Reading archive 2021-06-04

You May Live a Lot Longer - "For example, as we age, we build up more and more “senescent” cells, which secrete inflammatory molecules that can effectively accelerate aging. In 2011, researchers removed these cells from mice and extended their life spans. Clinical trials on people began in 2018."

Tasked to Fight Climate Change, a Secretive U.N. Agency Does the Opposite: Behind closed doors, shipbuilders and miners can speak on behalf of governments while regulating an industry that pollutes as much as all of America’s coal plants. - "Internal documents, recordings and dozens of interviews reveal what has gone on for years behind closed doors: The organization has repeatedly delayed and watered down climate regulations, even as emissions from commercial shipping continue to rise, a trend that threatens to undermine the goals of the 2016 Paris climate accord. 

"One reason for the lack of progress is that the [International Maritime Organization] is a regulatory body that is run in concert with the industry it regulates. Shipbuilders, oil companies, miners, chemical manufacturers and others with huge financial stakes in commercial shipping are among the delegates appointed by many member nations. They sometimes even speak on behalf of governments, knowing that public records are sparse, and that even when the organization allows journalists into its meetings, it typically prohibits them from quoting people by name.

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"Often, what politicians say publicly does not match their closed-door posture. In 2019, for example, when the Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera, urged world leaders to make “more ambitious climate commitments,” his diplomats in London worked to defeat shipping speed limits, a measure that would have reduced carbon emissions. 

"The stakes are high. Shipping, unlike other industries, is not easily regulated nation-by-nation. A Japanese-built tanker, for instance, might be owned by a Greek company and sailed by an Indian crew from China to Australia — all under the flag of Panama. That’s why, when world leaders omitted international shipping from the Paris agreement, responsibility fell to the I.M.O., which has standardized the rules since 1948."

Don McGahn tells House panel about Trump’s bid to undermine Mueller probe

An enormous missing contribution to global warming may have been right under our feet: A new study finds a large, previously unknown contribution to climate change through human conversion of peatlands for agriculture