The RECC’E - DAY 73 | 03.14.22 | PAUSE AGEING

Day 73 / 365

72YEARS ago today the FBI's "10 Most Wanted Fugitives" program began; it has since been replicated worldwide.

RECC’E OF THE DAY

8MONTHS of hibernation undertaken by Yellow-Bellied Marmots has been studied by scientists tracking the 'epigenetic changes' - chemical modifications that occur to DNA - during this period compared to active ones. The findings…ageing actually stops during hibernation. 

1SINGLE gram of fat was burned a day by the 6000 gram animals; virtually nothing. Scientists found the epigenetic age of marmots increases during the active season, stops during hibernation and continues to increase in the next active season; revealing that epigenetic ageing chemically stalls during hibernation.

15YEARS is the life span of a Yellow Bellied Marmot and this process helps explain why their average life span is longer than would be expected from their body weight. Researchers suggest that there may now be biological advantages to humans adopting hibernation conditions, for example, during long-term space missions or when preserving organs for transplantation.

TRACKING

596UKRANIAN civilians have now been confirmed dead by the UN, including 43 children. A further 1067 civilians including 57 children have been wounded. Ukrainian officials state this figure hugely underestimates the true death toll which they state is into the several thousands; at least 2500 having lost their lives in the city of Mariupol alone. 

140kCIVILIANS have now been evacuated from conflict zones in Ukraine.  President Zelenskyy is expected to address the Parliamentary Assembly of the council of Europe in an extraordinary session this morning.

15MILES from Poland - a NATO country -  Russian forces have attacked a training facility in Ukraine killing 35 people. This is the closest Russia’s military action has come to a NATO backed nation and the alliance has already confirmed it will respond with “full force” should it cross that line. It has stated an attack on one NATO ally would be considered an attack on all allies.

9DECADES since Ireland declared itself neutral - including throughout WW2 -  it will now debate its stance on this long standing military tradition in the wake of events in the European Union. 

200kRUSSIANS have reportedly left their own country since the invasion began to seek refuge abroad. Among them are some of the country’s brightest, most liberal and best educated individuals. 

51YEAR OLD Brent Renaud, an award winning US film maker and journalist has been shot dead by Russian forces in the flashpoint town of Irwin. He was in Ukraine working for TIME covering the global refugee crisis. 

8.30amGMT marked a renewed round of peace talks; these talks come as Russia asks China for weapons and financial aid. The Chinese embassy in the U.S is yet to confirm these reports and the U.S has warned Beijing that it will “absolutely” face consequences if it helps Moscow evade sanctions. 

NEED-TO-KNOW

2UKRANIAN companies responsible for producing between 45% and 54% of a specific type of neon needed to manufacture semiconductor chips have now suspend operations, a major disruption with global economic consequences. The price of Neon went up 600% during Russia’s last conflict with Ukraine in 2014. 

400BILLION - approximately 4 × 10¹¹ - T cells (white blood cells in the immune system) circulate in the adult human body. Scientists have now discovered a brand new type of ‘killer’ T cell never before verified which is able to suppress attacks on healthy tissues. These cells may be capable of killing other diseased or malignant T cells which would aid in the healing of infections and reducing autoimmune disorders. The breakthrough could lead to treatments for illnesses ranging from lupus to cancer.

SHOULD-KNOW

16%EFFECTIVE agains the predominant strain this year - the flu vaccine has been branded basically worthless. Numbers this low are far below the 50% threshold for a vaccine to be considered relatively useful and they’re not even high enough to reach statistical significance. Luckily, flu cases remained far lower than usual. 

116YEARS since scientists discovered a previously unknown species of giant tortoise in the Galápagos Islands, new DNA evidence suggests the creatures current DNA profile doesn’t match that of the ancestor. Why? It is in fact an entirely different lineage which explorers incorrectly labelled as one. The twist? The 1906 species discovered are now actually extinct, meaning all 8000 tortoises left on the island are an entirely new species to science.

366kPEOPLE live in Iceland - about half the number that live in Washington, U.S. Now the government, which like many others around the world has scrapped COVID-19 restrictions, has made a startling announcement: the country will now aim for herd immunity. They claim widespread societal resistance to COVID-19 is the main route out of the epidemic and to achieve this, as many people as possible need to be infected with the virus as the vaccines are not enough.

GOOD-TO-KNOW

$250kAND 4 YEARS later two friends have realised their dreams of creating the world's newest "micronation" after completing a crowdfunded purchase of a Caribbean Island in a world first. Coffee Caye, a 1.2-acre, uninhabited island off the coast of Belize received investment from individuals across 25 different countries and will be reimagined as the "Principality of Islandia" - and it’s looking for citizens. 

53YEARS after Apollo 11 landed on the moon a series of 74 original and privately held NASA photographs from this and other Apollo missions has sold for a total of 1.16 million Danish crowns ($171,831) in an auction in Copenhagen. The first color photograph of the first ‘earthrise’ ever witnessed by human beings taken during the Apollo 8 mission sold for $13k.

107YEARS since Albert Einstein published a theory of gravitation known as general relativity, physicists have for the first time been able to unite quantum mechanics and general relativity by measuring time dilation on the smallest scale ever using an atomic clock. The results proved Einsteins theory was in fact right, over a century before science would catch up to prove it so.

SIGN-OFF STAT

59YEARS AGO Tanzanian high school student Erasto Mpemba observed what would become the "Mpemba effect” - where evaporation and non-uniform temperature distribution cause hot water to freeze faster than cold water. 

  

SHARE THE RECC’E WITH FRIENDS 

YOUR FEEDBACK IS ESSENTIAL 

Please could you spare 30 seconds to let us know how we can improve the daily email we send out to you? Please click here