Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 14 November 2019
Maybe banking culture doesn’t always make people dishonest

By MALCOLM RITTER possible explanations for
NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists the disparate results.
say they were unable to One is that the banking cul-
confirm a highly publicized ture sampled in the original
2014 study that suggested study is different in other
banking culture can pro- places, they said. Another
mote dishonesty. is that only “ethical” banks
New lab experiments with let their employees partici-
bankers in the Middle East pate in the new study, fol-
and Asia Pacific turned out lowing widespread press
differently, maybe indicat- coverage of the 2014 re-
ing that the original find- sults. The new work was
ing doesn’t apply world- done in 2015 and 2016.
wide, researchers reported Cohn and colleagues
Wednesday in the journal agreed that banks with his-
Nature. tory of misconduct were
In response, the authors of probably less likely to let
the original work pointed their employees partici-
to several differences be- pate in the new work, re-
tween the two studies and sulting in a sample different
stressed that they never from the one they tested.
intended to imply that all That and some procedural
banks have a problematic differences between the
business culture. studies — one studied a
Instead, the point of the bank involved in trading
2014 study is that such a and investment, the oth-
culture could be part of er studied a commercial
the reason for episodes of In this Sept. 24, 2013, file photo, cut stacks of $100 bills make their way down the line at the Bureau bank, for example — sug-
fraudulent or unethical be- of Engraving and Printing Western Currency Facility in Fort Worth, Texas. gest the new work can’t
havior, Alain Cohn and col- Associated Press address whether the 2014
leagues of the University of study applies to different in-
Zurich wrote in Nature. Participants who had just Planck Institute for Human co-authors of the new stitutions or countries, they
In fact, the original study been asked about their Development in Berlin and study suggested several said.q
focused on employees of work at the bank showed
a large international bank evidence of cheating,
that was involved in several while other bank employ- Most distant world ever explored
high-profile legal disputes ees, who hadn’t been
involving “problematic asked about their work, gets new name: Arrokoth
business practices,” they did not. That indicates the
wrote. They did not identify employees were basically Research Institute said in a
the bank or its location be- honest, but that thinking statement, "and wondering
cause they had promised about their jobs triggered about the stars and worlds
confidentiality, but said it dishonesty. That suggests beyond our own."
was involved in trading, as- that banking culture favors The name was picked be-
set management, invest- dishonest behavior, Cohn cause of the Powhatan's
ment banking and private and his colleagues con- ties to the Chesapeake Bay
banking. cluded in 2014. region.
The original work, covered The new study repeated New Horizons is operated
by The Associated Press that experiment with 620 from Johns Hopkins Univer-
and other news agencies, commercial bankers from sity's Applied Physics Lab in
subjected 128 employees a large institution in the Laurel, Maryland. The Hub-
of that bank to a labora- Asia Pacific region and 148 ble Space Telescope —
tory test of honesty. Each commercial bankers from which discovered Arrokoth
repeatedly flipped a coin a medium-sized institution in 2014 — has its science
and reported the results, in the Middle East. It found operations in Baltimore.
knowing that certain out- no statistically significant This Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019 image made available by NASA The New Horizons team got
comes would earn them effect of asking employees shows the Kuiper belt object originally called "Ultima Thule," consent for the name from
money. The question was about their work ahead of about 1 billion miles beyond Pluto, encountered by the New Powhatan Tribal elders and
how often they’d lie about the coin-flipping. Horizons spacecraft. representatives, according
the results. Zoe Rahwan of the Max Associated Press
to NASA. The International
By MARCIA DUNN shaped Arrokoth on New Astronomical Union and its
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) Year's Day, 3 ½ years after Minor Planet Center ap-
— The most distant world exploring Pluto. At the time, proved the choice.
ever explored 4 billion miles this small icy world 1 billion Arrokoth is among count-
away finally has an official miles (1.6 billion kilometers) less objects in the so-called
name: Arrokoth. beyond Pluto was nick- Kuiper Belt, or vast Twilight
That means "sky" in the lan- named Ultima Thule given Zone beyond the orbit of
guage of the Native Ameri- its vast distance from us. Neptune. New Horizons
can Powhatan people, "The name 'Arrokoth' re- will observe some of these
NASA said Tuesday. NASA's flects the inspiration of look- objects from afar as it
New Horizons spacecraft ing to the skies," lead scien- makes its way deeper into
flew past the snowman- tist Alan Stern of Southwest space.q