Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Japan’s Hayabusa-2 spacecraft lands another probe on an asteroid. The Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (Mascot), built by the German Aerospace Center and French Space Agency, will analyze the surface properties of 162173 Ryugu.
Malaysia’s former first lady is grilled by anti-graft investigators. Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former prime minister Najib Razak, will face a third and final round of questioning, which could end in her arrest.
Two Chinese bishops take part in a synod at the Vatican. Guo Jincai and Yang Xiaoting are the first bishops from mainland China to attend the regular gathering, after a compromise was reached last month between Beijing and Pope Francis.
Theresa May tries once again for an orderly Brexit. The UK prime minister will give the closing address of the Conservative Party’s divisive annual conference, where Brexit hardliners have fought to eliminate ties with the EU.
The Nobel Prize in chemistry is announced. The winner or winners will be unveiled at 11:45 am local time in Sweden (CEST).
While you were sleeping
Tesla hit its quarterly production target, but struggled with deliveries. The company produced 53,239 Model 3 sedans, nearly double the previous quarter. But Tesla’s production line still hasn’t consistently reached Musk’s target of 5,000 a week, and is having trouble getting the cars into the hands of its eager customers.
Vape startup Juul was raided by US health officials. The Food and Drug Administration seized more than a thousand pages of documents from the company’s headquarters as part of an investigation into whether it has been marketing its nicotine-delivery devices to children.
Someone sent ricin-laced mail to the Pentagon. Two suspicious envelopes, addressed to defense secretary James Mattis and a high-ranking Navy officer, were detected during routine screening. Even trace amounts of ricin, derived from castor beans, can cause nausea, internal bleeding, and organ failure.
Amazon upped its wages. The retailer will offer a minimum of $15 per hour (paywall) to all employees, including warehouse workers and outside contractors, in the face of criticism and lawsuits over its substandard wages. CEO Jeff Bezos will still make more in 11.5 seconds than his lowest-paid employee makes in a year.
A woman won the Nobel Prize in physics for the first time in 55 years. This year’s prize went to three recipients for their work in lasers: Arthur Ashkin, who developed “optical tweezers and their application to biological systems,” and Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland, “for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses.”
Quartz Obsession interlude
Youyou Zhou on the economic impact of Chinese students in the US: “Any change in the US’s treatment of Chinese students could have drastic effects on US colleges and universities. Chinese nationals make up the largest group of international students in the US. They account for roughly 30% of all foreign students. There were about 340,000 of them in July 2018.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
The new NAFTA is a blueprint for Trump’s trade war with China. Using tariffs as a stick may have worked in North America, but in Asia Trump has already thrown away the carrot.
Are we at a tipping point on sexual misconduct? Accusers are still threatened, ousted abusers still have golden parachutes, and Supreme Court nominees are given the benefit of the doubt.
Genetic testing is a gateway to eugenics. Locating disease markers could lead to choosing embryos with high learning potential and even certain physical traits.
Surprising discoveries
General Electric’s stock has lost more value than Facebook has created. The energy giant is now worth just $100 billion, down from nearly $600 billion in 2000.
Spot patterns help baby giraffes survive. Imaging software discovered visual similarities between the spots of mothers and babies—the larger and more irregular, the better.
Kuwait banned The Little Mermaid. Government censors decided Disney’s Ariel and Michelangelo’s David were both too revealing (paywall).
The office cubicle originally signaled creativity. Burolandschaft, or “office landscaping,” was “fundamentally a reaction against Nazism.”
Jazz hands are the new applause. Clapping and shouting—both now banned at the University of Manchester—can cause problems for those with anxiety or sensory issues.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, seashell bras, and nonexistent burgers to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android. Today’s Daily Brief was written and edited by Adam Pasick and Susan Howson.