Ryan Whalen, Author at The Debrief

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Landmark James Webb Space Telescope Discovery Has Astronomers Working to Solve “The Case of a Disappearing Planet”

Ryan Whalen·August 9, 2025

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has provided crucial new evidence of a giant planet orbiting one of three stars making up Alpha Centauri.

No, That’s Not ‘Coral’ on Mars—Here’s Why the Red Planet’s Terrain Often Plays Tricks on the Eye

Ryan Whalen·August 8, 2025

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover recently discovered a strange Martian feature resembling a piece of Earthly ocean coral.

James Webb Space Telescope Detects Most Distant Black Hole Ever Identified, Challenging Models of Early Cosmic Evolution

Ryan Whalen·August 8, 2025

A 13.3 billion-year-old black hole—the most distant ever discovered—has been observed by an international team of astronomers, providing new insights into the early universe.

“It May Sound Really Crazy”: A Paperclip-Sized Probe Could One Day Visit a Black Hole, This Researcher Says

Ryan Whalen·August 7, 2025

Sending an artificial probe into a black hole may be in the cards within the coming decades, according to a Fudan University researcher

China’s Brain-Inspired “Darwin Monkey” AI Breakthrough Simulates Primate-Level Intelligence

Ryan Whalen·August 7, 2025

Chinese researchers have revealed a new neuromorphic computer modeled on a monkey’s brain, named “Darwin Monkey.”

Scientific Fraud Exposed: The Multi-Million-Dollar ‘Shadow Industry’ Creating Junk Science to Propel Academic Careers

Ryan Whalen·August 6, 2025

From paper mills to fake journals, a new study by Northwestern University researchers exposes sprawling global networks of scientific fraud.

Astronomers Discover Unusual White Dwarf That Shouldn’t Exist—Unless It Has a Very Rare Origin Story

Ryan Whalen·August 6, 2025

A white dwarf star close to Earth may be the result of a powerful cosmic collision, where two stars merged into one.

Dark Matter May Arise From ‘Mirror Worlds’ or Cosmic Horizons, Bold New Theories Suggest

Ryan Whalen·August 5, 2025

New theories put forward possible answers to the long-standing question of dark matter’s particle nature, a major mystery of the universe.

High-Resolution Images Reveal Rare ‘Plasma Ribbon’ in a Distant Black Hole Galaxy

Ryan Whalen·August 4, 2025

A stunning image reveals the plasma jet at the heart of the OJ 287 galaxy, providing new data on black holes’ impact on their surroundings.

Scientists Warn Moonquakes Are Stronger and Happen More Often Than Expected

Ryan Whalen·August 2, 2025

Moonquakes created landslides on the lunar surface, according to new research highlighting new concerns for safety in moon habitation.

The Deepest Ecosystem Ever Found Has Been Discovered in the Ocean’s Mysterious Hadal Trenches

Ryan Whalen·August 2, 2025

Chinese ocean explorers have discovered the deepest life on record, existing at extreme depths on the sea floor.

“We Call it Megaflash Lightning”: Scientists Use Satellites to Find New Record-Breaking Weather Extremes

Ryan Whalen·August 1, 2025

Scientists have now observed the largest megaflash lightning strike ever documented across 515 miles of the Great Plains.

Fossilized Space Dust is Helping Scientists Unlock the Secrets of Earth’s Ancient Atmosphere

Ryan Whalen·July 31, 2025

International researchers have devised a new technique for studying a sort of fossilized atmosphere left behind by micrometeorites.

Eruption of Meltwater from Beneath Greenland Ice Sheet Reveals First Look at an Unexpected New Climate Concern

Ryan Whalen·July 30, 2025

A meltwater flood beneath the Greenland ice sheet created such pressure that it cracked the glacier, defying previous climate models.

Double Meteor Showers Will Close Out July with a Celestial Show—Here’s How Skywatchers Can Spot Them

Ryan Whalen·July 30, 2025

July 2025 will end with a double meteor shower, offering great views to skywatchers as the two celestial events peak simultaneously.

“We Are Actually Very Close to This Science Fiction”: Meta-Optical Tech May Soon Enable ‘Projection-Glasses,’ Novel Cameras, and More

Ryan Whalen·July 30, 2025

Australia’s ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems is working to overcome the limitations of optical technologies.

Cosmic Ray Discovery Suggests Extraterrestrial Life May Exist in “More Places Than We Ever Imagined”

Ryan Whalen·July 29, 2025

Cosmic rays may be enough to nourish exterrestrial life residing underground in our solar system offering to broaden the search.

Meet Aeneas, the AI Archaeologist That Can Date and Decode Ancient Latin Inscriptions—But Don’t Fire Historians Yet

Ryan Whalen·July 29, 2025

A new AI model, Aeneas, can not only estimate origins and dates for ancient Latin texts, but accurately restore lost words say developers.

A Radical New Theory Has Scientists Rethinking the Origins of the Universe

Ryan Whalen·July 28, 2025

A radical new model of the universe redefines the first few moments of existence, reducing reliance on theoretical concepts.

“I’m Stunned and Flabbergasted”: Scientists Were “Blown Away” By a Rare Fossil Discovery Challenging Past Thinking on Pre-Dinosaur Evolution

Ryan Whalen·July 28, 2025

A newly discovered prehistoric reptile, Mirasaura grauvogeli, was found to have unusual structures similar to feathers.

NASA’s “Hail Mary” Moment: Incredible Deep Space Surgery Saves JunoCam from Jupiter’s Fierce Radiation Fields

Ryan Whalen·July 25, 2025

NASA successfully completed a rescue mission to save the JunoCam camera on the Juno spacecraft, only recently revealed.

“It was Literally Hiding in Plain Sight”: Fossil Forgotten in a Harvard Museum Reveals Secrets of Early Evolution

Ryan Whalen·July 24, 2025

When a string of misidentifications ended, a fossil sat in a drawer at Harvard for a century until its significance was recently discovered.

Lunar Landings Leave a Mark—Engineers Solve a Decades-Old Mystery, Enabling Safer Touchdowns on the Moon

Ryan Whalen·July 24, 2025

Researchers have identified the phenomenon behind dust streaks from lunar landings, offering insights crucial for safely operating future Moon bases.

Astronomers Reveal Betelgeuse Has an Elusive Stellar Companion Linked to Star’s Curious Brightness Cycle

Ryan Whalen·July 21, 2025

Betelgeuse, the red supergiant star closest to Earth, has finally been proven to have a companion star in observations from NASA scientists.

Look: NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Just Had Its Closest-Ever Encounter with the Sun, and Has Historic Pictures to Prove It

Ryan Whalen·July 19, 2025

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has proven to be an essential tool in understanding space weather, a major potential hazard to life on Earth.

“A Transformative Leap in Brain Imaging”: Innovative MRI System May Produce First Full Brain Connection Map

Ryan Whalen·July 19, 2025

A new brain imaging system, Connectome 2.0, is far outperforming traditional MRIs in imaging microscopic brain structure disruptions.

“Everything is Unusual About This Galaxy”: James Webb Space Telescope Uncovers Strangely Shaped ‘Infinity Galaxy’

Ryan Whalen·July 18, 2025

The Infinity Galaxy is a recent discovery from the James Webb Space Telescope’s COSMOS-Web survey, found in archival data.

Shrouded in Mystery, Ancient Rock Carvings Offer New Insights into Egypt’s Enigmatic First Dynasty

Ryan Whalen·July 17, 2025

A piece of ancient Egyptian petroglyph dating back to the First Dynasty offers new insights into the origins of the state.

“It Could Tell Us the Story of Many Other Solar Systems”: Doomed Exoplanet May Change Our Understanding of Planetary Evolution

Ryan Whalen·July 16, 2025

On a collision course with its star, the Jupiter-like exoplanet TOI-2109b has astronomers keenly observing its unusual orbital decay.

Chang’e-6 Returns First Samples from Far Side of the Moon, Revealing Deep Lunar Secrets

Ryan Whalen·July 16, 2025

Earth’s Moon always presents us on the surface with the same face, yet its mysterious far side features many significant differences.

Gravitational Waves Unveil Record-Breaking Black Hole Merger, Challenging Existing Models

Ryan Whalen·July 14, 2025

The most massive gravitationally detected black hole merger to date has been observed by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration.

Astronomers Detect a Mysterious Giant and “Hidden Substructures” Lurking in the Haze Around a Young Star

Ryan Whalen·July 14, 2025

Shrouded by a swirl of gas and dust, a gas giant, roughly three to ten times the size of Jupiter, was found in a new exoplanet discovery.

New Simulations Reveal Dozens of Hidden Galaxies Orbiting the Milky Way

Ryan Whalen·July 12, 2025

There may be many more satellite galaxies in the Milky Way than have been observed, according to new Durham University simulations.

A Forgotten Martian Landscape May Hold the Key to Ancient Water on the Red Planet

Ryan Whalen·July 12, 2025

New evidence for past water on Mars was revealed in research identifying over 15,000 kilometers of dry riverbeds on the Martian surface.

Have Astronomers Found Signs of Life in Venus’s Atmosphere? UK-led VERVE Mission Aims to Investigate

Ryan Whalen·July 11, 2025

The VERVE mission seeks to investigate the presence of bacterial life floating in the heavy cloud cover on Venus up close.

Scientists Are Engineering “Moon Rice” for Space Missions That Could Also Feed Earth’s Harshest Habitats

Ryan Whalen·July 11, 2025

Moon habitation and missions to Mars face resupply challenges, which the Italian Moon-Rice project aims to solve with a bioengineered crop.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Just Solved a Key Mystery Behind the Sun’s Superheated Corona

Ryan Whalen·July 10, 2025

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has collected data that evidences the theoretical “helicity barrier,” where turbulent dissipation behaves strangely.

“Can They Really Do That?” Discovery of New Light-Sensitive “Cryorhodopsin” Proteins Could Revolutionize Neuroscience

Ryan Whalen·July 10, 2025

A protein called cryorhodopsin, a molecule found in the coldest environments on Earth, may hold the key to manipulating human brain activity.

‘CosmoCube’ Spacecraft Plans to Listen for Whispers from the Cosmic Dark Ages on the Far Side of the Moon

Ryan Whalen·July 10, 2025

A proposed satellite mission aims to orbit the far side of the Moon to detect faint radio signals from the universe’s cosmic Dark Ages.

“Something Unknown Is at Work” Behind NASA’s DART Planetary Defense Mission—and Astronomers Are Worried

Ryan Whalen·July 10, 2025

Planetary defense scientists say NASA’s DART asteroid redirection mission sent space rocks hurtling on unexpected trajectories.

“E-MERLIN is Showing What’s Possible”: UK Telescope Array Captures a Rare Look at Protoplanetary “Pebbles”

Ryan Whalen·July 9, 2025

New observations from England’s e-MERLIN interferometer telescope array display cosmic pebbles that will one day grow into entire exoplanets.

Theoretical “Dark Dwarfs” Lurking Near the Galactic Center Could Help Reveal Dark Matter’s Secrets

Ryan Whalen·July 7, 2025

Dark dwarfs, stars composed of dark matter, may be the optimal objects in which to finally discover physical dark matter in the real world.

NASA’s SPHEREx Space Telescope Begins Its Groundbreaking Mission to Share All-Sky Mapping Data with the Public

Ryan Whalen·July 4, 2025

NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope has settled into low-Earth orbit, providing a wellspring of publicly available space data.

Discovery of Wooden Pleistocene Tools Demonstrates Earliest Recorded Complex Technology in East Asia

Ryan Whalen·July 4, 2025

Pleistocene tools uncovered from the Gantangqing site in China are the oldest complex wooden technology ever discovered in East Asia.

Groundbreaking New AI Trained on Psychology Studies Can Predict Human Behavior with Stunning Accuracy

Ryan Whalen·July 3, 2025

The new Centaur artificial intelligence (AI) demonstrates an ability to predict human behavior, with an accuracy exceeding any other model.

“There is a Warning Here”: Permian-Triassic Extinction Reveals the Devastation of a Climate Tipping Point

Ryan Whalen·July 3, 2025

An ancient climate tipping point is revealed in new fossils dating back to Earth’s most severe extinction event, called the “Great Dying.”

Researchers Have Cracked the 4,500-Year-Old Genome of a Mummy From Egypt’s First Pyramid Age

Ryan Whalen·July 2, 2025

An Egyptian genome has finally been unraveled, thanks to a sample from an at least 4,500 year-old mummy dating back to the pyramids.

“I Literally Screamed with Joy”: In a Rare Stellar Discovery, Kilonova Project Citizen Scientists Have Made a Breakthrough

Ryan Whalen·July 2, 2025

Citizen scientists working with the Kilonova Project made their first confirmed discovery of a rare exploding star, enabling rapid follow-up observations by astronomers.

Is Cosmic Expansion Losing Steam? Scientists Say Dark Energy’s Grip May Be Weakening

Ryan Whalen·July 1, 2025

Scientists say the dark energy in our universe may be losing its power over time, leading to a slowdown in universal expansion.

A Mysterious Eruption Caused an Extreme Climate Event in 1831. Now Scientists Have Traced It to a Former Secret Soviet Island Base

Ryan Whalen·July 1, 2025

In 1831, a mystery eruption occurred, causing a 1°C drop in global temperatures only recently identified in a paper by scientists.