NOAA Issues “Severe” Aurora Alert for Thursday—Here’s Where You May Be Able to See the Northern Lights
The NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center is warning of severe geomagnetic storms and brilliant auroras, driven by volatile solar activity.
Ryan Whalen
Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.
A Black Hole Mystery That Has Puzzled Scientists for Half a Century Has Finally Been Solved
A black hole mystery has been solved after half a century, after researchers discovered evidence of a long-missing cosmic wind.
Exoplanet Magnetism Revealed in New Study Researchers Call a “Key Step” in Decoding the Survival of Planets
The best evidence for exoplanet magnetic fields ever discovered has emerged from new research that measures wind speeds on ultra-hot Jupiters.
Astronomers Discover New Way to Weigh Planets Hidden Inside Dusty Disks
Newborn planets’ dusty rings hold the secret to uncovering their mass, say researchers who have now characterized these once-obscured celestial objects.
One of the Largest Schrödinger’s Cat States Ever Observed Pushes Quantum Weirdness Beyond Its Tiny Limits
Breaking the tiny bounds of Quantum mechanics researchers have created a massive Schrödinger cat particle under ultracold conditions.
Pavlov’s Mosquito: Pests Can Be Conditioned to See DEET as a Meal Ticket Instead of a Deterrent
Mosquitoes may have surprisingly overcome one of humanity’s best defenses against them, associating the smell of DEET with a nearby meal.
Sealed in an Envelope for a Decade, Another Surprise in the Quest to Unravel the Mystery of Gravity Emerges
A twist on gravity measurement, hidden in a mysterious envelope, may point to a subtle flaw in our understanding of the universe.
“The Sun May be Entering a Different Mode of Behavior”: Scientists Say Something is Happening Beneath the Solar Surface
The Sun is experiencing long-term changes, producing a major squeeze in the four most recent solar activity cycles.
Strange 19-Day Solar Signal Breaks NASA’s Previous Record Nearly Fourfold
NASA researchers have captured the longest solar radio emission ever observed, exceeding the previous record by almost fourfold.
NASA Unveils Ambitious New Plans For Moon Base to Serve as “Humanity’s First Outpost on Another Celestial World”
NASA has unveiled a plethora of Moon Base news as its Artemis program seeks to establish permanent lunar infrastructure.
James Webb Space Telescope Survey of 9,000 Star Clusters Reveals Surprising Tradeoff in Planet Formation
James Webb Space Telescope research is revealing exciting information on star and planet formation from observations of four nearby galaxies.
This Startup is Reviving Human Brains to Explore New Treatments for Neurodegenerative Disease
Bexorg, a Connecticut medical startup, is using disembodied human brains in research targeting neurodegenerative diseases.
“There are Shortcomings in Recognizing the Existence of Life”: Astrobiologists Warn of Gaps in the Search for Extraterrestrial Life
Signs of extraterrestrial life may have been ignored by researchers for decades, say a team of astrobiologists.
James Webb Space Telescope Discovery Parts the Clouds on Bizarre Exoplanet Weather
James Webb Space Telescope data has allowed researchers to separate the cloud cover of a gas giant, providing a new level of detail.
NASA’s Psyche Mission Captures a Surprisingly Brilliant Martian Crescent on Its Way to an Asteroid Rendezvous
After a Mars flyby on May 15, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is well on its way to a 2029 rendezvous with the asteroid Psyche.
James Webb Space Telescope Spots an Early Galaxy with an Odd Feature That’s Defying Expectations
James Webb Space Telescope data has led to the surprising discovery that an early, distant galaxy is not rotating as expected.
“For Years We Couldn’t Understand It”: What’s the Massive Anomaly Lurking in the Clouds Over Venus?
A mysterious weather anomaly on Venus has finally been explained, providing new insight into the weather volatility of other planets.
Mars Express Reveals A Chaotic Feature Carved into the Martian Surface By Ancient Waters
Martian chaos created by craters, lava, and water was observed by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express in the Shalbatana Vallis.
Satellites May Be Driving a Concerning New Form of Atmospheric Pollution, Experts Warn
Experts say satellites are driving climate concerns by producing atmospheric carbon with an impact 500 times that of ground-based emissions.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is Unveiling the Secrets of the ‘Cosmic Web,’ Offering New Clues to Galactic Evolution
James Webb Space Telescope data has allowed researchers to map the cosmic web in the greatest detail ever achieved.
59,000-Year-Old Evidence of Stone Drilling Technology Reveals the Ancient Dentistry of Neanderthals
Neanderthals practiced a surprisingly advanced form of dentistry, detecting tooth decay and removing it with stone drills.
Clues to the Origin of Falling Space Objects “Previously Hidden in the Data” Are Being Revealed with Help from AI
Hidden insights into the fall of meteors, long unrecognized in observational data, are being revealed by Lowell Observatory researchers.
Did Dante’s ‘Inferno’ Predict Impact Physics Hundreds of Years Before Its Invention?
Dante Alighieri’s Inferno turns out to be an excellent model of impact physics, with Satan taking the role of an extinction-causing asteroid.
146,000-Year-Old Tool Discovery Reveals Unexpected Adaptations to Harsh Ice Age Life
Ice Age tools dating back 146,000 years, discovered in an ancient Chinese cave, reveal surprising human adaptations to a harsh environment.
These ‘Three Horsemen’ of Antarctic Instability Could Transform the Oceans into a Driver of Climate Change by 2030
Antarctica has been affected by a "perfect storm" of major events that could finally trigger widespread melting on the icy continent.
This Violent Volcanic Eruption May Have Revealed a Hidden “Emergency Brake” for Climate Change
A massive underwater volcanic eruption in the South Pacific is offering new hope for an “emergency brake” on climate change.
Violent Space Weather Can Send Orbital Space Junk Careening Toward Earth, Endangering Launch Missions
Volatile solar activity increases the amount of space debris falling to Earth, creating challenging-to-predict hazards for space launches.
Does Time Exist in Two States at Once? Optical Ion Clocks Could Reveal the Quantum Nature of Time, New Research Says
The strange quantum nature of time moves one step closer to being untangled, thanks to new research on optical ion clocks.
Fusion Breakthrough? Magnetizing Plasmas with High-Powered Lasers Paves the Way Toward “Direct Drive” Fusion
New fusion research reveals how plasma can spontaneously generate its magnetic field, in a fundamental breakthrough.
6,000-Year-Old Prehistoric Mining Camp Discovered Amid Burned Rocks and Children’s Bones
Ancient people in the eastern Pyrenees spent more time at high altitudes than archaeologists previously expected, according to new research.
Genetic Research Reframes Archaeological Understanding of How the Germanic People Arose 1500-Years-Ago in the Roman Collapse
European genetic research offers surprising insights into who lived along the Roman frontier as the empire fell and Germanic peoples arose.
Volcanic Apocalypse? New Research Pushes Back on the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis
New research challenging the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis argues volcanic activity likely caused the final cold spell of the last ice age.
Scientists Unlock Elusive Quantum Effect Long Considered Theoretical in Breakthrough Experiment
A once-theoretical quantum interaction has been achieved in a breakthrough laboratory experiment by University of Oxford researchers.
Clean Energy Breakthrough: Scientists Have Discovered “Something Interesting and Unknown” in This Novel Material
A clean energy breakthrough has been made by UK researchers, who discovered new “in-between states” as precursors break down when heated.
2000-Year-Old Amazonian “Dark Earth” Causes Mysterious Plant Growth at Accelerated Levels, Baffling Researchers
Unusual patches of black Amazonian soil rich in nutrients known as "dark earth," which rapidly accelerates plant growth, remain one of the region's greatest mysteries.
Universal Patterns Emerge in Human Languages, Revealing “Four Surprising Laws” Behind Their Evolution
Human languages as disparate as English, Japanese, and Russian follow remarkably similar evolutionary paths, according to a new AI study.
“It’s a Mystery”: This Strange Superconductor Exhibits Odd Behavior Under Extreme Conditions
The strange superconductor UTe2 exhibits “reentry superconductivity,” in which it gains, loses, and regains superconductivity.
The Secret of the ‘Fe Kα Line,’ a Crucial Tool for Exploring Black Holes, Has Finally Been Revealed
An X-ray emission known as the Fe Kα line, or iron Ka line, is one of astronomy’s most essential data sources on objects such as black holes.
2,000-Year-Old Roman Shipwreck Reveals Ancient Shipbuilding Secrets
The secrets of waterproofing ancient Roman ships to withstand long and harsh sea voyages have finally been revealed.
Scientists Are Decoding These Towering Solar Structures That Can Disrupt Earth’s Technology
Solar prominences are massive chunks of plasma floating above the Sun’s surface, which can cause dangerous solar eruptions.
Colossal Octopus Fossils Suggest a 60-Foot “Kraken” Once Ruled the Oceans
Giant 19-meter-long kraken-like octopuses may have been the apex predators in the Late Cretaceous-era oceans, according to new research.
Strange Water on 3I/ATLAS Hints at the Alien Conditions of Its Birth in a Frigid, Low-Radiation Region
New research reveals that the mysterious interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS comes from a very cold alien environment, new research reveals.
Astronomers Just Used ‘Galactic Archaeology’ to Map the Milky Way’s Star-Forming Disc, Ushering a “New Era of Discovery”
The Milky Way galaxy’s fuzzy star-forming edge has finally been mapped, as researchers identify the major region of stellar birth.
Scientists Reveal Organic Matter “Preserved on Mars for 3.5 Billion Years” in First-of-Its-Kind Study
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has found chemicals linked to the rise of life on Earth, in a first-of-its-kind experiment on the Red Planet.
Surprising 100,000-Year-Old Neanderthal DNA Discovery Rewrites the Species’ History in Central Europe
Understanding of Neanderthal prehistory in Europe is changing rapidly, thanks to several sets of remains discovered in Poland’s Stajnia Cave.
Just Two Centuries From Now, This Newly Discovered Exoplanet System Will look Vastly Different—Here’s Why
The dynamic exoplanet system TOI-201 is changing so rapidly that astronomers say it may look extremely different to us in two centuries.
5-Million-Year-Old Mystery of the Colorado River’s Disappearance Has Finally Been Solved
Over 5 million years ago, the Colorado River disappeared from the geological record, but now geologists have finally solved the mystery.
6,000 Cubic Kilometers of Magma Hiding Beneath Tuscany Revealed with New Ambient Noise Tomography Technique
Beneath Tuscany lies 6,000 cubic kilometers of hot magma, according to new European research using a remote-sensing technique.
10,000 Years of Human Evolution Reveals Natural Selection is Accelerating, Recent Human Genome Study Reveals
The human genome of West Eurasia has been far more affected by natural selection in the last 10,000 years than previously suspected.
Clean Energy Breakthrough: Bottled Lightning Produces Methanol in New “Bubble Reactor”
Lightning in a bottle, in a literal sense, may be the key to new, clean energy by reducing carbon emissions in methanol production.