SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " gene " 9,002 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Using generative AI to help scientists synthesize complex materials
Generative AI models have been used to create enormous libraries of theoretical materials that could help solve all kinds of problems. Now, scientists just have to figure out how to make them. In many ...
How generative AI can help scientists synthesize complex materials
DiffSyn, a computer model developed by MIT researchers, suggests promising ways to synthesize new materials for faster experimentation.
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.
Geneva campus moves ahead with major science center buildout
A major new science complex is taking shape in Geneva as Hobart and William Smith Colleges finalize plans for the Fish Center for the Sciences, a four-story facility designed to bring multiple STEM disciplines under one roof. With design work nearly complete, the $25 million project marks one of the largest academic investments in the… MoreGeneva campus moves ahead with major science center buildout
DiffSyn: a generative diffusion approach to materials synthesis planning
Nature Computational Science - A generative AI approach is developed for predicting materials synthesis recipes—a complex challenge in materials science. Using this approach, the authors...
Are western New Yorkers spending more on digital entertainment as winter sets in?
As winter settles across Genesee County, colder evenings and shorter days are reshaping how households in Batavia and nearby communities spend their discretionary dollars. With outdoor options limited and heating
Meet the Class of 2025 Arizona Sports Hall of Fame
Seven standout athletes and leaders are being honored for shaping Arizona’s sports legacy across generations. Meet the Class of 2025 Arizona Sports Hall of Fame
Deputy attorney general signals no new Epstein charges, defends Gabbard role in Georgia election search
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the Justice Department’s actions on multiple fronts Sunday, signaling that no new charges will be brought in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, downplaying Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s involvement in a probe into alleged voter fraud in Georgia, and defending the decision to arrest former CNN anchor Don Lemon.
Game companies see share prices plummet following the launch of Google's very limited virtual world generator, Project Genie
Gaming companies saw share prices plummet this week after Google rolled out Project Genie 3, an AI tool that lets users…
‘We are witnessing a full-blown cover-up’: Rep. Raskin responds to DOJ release of Epstein files
GOP Sen. Ron Johnson pans Democrats’ proposed DHS reforms: They are ‘neutering our ability to enforce any immigration laws’
The Hottest Commodity in the Mining Business: American Generals
Companies are bringing in retired military brass to navigate Washington and win Pentagon contracts.
As Susan Collins awaits, a generational divide splits Maine Democrats in pivotal Senate race
Gov. Janet Mills was laying out her case against Sen. Susan Collins to several dozen supporters earlier this month when one attendee raised a question on the minds of many voters in Maine.
Alzheimer’s scrambles memories while the brain rests
When the brain rests, it usually replays recent experiences to strengthen memory. Scientists found that in Alzheimer’s-like mice, this replay still occurs — but the signals are jumbled and poorly coordinated. As a result, memory-supporting brain cells lose their stability, and the animals struggle to remember where they’ve been.
Mike Borgonzi breaks down his strategy to rebuild Titans
Tennessee Titans general manager MIke Borgonzi sat down with Taylor Zarzour and broke down how he intends to get the Titans back on track.
Iowa aims to take advantage of beaten-up Oregon
Iowa looks to run its winning streak to four games when the Hawkeyes open a two-game road trip in the Pacific Northwest against Oregon in Big Ten action on Sunday night in Eugene, Ore.
Modders beat AMD to Multi Frame Generation and FSR4 on Radeon RX 7000, via DLSS Enabler
Multi Frame Generation arrives on AMD hardware first via mods: DLSS Enabler demo targets all DX12 cards While Intel has released a driver that enables
Galaxy S26 Ultra Could Be 6% More Expensive Than Galaxy S25 Ultra Due To DRAM, NAND Price Increases; Samsung Betting On AI, SoC Upgrade & New Camera To Generate Sales
Due to rising mobile DRAM and NAND flash prices, the Galaxy S26 Ultra could end up becoming an estimated 6 percent more expensive than the Galaxy S25 Ultra
MU Health physician hosts event to inspire next generation of health care workers
Students took a tour of the facility, listened to clinician-led lectures and participated in hands-on workshops.
Tributes pour in for beloved actress Catherine O’Hara
Actors and politicians honour O'Hara, who died this week at age 71, for her comedic 'brilliance' and generosity.
Reusse: Latest generation of Pohlads has made it clear Twins are a business
An organization that was thick with camaraderie for decades appears to be a different entity with Derek Falvey’s departure.
Gaming Stocks Plunge As Google AI Clones 60 Seconds Of ‘Fortnite’
Google Genie 3 has caused market fears that big video games are going to start being easily generated by AI. That is not even close to the case.
How gene loss and monogamy built termite mega societies
Termites did not evolve complex societies by adding new genetic features. Instead, scientists found that they became more social by shedding genes tied to competition and independence. A shift to monogamy removed the need for sperm competition, while food sharing shaped who became workers or future kings and queens. Together, these changes helped termites build colonies that can number in the millions.
Inner plexiform layer substrata: Possible biomarker of retinal health | Ophthalmology Times - Clinical Insights for Eye Specialists
Ophthalmology Times connects eye care professionals with surgery, imaging, gene therapy, & diagnostic advances to enhance clinical and patient care.
At Washington Mardi Gras, Gov. Jeff Landry and Howard Lutnick see bright future for Louisiana
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the pieces are in place for Louisiana to become the next generation’s economic powerhouse.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta sues Rady Children's Health for dropping gender-affirming care
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against Rady Children's Health on Friday for shuttering its gender-affirming care program for patients under the age of 19.
Seattle businesses shutter Friday for nationwide anti-ICE protest
Dozens of Washington small businesses shuttered on Friday in solidarity with Minneapolis and the burgeoning general strike.
WMG’s Paul Robinson Accepts Entertainment Law Initiative Award: ‘Absolutely Thrilled’
WMG general counsel Paul Robinson received the Recording Academy’s 2026 Entertainment Law Initiative (ELI) Service Award. Here's a recap of the event.
Anti-ICE protests take place nationwide
Protesters across the nation participated in a general strike on Friday, demonstrating against ICE presence in some cities.
CSC opens investigation into LSU for possible unreported NIL deals, per report
The CSC will look into whether LSU failed to properly report NIL deals
Video game company stock prices dip after Google introduces an AI world-generation tool
Prediction markets.
January 30, 2026
A flu variant called subclade K emerged too late to be fully covered by this year’s vaccine. But the flu shot can still help protect you. Plus, a new study suggests dogs began to diversify about 11,000 years earlier than we thought. And, in turbulent times, it helps to hear stories of resilience. What can we learn from 3.5 billion-year-old bacteria that eat light?
Attorney General Jeff Jackson Announces Health Care Fraud Conviction and Settlement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, January 30, 2026 Contact: comms@ncdoj.gov RALEIGH – Today, Attorney General Jeff Jackson announced Kathy Briggs, co-owner of Neveah & Company, operating as Restorative Medical, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, which includes 13 months of home confinement, and ordered to pay $2,483,855.72 in […]
Many Richmond businesses close as part of nationwide general strike against recent ICE actions
After many businesses throughout Central Virginia were forced to shutter their doors or alter their hours due to impacts from the winter storm, many have decided to close again on Friday, but for a…
Epstein files released, but DOJ withholds some 200,000 documents
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the DOJ will withhold or redact about 200,000 pages that it has deemed protected by "various privileges."
Amendment 42: Several Changes to F.10 PRISM
F.10 Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) solicits development and flight of a science-driven suite of instruments and
Sanford Black Hills region plans addition of 16 physicians
Local providers joining Sanford specialize in gastroenterology, dermatology, optometry, ophthalmology, family medicine and general surgery.
Ferris wheel, Berglund Center, Science Museum; Rasoul requests $600k from General Assembly for study to improve Roanoke
Delegate Sam Rasoul is requesting $600,000 from the General Assembly to evaluate improvement ideas for Roanoke, including a Ferris wheel on Center in the Square. Rasoul emphasizes the importance of creative investment for Roanoke's redevelopment, focusing on feasibility and structural studies.
Detroit area businesses, schools join general strike against ICE
The shutdown efforts are part of a national general strike Jan. 30 after numerous killings by ICE officers.
Denver’s First Asian Market to Pass Business to a Fourth Generation
The founder's great-granddaughter is taking the reins of the store's community legacy.
Dozens of Businesses Close, Show Support for National ICE General Strike
Other restaurants and retailers remained open but shared messages of solidarity and plan to donate proceeds.
WATCH LIVE: Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announces release of more Epstein files
Don Lemon Arrested in Connection with ICE Protest Coverage
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that the former CNN anchor and three others — including another journalist — were taken into custody.
Oregon businesses and students join general strike Friday to protest immigration enforcement
Multiple nationwide organizations are calling for businesses to close and people to walk out of school and work to protest mass deportations and violence against demonstrators.
Unified sports programs bring together athletes for more than wins and losses
At Minnesota schools, special needs students and those in general education bond in the arena of competition
"Built On Theft And Plagiarism" - A Growing Number Of Game Developers Are Sick To Death Of Generative AI
"I'd rather quit the industry than use Generative AI"
Science Fields and Methodology Came from a Christian Worldview
Is Christianity incompatible with real science? The development and history of science answer a resounding “no.”
How direct-to-consumer health tests could impact insurance, mortgages, and employment
As more consumers order up lab tests and genetic screenings, experts say it could impact insurance, loans, and employment decisions.
Genes play a big part in driving lifespan, scientists find
How long a person lives may not only be down to their lifestyle - but their genetic makeup too, research suggests.
China, Israel continue to collaborate in science and tech despite unrest in Gaza
While Beijing supports Palestine and has a fractious relationship with Tel Aviv’s closest ally, cutting-edge innovations keep them together.
Ex-Attorney General Eric Holder speaks out on the FBI’s seizure of 2020 election ballots
Some businesses that closed for Minnesota general strike won't shut down for national one
Ian Cunningham is the new Falcons GM
Atlanta hires away Chicago’s assistant GM as their new general manager.
Eugene businesses close during nationwide economic shutdown
Portal Teas, Noisette Pastry Kitchen, Acorn Community Cafe, and more disrupt business as usual for protest on Jan. 30
Report: Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham to become Falcons GM
Chicago Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham named Falcons general manager, per reports
Gen X and millennial inheritance could take a hit due to health care costs and taxes
Generation X and millennials who may be receiving an inheritance from the previous generations may be receiving less than expected due to health care costs and taxes, according to experts. NBC News' Brian Cheung breaks down how this will impact the younger generation.
Falcons hiring Ian Cunningham as GM: Matt Ryan tabs popular candidate to complete braintrust
The general manager role in Atlanta is like most other GM gigs across the league with one exception.
Eugene business owners grapple with decision to open or close for Friday’s general strike
The general strike protesting federal law enforcement crackdowns leave business owners contemplating what action is best: close in solidarity or stay open to be of service.
Which Portland businesses are participating in the Jan. 30 general strike?
Some Portland restaurants, bookstores and cafes are shuttering for the day as part of a nationwide protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement following recent shooting deaths by federal agents.
Science Politics communicates science, tech and policy to a broad audience | School of Foreign Service
Science Politics, a new STIA publication, blends academic rigor with journalistic storytelling to reach scholars, policymakers and the general public.
Science Politics communicates science, tech and policy to a broad audience | School of Foreign Service
Science Politics, a new STIA publication, blends academic rigor with journalistic storytelling to reach scholars, policymakers and the general public.
Google Project Genie lets you create interactive worlds from a photo or prompt
Project Genie lets you generate new worlds 60 seconds at a time, but only if you pay for AI Ultra.
Groups Back Larson Challenger, Calling for Generational Change
Three outside political groups are backing Luke Bronin in his primary challenge to Representative John Larson, the 77-year-old Connecticut Democrat.
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.
The chemical genius of Katharine Burr Blodgett
The story of a woman whose discoveries in materials science quietly shape our everyday world but whose legacy was long eclipsed by the famous scientist she worked with at the General Electric Company
I built marshmallow castles in Google’s new AI world generator
Starting Thursday, Google AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S. can play around with Project Genie, which is powered by a combination of Google’s latest world model Genie 3, its image generation model Nano Banana Pro, and Gemini.
Monkey Business: Using Genetics to Understanding Decision-Making in Monkeys
Abigail Morris first visited the Peruvian Amazon when she was 6 years old. Now, as a Ph.D. candidate in the Animal Behavior Graduate Group, she has returned to study how seasonal flooding affects the behavior, diet and population genetics of two species of monkey: monk sakis (Pithecia monachus) and large-headed capuchins (Sapajus apella macrocephalus).
AirTag 1 vs. AirTag 2 Buyer's Guide: All 15+ Differences Compared
Apple's new AirTag introduces a series of small improvements, so how does it compare to the original model from 2021? The second-generation...
Abortion Pill Safety Decisions by FDA Were Science-Based, New JAMA Study Finds — The Monitor
A new study found the FDA’s abortion pill decisions followed scientific evidence, as misleading claims about the drug’s safety continue to shape public understanding. And Google removed some health AI summaries after a Guardian investigation reported that AI-generated summaries contained false and potentially dangerous health information.
AirTag 2 vs. AirTag 1: Comparing Apple's Upgraded Tracker
Two AirTag generations enter the ring, only one leaves (but don't worry, both are easily found later).
Medicare Advantage Insurers Face New Curbs on Overcharges in Trump Plan That Reins in Payments
Proposed Trump administration changes to federal Medicare Advantage payments would stop health insurers from mining patient data for extra medical diagnoses that generate more bills to taxpayers even without treatment.
NWSL players dig into grass vs. turf debate and more at media day
At NWSL media day, players gave their thoughts on the general state of affairs, from fresh starts with new teams to the growth of the league.
International Business Machines Q4 Earnings Call Highlights
International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) executives highlighted a year of accelerating growth and record cash generation during the company’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call, pointing to strong performance across Software and Infrastructure and outlining expectations to sustain momentum into 202
Online Gambling Corrupts Sports—And Americans, Too
The legalization of sports betting, especially at the college level, is a corruption not only of athletics and of education but of American society in general.
Tenor Health's acquisition of Moses Taylor, Regional and Wilkes-Barre General hospitals gets OK by state, foundation executive says
How to watch NASCAR races on FOX, FS1, FS2, FOX Sports App
Check out the best ways to watch NASCAR action on the FOX Sports family of networks in 2026 for the Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series.
Google brings its Nano Banana image generator to Chrome
Following its recent AI makeover of Gmail, Google is bringing more Gemini-powered tools to Chrome. Starting today, a host of new features are rolling for the browser, with more to come over the next few months.
Google’s New Chrome ‘Auto Browse’ Agent Attempts to Roam the Web Without You
Google’s latest addition to its Chrome browser puts generative AI behind the wheel and you in the passenger seat.
Paramount+ plans move into short-form video, UGC: internal docs
Paramount executives want to add short-form video and user-generated content to Paramount+, according to leaked emails and presentations.
Manu Ginobili among backers of new planned sports performance project in South Florida
Manu Ginobili is investing in South Florida’s potential with a new venture. The former San Antonio Spurs star is part of a group building the Sports Performance Hub in Homestead, Florida. It’ll be a next-generation sports, education and community development project. It will feature a 10,000-seat stadium for Miami FC, sports training facilities, a basketball facility, a boarding school and more. Groundbreaking is set for March, with plans to open in 2028. Ginobili, along with partners like Riccardo Silva and Juan Sebastian Veron, aims to connect sports training with academics. They believe Miami’s multicultural environment makes it an ideal location.
Google DeepMind launches AI tool to help identify genetic drivers of disease
AlphaGenome can analyse up to 1m letters of DNA code at once and could pave way for new treatments
Google DeepMind launches AI tool to help identify genetic drivers of disease
AlphaGenome can analyse up to 1m letters of DNA code at once and could pave way for new treatments
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.
Shadowing program inspires future health care professionals
ECU Health’s shadowing program is shaping the next generation of caregivers.
The Entertainment District Focus Group examining long term future of Berglund Center complex
Its called the Entertainment District Focus Group, a mostly citizen group asked to weigh in on a possible casino at the Berglund Center - just for starters. The Entertainment District Focus Group is centered around the Berglund Center Complex, as the city looks to generate more revenue. Is there sup
Gemini details AI Plus limits, rolls out NotebookLM integration on iOS
Google brought the AI Plus subscription to the US yesterday, and here’s how it upgrades usage limits in the Gemini app.
General Dynamics fourth-quarter revenue rises on strong defense business
General Dynamics posted a rise in fourth-quarter revenue on Wednesday, driven by growth in its combat and marine systems segments.
This week in Santa Cruz County business: Scotts Valley solar cell company goes dark; passing the torch at Alta Organic Coffee
In her weekly look at Santa Cruz County business, Jessica M. Pasko reports on the demise of Ambient Photonics, notes a generational shift at a local coffee roaster and delivers names, numbers and events to know.
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
NFL coaching hire grades: Bills' promotion of Joe Brady gets a B. Don't expect a generous learning curve in Year 1
The Wolfpack Peels the Orange 88-68
Game Summary: NC State started the game well for the first time lately. By the first official timeout the lead was 13-5 Wolfpack. Despite a decided height advantage, the rebounds were tied at 16 at the half. Stats were generally even; the Pack won the first half with quality shooting 50%/40%/82%. Williams had a great […]
Nature
Genetic variations affect biological processes and can drive disease, but deciphering the precise effects of DNA sequence changes remains a significant...
Powering India’s Next Generation with the Science of Learning
A recent survey with Ipsos revealed something remarkable: for the first time; the top motivation for using AI globally is learning. This is especially true in India, whe…
Minnesota companies fund $3.5M in grants to help small businesses during ICE surge
The nonprofit Minneapolis Foundation will distribute money to help local businesses make payroll, pay rent and cover other costs. Companies like Target, General Mills and Ecolab contributed.
Exynos 2700 Gets Spotted In New Benchmark Listing With A Unique ‘4 + 1 + 4 + 1’ CPU Cluster; Tipster Claims That Cores From Different Generations Are Mixed And Tested
The score obtained by the Exynos 2700 on Geekbench 6 is meaningless, as tipster claims that the benchmark leak signifies Samsung’s CPU design strategy
Bondi’s injection of voter roll demands into Minneapolis ICE tensions draws claims of ‘ransom’
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s demand that Minnesota hand over sensitive voter registration records to the federal government amid tensions over ICE and immigration enforcement underscores the importance of the administration’s nationwide data grab that is facing resistance in multiple states and has stumbled in the courts.