This week in science and technology news we’re covering at The Debrief: For decades, physicists have argued about Richard Feynman’s Sprinkler Problem, involving the question of how a reverse sprinkler would operate. Now we may finally know the answer… elsewhere, new studies reveal how breathwork may trigger psychedelic-like states, emotional breakthroughs, and psychological insights without drugs. Meanwhile, a stone sphere unearthed at an archaeological site in Azerbaijan is reportedly unlike anything previously documented in the South Caucasus.
Also, in an exclusive feature, University of Toronto bioethicist KM Bowman, Ph.D., writes for The Debrief about his firsthand experience with uncontacted indigenous tribes: “Through the haze stood a man. Barely clothed, carrying what appeared to be a weapon of some form, he remained motionless for only a few seconds before silently disappearing back into the forest.” In his essay, Bowman shares his experience and asks whether governments can protect “the uncontacted.”
Finally, here’s a look at more stories The Debrief is tracking right now…
- Scientists Looked at Van Gough’s ‘The Starry Night’ and Made an Astronomical Discovery
- U.N. Warns Your Brain Data May Soon Be Used Against You
- I Spent Over a Decade Training Police Dogs. Here’s Why Genetically Engineering Them Is a Brilliant Idea.
- Scientists Once Warned of a Coming Ice Age—Now New Research Reveals What May Have Stopped It
- Scientists Are Racing to Detect a Potentially Dangerous Form of Synthetic Life Before It Exists
- “A Pivotal Period in Human Prehistory”: 60,000-Year-Old Ochre Analysis Reveals Clues About Stone Age Technology
- Physicists Have Made an Antimatter Breakthrough That Could Challenge the Standard Model
- On Hostile Alien Worlds, Water Unexpectedly Behaves Like a Bizarre Chemical Shapeshifter
- A Mysterious Skeleton Found in an Ancient Sarcophagus May Have Finally Been Identified
- “We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know”: New Study Uncovers a Concerning “Blind Spot” in Modern Scientific Research
- An Ancient Temple in Sudan Is Challenging What We Thought We Knew About Egypt’s Powerful Neighbor
- Living Brain Computers, a Ghostly Green Star, and Neanderthal Violence—The Latest from The Debrief
- “This is the Closest Thing to Magic”: Massless Ultrasound Tube Moves Matter Through the Air
- Scientists Reconstruct Massive 164-Foot Tsunami and Discover a Hidden Danger Threatening Lakes Worldwide
- A Particle Long Considered an “Irrelevant Background Detail in Particle Physics” Could Now Help Solve the Mystery of Why We Exist