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The latest discoveries were made by Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) instrument as part of the James Webb Observations of Young ProtoStars (JOYS+) program and revealed key chemical ingredients astronomers are looking for in the search for distant worlds that could be home to life.Given that they are young protostars, IRAS 2A and IRAS 23385 do not appear to have planets in orbits around them yet. However, the detections of organic molecules around them are promising indicators for regions of future habitability.Along with the detection of ethanol, MIRI has also detected what astronomers believe is probably acetic acid, an ingredient commonly...

Explanation: Why is Venus so different from Earth? To help find out, Japan launched the robotic Akatsuki spacecraft which entered orbit around Venus late in 2015 after an unplanned five-year adventure around the inner Solar System. Even though Akatsuki was past its original planned lifetime, the spacecraft and instruments were operating so well that much of its original mission was reinstated. Also known as the Venus Climate Orbiter, Akatsuki's instruments investigated unknowns about Earth's sister planet, including whether volcanoes are still active, whether lightning occurs in the dense atmosphere, and why wind speeds greatly exceed the planet's rotation speed. In...

A new NASA climate simulation suggests that extremely large volcanic eruptions called “flood basalt eruptions” might significantly warm Earth’s climate and devastate the ozone layer that shields life from the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation. The result contradicts previous studies indicating these volcanoes cool the climate. It also suggests that while extensive flood-basalt eruptions on Mars and Venus may have helped warm their climates, they could have doomed the long-term habitability of these worlds by contributing to water loss. Unlike brief, explosive volcanic eruptions such as Pinatubo or January’s Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai that occur over hours or days, flood basalts are regions...

https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2022-02/processed/jupiter-aurora_1024.jpg ======================================================================== Jupiter has finally been observed spitting out X-rays in high-energy wavelengths. Emanating from the giant planet's permanent auroras, and detected by NASA's space-based X-ray telescope NuSTAR, the emissions are the most energetic light seen coming from any planet in the Solar System (aside from Earth). The detection could shed light on the most powerful auroras in the Solar System, and solves a longstanding mystery: why the joint ESA-NASA Ulysses spacecraft didn't detect any Jovian X-rays in its nearly three decades of operation between 1990 and 2009. Jupiter's auroras constitute an absolutely fascinating phenomenon. At both its poles, the...

There has been controversy recently about what to call the virus that has unleashed a worldwide pandemic. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) prefers “novel coronavirus.” Others have referred to it as the “Wuhan virus,” after its place of origin, as is common in naming diseases. The Epoch Times suggests a more accurate name is the “CCP virus,” and calls upon others to join us in adopting this name. The name holds the CCP accountable for its wanton disregard of human life and consequent spawning of a pandemic that has put untold numbers in countries around the world at risk, while...

The coronavirus is coinciding with "significant decreases" in nitrogen dioxide over China, according to NASA, as authorities there continue to place more people under quarantines and some businesses remain closed amid the outbreak. Pollution monitoring satellites operated by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) detected the decreases over a two-month span, according to a news release. The drops coincided with the outbreak and the Lunar New Year, which was unusually tame because many decided to stay indoors rather than risk becoming infected. “This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area...

The deadly coronavirus that is morphing into a global threat could have infected five to 10 times more people than Chinese officials have acknowledged, a group of U.S. researchers said.The Feb. 18 study, which has not been peer-reviewed, was co-led by Lucia Dunn, economics professor at Ohio State University, and Mai He, pathology professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis.Drawing from both official and unofficial data sources, the study suggested the cumulative infections and deaths could be “substantially higher” than officially stated—by a factor of 5 to 10.“So many people are doubting the numbers in China...

High sulphur dioxide levels at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak could be a sign of mass cremations, it has been claimed. Satellite maps in recent days have shown alarming levels of SO2 around Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak began. In addition, there were high sulphur dioxide levels in the city of Chongqing which is also under quarantine. Scientists say that sulphur dioxide is produced when bodies are cremated, and also when medical waste is incinerated. But social media users who investigated the maps have suggested that dead bodies could be being burned on the outskirts of the...

A shocking report published Saturday local time by the Epoch Times revealed that crematoriums in China are struggling to keep up with the hundreds of bodies they are receiving, suggesting Beijing is undercounting the number of coronavirus deaths in the country. The Epoch Times, a Chinese-American anti-communist newspaper, sent journalists to speak with the heads of several funeral homes and crematoriums in Hubei province – whose capital, Wuhan, is the epicenter of the current novel coronavirus outbreak. The newspaper found that adding up the total number of people cremated per day in several funeral homes yielded a significantly larger number...

A crematorium worker in Wuhan, China, confirmed that officials are working at an alarming pace to burn the bodies of the deceased in the city amid the coronavirus outbreak. "We need to pick up bodies when they call us. Every day, we need at least 100 body bags," a crematorium worker named Mr. Yun told the Epoch Times. “We can’t stop because we can’t leave the bodies outside for a long time." Wuhan officials were accused of cremating the dead in secret last week, and Mr. Yun claimed the rumors are true as China adopts "draconian measures" to treat the...

Workers at crematoriums in Wuhan City, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, say their workload has increased dramatically in recent days, as they constantly transfer the bodies of victims from hospitals and private homes. In an interview with The Epoch Times, a worker described long working hours to cope with the sudden increase in bodies to be cremated. Meanwhile, videos from workers dealing with the crisis have been circulating on social media, including one from a worker at a Wuhan funeral home who shared footage of more than 10 bodies lying on gurneys, lined up for cremation. Some netizens also...

The strange videos have sparked concerns the fog is actually smoke from crematoriums burning coronavirus infected bodies "24 hours a day"...According to the World Air Map Wuhan’s pollution level is at “dangerous” with highs of 121 AQI, despite the fact the city has been in lockdown for over a week. The party have banned funerals and burials to speed up the disposal of bodies and stop the spread of the virus further.

In recent days, satellite maps have displayed alarming levels of SO2 mass around Wuhan — the Chinese city suspected to be the origin of the deadly virus. Furthermore, high levels of SO2 were also found over the city of Chongqing which is also under quarantine. Large amounts of sulfur dioxide are released when bodies are cremated or when medical waste is incinerated, scientists say. But a Twitter user raised an alarm after finding the elevated levels of the compound on a weather app, suggesting that it could be the result of dead bodies being burned on the outskirts of the...

Volcanoes have more impact on earth’s climate than previously thought, scientists at the University of Colorado have found. The researchers came across the finding as they looked for reasons our planet has not heated up as much as expected. The mainstream explanation was that the development in Asia (China and India, essentially) – where the industrial sulfur dioxide emissions increased 60 percent from 2000 to 2010, mainly driven by coal burning – was behind the cooling of Earth. According to the study by Ryan Neely which helped cement the mainstream view, small amounts of sulfur dioxide emissions from Earth's surface...

“Load sixteen tons, and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt… ” — Tennessee Ernie Ford Coal is very low on the scale of subjects for ballads or charming folklore. Like Rodney Dangerfield, it just doesn’t get any respect. What does a naughty boy get in his Christmas stocking? A lump of coal. As a career, few brave souls outside Appalachia would have a goal in life of riding a rail car several miles — down several thousand feet below the surface — to attack the “face” of a coal seam. The thought terrifies me —...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Thursday introduced legislation aimed at slashing emissions of sulfur dioxide, mercury and nitrogen oxide from smokestacks including coal-fired power plants. The measure, which has stalled in Congress in years past, also would set up nationwide trading systems for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide pollution permits, its sponsors said. But it does not tackle the much larger and controversial question of how to reduce carbon dioxide emissions blamed for climate change. Separate negotiations are underway on a greenhouse gas emissions bill. Democratic Senator Thomas Carper, a main sponsor of the legislation...

While on the board of a Chicago-based charity, Barack Obama helped fund a carbon trading exchange that will likely play a critical role in the cap-and-trade carbon reduction program he is now trying to push through Congress as president. In 2000 and 2001, while Barack Obama served as a board member for a Chicago-based charitable foundation, he helped to fund a pioneering carbon trading exchange that is likely to fill a critical role in the controversial cap-and-trade carbon reduction scheme that President Obama is now trying to push rapidly through Congress. During those two years, the Joyce Foundation gave nearly...

A new report by the Environmental Protection Agency says ozone levels are falling in 19 Eastern states where bad air is common in the summer. The reduction reflects what agency officials describe as a significant decline in emissions of nitrogen oxides, whose reaction with sunlight, other weather conditions and volatile organic chemicals can make the air hard to breathe in the warmer months. The report says that last year, nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants and other large sources of combustion in the 19 states... were 30 percent below 2003 levels and 50 percent below those of 2000. The result,...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a government-approved program used by five Western states to improve their air quality and visibility in national parks and wilderness areas. Siding with an industry coalition, the court said the states' program was based on Environmental Protection Agency methods that the court, ruling in a case three years ago, had found to be "inconsistent with the Clean Air Act." Friday's decision deals with efforts by Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming to cut sulfur dioxide pollution that contributes to regional haze, particularly at the Grand Canyon. Mike Leavitt, now...

The journalist has the ultimate power, a cynic once said, the power to choose whom to be co-opted by. That temptation is never greater than when you are writing about environmental policy. You can go to the environmental groups and get one set of facts. Or you can go to the industry groups and get an entirely different set of facts. Both sides have long histories of exaggeration and distortion, and there's no other realm of public policy in which it is so hard to find honest brokers, capable of offering a balanced perspective. Nonetheless, over the past couple of...