Scientists Once Warned of a Coming Ice Age—Now New Research Reveals What May Have Stopped It
Climate change has erased two millennia of progress toward a new global ice age, potentially validating controversial claims from the 1970s.
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.
Physicists Have Made an Antimatter Breakthrough That Could Challenge the Standard Model
Forcing a small piece of antimatter into a controlled quantum state may be essential to proving the Standard Model of particle physics.
On Hostile Alien Worlds, Water Unexpectedly Behaves Like a Bizarre Chemical Shapeshifter
Water behaves very strangely under extreme conditions beyond Earth, according to researchers at the University of Nevada.
An Ancient Temple in Sudan Is Challenging What We Thought We Knew About Egypt’s Powerful Neighbor
Ceramics unearthed by archaeologists excavating a temple in modern Sudan offer new insights into the mysterious ancient Kushite world.
Scientists Built a Computer Using Living Human Brain Cells—Now It Can Decode Braille
Biohybrid computers made of organoids, tiny human brain models using real cells, have reached an important new benchmark.
This 75,000-Year-Old Skeleton Reveals a Dark Chapter of Neanderthal Violence—and Survival
The violent lives of Neanderthals are on display in 75,000-year-old remains showing a fatal spear wound alongside evidence of healed trauma.
“Something Out of Science Fiction”: A Ghostly Green Star Has Been Revealed for the First Time
White dwarfs glow in a rainbow of colors, one recorded for the first time in new research showing how these stars can defy expectations.
James Webb Space Telescope Data Helps Reveal the True Shape of a Distant Exoplanet for the First Time
For the first time, scientists have mapped the true shape of a distant exoplanet orbiting a star 1,000 light-years away.
Scientists Discover Strange Magnetic Reversal Hidden in Turbulent Space Plasma
A new phenomenon discovered in plasma could have a major effect on the turbulence driving volatile and dangerous space weather.
Scientists Achieve Major Breakthrough with World’s First Working Nuclear Clocks
For the first time, researchers from two teams report the successful operation of nuclear clocks, a major breakthrough in physics.
Scientists Discover Ancient Genetic Shake-Up That May Explain the Extraordinary Intelligence of Octopuses
New research reveals how octopuses and other cephalopods developed some of the most complex nervous systems in the animal kingdom.
Rare 60,000-Year-Old Discovery Reveals a Hidden Dimension of Neanderthal Technology
Archaeologists have uncovered remarkable new evidence of the woodworking abilities displayed by Neanderthals.
Dark Matter May Come From Primordial Black Holes Hiding in the Fifth Dimension
Dark matter may be even stranger than previously suspected, with new research exploring its possible connection to the fifth dimension.
Flying Through a Magnetic Switchback, the ESA’s Solar Orbiter Provides Crucial New Space Weather Data
Flying through a magnetic switchback in the Sun’s magnetic field, the Solar Orbiter collected important new data on dangerous space weather.
A 1,100-Mile-Long Cloud on Mars is Defying Physics—This Unexpected Discovery May Reveal Why
Mars’s most unusual cloud got even stranger when researchers combined data from the ESA Mars Express orbiter mission with a new meteorological model and discovered some very strange physics.
Astronomers Find Evidence of a “Phoenix Planet” Born From the Remains of Its Dead Star
A second-generation planet, composed of the remains of a dead star, has been discovered orbiting a white dwarf for the first time.
An Ancient Crocodile Was Discovered in Egyptian Rocks Linked to the Great Sphinx—and It Has a Curious Connection to Giza’s Ancient Guardian
A new genus of ancient crocodile has been discovered in Egypt, excavated from the same rocks used to build the Great Sphinx.
Century-Old Suspicion of Human Sacrifice in Ancient Egypt Surfaces in a Startling Discovery
Evidence of human sacrifice in ancient Egypt has been recovered from graves clustered around a group of first-century tombs.
South Korean Soldiers Were Searching for Landmines—They Found a Centuries-Old Weapon Instead
While searching for forgotten landmines, South Korean troops happened upon the earliest Korean firearm ever discovered.
China is Planning to Create a Next-Generation Map of Mars Ahead of Its Historic Sample Return Mission
China is turning to artificial intelligence to create a next-generation geological map of Mars, bringing two of the world’s biggest technological competitions—the space race and AI race—together.
New Evidence Reveals Nazi Germany Was Farther From Building an Atomic Bomb Than Previously Believed
Just how close the race between America and the Nazis to develop the first nuclear weapon was has long been an area of debate.
“Great News in the Search for Life”: Saturn’s Moon Enceladus May Be Even More Hospitable to Life Than Scientists Thought
New research suggests that Saturn’s Moon Enceladus may be more survivable and life there more detectable than previously assumed.
James Webb Space Telescope Discovery May Help Answer Why Astronomers Can’t Find the First Stars
The James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) surprise findings about the early universe may explain why scientists can't locate the first stars.
Scientists Turn Pompeii’s Destruction Into the Most Precise Clock Yet for Dating Ancient Volcanic Eruptions
Thanks to the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius, archaeologists now have access to the most exact volcanic eruption dating technique ever.
Scientists Shielded Flies From Earth’s Magnetic Field—and Their Lifespans Mysteriously Increased
Earth’s magnetic field has a stronger impact on cellular health than realized, scientists say, after magnetic shielding experiments.
Scientists Just Solved a 178-Year-Old Space Weather Mystery
One of the earliest known instances of space weather interfering with human technology has finally been solved after 178 years.
This Breakthrough Computer Has No Chips—and Uses Trillions of DNA Strands to Do Math
A new DNA computer developed at Maynooth University offers incredible advancements in complexity and speed.
Scientists Took a Tyrannosaurus Rex’s Temperature for the First Time, and It was Almost Like that of a Human
Tyrannosaurus rex was an energetic, hot-blooded predator, UCLA scientists found in new genetic research, basedon tooth enamel.
Scientists May Have Uncovered a ‘Holy Grail’ for Deciphering the Lost Scrolls of Herculaneum—By Burning Modern Papyrus
Researchers today are burning modern papyrus to develop new methods for reconstructing the destroyed Herculaneum scrolls.
DARPA is About to Test Robotic Surgeons That Could Soon Help Save Lives on the Battlefield
DARPA is offering a $3.5 million prize pool for autonomous robotic surgeons to stitch soldiers back together on hostile battlefields.
A Brain-Computer Interface Decoded Speech and Movement Simultaneously for the First Time
A new brain-computer interface (BCI) is the first to translate both speech and movement with a single device that reads data from implants.
A Pompeii-Like Eruption Buried This Landscape 22 Million Years Ago—Scientists Just Discovered What Lies Beneath
The Americas experienced their own Vesuvius-style volcanic eruption 21.9 million years ago, devastating a portion of Chile.
This Stretchable Screen Packs 16,000 Pixels Per Inch—and Shines Brighter Than Any Before
A new stretchable quantum-dot light-emitting diode (QLED) delivers incredibly high resolution while producing record brightness.
A Volcanic Seafloor Collapse Released a Massive Tsunami, and Scientists Got an Extremely Rare Look at the Submarine Devastation
The most powerful volcanic eruption of the last century caused massive changes to the ocean floor, according to newly published research.
NASA’s Chandra Discovers a Mysterious New Class of Cosmic Objects That Could Solve Two Longstanding Mysteries
A new class of cosmic objects observed by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory would be the key to two long-standing mysteries, say astronomers.
The First Denisovan Forearm Bone Ever Discovered Fills a Key Knowledge Gap in Our Understanding of This Archaic Hominin
This Denisovan radius fills a knowledge gap about these archaic hominins, whose fossils rarely include anything except skulls.
25,000 Years Ago, the Earliest Human Drug Use May Have Occurred on This Small Island
What may be the earliest known evidence of human drug use suggests that it occurred 25,000 years ago, according to new research.
66-Million-Year-Old Footprint Discovery Reveals Something About Tyrannosaurus That Researchers “Never Imagined”
A new discovery is revealing how the long-extinct Tyrannosaurus Rex may have moved when it was still alive.
4,500-Year-Old Egyptian Tomb Discovery Reveals Something Archaeologists Say They Have Never Seen
An important Egyptian tomb from the Fifth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom was recently discovered in Saqqara by an archaeological mission.
Biologists Were Wrong About the “American Cheetah” According to New Genetic Findings
The extinct American cheetah wasn’t a true cheetah at all, say biologists in new research overturning scientific understanding of the big cat.
New Genetic Evidence of an Ancient Killer Has Surfaced After Being Concealed in Medieval Texts for Centuries
The story of a Medieval European plague is coming into focus through historic manuscripts, but not in the way you might think.
No Longer Science Fiction, the U.S. Army is Moving a High-Energy Laser Weapon Into Production for the First Time
The US Army has authorized its first contract for a directed energy weapons system, designed to take down threats with high-energy lasers.
“We’ve Never Seen Anything Quite Like This”: A Strange Ten-Sided “Structure” Has Been Spotted on Saturn’s North Pole
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has glimpsed a ten-sided atmospheric wave at Saturn’s south pole, the first such jet pattern observed there.
World’s Most Sensitive Dark Matter Detector Just Found Something Scientists Can’t Easily Explain
Dark matter may finally be coming into focus thanks to a particle interaction that is difficult to explain as arising from ordinary matter.
New Analysis of “Tasmanian Tiger” Skulls Overturns Assumptions About What Led to the Species’ Extinction
Australia’s extinct thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger, was not the powerful predator European settlers had assumed.
Scientists Discover How Extraterrestrial Life Could Thrive In the Harsh Acidic Clouds Surrounding Venus
A new theoretical kind of extraterrestrial life could survive the harsh acid clouds of Venus, according to MIT researchers.
Researchers Connect Indigenous Star Knowledge to One of Humanity’s Most Advanced Ground Telescope Projects
While astronomers are providing new knowledge of the stars daily, ancestral star knowledge is fading from local consciousness.
Breakthrough Computers Made From Slime Use Amoeba-like Organisms to Solve Intricate and Costly Problems
Computers based on slime molds may be the next step for solving some of the most advanced and resource-heavy problems.
A B-52 Carrying Two Hydrogen Bombs Broke Apart Over North Carolina in 1961—and Nearly Caused a Nuclear Disaster
The dropping of a nuclear bomb on the United States isn’t just relegated to Cold War fiction; it actually occurred in 1961.
The Secret to Longevity and Destroying Cancer May Hide in Bat DNA
Bat DNA may hold the secret to a long and healthy life, according to an international team of researchers.