Topic: Bonn

Negotiators in Bonn, Germany, are laying the groundwork for a new climate finance goal. The World Resources Institute estimates that climate funding needs to reach $5 trillion per year by 2030 to assist developing nations. The hosts question the source of such funding and compare the figure to the GDP of major industrialized nations.

Researchers at the University of Bonn conducted a study suggesting that enhancing oxytocin levels can make humans kinder to strangers. The story is analyzed as a potential precursor to pharmaceutical social engineering, where "racism" could be treated with a pill. The timing of the study's circulation in the media is questioned as possibly being part of a broader PR effort.

United Nations climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany, concluded with little progress toward a global pact, shifting focus to upcoming ministerial talks in Lima, Peru. In separate news, Queen Elizabeth II sent her first tweet and was immediately met with online "trolling." The hosts discuss the repetitive nature of climate summits and the inevitability of social media harassment.