," Cornyn said in a statement.

The report envisioned by the bill would cover a wide range of issues associated with human space exploration. They include descriptions and assessments of mission architectures using Orion and Space Launch System, use of the International Space Station to achieve exploration goals, partnerships with other countries or private industry, studies of crew health and safety.

The bill doesn't directly specify what should be intermediate missions prior to going to Mars, including human missions to the surface of the moon, but would require the report to assess such destinations.

One aspect of the report, according to the bill, is an examination of the "utility of an expanded human presence in cis-lunar space toward enabling missions to various lunar orbits, the lunar surface, asteroids, Mars, the moons of Mars, and other destinations of interest." The bill would also require the report to provide a "detailed plan for prioritizing and phasing" those intermediate destinations.

Under the bill, NASA would be required to submit an interim report to the National Academies 90 days after the bill's enactment. The final version of the report, from the National Academies, is due one year after the bill becomes law. The bill stipulates that the process be repeated every five years.

"Americans are at their best when they're conquering new frontiers and this legislation ensures that NASA continues to push the boundaries of space exploration by landing an American astronaut on Mars," said Culberson in a statement.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.

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Legislation Would Require Strategic Plan for NASA Human Spaceflight - Space.com

Cabinet briefed on India-Vietnam Framework Agreement on outer space exploration – Daily News & Analysis

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The Union Cabinet today was briefed on the Framework Agreement between India and Vietnam on cooperation in exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes. The agreement was signed on September 3, 2016.

It will enable pursuing potential areas of cooperation between the two nations in domains like space science, satellite communication and satellite-based navigation, planetary exploration, use of spacecraft and space systems, and application of space technology.

The Framework would initiate new research and application activities in the field of remote sensing of the earth, satellite communication and navigation, and exploration of the outer space.

This collaboration with Vietnam would lead to a launch of joint activity in the field of application of space technologies for the benefit of humanity.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

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Cabinet briefed on India-Vietnam Framework Agreement on outer space exploration - Daily News & Analysis

Patent Filed for Nanotech Cloud Seeding Material – Controlled Environments Magazine

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The Masdar Institute research team that was one of the inaugural recipients of the $5 million grant from the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science last year has made significant progress in their work as evidenced by the filing a provisional patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

By filing a patent on their innovative cloud seeding material, the research team is bringing the material in the pathway for commercialization, thereby supporting Masdar Institutes goal of bolstering the United Arab Emirates local intellectual property, which is a key measure of the countrys innovation drive. It also signifies a milestone towards achieving greater water security in the UAE, as rainfall enhancement via cloud seeding can potentially increase rainfall between 10 to 30 percent, helping to refresh groundwater reserves, boost agricultural production, and reduce the countrys heavy reliance on freshwater produced by energy-intensive seawater desalination.

Masdar Institute Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Dr. Linda Zou, is the principal investigator of this research project, and one of the first scientists in the world to explore the use of nanotechnology to enhance a cloud seeding materials ability to produce rain.

While the field of rain enhancement which involves stimulating clouds to produce rain leverages cloud physics, atmosphere physics, and topographical studies, Zou and her team complement such work through their focus on the cloud seeding material itself.

Using nanotechnology to accelerate water droplet formation on a typical cloud seeding material has never been researched before. It is a new approach that could revolutionize the development of cloud seeding materials and make them significantly more efficient and effective, Zou says.

Offering a comprehensive overview of Zous progress, Alya Al Mazroui, Manager of the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science, says, The Program is a unique opportunity to use advanced research methods for studying atmospheric processes in arid regions, where its understanding is most important to ensure water security globally. We are convinced that Masdar Institutes project, under Linda Zous supervision, will advance rain enhancement science through innovative seeding agents.

Dr. Deon E. Terblanche, Director, Atmospheric Research and Environment Branch, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), serves as a member of the international scientific advisory committee of the UAE Rain Enhancement Program Award. He believes that the novelty of Zous research has great potential to drive innovation in the field of rain enhancement: Dr. Linda Zou of the Masdar Institute is bringing a fresh and exciting contribution to the field of rainfall enhancement. Her team's research into the development of new seeding materials, taking advantage of nanotechnology, holds exciting possibilities and is followed with considerable interest, Terblanche says.

Conventional cloud seeding materials are small particles such as pure salt crystals, dry ice, and silver iodide. These tiny particles, which are a few microns (one-thousandth of a millimeter) in size, act as the core around which water condenses in the clouds, stimulating water droplet growth. Once the air in the cloud reaches a certain level of saturation, it can no longer hold in that moisture, and rain falls. Cloud seeding essentially mimics what naturally occurs in clouds, but enhances the process by adding particles that can stimulate and accelerate the condensation process.

Zou and her collaborators, Dr. Mustapha Jouiad, Principal Research Scientist in Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department, postdoctoral researcher Dr. Nabil El Hadri, and PhD student Haoran Liang, explored ways to improve the process of condensation on a pure salt crystal by layering it with a thin coating of titanium dioxide.

The extremely thin coating measures around 50 nanometers, which is more than one thousand times thinner than a human hair. Despite the coatings miniscule size, the titanium dioxides effect on the salts condensation efficiency is significant. Titanium dioxide is a hydrophilic photocatalyst, which means that when in contact with water vapor in the cloud, it helps to initiate and sustain the water vapor adsorption and condensation on the nanoparticles surface. This important property of the cloud seeding material speeds up the formation of large water droplets for rainfall.

Zous team found that the titanium dioxide coating improved the salts ability to adsorb and condense water vapor over 100 times compared to a pure salt crystal. Such an increase in condensation efficiency could improve a clouds ability to produce more precipitation, making rain enhancement operations more efficient and effective. The research will now move to the next stage of simulated cloud and field testing in the future.

The UAE government has recognized the potential of rain enhancement to support water security and established the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science to increase rain enhancement research in the UAE and arid and semi-arid regions across the world. Awardees of the Programs Second Cycle grant of $5 million were announced last week during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2017. They include Professor Giles Harrison of the University of Reading, Professor Hannele Korhonen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), and Dr. Paul Lawson of American firm Spec Inc.

Zous research grant covers two more years of research. During this time, her team will continue to study different design concepts and structures for cloud seeding materials inspired by nanotechnology.

Source: Masdar Institute

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Patent Filed for Nanotech Cloud Seeding Material - Controlled Environments Magazine

The psychedelic renaissance – Boulder Weekly

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If you were a teenager in 1967, Berkeley was the place to be. The Summer of Love was beaming with a newfound madness, and for Dennis McKenna, it was too tempting to resist. A trip to Berkeley meant mischief and, if lucky, a psychedelic experience.

When McKenna arrived in Berkeley, he managed to get both. After acquiring a few tabs of acid from a stranger in Tilden Park, he and his friend headed to the woods in hopes of peeking through the doors of perception. Here, their civil behavior would self-destruct to give way for a more primal, archaic wildness.

We didnt have what I would call a mystical experience, he says. It was more like an evolutionary regression. We literally became like apes in the woods.

Although the experience wasnt quite what he expected, it was revelatory for McKenna. Bouncing around like a little child in the open expanse of the woods and swinging from the branches of trees was, oddly enough, a clue that the ultimate answers to life could be hiding in the strange portals of the psychedelic experience.

When people hear McKennas name, they usually associate it with his older brother, Terrence. Renown for being the intellectuals Timothy Leary, Terrence was a spokesman and advocate for psychedelics for many years, known as somewhat of an articulate rebel. His hypnotizing talks and poetic revelations swayed audiences of all kinds. However, though not in the spotlight like Terrence, McKenna has co-authored many books with him. He is the more scientific of the two, using facts more than stories in his work. Some of the most profound ideas talked about in True Hallucinations and The Invisible Landscape are a result of McKennas analysis, experiences and research.

As an ethnopharmacologist and research pharmacognosist, he has dedicated his life to the research of hallucinogens and psychedelics. He is also one of the founding directors of the Heffter Research Institute, a nonprofit organization investigating the therapeutic uses of psychedelic substances.

In his book, The Brothers Of The Screaming Abyss, Mckenna describes himself as a big picture kind of guy. Born in Paonia, Colorado, in 1950, at a young age, Dennis was not interested in the sort of questions that didnt lead to an ultimate understanding of reality. While his peers were playing outside, he was reading Scientific American and taking notes on the Encyclopedia Brittanica in the local library. This sort of intellectual passion, along with his experiences on acid in Berkeley, eventually led Mckenna into the Amazonian jungle, where hed test the limits of his own consciousness by experimenting with heavy doses of magic mushrooms and the Amazonian plant mixture, ayahuasca. After making this dive into the unknown, he has come back to share some of his wisdom.

Although psychedelic drugs are still categorized in Schedule 1 of the Drug Enforcement Agencys illegal substances, McKenna says that they are still being widely used in secret.

In our society at the moment, these drugs are finding their way back into society primarily along two channels: One is religious practice and the other is medical practice, he says.

Some religious groups are actually permitted to use these substances legally.

According to McKenna, society is in the midst of a psychedelic renaissance. According to a recent study out of Johns Hopkins University and New York University, psilocybin the active ingredient found in magic mushrooms has been shown to radically improve the positivity of people who are terminally ill with cancer. New research from Johns Hopkins and the University of Alabama also suggests that people who have a history of taking psychedelic drugs are less prone to have suicidal thoughts and are more psychologically healthy.

But psychedelics still hold the stigma of the 60s drug culture. Although a lot of great research with psychedelics was done in that time, it threatened the social order, McKenna says. As a result, the substances were unfairly banned.

All of these things in the 60s were pretty much prohibited in a very ill-considered way, he says. It was like lumping everything together and saying theyre all bad; they all cause altered states we dont like. But of course prohibition doesnt solve anything. They just went underground.

After nearly 50 years, Mckenna thinks that we are only now discovering the benefits and uses of these substances.

Here we are, almost coming to, say, 2020. Thatll be 50 years. We have only now figured out how to use them, he says.

One of the hallucinogenic plants to praise for the psychedelic comeback is McKennas self-proclaimed plant teacher, ayahuasca. This indigenous Amazonian plant, known for its hallucinogenic and healing properties, is seeing increased popularity around the world. According to Mckenna, the widespread use of substances like these is a good thing because it will evolve consciousness at a more rapid rate.

There are all kinds of communities now that are spontaneously appearing in the most unlikely places, he says. I think as people discover these plants, the plants themselves become a catalyst for this evolution of consciousness.

As we approach another turning point in American history, Mckenna continues to advocate psychedelics, as they provide a constant reminder that we arent the ones in control.

The big message from me is, with ayahuasca particularly: Remember you monkeys are not running this show, he says. We are not running this show. The plants, in fact, are running the show. And this is a good thing for us, because they are what is keeping life sustainable through photosynthesis.

For McKenna, psychedelics are no longer simply a catalysts for the counter-culture consciousness. The substances are beginning to be accepted as medicines to heal the afflictions of the mind, and tools to discover the ineffable worlds that the mystics and ancient shamans have long been exploiting.

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The psychedelic renaissance - Boulder Weekly

Insomniac reveals teaser for trance-only Dreamstate stage at EDC Las Vegas 2017: Watch – DJ Mag

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DJ Mag
Insomniac reveals teaser for trance-only Dreamstate stage at EDC Las Vegas 2017: Watch
DJ Mag
Insomniac's in-house, trance-only brand Dreamstate will host its own stage at EDC Las Vegas this year, titled quantumVALLEY. Launched in 2015, Dreamstate has previously fronted shows in Australia, Mexico, and the UK, though this will be the first year ...
Insomniac's Pasquale Rotella on building a different experienceLas Vegas Weekly (blog)

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Insomniac reveals teaser for trance-only Dreamstate stage at EDC Las Vegas 2017: Watch - DJ Mag

Does Trance need to be saved? – Trance Hub (satire) (press release) (blog)

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Recently, Gareth Emery released the music video for his new single with Standerwick and Haliene, Saving light. The video had a very powerful message and urges people to stand up against bullying and stand up against it. You can watch the video here :

The video received a mixed response. Many people could relate to it and it moved them. The loved the vocals and the fact that it stands for a cause.

A few days later, Gareth posted a picture in an attempt to encourage people to buy the track on beatport in order to make a trance track number one again.

This post received quite a bit of attention, positive enough to make the track reach the 2nd position on beatport, but it also received criticism from artists like Christopher Lawrence and John 00 Fleming who believe it is a gimmick for fame.

Here is what they had to say

While John 00 Fleming was not really in favour of the whole stint, he was openly vocal about it and posted about the same

On the other hand, Christopher Lawrence stated his opinion regarding the same, though he too is not in favour of it.

A few people did stand up for Gareth. Marwen Tlili, the label head of Armada musics sub label The Bearded Man tried to explain the cause to them.

Post all the criticism, this is what Gareth had to say

Well, what do you think? Does trance need saving? Or is it already in a good place? Let us know in the comments below!

Trance enthusiast. Armada Ambassador. Content writer. Im not afraid of 138! Making people give Trance a chance.

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Does Trance need to be saved? - Trance Hub (satire) (press release) (blog)