The Top Science News

Plus, the One Question: Do international treaties work? Also pirate negotiations, the robot economy, Nature's rights, and more. [View in browser]( | [Become a member]( August 09, 2022   Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here](. Good Morning! Here’s the top science news—plus this week’s One Question and related Nautilus stories [DROP INTO NAUTILUS](   DID YOU READ THIS? The Top Science News This Week   [Pig Organs Partially Revived in Dead Animals—Researchers Are Stunned]( The scientists behind the new findings caution that they have not, in fact, reanimated a dead pig—they have merely “made cells do something they weren’t able to do.” [Nature→](   [The Cartwheel Galaxy Is the Webb Telescope’s Latest Cosmic Snapshot]( The spokes really pop in the Webb Telescope’s new picture of the Cartwheel galaxy, which epitomizes the beauty galaxy mergers can attain when the collision largely leaves the structure of each intact. [The New York Times→](   [A Neural Network Solves, Explains, and Generates University Math Problems by Program Synthesis and Few-shot Learning at Human Level]( AI might soon be grading calculus homework and coming up with questions for the next exam. [Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences→]( Experience the endless possibilities and deep human connections that science offers [SUBSCRIBE TODAY](   ONE QUESTION Do International Treaties Work? INTERVIEW BY BRIAN GALLAGHER One question for [Mathieu Poirier](, Co-Director of the Global Strategy Lab, Research Chair in Global Health Equity, and Assistant Professor of Social Epidemiology at the School of Global Health at York University.   Not really. “International treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects.” That’s the title of our new [paper](, just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. We’re able to make a bold statement like that because it’s the first study of its kind, never been done before. No one’s applied methods that typically come out of the field of epidemiology, public health, clinical medicine—these kinds of quantitative approaches—to this topic. We searched something like 24,000 records for relevant studies, and narrowed it down to 224 primary studies, of which there were only about 82 that reported their results in enough detail that they could be meta-analyzed. We ended up analyzing 53 treaties. We’re able to look at all kinds of different factors holistically—like the kind of venue the treaty is being negotiated in, the time period, when the treaty is being evaluated and with what methods. And from that basis, we’re able to say, statistically, that trade and finance treaties are fine. They’re consistently achieving positive effects. But in every other category of treaty—environmental, human rights, humanitarian, maritime, and security—we found no significant impact in the intended direction. And quite surprisingly, in some instances they may have actually been causing harm. If you dive into some of the more detailed findings, it does make for a kind of a depressing read unfortunately. Take the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It was associated with lower Amnesty International human rights ratings, with no improvement in health outcomes, with worsened human rights practices, and—very paradoxically—increases in child labor. What makes treaties more effective, besides just being a trade and finance treaty, is having a smaller negotiating venue. That seems to be associated with greater impact. When you have hundreds of countries signing onto a treaty, those seem to have less impact than those that have fewer countries—less than five countries or so. Why? Maybe you have a greater amount of buy-in. Maybe they’re already like-minded. Maybe there’s a stronger sense of accountability. Also, enforcement mechanisms—which foresee the possibility of a specific sanction or consequence delivered by a court, committee, or other legal authority—appear to be the only thing that made non-trade-and-finance treaties more effective. Yet for trade and finance treaties, it didn’t matter if they had an enforcement mechanism or not—they worked regardless. Oftentimes we assume that treaties work because countries sign, ratify, and enforce them, and people are unwilling to break national laws. But actually, we found evidence that the earlier a treaty is evaluated, the greater the impacts. What that says is that it’s not necessarily the legal mechanisms that are most important here. It might actually be the treaty negotiating process itself. When there’s a lot of attention paid to negotiations, people are liaising between governments and international bodies, oftentimes civil society is involved. There’s quite a lot of news attention being paid. That process itself might actually be more important than the enforcement of a law several years down the road.   Related Nautilus Stories   [SOCIOLOGY]( [Why Our Postwar “Long Peace” Is Fragile]( BY BRIAN GALLAGHER You could be forgiven for balking at the idea that our post-World War II reality represents a “Long Peace.” [Continue reading →](   [Unleash Your Curiosity]( Discover thousands of mind-bending documentaries that cover science, technology, history, and nature on [Curiosity Stream](. [Start Streaming](   [ENVIRONMENT]( [Humans Have Rights and So Should Nature]( BY GRANT WILSON Humans once lived in harmony with the natural world. [Continue reading →](   [ECONOMICS]( [The Robot Economy Will Run on Blockchain]( BY ALEKSANDR KAPITONOV & IVAN BERMAN What finance will look like when it is controlled by machines. [Continue reading →](   [ENVIRONMENT]( [Snorkeling in Their Own Plastic]( BY JOHN STEELE & ADRIENNE DAY Dave Ford was 28 years old and killing it in ad-tech sales but found the work unfulfilling. [Continue reading →](   [ECONOMICS]( [How to Negotiate Like—or Against—a Pirate]( BY JEANETTE BICKNELL Good negotiators know that one of the trickiest aspects of their job is the timing of offers. [Continue reading →](   Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher   BECOME A SUBSCRIBER [Join Vermont Green Football Club’s Mission to Protect Our Oceans]( The eco-conscious athletes of Vermont Green Football Club are on a quest to make the planet a better place for everyone. Support their mission by shopping the [Nautilus and Jungles Jungles collection]( of limited edition apparel. This partnership supports the 30x 30 initiative—a global effort to protect 30% of the oceans by 2030. Nautilus’ proceeds from the collection will go to NautilusThink to fund charities and organizations focused on 30×30. [Shop the collection today](and show your support for people and our planet. [Shop the Collection](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2022 NautilusNext, All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from nautil.us. Our mailing address is: NautilusNext 360 W 36th Street, 7S, New York, NY 10018 To view in your browser, [click here]( . Don't want to hear from us anymore? Click here to [unsubscribe]( .