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Why NASA is connecting baby stars with margarita ingredients
A team of astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope discovered key ingredients for making potentially habitable worlds, and perhaps a cocktail, around two baby stars, NASA said Wednesday.
The chemical ingredients identified around the protostars, known as IRAS 2A and IRAS 23385, are tied to habitable planets and familiar parts of life on Earth: margaritas, vinegar and ant stings, NASA said.
Astronomers used Webb’s mid-infrared instrument to identify icy compounds made up of ethanol, a chemical in alcoholic drinks, and likely acetic acid, an ingredient in vinegar. They also identified formic acid, which causes the burning sensation of ant strings, along with methane, formaldehyde and sulfur dioxide.
NASA noted that planets are not yet forming around the young stars, even though the chemicals found are key ingredients for making potentially habitable worlds. The space agency said IRAS 2A is of particular interest because it’s a low-mass protostar, which means it may be similar to the early stages of our own solar system. NASA said the chemicals identified around the young star could have also been involved in the first stages of development of our solar system.
“All of these molecules can become part of comets and asteroids and eventually new planetary systems when the icy material is transported inward to the planet-forming disk as the protostellar system evolves,” Ewine van Dishoeck of Leiden University, one of the coordinators of the science program, said in a NASA post.
NASA, ESA, CSA, W.R.M. Rocha (LEI)
The icy compounds identified by astronomers are made of complex organic molecules.
“This finding contributes to one of the long-standing questions in astrochemistry,” team leader Will Rocha of Leiden University in the Netherlands said. “What is the origin of complex organic molecules, or COMs, in space?”
The COMs found in ice around the young stars “makes astronomers hopeful about improved understanding of the origins of other, even larger molecules in space,” NASA said.
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President-elect Donald Trump fired another salvo in his long-running effort to have his New York criminal conviction tossed, with his attorneys alleging earlier this month that there was juror misconduct during his trial.
In a previously undisclosed Dec. 3 letter to Justice Juan Merchan that was made public Tuesday, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote that there was “grave juror misconduct” in the proceedings in a Manhattan courtroom earlier this year.
However, heavy redactions in the letter and subsequent exchanges with prosecutors obscured almost all information about the accusations themselves.
“The jury in this case was not anywhere near fair and impartial,” they wrote.
Merchan on Tuesday directed Trump to make the redacted letter public, and instructed prosecutors to publish their own redacted responses. The judge also criticized Trump’s lawyers for making such serious allegations without sworn statements.
Prosecutors called the allegations “vague accusations of juror misconduct” in one of their responses. They claimed Trump’s attorneys did not want to have the allegations subject to investigation or a public hearing.
“Notwithstanding the import of their allegations, counsel do not request and in fact oppose a hearing at which their allegations could be fully examined, referring to such a hearing as ‘invasive fact-finding,'” wrote a prosecutor for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Still, they argued such an investigation wasn’t yet appropriate.
“Counsel’s allegations fall far short of the standard required to request such a hearing in any event,” they wrote.
It is unclear if the allegations relate to a June 7 letter from Merchan that alerted prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys to a comment left on the court’s Facebook page the night before Trump’s conviction.
“My cousin is a juror and says Trump is getting convicted,” the user wrote. “Thank you folks for all your hard work!!!!”
The person who made the comment had previously described themselves as a “professional s**tposter.”
Trump was found guilty in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records, connected with a scheme to cover up a “hush money” payment to an adult film star. He pleaded not guilty and is contesting the conviction on multiple fronts.
Japanese automakers Honda Motor and Nissan Motor are reportedly entering merger talks to help them compete against Tesla and other electric vehicle makers, according to the Nikkei financial newspaper.
The two firms are considering operating under a single holding company, and are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding for the new entity, according to the Tokyo-based Nikkei.
The paper also reports that Honda and Nissan are considering bringing in Mitsubishi Motors, of which Nissan is the top shareholder, under the holding company to create one of the world’s largest auto groups.
In a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, Nissan said it has not announced the details in the report, but that the two companies “are exploring various possibilities for future collaboration, leveraging each other’s strengths,” which it announced in March.
Honda did not immediately respond to CBS MoneyWatch’s request for comment.
In March, Japan’s number two and three automakers, after rival Toyota, deepened ties when they agreed to explore a strategic partnership on electric vehicles.
Analysts characterized the move as one that is aimed at helping the automakers catch up with Chinese competitors, including BYD, which have captured more market share, while Japanese firms have lost ground by focusing more on hybrid vehicles.
China overtook Japan as the world’s biggest vehicle exporter in 2023, aided in part by its dominance in the electric car space.
Honda announced plans in May to double its investment in electric vehicles to $65 billion by 2030, as part of a target set three years ago of achieving 100% EV sales by 2040.
Similarly, Nissan in March announced that 16 of the 30 new models it plans to launch over the next three years would be “electrified.”
Climate concerns drive demand
The world’s auto giants are increasingly prioritizing electric and hybrid vehicles, with demand growing for less polluting models as concern about climate change grows.
At the same time, however, consumer demand for EVs has slowed amid high prices, range anxiety and developing infrastructure around charging points.
Hybrids that combine battery power and internal combustion engines have remained popular in Japan, accounting for 40% of sales in 2022.
But Japanese firms’ focus on hybrids has left them in the slow lane in meeting the growing appetite for purely electric vehicles. Just 1.7% of cars sold in Japan in 2022 were electric, compared to 15% in western Europe and 5.3% in the United States.
