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New research reveals humans could have as many as 33 senses
We don’t experience the world through neat, separate senses—everything blends together. Smell, touch, sound, sight, and balance constantly influence one another, shaping how food tastes, objects feel, and even how heavy our bodies seem. Scientists now believe humans may have more than 20 distinct senses working at once. Everyday illusions and experiences reveal just how surprisingly complex perception really is.
DSM-Firmenich to Sell Animal Nutrition Unit to CVC in $2.6 Billion Deal
The sale to CVC Capital Partners marks the final step in its plan to fully focus on human nutrition, health and beauty.
Chinese robot makers ready for Lunar New Year entertainment spotlight
In China, humanoid robots are serving as Lunar New Year entertainment, with their manufacturers pitching their song-and-dance skills to the general public as well as potential customers, investors and government officials.
Making science more visible
As he enters a laboratory with saltwater pools full of fish, Luka Žuvić explains how climate change is affecting the feeding ecology and reproductive biology of Atlantic bluefin tuna, and how the species is adapting.It is a topic that may seem remote to many people. But in a country where fishing and aquaculture are important to the economy and national identity, Žuvić’s research is at the intersection of science and society. “In Croatia, marine and environmental science are closely connected to people’s lives because fisheries, aquaculture, tourism and coastal development are a big part of our lives,” explains Žuvić, a doctoral student working at the Croatian Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries in the Adriatic coastal city of Split. He also serves as one of Croatia’s ambassadors to Science Comes to Town (SCTT), a European Commission-funded project that aims to make scientific research more accessible, while inspiring young people to study the sciences. The project kicked off in Spilt on 20 January with a conference attended by partner institutions, community representatives, policymakers and scientists. Along with Split, Brest (in France) and Kiel (in Germany) will host a year of activities connecting scientists with the public.Žuvić, 31, is part of the Young Researchers' Career Development Project, a doctoral programme funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. His research on Atlantic bluefin tuna builds on a foundation-backed project focusing on the reproductive potential of farmed tuna, including their sexual maturation and spontaneous spawning in captivity, which has implications for the restoration of the Adriatic Sea's natural tuna populations. He also studies the tuna's feeding ecology through stomach-content analysis, using DNA metabarcoding and morphological approaches, and employs geometric morphometrics to improve the identification of juvenile tuna and related species. The research aims to enhance understanding of the tuna farming ecology, improve fish farm management and contribute to sustainable aquaculture and fisheries research.Engaging with local communitiesConnecting with the community is crucial for Žuvić’s research. Conversations with fishermen help him better understand the bluefin tuna's habits and how marine pollution affects the fish. “They are also curious about the biology and ecology of bluefin tuna,” he says of local fishermen, adding that sharing research with non-scientists benefits everyone. “Sometimes scientific research is invisible,” he explains. “That's why we as researchers need to go out from our institutions and labs to the public so that we can show them what we are working on. This helps create more trust in the scientists and their research.”Engaging the public also raises awareness about the anthropogenic changes to the marine environment resulting from human activities and pollution. Žuvić helps remove plastic and other rubbish from the Adriatic Sea that pose a direct threat to marine species. Predators, such as bluefin tuna, are especially vulnerable to ingesting waste churned up by fishing trawlers. “They are very opportunistic fish that follow trawlers and ingest everything,” he notes. To illustrate the impact, he has shown students the contents of bluefin tuna stomachs. “Finding a plastic bottle cap in the stomach of a bluefin tuna is concerning,” he says. "Science can be a powerful way to turn curiosity into practical solutions,” Žuvić adds, and sharing research outcomes “helps increase public awareness and improve understanding of human impacts on the marine environment.”The research also has implications for Croatia's economy. The Atlantic bluefin tuna’s rich, flavourful meat is highly valued for sushi and other raw fish dishes. However, overfishing nearly brought its population to collapse by the early 2000s. Although the species has made a comeback in the Atlantic and Mediterranean regions, catches continue to be managed through agreements with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. Croatia was a pioneer in developing commercial aquaculture as an alternative to open-sea fishing and accounts for about 10% of the EU’s farmed production of the bluefin tuna, with Japan being a key export market.A history of European collaborationCroatia has participated in Europe’s framework programmes for research and innovation since 2007, six years before officially joining the EU. Žuvić believes that EU funding and collaboration with other European researchers is vital for Croatian science. As part of the SCTT opening conference, the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, the University of Split and other local institutions were part of a science fair to showcase research on topics, such as robotics and an EU LIFE project on the protection of sharks and rays in the Mediterranean. “I hope that Science Comes to Town will help increase scientific literacy and curiosity among citizens, particularly students, and show that science is not something that is distant or abstract, but something that directly affects everyday life,” Žuvić concludes. “Ultimately, I hope that projects like it contribute to building a society that values knowledge and critical thinking, and that we can think about long-term sustainability using knowledge from science.”Science|Business, which connects policymakers, academics and industry through its news reporting, analysis and events, is an SCTT partner.
Statistics and data science symposium hosts early-career scientists
Researchers celebrated the role of numerical data in scientific research at a Jan. 26 event at the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center. The Lange Symposium on Computational Statics and Biomedical Data Science – hosted by the UCLA Department of Computational Medicine and Human Genetics – invited six speakers from across the country to discuss their research.
Gut bacteria can sense their environment and it’s key to your health
Your gut is home to trillions of bacteria that constantly “sense” their surroundings to survive and thrive. New research shows that beneficial gut microbes, especially common Clostridia bacteria, can detect a surprisingly wide range of chemical signals produced during digestion, including byproducts of fats, proteins, sugars, and even DNA. These microbes use specialized sensors to move toward valuable nutrients, with lactate and formate standing out as especially important fuel sources.
Pool Corp. hires new exec; Jefferson Chamber, Habitat for Humanity of GBR name new boards
Take a look at some of the recent promotions and new hires announced at south Louisiana businesses.
Can apes play pretend? Scientists use an imaginary tea party to find out
A new experiment hints that an ape may be able to play pretend like humans do.
Ancient bones reveal chilling victory rituals after Europe’s earliest wars
New evidence from Neolithic mass graves in northeastern France suggests that some of Europe’s earliest violent encounters were not random acts of brutality, but carefully staged displays of power. By analyzing chemical clues locked in ancient bones and teeth, researchers found that many victims were outsiders who suffered extreme, ritualized violence after conflict. Severed arms appear to have been taken from local enemies killed in battle, while captives from farther away were executed in a grim form of public spectacle.
These 773,000-year-old fossils may reveal our shared human ancestor
Fossils from a Moroccan cave have been dated with remarkable accuracy to about 773,000 years ago, thanks to a magnetic signature locked into the surrounding sediments. The hominin remains show a blend of ancient and more modern features, placing them near a pivotal branching point in human evolution. These individuals likely represent an African population close to the last common ancestor of Homo sapiens, Neandertals, and Denisovans.
That dry, bitter taste may be waking up your brain
New research suggests the astringent sensation caused by flavanols could act as a direct signal to the brain, triggering effects similar to a mild workout for the nervous system. In mouse experiments, flavanol intake boosted activity, curiosity, learning, and memory—despite these compounds barely entering the bloodstream. The key appears to be sensory stimulation: the taste itself activates brain pathways linked to attention, motivation, and stress response, lighting up regions involved in arousal and memory.
Why OpenAI’s Early Super Bowl Strategy Should Get Small Business Owners’ Attention
The campaign’s early rollouts reveal how human stories and unexpected use cases make AI feel practical, accessible, and worthwhile.
AIPAC allies picked a candidate to target in New Jersey. They may have boosted a stronger critic of Israel
During a forum last month, Analilia Mejia was the only person running in the Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 11th District who raised her hand when asked if she agreed with human rights groups that say Israel has committed a genocide in Gaza, a charge the Israeli government rejects.
Health Regulators Ask DOJ to Investigate Hims & Hers. The Stock Plunges.
The Department of Health and Human Services referred the consumer wellness company to the Department of Justice for investigation, wrote HHS general counsel Mike Stuart in a post on X Friday afternoon.
Congress rebuffs Trump’s $33B in cuts to health, human services
Congress approved the first public health funding bill in Trump's second term. In it, lawmakers largely rejected his proposed spending cuts.
“Déjà vu”: what scientists have discovered is even stranger! - Futura-Sciences
Human memory still holds many mysteries. While déjà vu is a relatively well known experience, its lesser known counterpart, jamais vu, remains largely unfamiliar to the general public. Yet this intriguing cognitive phenomenon could teach us a great deal about how our brain works. A recent study, published in September...
Breakthrough: Scientists Created a 'Universal' Kidney To Match Any Blood Type
"The first time we've seen this play out in a human model."
British woman claims she’s 80% human and 20% robot thanks to a mind-reading bionic arm
This British woman says that she is 80% human and 20% robot thanks to the use of her mind-reading bionic arm with the limb using AI to help her
Only 15 and already a PhD: this Belgian genius stunned the scientific world - Futura-Sciences
Laurent’s achievement isn’t just about age. It’s about accelerating possibilities in science — from ultracold quantum systems to ambitious visions of improving human biology and extending healthy life. His journey prompts discussion around talent, education and the pace of discovery in the 21st century. A prodigy rewrites the academic timeline...
Biodiversity science and policy need more model intercomparisons
Nature Reviews Biodiversity - Climate model intercomparison projects have been essential in identifying mechanisms of human-caused climate change, but similar efforts in biodiversity science have...
At a Bonobo’s ‘Tea Party,’ Scientists Find Hints of Imagination
By playing pretend with an ape, scientists found a human hallmark in our closest living relative: the capacity for make-believe.
Can apes play pretend? Scientists use an imaginary tea party to find out
A new experiment hints that an ape may be able to play pretend like humans do
How well can AI and humans work together? Scientists are turning to Dungeons & Dragons to find out
D&D is being used as a benchmark to see how well models can make long-term plans, adhere to rules and strategize with a team.
Why science says ghosts do not exist: The real reasons behind a most human belief | - The Times of India
Science News: For centuries, people all over the world have told stories about ghosts. In many cultures, the dead are believed to come back in spirit form. Some bel.
U.S. Health Secretary Kennedy renews backing for vaccination “freedom of choice”
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stressed his support for parents choose which vaccinations their kids get.
RFK Jr. stops in Nashville, highlights Tennessee’s health policies
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stopped in Nashville Wednesday as a part of his “Take Back Your Health” tour to talk about changes made duri…
It's time to think about human reproduction in space, scientists urge
"If reproduction is ever to occur beyond Earth, it must do so with a clear commitment to safety, transparency and ethical integrity."
RFK Jr. kicks off national tour in Nashville, highlighting food safety, AI in healthcare
Tennessee officials welcomed U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday to kick off his Take Back America tour and highlight ef
Assembly Committee on Science, Technology, and AI
On February 4, 2026, the Assembly Committee on Science, Technology, and AI will hold a public hearing on the following: Assembly Bill 892 Relating to: digital asset staking and the state’s securities laws Assembly Bill 959 Relating to: the legal status of artificial intelligence Assembly Bill 965 Relating to: artificial intelligence systems that simulate humanlike […]
Liberal Arts, Conservative Wallets: How College Majors Steer Students’ Politics
Surveys from over 300,000 college-goers show that humanities and social science majors drift left, while those studying business largely stand pat.
Why our ancestors had straight teeth without braces
Small jaws mean big problems for modern humans.
Artemis II is returning humans to the moon with science riding shotgun
NASA’s Artemis II could be the first time human eyes set sight on the farside of the moon — and there are things human eyes can see that cameras can’t.
UF Astraeus faculty help shape national science strategy for human exploration of Mars
UF Astraeus Space Institute faculty filled key leadership roles in a a major National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report.
Medicaid cost, DCF oversight among CT lawmakers’ 2026 priorities
Connecticut legislators have lofty ambitions to tackle major health and human services challenges during the 2026 legislative session.
Meta's CTO is meh on Moltbook
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth didn't find Moltbook "particularly interesting." But humans trying to sneak on? "Hilarious," he said.
RFK Jr.: ‘Fragmented’ addiction treatment system ‘has not worked in this country’
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday touted a new $100 million effort to fight opioid addiction highlighting the country’s “fragmented” system for…
The Dwarf (1978) and the Politics of Knowledge in Cold War South Korea
The Dwarf (1978) and the Politics of Knowledge in Cold War South Korea SpeakerHeeJin Lee University of PittsburghTuesday • February 3 • 4 p.m. UCI Humanities Gateway 1010
Why Exercise Science Still Treats Men As the “Default” Body
New research suggests that long-standing assumptions about sex and gender continue to shape how studies are designed, interpreted, and reported.
Scientists Explored an Island Cave and Found 1 Million-Year-Old Remnants of a Lost World
Up to 50 percent of species—which included 12 bird species and 4 frog species—on Aotearoa’s North Island went extinct before humans arrived
Making science move: Organoids project re-imagines adrenal glands through models and motion
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””] In 2024, University of Georgia Associate Professor Nadja Zeltner received a grant to advance research in human cell generation, including adrenal gland organoids used to study disease. Adrenal gland organoids are tiny, lab-grown versions of your body’s stress response control center—adrenal glands release hormones in response to stress or excitement, regulate energy and … Continue reading “Making science move: Organoids project re-imagines adrenal glands through models and motion”
Pitt’s new Trivedi Institute will translate space science into human health breakthroughs
Former NASA astronaut and Professor Kate Rubins will lead the $25 million institute, funded by the Trivedi Family Foundation.
In Memoriam: Dr. Edgar J. McCullough, Jr.
In memory of Dr. Edgar J. McCullough, Jr., a distinguished scholar and educator, the college’s first dean, and a deeply respected humanitarian whose life’s work touched countless students, colleagues and communities.
Iowa bill targets illicit massage businesses linked to human trafficking
Under current Iowa law, massage therapists must be licensed — but the businesses that employ them are not. That means when illegal services are uncovered, enforcement often falls on individual therapists rather than the owners running the operation.
WHO launches 2026 appeal to help millions of people in health emergencies and crisis settings
The World Health Organization (WHO) today launched its 2026 global appeal to ensure millions of people living in humanitarian crises and conflicts can access health care.
Vendor Notebook: Tackling deployment gaps with agentic AI
Epic, Oracle and Humana have all announced new integrated capabilities. Meanwhile, Corti says through its new infrastructure on NVIDIA that healthcare organizations can create artificial intelligence agents and scale without clinical risk.
HHS Secy Kennedy Jr., Dr. Oz & Admin Officals Discuss Behavioral Health
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, and others announce "Action for Progress," an initiative addressing mental health and addiction.
Watch live: Top health officials launch initiative addressing mental health, addiction
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz and other officials on Monday will announce an initiative addressing me…
Scientists Warn: This “miracle cure” works only by damaging human cells
MMS has long been promoted as a miracle cure, but new research shows it’s essentially a toxic disinfectant. While it can kill bacteria, it only works at levels that also damage human cells and beneficial gut microbes. Scientists warn that homemade MMS mixtures are especially dangerous due to wildly inconsistent dosing. The study calls MMS a clear case where the risks are high—and the benefits are effectively zero.
From Katrina to robotics: Mindy Núñez Airhart’s path in steel
SSE Steel Fabrication owner Mindy Núñez Airhart on growing a second-generation steel business in St. Bernard Parish — from post-Katrina rebuilding to robotics, AI and humanoid welding technology shaping the industry’s future.
HHS Secy. Kennedy, Dr. Oz & Others Announce New Mental Health Initiative
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, and others announce "Action for Progress," an initiative addressing mental health and addiction.
The tension between big team science and colonial power dynamics
Nature Human Behaviour - Big team science promises to globalize the social behavioural sciences. However, without structural reform, it will reproduce a research model in which data are gathered...
The Science of “the Giggle”: Why Laboratory Rats Love Being Tickled
If you think laughter and comedy are reserved strictly for humans, you’d be wrong. A study in the late 1990s showed that creatures like rats emit ultrasonic vocalizations while playing with or anticipating the opportunity to play with other rats. To make matters sillier, rats emitted similar vocalizations when they were subjected to manual somatosensory
Scientists discover how to turn gut bacteria into anti-aging factories
Researchers found that small doses of an antibiotic can coax gut bacteria into producing a life-extending compound. In worms, this led to longer lifespans, while mice showed healthier cholesterol and insulin changes. Because the drug stays in the gut, it avoids toxic side effects. The study points to a new way of promoting health by targeting microbes rather than the body itself.
ENTERTAINMENT: Singer pays tribute to ‘Divas’; conductor comes ‘home’
Singer CeCe Teneal takes audiences on a musical journey through 50 years of chart-topping hits, “from the powerhouse anthems of Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner to the disco grooves of Donna Summer and the pop perfection of Whitney Houston,” in “Divas of Soul,” 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Center for Humanities and Arts Theatre, University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College.
Book Review: “Do Aliens Speak Physics?” asks whether science is truly universal or shaped by the limits of human experience
Andy Warner and Daniel Whiteson have created a witty, illustrated inquiry into what the search …
Ancient tools in China are forcing scientists to rethink early humans
Archaeologists in central China have uncovered evidence that early humans were far more inventive than long assumed. Excavations at the Xigou site reveal advanced stone tools, including the earliest known examples of tools fitted with handles in East Asia, dating back as far as 160,000 years. These discoveries show that ancient populations in the region carefully planned, crafted, and adapted their tools to meet changing environments.
'We have weaknesses': How covering sports is like raising kid athletes
Top athletes, like our kids, are more human being than prodigy. Sometimes parents, and their kids who play sports, just need to calm down.
Of mice and humans: What to know about the diseases mice can spread in the region
This is the latest installment of Pittsburgh Pests, an occasional series examining the insects and other creatures that pose health risks in our region. As...
Venezuela announces bill that could lead to mass release of prisoners detained for political reasons
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez on Friday announced a bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons.
How PFAS harm our health — and why they’re everywhere
What do non-stick pans, firefighting foam and many of our couches, carpets and cosmetics have in common? They’re all made with PFAS. The so-called forever chemicals helped spur innovation, but they’re also insidious to human health. Horizons moderator William Brangham explores these chemicals and how we can protect ourselves with investigative journalist Mariah Blake and scientist Laurel Schaider.
How PFAS harm our health — and why they're everywhere
What do non-stick pans, firefighting foam and many of our couches, carpets and cosmetics have in common? They’re all made with PFAS. The so-called forever chemicals helped spur innovation, but they’re also insidious to human health. Horizons moderator William Brangham explores these chemicals and how we can protect ourselves with investigative journalist Mariah Blake and scientist Laurel Schaider.
Scientists Identified a New Blood Group After 50-Year Mystery
A medical breakthrough that could save lives.
Oops, Scientists May Have Severely Miscalculated How Many Humans Are on Earth
While most estimates place the current human population at around 8.2 billion, a new study suggests we might be vastly underrepresenting rural areas.
Are you a cyborg, a centaur, or a self-automator? Why businesses need the right kind of ‘humans in the loop’ in AI
Spoiler: There's one category you'd rather avoid.
Pitt launches $25M biomedical institute to bring space science from orbit to the operating room
The University of Pittsburgh officially launched a $25 million biomedical institute Thursday aimed at bridging human health on Earth and in space. The Trivedi Institute for Space and Global Biomedicine is one of the first dedicated institutes focused on applying insights from spaceflight to improve human health on Earth, according to Pitt.
The secret to long life? It could be in the genes after all, say scientists
New study into ‘heritability’ shows that 50% of the variation in human lifespan could be down to genetics
Genes may shape how long we live more than once thought
New research challenges the view that human life span depends mostly on lifestyle. Genes may account for half the factors that determine longevity.
Why is India’s Nipah virus outbreak spooking the world?
The virus spreads from animals to humans, via person-to-person contact or through consuming contaminated food.
'Halide' Co-Founder Sebastiaan de With Joins Apple's Design Team
Sebastiaan de With, co-founder of the popular iPhone camera app Halide, today announced that he has joined the Human Interface Design team at Apple. "So excited to work with the very best team in the world on my favorite products," he said. This marks a return to Apple for de With, who previously worked on things such as iCloud, MobileMe, and the Find My app. He has also completed design work for other companies, such as Sony, Mozilla, Oracle, HP, and EA, in the past.
Attack on Ilhan Omar Follows Years of Trump’s Targeting Her
President Trump has spent years demonizing and dehumanizing the Somali-born Democrat from Minnesota, fueling escalating threats against her.
With AlphaGenome, Researchers Are Using A.I. to Decode the Human Blueprint
AlphaGenome is a leap forward in the ability to study the human blueprint. But the fine workings of our DNA are still largely a mystery.
Arctic scientists 'feel pretty uncomfortable' on Greenland
Science in the Arctic — and Greenland — is on the frontline of pressing challenges facing humanity, like climate change and genetics. Some researchers worry international collaboration is at risk.
Investment and Statecraft: The International Politics of Sovereign Wealth Funds - Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
In 1953, Kuwait established the world’s first sovereign wealth fund to invest the country’s oil revenues and generate returns that would reduce its reliance on a single resource. Since then, over 100 separate funds have been created to preserve national wealth and ensure long-term fiscal sustainability. Today, they manage over $10 trillion in global assets. In this discussion with GJIA, political economist Kathryn Lavelle explains the increasingly novel dynamics that surround fund behavior and what the world can come to expect from their growing presence in international financial markets. GJIA: When it comes to the roles sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) play in global markets and politics, what would you say makes them unique? Kathryn Lavelle: Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) operate on behalf of governments as investors. That in itself is a strange relationship. Within them, a core contest takes place between the state’s interests (or sovereign) part of the dynamic, and the money interests (or wealth) part of it, and these two aspects are frequently in contradiction, serving fundamentally different goals. SWFs are also quite fascinating because when you talk to the people who manage these funds, they have an interest in convincing you that the decisions are made almost exclusively on a financial basis—they really will go to great lengths to differentiate their government owners and those who make the management decisions. At the same time, these people ultimately answer to someone in power. Therefore, for most SWFs, it remains deeply unclear who is actually making the investment decisions and for what purposes. Of course, it is not always clear how other vehicles, such as hedge funds and private equity make the decisions they do, but I think what a lot of people find particularly disconcerting about SWFs is that they seem to act on behalf of people who have a different identity from their own. People who could be trying to manipulate politics and markets in a way that would have a long-term effect on their own populations. Regular investors come and go at will, and they only share an interest in profit as far as most of us understand. However, SWFs have that extra “sovereign” part right behind them that obscures their true interest. GJIA: These funds can be found in countries all across the globe, in both authoritarian states and democracies. Would you say SWFs differ in their goals and structures between regime-type? KL: It is not necessarily regime type that makes the goals and structures of SWFs different. It has to do with their economies. Let’s look at a country like China. There’s going to be a debate about exactly how to characterize the regime, but it is a country with many different kinds of sovereign wealth funds, and a particularly opaque state connection to each. At one time, some of the state-owned Chinese oil companies created specialized investment vehicles listed outside Chinese markets that excluded parts of the firms that were more associated with human rights violations. At the same time, the China Investment Corporation (CIC)—China’s largest SWF—draws a lot of concern, not necessarily because of its investment activities, but because of the dynamics of global politics. So, I wouldn’t really tie differences to regime types themselves in a wholesale way, but rather to how such funds are perceived and how they are structured. Saudi Arabia’s SWF is getting all kinds of attention for its involvement in Hollywood, and this takes me right back to when I was a student in the 1980s, when people were concerned about Japanese investment entities buying assets in Hollywood. They aren’t quite the same in financial terms, but it’s the same kind of concern about foreign investment that drives people to be suspicious, and the whole idea that “foreigners are influencing Hollywood.” This holds true across industries, and it reflects where politics are in places like the United States right now. One metric we can try to look at is transparency, where all the funds will tell you, “we are transparent.” The problem you’ll keep running into with this approach is how you value things. When trying to do comparative studies of equity markets, you’ll find that every country doesn’t use Generally Accepted Accounting Principles like we do in the United States. A fund may appear opaque politically and not want people to show what they’re invested in or what their intent with that investment is, but they could also just not be able to report it because of the way it was purchased, or the kinds of shares they purchased. There are some assets out there that really are difficult to put a monetary value on. GJIA: To what extent do domestic politics shape SWF behavior in both the investing “home” country and the recipient “host” country? KL: This depends on the type of fund present and also on the extent to which voters’ political views are able to influence the fund. For example, in a democratic home state like Norway, the SWF doesn’t invest in nuclear weapons or tobacco because of social concerns, but there is a continuing debate over whether it should invest in oil, even though that’s where most of the money comes from. The degree to which Norway will continue to make those investments, and whether they contradict the government’s overall climate goals, is an open question in Norwegian politics. Because of the way the fund’s governance is structured, it may not be easy to resolve. On the other hand, some people consider pension funds, like the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) in Ohio, to be quasi-SWF. They have a very strict separation between the people who make up the management division and the fund owners. No teacher or professor would want to invest in things that may harm the future of their students. At the same time, a fund manager might see an opportunity in a diversified multinational corporation that offers a good return, despite it deriving part of its revenue from e-cigarettes. These contests are very apparent. Domestic politics can work in host countries too. A good example is Singapore’s SWF, Temasek, investing in Thailand’s telecommunications sector. If you study political economy, you already know that countries everywhere are uncomfortable with foreign ownership of their telecom sectors because a foreign entity could monitor or manipulate our communications with each other. In the case of Temasek, there was significant pushback from Thai citizens surrounding the deal, which went on to influence national political sentiment toward Singapore as a whole, underscoring the risks some SWFs may face with their investment choices. In this case, fund behavior led to the dissolution of the entire Thai government in 2006 and a subsequent coup d’état. GJIA: To address some of this unease, the Santiago Principles were established in 2009 to ostensibly promote trust and transparency. From your perspective, have these mechanisms actually changed fund behavior? KL: In international relations theory, we always like to have a clear set of norms and best practices—the orientation we want the proverbial ship to be going in. In that regard, the Santiago Principles at least got the discussion going about which direction SWFs should take at a time when people were very skittish about the growing size of these funds. Nobody wanted them to be out there and potentially destabilizing economies, so talks about disclosure, conditions for withdrawal, and the independence of managers were helpful when initiated. The biggest stumbling block was that there wasn’t exactly a good way to measure compliance with the Principles, let alone how to hold funds to them. If you read the Principles, they’re overall quite vague. In general, a fund doesn’t want to reveal how and why they make certain investment decisions because that information is proprietary—a fund makes money off of how and why it makes decisions—so how do you reconcile that with loosely-defined ideas of openness? Some decisions might have a political purpose. The bottom line is that trying to figure out and assign a score to compliance is not easy, and it is therefore the reason why the Santiago Principles never really got off the ground to the point where they could truly direct fund behavior. GJIA: Many emerging markets are looking to build their own SWFs from mineral and oil revenues. Historically, have funds shaped development trajectories in these countries? KL: I think the big story in international emerging markets investment is that the investment is increasingly no longer unidirectional. In the past multinational corporations of primarily Western background were the main form of foreign direct investment in a country. That has changed dramatically, to the point where you have companies from so-called “developing countries” taking over companies in the United States. Therefore, the landscape of international investment has changed, and I think SWFs are certainly a possibility to be the next step in the game. Historically, you didn’t need an entire financial vehicle to reinvest commodity revenues in your country, but as emerging markets get more financially sophisticated, their capacity to operate such funds has increased. SWFs would allow treasuries to move from relying on holding foreign exchange assets like cash or government bonds to having broader financial markets and targeted growth areas, while easing pressure on welfare expenditures. GJIA: With their increasing financial weight, do you see the presence of SWFs being a factor in the political choices leaders will have to make with regard to domestic and foreign policy? KL: It will depend on just how big the funds get. One of the reasons people are already apprehensive is because of their scale, and if certain SWFs in certain countries achieve a large-enough size, the presence will absolutely be cause for concern. The other factor political leaders will have to consider are their objectives. It’s not always clear how to define a SWF, or even where its activity is concentrated, but it is certainly a worry from the perspective of national security of opaque external investment. More than that, I think one of the most interesting questions going forward is whether the United States, the home to the world’s largest financial markets, will develop its own fund, for which the Trump administration announced a plan. There have also been several proposals in Congress. Were it to come into being, it would have tremendous weight. At the same time, one of the hallmarks of U.S. capitalism is a lack of government ownership of shares, so it would not be clear how such a fund would be received in domestic politics, or which direction it would take. Given how politically fragmented the country is, a Democratic administration would likely be concerned about different sectors of the economy, such as healthcare, and want investment there, rather than a Republican administration, which might prefer defense industries. No investment vehicle could thrive under conditions of such instability. Moreover, it remains unclear where the money to fund a theoretical U.S. SWF would come from. It would be a fundamentally different entity depending on whether it is financed with debt, economic surplus, commodities, or the sale of state companies, as in the case of Singapore. If it is debt, or government borrowing of some form, then the fund would have to outperform whatever the cost of that debt is, which is not an easy thing to do. I think our political leaders have enough on their plate. Our system has worked well keeping political and investment functions generally separate. We have seen different forms of business rise and fall, and even the perception of different countries, all of which funds are tied to. Unless a major SWF either starts—like in the case of the United States—or collapses—an issue that concerns the Saudis, I don’t see any political tsunamis on the horizon. . . . Kathryn Lavelle is the Ellen and Dixon Long Professor of World Affairs at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Her research explores the exchange between domestic and international and political institutions with a particular emphasis on political economy and multilateralism. Dr. Lavelle’s first book, The Politics of Equity Finance in Emerging Markets, explored the political circumstances that surround large issues of stock in the developing world. After being granted tenure at Case Western, she was awarded an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship and named the William A. Steiger fellow, a designation given to the most promising political scientist in her class of fellows. While in Washington during 2006-2007, she worked on the staff of the House Committee on Financial Services on issues related to domestic and international monetary policy. Dr. Lavelle holds a PhD in political science from Northwestern University; an M.A. in government and foreign affairs from the University of Virginia; and a bachelor’s degree in international economics from Georgetown University. She is a permanent member of the New York Council on Foreign Relations. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length. Interview conducted by Sid Mehrotra. Image Credit: Jason Leung, Unsplash Content Licenses, via Unsplash
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