Ryan Whalen, Author at The Debrief

Room-Temperature Quantum Computing? A Superlattice Breakthrough Could Be Poised to Help Supercharge Information Science

Ryan Whalen·June 5, 2026

A novel phase of matter has been achieved by researchers, finally realizing a theoretical quantum prediction using nanoscale building blocks.

NOAA Issues “Severe” Aurora Alert for Thursday—Here’s Where You May Be Able to See the Northern Lights

Ryan Whalen·June 4, 2026

The NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center is warning of severe geomagnetic storms and brilliant auroras, driven by volatile solar activity.

A Black Hole Mystery That Has Puzzled Scientists for Half a Century Has Finally Been Solved

Ryan Whalen·June 4, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·June 2, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·June 1, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 31, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 31, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 30, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 29, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 28, 2026

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”

Ryan Whalen·May 27, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 27, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 24, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 23, 2026

Signs of extraterrestrial life may have been ignored by researchers for decades, say a team of astrobiologists.

James Webb Space Telescope exoplanet atmosphere

James Webb Space Telescope Discovery Parts the Clouds on Bizarre Exoplanet Weather

Ryan Whalen·May 22, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 21, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 19, 2026

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?

Ryan Whalen·May 17, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 16, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 15, 2026

Experts say satellites are driving climate concerns by producing atmospheric carbon with an impact 500 times that of ground-based emissions.

James Webb Space Telescope Cosmic Web Map

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is Unveiling the Secrets of the ‘Cosmic Web,’ Offering New Clues to Galactic Evolution

Ryan Whalen·May 15, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 14, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 13, 2026

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?

Ryan Whalen·May 11, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 10, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 9, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 8, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 7, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 6, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 6, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 5, 2026

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

Ryan Whalen·May 4, 2026

European genetic research offers surprising insights into who lived along the Roman frontier as the empire fell and Germanic peoples arose.