Scientists from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), conducting a new series of experiments with millions of ultracold neutrons, have determined that the neutral particles do not switch between our universe and a theoretical “mirror universe” containing oppositely charged, identical counterparts of all elementary particles previously proposed by theoretical physicists.

Although the new experiments do not completely disprove the concept of a mirror universe, the experiments do cast doubt on one of the idea’s fundamental principles, making its existence less likely. The team behind the new study said their findings also aid future experiments by eliminating one potential area of inquiry.

Neutrons Are the Perfect Candidate to Test for a Mirror Universe

Although theoretical physicists sometimes propose radical concepts, one such idea proposes a mirror universe where every elemental particle has a “twin.” For example, the authors of the new study explain, there would be mirror protons, mirror electrons, and mirror neutrons. Still, they note, interaction between the particles in our universe and their mirror universe companions is likely to be minimal.

Geza Zsigmond, a researcher at the PSI Center for Neutron and Muon Sciences, said the theory suggests that the two mirror particles “sense each other’s presence” through gravity. Some physicists have even suggested that gravitational interaction with mirror-universe particles could explain dark matter. Unfortunately, experiments designed to hunt for the mirror universe have returned zero positive results.

Bernhard Lauss, leader of the research group for ultracold neutron physics at the PSI Center for Neutron and Muon Sciences, said, “There is no way of proving the existence of mirror particles using gravitational interaction alone.” Fortunately, the theory also offers a second testing possibility.

According to Zsigmond and colleagues, mirror universe particles would interact with our universe either through gravitation or through what they described as a “rare” oscillation of neutrons. This means that neutral particles like a neutron could occasionally disappear from our universe and reappear in the mirror universe. Even more surprisingly, the same theory says that these particles could magically return to our universe as well.

“Based on this hypothesis, neutral particles might oscillate to and fro between our normal matter world and the mirror world,” Lauss said.

The team said that this possibility, combined with new experiments at the Institut Laue-Langevin in France that “rekindled” speculation about the mirror universe, focused their new efforts on this “other” property of mirror universe particles.

Study Finds No Evidence for Neutral Particle Oscillations

After joining up with researchers from ETH Zurich and the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, the PSI team designed a series of experiments that should show if neutrons are zipping back and forth between universes. Zsigmond said that neutrons are ideal to test the concept for two reasons. First, they are neutral particles, and second, the researcher said they have a “strange property” the team hoped to exploit.

“Neutrons appear to have different lifetimes, depending on how this is measured,” Zsigmond explained.

Although several theories have been proposed to explain this discrepancy, the team acknowledged that the varying neutron lifetimes could be caused by some of these neutral particles disappearing from our universe and entering the mirror universe.

First, the team used the high-intensity proton accelerator at PSI to generate the millions of neutrons needed for their experiments. Next, the team slowed the neutrons down, creating what scientists call “ultracold” neutrons.

Next, the researchers trapped the ultracold neutrons in a specially designed non-magnetic stainless steel vacuum chamber. Because the theory suggests that the probability of neutrons jumping between universes is extremely sensitive to magnetic fields, the vacuum chamber was surrounded by magnetic field coils that the researchers could control with the required precision.

Throughout the experimentation phase, the researchers stored 1.5 million ultracold neutrons in the chamber every five minutes. After about 200 seconds, the team would empty the chamber and count how many neutrons remained. The team repeated this process over several months, resulting in the creation, storage, and measurement of approximately 25 billion neutrons.

Lauss said the researchers gradually varied the strength and direction of the magnetic field throughout the process to “scan all the relevant regions in which one might expect oscillations between neutrons and mirror neutrons to occur.” However, Lauss said, “we saw no evidence at all of such oscillations.”

Experiments “Set the Standard” For the Foreseeable Future

When discussing the significance of their findings, the PSI-led team said the lack of evidence of mirror universe oscillation by ultracold neutrons suggests a very high probability that such mirror universe neutral particle roundtrips “can be ruled out.” They also note that failing to find evidence of a mirror universe still resulted in benefits for particle physics by eliminating an area of inquiry.

“By restricting the scope for certain speculations, we are showing researchers in theoretical physics that they need to explore new avenues,” Zsigmond explained. “Physics needs that kind of impetus if it is to continue to evolve.”

Moving forward, the team said that “substantial improvements” to their experiments would require a much more elaborate setup. Until then, they said their experiment and its results are “the best of its kind in the world and will set the standard for the foreseeable future.”

The study “New High-Sensitivity Search for Neutron to Mirror-Neutron Oscillations at the PSI Ultracold Neutron Source” was published in Physical Review Letters.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

Analysis of fallout debris caused by the World War II atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6^th, 1945, has revealed that the event led to entirely new mineralogical and metallurgical phases that created a previously unidentified multicomponent metallic alloy that cannot be produced under ordinary conditions.

The Università degli Studi di Firenze researchers behind the new analysis said that understanding the hiroshimites, the name scientists have given to these unique materials, could offer unique insights into the types of natural events that can also create novel forms of matter. The researchers also note that the explosion site provides researchers with a natural laboratory to study the effects of natural and human-made high-energy events.

Hiroshima Explosion Mimicked Natural High-Energy Events

In a newly published study, Professor Luca Bindi from the university’s Department of Earth Science and colleagues explain that high-energy events like the nuclear explosions that ended World War II generate brief, transient physicochemical environments “comparable in nature to hypervelocity planetary collisions, meteor impacts, and lightning strikes.”

Like nuclear explosions, such naturally occurring events produce extreme temperatures, rapid fluctuations in ambient pressure, and the rapid vaporization of “heterogeneous materials.” These transient environments are followed by a rapid condensation of melts and aerosols generated by expanding fireballs.

The study authors note that these types of extreme environments “can form mineralogical and metallurgical phases that cannot be produced under ordinary conditions.” This includes the Hiroshima bombing, which generated a large nuclear ‘airburst’ over a large urban environment filled with several categories of human-made materials.

“The detonation produced a fireball reaching temperatures exceeding 7000°C within seconds, entraining and vaporizing building materials, soils, metals, glass, and water into a turbulent plasma cloud,” the study authors explain.

More recently, scientists have shown that the event created an abundance of micrometer-to-millimeter-scale “fallout debris” that has remained preserved in beach sands of Hiroshima Bay.

Earlier Studies Found Unique Glasses Created by the Explosion

Before their examination, the researchers noted that previous microanalytical studies of many of the glasses produced during the World War II Hiroshima explosion are dominated by calcium-aluminum-silicon compositions, with microcrystalline traces of mullite and anorthite. The authors said this combination implies that they were formed at “temperatures exceeding ∼1800°C.” Additional analyses confirmed the hiroshimites condensed from a vapor during “rapid cooling” of the fireball.

“Together, these findings established that the Hiroshima explosion produced a previously unrecognized class of anthropogenic high-temperature condensates formed under near-atmospheric pressure but extreme thermal and redox gradients,” they write.

Still, they also suspected that such fireball conditions capable of producing silicates could also produce “chemically complex metallic phases.”

For example, multi-component alloys made from five or more principal metallic elements are typically made through a complex process of controlled melting and solidification. However, they note that the complex process fundamentally requires extreme mixing, high temperatures, and rapid quenching, “conditions that arise during meteorite impacts and in nuclear fireballs.”

At Hiroshima, the explosion vaporized structural steels, aluminum alloys, copper-bearing components, and other industrial metals. In theory, the team said that the formation of such metallic alloys “becomes plausible” under the extreme conditions experienced during the explosion

“Unlike conventional metallurgical environments, such a system would permit stochastic

atomic mixing of diverse metallic species (usually not present in common stainless steels) before rapid solidification, potentially stabilizing metastable phases,” they explain.

Analysis Finds Previously Undocumented Multicomponent Alloy Particle

To test the theory, the study authors examined several hiroshimite samples they suspected may contain complex metallurgical alloys. As hoped, the team successfully identified a sample containing many micrometer-sized metallic fragments. A closer examination revealed the fragments were an alloy of Iron and Chromium. When the team examined these fragments, they found what they termed a “previously undocumented multicomponent alloy particle.”

“The alloy occurs within the same sedimentary units in Hiroshima Bay as the previously described silicate condensates and exhibits microstructural and compositional characteristics consistent with rapid condensation and quenching from a multielement metallic vapor,” they write.

When discussing the scientific significance of the finding, the researchers said their work “expands the known spectrum of materials generated by nuclear detonations.” They also note that the study supports the idea that human-made (anthropogenic) plasma events “can produce complex metallic phases in natural settings.”

“[Hiroshima] provides a unique natural laboratory for studying rapid alloy nucleation under extreme nonequilibrium conditions.”

The study “Discovery of a multicomponent alloy forged by the Hiroshima atomic blast” was published in Science Advances.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced the successful test flight of a fully AI-controlled F-16 fighter aircraft that was specifically modified to serve as an anonymous flight testbed. The successful test comes just months after the same AI pilot software platform successfully piloted a one-of-a-kind X-62A VISTA aircraft in an aerial dogfight against an F-16.

DARPA officials said the successful flight of an aircraft category that is still in use for combat operations advances the state-of-the-art technological infrastructure needed to meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving aerial environment and will enable rapid, scalable combat AI pilot development across the broader U.S. military forces.

“These groundbreaking flight tests of VENOM-modified F-16s advance the infrastructure needed to develop trusted, autonomous air combat capabilities,” said Brig. Gen. James “Fangs” Valpiani, Ph.D., DARPA program manager.

AI-Controlled F-16 Test Flights Part of VENOM Program

According to a statement announcing the successful AI-controlled flights, the F-16 used in the tests was specifically converted to an AI testbed under the agency’s joint venture with the U.S. Air Force, the Viper Experimentation and Next-generation Operations Model (VENOM) program. The specific AI pilot installed in the F-16 is known as the VENOM Autonomy Kit, or VAK.

DARPA said VAK utilizes a “novel interface with the aircraft’s flight controls and mission systems.” This component allows an on-board human pilot to toggle between their traditional control systems and VAK “with the flip of a switch,” ensuring pilot safety during the testing phase where a human is still in the loop.

Valpiani said that the VENOM team installed the AI-controlled VAK interface, which successfully automated the F-16’s sensors and flight controls “without changing the jet’s core software.”

“This enables an efficient pipeline for developing dominant AI for aerial combat, allowing us to rapidly innovate for the warfighter,” the program manager explained.

Creating Dominant Autonomy Beyond Visual Range

When discussing the significance of the successful AI-controlled test flights, Valpiani once again highlighted the “emerging threat environment” in relation to aerial combat, including its increasing complexity.

“AI has tremendous potential to help humans manage this complexity in beyond-visual-range combat, but many hard questions remain concerning the performance and trustworthiness of combat AI in the extreme fog and friction of modern warfare,” explained the project leader, who was due to conclude his tenure as a DARPA program manager in the weeks after the announcement. “The AIR program aims to apply cutting-edge combat agents to operationally relevant scenarios to address these questions and field war-deterring, war-winning capabilities to our warfighters.”

Incoming program manager, Lt. Col. Patrick “Dice” Highland, Ph.D., highlighted the milestone’s role in “advancing our nation’s combat autonomy,” while also offering an eye toward the program’s future.

“We now have the opportunity to create dominant autonomy for beyond-visual-range, multi-ship combat,” Lt. Col Highland said. “These flights give us an early glimpse of how AI agents may begin actively transforming air warfare.”

Moving VAK’s Capabilities “Out of Simulation and Into the Sky”

Following the successful AI-piloted F-16 tests, the specially designed VENOM aircraft will join DARPA as it moves the entire venture under the umbrella of the agency’s Artificial Intelligence Reinforcements (AIR) program. According to the agency, this new program will use the aircraft in the VENOM fleet to “test multiple AI agents in live-flight scenarios.” If successful, DARPA said the program will “pave the way for human pilots to seamlessly command and orchestrate teams of autonomous, uncrewed aircraft.”

Current deputy program manager Terry Wilson, Ph.D., who will remain with the program, highlighted AIR’s longer-term goals of future joint force operations, including Collaborative Combat Aircraft programs. DARPA said that these efforts will focus on improving the speed and predictive ability of AI model development and “scale in-flight testing to multi-ship operations with increased complexity to unlock novel and robust AI-driven autonomy.”

“I share Gen. Valpiani’s deep appreciation for the incredible dedication of our DARPA and industry teammates, joint engineers, the System Program Office, Eglin’s test and maintenance crews, and the entire AIR and VENOM ecosystem which has made this milestone possible,” said Wilson. “I look forward to unleashing the VENOM platform and moving these capabilities out of simulation and into the sky.”

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

The Israeli Antiquities Authority has announced the accidental discovery of a rare, 2500-year-old coin at one of the Ashdod beaches during a routine search for missing objects lost by beachgoers, such as car keys.

Authorities said that the ancient coin, which was made in Cyprus, is the first of its kind ever found in Israel, offering researchers a reliable historical source of information on maritime economic and trade activities in the region during this period.

2,500-Year-Old Coin Covered in Silver, Hinting at Origin

According to a statement emailed to The Debrief, one of the informal everyday duties of the deputy director of the Ashdod Beaches Department is helping locals and out-of-town visitors locate lost items. While these searches typically involve beachfront hunts for jewelry, car keys, and other modern-day items, a recent search led by the current office holder, Avi Chaprak, led to a historic discovery.

According to Chaprak, when he spotted the coin, he noticed it was completely different from other items he was typically tasked with tracking down. Since antiquities laws require such historic items to be handed over, the deputy director immediately passed the unusual-looking coin to the Israeli Antiquities Authority.

After the IAA’s coin department analyzed the coin, they informed Chaprak just how unusual the coin was. First, they explained, the coin was minted in the ancient Cypriot city of Salamis in the mid-5^th century BCE. This date is significant since the coin was made during a time when the Persian Empire ruled the island.

Second, the 11-gram standard coin, known at the time as a “Siglos,” was the first of its kind ever discovered on Israeli soil. The researchers said the first clue hinting at the coin’s origin was its material composition.

“At first glance, it looked to be made of silver,” explained Yanniv David Levy, Researcher and Curator in the Israel Antiquities Authority Coin Department, “but a closer examination showed it to actually be of metal that was only plated with silver; a known phenomenon in Cypriot silver coins from this period, given the shortage of silver on the island.”

A closer examination revealed that one side of the coin depicted a left-facing “recumbent” ram. The other side depicts a left-facing ram head placed within a sunken square frame. Next to the framed ram head is a vertical laurel branch with three symbols below it. The IAA statement said these symbols were “apparently of the Cypriot syllabic script.”

Ancient Finds with Exact Provenance Are Rare

When discussing the historical significance and scientific value of Deputy Director Chaprak’s fortuitous discovery, Levy highlighted two points. First, the researcher said that Persian Empire period coins of this size and value “are rare altogether in the archaeological record.”

“Usually, silver coins of this size were not preserved intact,” Levy explained. “Over time, they were cut into small pieces, for use as local trade currency.”

The research also notes that evidence for this use of ancient silver Cypriot coins is “mainly from inland states in Israel.” As a result, Levy said that discovering a complete Cypriot coin from the coastal area is “unusual on all accounts, and of special historical importance.”

Dr. Evangeline Markou, a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Historical Research, National Hellenic Research Foundation, and a respected authority on ancient Cypriot coinage, agreed. For example, the researcher said, although 2500-year-old Salamis coins were circulating throughout the eastern Mediterranean, “finds with an exact provenance are rarer.”

“Therefore, this coin potentially offers significant information about trade ties and movement between Cyprus and the Land of Israel during this period,” Dr. Markou explained.

“A Reliable Source of Information About Economic and Maritime Ties”

Along with recognition from the media and his colleagues, the IAA’s Coin Department awarded Chaprak with a certificate of appreciation for reporting the coin and delivering it to them. When asked about his role in the historic coin’s discovery, Chaprak said he felt privileged to do his part, while also noting how his own beliefs made the next steps after the discovery obvious.

“For me, it was clear that the coin belonged to our collective heritage, he said. “If through this act I contributed another small piece towards the research and history of the Land of Israel, then that is a great honor for me.”

Levy also highlighted the significance of Chaprak’s discovery and timely delivery of the 2500-year-old coin, noting how it helped preserve the object’s scientific and historical value.

“The circumstances of the discovery and the accurate reporting allow us researchers, not only to identify the coin itself, but also to use it as a reliable source of information about economic and maritime ties that existed in this region some 2500 years ago,” the IAA researcher concluded.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

New analysis of dust deposits left after the massive asteroid hit Earth around 66 million years ago suggests the event created a thick, worldwide dust blanket that drove heat down toward the planet’s surface, resulting in global wildfires.

The researchers behind the new study said the evidence for a post-impact dust blanket and resulting heat wave adds new fuel to the debate about what role, if any, the Chicxulub asteroid played in their extinction, by suggesting most unsheltered animals would have died instantly.

Scientists Debate Connection Between Asteroid Impact and Dinosaur Extinction

While scientists agree that a massive chunk of space rock slammed into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago, they have continued to debate the event’s impact on the end of the dinosaurs‘ reign. Still, the timing of the two events, and the evidence for a mass extinction of animals incapable of seeking the necessary shelter to survive the asteroid’s impact, has led most to connect the two events to some degree.

Further studies of the impact have shown that the event’s immense heat and pressure vaporized a massive amount of rock, resulting in a huge cloud of dust and rock vapor high into the Earth’s atmosphere. As some of that dust condensed into tiny rock ‘spherules’ and slammed back into the surface, the friction between them and the air generated a corresponding heat pulse.

According to the authors of the new study, many theories suggested that this heat pulse acted like a planetary-wide broiler, including “radiating enough heat to sizzle thin-skinned animals without shelter,” but not enough for plants to suddenly burst into flames. The team said that this result temporarily caused researchers to move away from the idea that the immediate impact event caused the dinosaur’s extinction rather than a longer, more drawn-out event.

Now, after years of new ideas, the team said that a 2023 discovery once again changed the debate, leading to their new proposal.

Atmospheric Layer of ‘Post-Impact’ Dust Would Have Magnified Heat Wave 3.5 Times

According to the team’s statement, the 2023 discovery involved a layer of “extremely fine post-impact dust” that could have formed from rock vapor that did not condense into spherules.

“It reinvigorated my interest in what happened to the leftover vapor,” explained Brandon Johnson, a planetary scientist at Purdue University and lead author of the study detailing the new theory, “that’s where this work started.”

To determine what effect such a post-impact dust layer might have had on dinosaurs and other terrestrial animals, the team plugged the new data into previous simulations of the Chicxulub event. Johnson and colleagues especially wanted to know how the dust layer would boost Earth’s retention and release of heat energy generated by the falling rock spherules.

After running several simulations, the team determined that the dust layer would have increased the surface heat by 3.5 times compared to an event that only included the falling spherules. Unlike earlier models, this new version with the dust layer included showed that the heat pulse would have been enough to “kill animals and start spontaneous forest fires.”

“We’re in the realm where we might be essentially killing off everything within that first hour or two,” Johnson explained.

Notably, the researcher said his team’s concept is not unlike alternative extinction theories that credit a global post-impact winter for the eventual mass extinction of dinosaurs and other lifeforms.

“It seems counterintuitive,” Johnson said, “but actually it’s the same effect.”

The research compared the idea to how an insulated mug can keep hot coffee hot and iced coffee cold.

“Once the spherules finished falling and the fires petered out, massive dust clouds could have blocked warmth from the Sun for years to decades and caused a global winter,” the authors explained.

Results Could Help Unravel Why Some Animals Survived, and Others Didn’t

When discussing how the team’s findings might affect the ongoing debate about dinosaur extinction, Johnson said the work seems to offer strong support to the impact extinction theory.

“This work of ours supports this idea that it really is the impact that was devastating to terrestrial life and caused the mass extinction,” the researcher explained.

Although the team suspects that the global fires caused by the dust amplified the heat wave, they point out that a more complete geological record would likely be needed to provide confirmation. Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza, a paleontologist at University College London who was not involved with this study, said researchers could find a record of global wildfires, but “we just don’t have it so far.”

“It would be great to figure out which animals survived right at the impact and what their biological features were,” Chiarenza added. “This could finally tell us why some animals made it when others, like the dinosaurs, didn’t.”

The study “Heat and wildfires during the K-Pg mass extinction enhanced by fine dust” was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

A new analysis of a set of 1.4-million-year-old fossilized footprints found along the shore of an ancient Kenyan lake revealed that the hominins responsible for leaving them were much larger than previously believed, with some specimens approaching the height and body size of modern humans.

The new analysis also determined that discovering a group of footprints belonging to eight different adult males from distant human ‘cousin’ species Paranthropus boisei walking together suggests a complex societal dynamic where males likely competed for females but also worked together for the group’s benefit.

1.4-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Footprints Reveal Unexpectedly Large Body Size

According to a statement announcing the new fossilized footprint analysis, the team behind the research had previously “pioneered” methods allowing science to accurately identify the footprints as belonging to Paranthropus boisei in 2024.

However, lead author Kevin Hatala, of Chatham University and an associated researcher of the Department of Human Origins at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, said the new approach, which analyzes foot anatomy and movement patterns based on the fossilized footprints, revealed much larger individuals than expected.

“The sizes of the footprints indicate human-like body sizes – up to 1.8 meters tall and around 75 kilograms”, Hatala said, noting that scientists studying the rare fossils available for Paranthropus boisei had previously assumed the species was much smaller than the modern human ancestor and contemporary hominin, Homo erectus.

For example, the researchers explain, the “overwhelming majority” of previously identified Paranthropus boisei fossils were skulls with massive jaws and teeth. However, they add, little is known about this ancient hominin’s anatomy from the neck down.

“A Window into Hominin Behavior and Group Dynamics”

Although indirect evidence compared to actual bones, the team notes that fossilized footprints form “very quickly.” This rapid formation helps preserve critical movement and anatomy data that the team notes “can be a useful window into hominin behavior and group dynamics.”

“The fact that eight, mostly adult male, Paranthropus boisei individuals seemingly traveled together as a group, without females or children, hints at a complex social structure in this species”, explained study co-author Neil Roach of Harvard University.

For example, Roach said the ancient footprint makers may have lived in large groups, “where males competed for mates.” However, he notes, the same footprints suggest these competing males “also tolerated each other at times for safety in a dangerous environment.”

“This discovery adds an important behavioral dimension to the fossil record of Paranthropus boisei, a species that lived alongside early members of the genus Homo, yet took a different evolutionary path,” they explain.

Proximity and Environmental Conditions Could Offer More Behavioral Clues

Although the study focused on the 1.4-million-year-old footprints found on the shore of an ancient Kenyan lake, the work joins a growing catalog of ancient hominin footprints left on equally ancient lake shores. To date, the team has documented hundreds of hominin footprints across more than a half-dozen sites in the local region.

When discussing the significance of their findings, the team noted that these 1.4-million-year-old footprints join this larger group in supporting ancient lakes as an “important habitat with critical resources” that our now-extinct relatives relied on for survival. Study co-author Kay Behrensmeyer of the Smithsonian Institution also highlighted the unexpected nature of the discovery of ancient footprint fossils so close to others from a similarly ancient time.

“To me, it is amazing that we have the same kind of lake margin deposits in two areas of East Turkana that are 40 kilometers apart, at about the same age”, the researcher explained.

Study co-author Anna K. Behrensmeyer from the Department of Paleobiology and Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, said understanding the environment and local conditions when the footprints were left could fill in even more missing pieces about this enigmatic ancient hominin.

“If we can understand what geological conditions allowed these tracks to be preserved, we should know more about why hominins continued to return to the lake shore environment over more than 100,000 years,” Behrensmeyer said.

Building a Photo Album of Our Past

When detailing the significance of the new analysis, study co-author Purity Kiura of the National Museums of Kenya said finding these fossilized prints along the margins of Lake Turkana “reinforces the region’s global importance in understanding human evolution, preserving remarkable evidence of how our ancient relatives lived 1.4 million years ago.”

“It further strengthens Kenya’s position as one of the world’s leading paleoanthropological landscapes and highlights our responsibility to protect this irreplaceable heritage,” Kiura added.

From a methodology standpoint, the team noted the benefit of combining new analytical approaches with “exceptional” fossil footprints. They also point out that ancient tracks like the 1.4 million-year-old footprints found in Kenya “can reveal the anatomy and movement of extinct human relatives, while also providing rare insights into their social lives and environments.”

To follow up on their findings, the research team said they plan to return to Kenya later this year and conduct more analysis of the footprints. According to Hatala, this work will help archaeologists and anthropologists fill in missing pieces of hominin history, especially those extinct branches of the evolutionary tree.

“Each site represents a snapshot of our past, and we are quickly building a photo album with several different windows to hominin anatomy, locomotion, behavior, and environments during the Early Pleistocene,” the researcher explained.

The study “Insights into hominin body size, locomotion, and behavior from Early Pleistocene trackways in northern Kenya” was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

New computer models of Venus’s surface features, including ridges likely caused by volcanic activity, have determined that the second rock from the Sun remains geologically active to this day.

The ETH Zurich research team behind the new Venusian models, which suggest that Venus may still have active volcanoes, said their findings could help planned NASA and ESA missions select the most promising targets. The new models could also help in the search for rocky planets outside of our Solar System, including those that may support life.

Venus Previously Considered Geologically Dormant for Over 100 Million Years

Venus has long fascinated planetary scientists due to its similarities. For example, the planet’s mass and circumference make it roughly 95% the same size as Earth overall. However, although Venus’ elliptical orbit brings it closer to Earth than any other planet in the Solar System, its extreme surface temperatures and toxic atmosphere make it inhospitable to life as we know it.

Ground and space observations have detected rift valleys on Venus’s surface, which the research team notes indicate tectonic activity. Some can measure up to 10,000 kilometers and resemble the longest ridges on Earth. Although the timing of Venus’ rift formations remains uncertain, the team said most scientists have typically considered the planet to be geologically dormant. Some estimates have put their formation more than 100 million years ago.

Curious if data captured by space and ground-based observatories could provide enough information to answer the timing question, a research team from ETH led by Taras Gerya, a Professor of Geodynamics at the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, decided to plug that data into computer models. According to their results, the reports of Venus’ demise may have been greatly exaggerated. 

Models Reveal Planet Likely Supports Active Volcanoes

Working under Professor Gerya’s supervision, Master’s candidate and lead author of the paper detailing the team’s work, Xi Yang, and colleagues employed computer models to simulate the planet’s rifts in high-resolution and 3D. The team said these models allowed them to “accurately replicate these rift structures” in a level of detail never achieved. The data also allowed them to perform simulations to best determine how they originally formed.

Critically, the team notes that earlier attempts to model Venus’ tectonic history and potential ongoing activity had been mostly two-dimensional. Yang’s team also said those earlier models had relied on “simplified material assumptions” that his team was able to expand upon.

After completion, the models yielded several compelling results. First, they indicated that the broad ridges geologists call ‘rift flanks’ form along the edges of rift valleys at a time when the rifts are still “geologically young.” Specifically, the team’s models suggested that these flanks formed when Venus was still either actively moving or had only recently stopped moving.

A closer look at the simulations also suggested that these geological rifts open over a much shorter time scale than previously assumed, with an estimated rate between 3 and 10 centimeters per year. The models also indicated that rift flanks tend to flatten very quickly once the movement ends.

“The older the rift system, the less steep and narrow its flanks,” they explained.

A comparison to erosion patterns on Earth also supported a more recent time frame for the rift flank formations spotted on the Venusian surface from the Magellan probe during its 1990s mission. The team said that these formations and their models suggest that “Venus remains an active planet with a more dynamic interior than had been previously believed.”

“Venus remains geologically “alive” and even hosts active volcanoes,” they explained.

Planned NASA & ESA Missions Could Confirm Models

When discussing the implications of their work, Professor Gerya said the findings “help us to better assess the tectonic activity on Venus.” The team noted that their models could also guide future missions by pinpointing potentially active regions worthy of closer examination.

The ETH team said their study also has planetary formation implications, particularly for rocky planets like Venus and Earth. Such data could prove valuable in the search for rocky exoplanets, including the type that may host life.

Moving forward, the study authors noted that NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are actively preparing “multiple missions” to explore Venus in further detail. ETH geophysics professors Paul Tackley and Gerya, and their team of collaborators, are already participating in ESA’s EnVision mission.

The work includes developing instruments for the orbiter to analyze the surface in greater detail. Scheduled for launch in the early 2030s, the team said that EnVision will explore the planet more thoroughly than previous efforts “from its core to its upper atmosphere.”

The study “Recent active rifting on Venus revealed by wide rift flank uplifts” was published in Nature Geoscience.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.

Scientists working at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile have detected evidence for an unusual, ‘moon-like object’ in the CD-35 2722 system that doesn’t appear to orbit a planet.

The research team behind the discovery said the unusual object, which orbits a brown dwarf that orbits a large, Sun-like star, doesn’t fit normal astronomical categories, leaving them unsure what to name it.

If confirmed, the unusual space object would be the first moon without a host planet ever discovered. Such a confirmation would also make the newly termed “exosatellite” the first exomoon of any type discovered outside our Solar System.

Moon-Like Object Part of ‘Super Weird’ System

According to a statement announcing the moon-like object, ESO student Kevin Hoy had been monitoring the CD-35 2722 star system for months. The measurements that spotted the new, moon-like object were taken with the observatory’s CRIRES+ instrument using the radial velocity method that spotted the first planet around a Sun-like star.

During that time, the researcher and lead author of a study detailing the find said he noticed the system was “super weird” compared to our local Solar System. While the star at the center of the system, with a mass of about half of our Sun, was not unusual, they also determined that it is orbited by a brown dwarf. Brown dwarfs are astronomical objects too small to be a star, but too massive to be a planet, making the pairing unusual. Still, it was not unheard of.

However, according to Hoy, when the team spotted a third, smaller object in the system, they were left confused. Measurements indicated it is at least as massive as Jupiter, suggesting it may be a moon orbiting the Brown Dwarf, only without a host planet.

“The satellite we report is a giant gaseous body orbiting a highly massive companion, itself several times the mass of Jupiter,” explained Alice Zurlo, Director of the Millennium Nucleus of Young Exoplanets and their Moons (YEMS) in Chile project and collaborator on the study.

Mysterious ‘Exosatellite’ Defies Traditional Classification

The team has temporarily named the moon-like object an “exosatellite.” However, Hoy said the object’s status as a ‘third wheel’ in the system makes them want to classify it as a moon, “even if it is nothing like the small, rocky moons we have in our system.”

“This system is somewhat hard to define using Solar-System-based words like ‘planet’ and ‘moon’,” the researcher explained. “The exosatellite is clearly massive enough to be a planet, but it does not orbit a star, though it orbits an object that orbits a star.”

Director Zurlo said the differences between the observed system and our own Solar System have added to the difficulty in labeling the moon-like object.

“We have a clear delineation between the planets and the Sun in the Solar System, so defining things like moons is simple,” Zurlo explained. “In the CD-35 2722 system, where we are blurring the lines between stars, planets, and moons, the whole thing becomes more complicated to describe.”

“This System is Truly Unique and Represents a Breakthrough”

When discussing the significance of the moon-like object, Director Zurlo said detecting satellites in other systems will help researchers better understand the diversity in formation and evolution of planets, moons, and other moon-like objects. The director also noted the historical nature of the detection.

“As exotic as it is, this system is truly unique and represents a breakthrough: the first plausible detection of an exosatellite,” the researcher explained.

Moving forward, the team said the increased sensitivity of the 39-meter mirror on the ESO’s in-development Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will allow for the detection of even smaller moons, including potentially spotting moons the size of Earth’s largest satellite. The researchers said such detections will likely force the astronomical community to reconsider how planetary objects are labeled, especially those in systems so radically different from our own.

The study “Planetary-mass exosatellite detected around the substellar companion of a star” was published in the journal Nature.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.

The United States Space Development Agency (SDA), in support of the U.S. Space Force, has awarded contracts to L3Harris Technologies and Sierra Space Corporation to build and deliver 36 Accelerated Missile Defense Tranche 3 (AMDT3) space vehicles (SVs) designed to operate in four distinct orbital planes.

Part of the Tracking Layer for Tranche 3 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), the space vehicles will support the White House’s space-based segment ‘Golden Dome for America’ antimissile defense system to expand the country’s missile tracking and defense network, with a projected delivery date of 2028.

36 Space Vehicles Orbiting in Four Separate Planes Will Aid Missile Defense

According to a statement announcing the awards, the 36 space vehicles will operate across four separate orbital planes. Half of the vehicles covering two of the four orbital planes will be made by Sierra Space Corporation. The statement from the SDA describes the vehicles as “missile warning/missile tracking” SVs loaded with specialized sensor packages. An official at the SDA speaking on background told The Debrief that the details of the sensor technologies and capabilities are not available at this time.

The second half of the vehicle order covering the other two orbital planes will be made by defense technology company L3Harris Technologies. Their award calls for 18 Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS)-like missile defense variant SVs.

When The Debrief asked the SDA for clarification on the term “variant” space vehicles, the official explained that this designation represents the different types of sensor packages that each company will provide. For the L3Harris award, the SDA explained that their sensor is an advancement on earlier work performed with the Missile Defense Agency under the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) program.

Infrared Sensors Will Integrate with a Low-Latency Communication Network

When discussing the significance of the twin awards, the SDA said their deployment will expand the company’s missile defense sensing established in previous phases “in support of homeland defense and theater defense.”

“Each AMDT3 SV will be interoperable with all SDA Tranche 1, Tranche 2, and Tranche 3 SVs and will operate in an integrated fashion through a common ground system,” the statement explained.

They also note that the tracking layer is equipped with infrared sensors “that will integrate with a low-latency communication network.”

“With these awards, SDA is accelerating the deployment of the Tracking Layer to provide the homeland, our deployed forces, and allies with global, persistent indications, detection, identification, warning, tracking, and defense against advanced and evolving missile threats,” explained G.P. Sandhoo, Space Force Portfolio acquisition executive for Missile Warning and Tracking and SDA director. “AMDT3 expands upon SDA’s previous and current Tracking Layer generations — Tranches 1, 2 and 3 — marking another milestone in delivering a resilient, global missile warning, missile tracking, and missile defense capability.”

Future Satellites Will Offer Even Greater Capability to the Warfighter

Although a specific delivery date for each of the company’s separate awards was not made public, the announcement did say they are expected to be available for launch “by the end of 2028.” Once aloft and in their respective orbital planes, the missile tracking and defense space vehicles will be operated and maintained by the U.S. Space Force.

When asked by The Debrief if there are any plans to add capabilities beyond detection and tracking to the multi-layer system in the future, the SDA said future improvements are one of the main pillars of the organization’s business model.

“We use spiral development to deliver new generations of satellites (we call them “tranches”) every few years,” the SDA explained. “Each new tranche represents an enhancement over the previous and offers greater capability to the warfighter, either through additional sensing coverage, or through technology advances (or potentially both).” 

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

NASA’s Juno mission scientists have reported the first successful temperature measurements below the surface of Jupiter’s moon Io, including indications of significant heating within the moon’s shallow subsurface.

Collected during a pair of close flybys of the Solar System’s most volcanically active world, the Juno mission measurements were described as a complete “surprise” since the instrument was designed for a different purpose.

“[The readings] break new observational ground for both fiery and icy worlds beyond our planet,” the team said.

MWR Instrument Designed to Probe Jupiter’s Atmosphere Provides Double Duty

Due to the extreme gravitational pull of its host planet, Jupiter, Io is repeatedly stretched and pulled as its slightly elliptical orbit carries it around the massive gas giant. This repeated motion generates a tremendous amount of heat, which the scientists note is “many times greater” than the same type of heat generated on Earth.

However, a detailed understanding of this process has remained elusive, as the only data on the moon’s inner heat came from infrared telescope observations. The team notes this data is limited to the temperature of Io’s upper rocky surface layer.

Conversely, Juno is equipped with an instrument called the Microwave Radiometer (MWR). According to the team’s statement announcing the successful subsurface temperature detection, Juno’s Microwave Radiometer was custom designed by Scott Bolton, the mission’s principal investigator at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio and a co-author of the study detailing the team’s findings, to “peer beneath Jupiter’s top clouds” for a closer look at the gas giant’s complex atmosphere.

“The MWR’s six microwave antennas serve as a single instrument, simultaneously detecting microwaves at a wide range of wavelengths, from about half an inch to 20 inches (1.3 to 51 centimeters),” the team explains.

“Everywhere We Looked, We Found the Temperature Rising”

Bolton said the team’s novel approach allowed the instrument to observe wavelengths from different depths, “providing a new way to characterize the deep atmosphere of giant planets and the subsurface crusts of icy and rocky moons.” This included observations of Jupiter’s other ‘Galilean’ moons, Ganymede and Europa.

“At Ganymede and Europa, we explored tens of miles below the surface, assuming their ice shells were mostly pure water,” the mission scientists explained.

However, Bolton added, using the instrument to successfully probe into Io’s volcanic rock “was an unexpected discovery.”

The feat was accomplished during a pair of flybys on December 30, 2023, and February 3, 2024, where Juno came within roughly 930 miles (1,500 km) of Io’s surface. Shannon Brown, the paper’s lead author at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said that during these flybys the MWR instrument measured the moon’s thermal emission “at depths ranging from a few inches down to tens of feet.”

“Everywhere we looked, we found the temperature rising by more than 40 degrees Fahrenheit just several feet into the surface — a gradient far steeper than solar heating alone can explain,” Brown said.

Although more information is likely needed to make a conclusive determination, the team said that the data suggests two possible explanations for the readings. The first option is heat rising steadily through what the team termed a “conductive crust.”

“While this background heat flow — measured at 1 to 3 watts per square meter — is relatively gentle on a local scale (roughly equivalent to a small nightlight glowing under every square yard), across the entire moon it represents a release of energy up to 30 times Earth’s average,” they explained.

Another possibility proposed by the joint research team suggested that the heat signal detected by Juno’s MWR could be coming from cooling lava flows covered by 30 to 35 feet (9 to 11 meters) of solidified crust that cover approximately 10% of Io’s surface “at any given time.”

A Similar Instrument Could be Used to Scan Earth

When discussing the implications of the team’s findings, Bolton said the “surprising” ability to see below Io’s surface “has important implications for studying Earth’s volcanoes.” He also noted that if scientists used a similar instrument to measure areas on Earth near volcanoes, they might see a similar heat signature in the planet’s subsurface temperature gradient, “providing new information on how terrestrial volcanoes work.”

“Io provides a unique window into learning how tidal heating works throughout the cosmos, a fundamental process that provides energy and heat to worlds that are far from their parent star,” Bolton explained. “This process can not only create the most volcanic body in the solar system, in the case of Io, but also fuels the subsurface oceans on the moons of giant planets, such as Europa and Ganymede.”

“Up until this point, we could only observe the heat escaping at the surface or through eruptions,” the mission scientists added. “Now we can characterize how the heat is moving from the interior toward the surface.”

NASA has additional information about Juno available at the mission’s official webpage.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.

Archaeologists from the Israeli Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University, conducting excavations in the City of David, have unearthed massive wooden beams burned during the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE.

The research team behind the discovery notes that the huge wooden support beams, which were surprisingly well preserved for ancient wood structures, allow for much more precise dating of the site. The researchers also highlight the apparently deliberate efforts by the city’s rebuilders to leave the ruins in place for future generations to witness.

2,600-Year-Old Wooden Beams Preserved by Melting Plaster

According to a statement emailed to The Debrief, the ancient, charred wooden beams discovered within the Jerusalem Walls National Park were relics from a collapsed building destroyed by “the intense fire of the First Temple’s destruction” over 2,600 years ago.

“The beams appear to have served as the roof of an inner courtyard in a building from the First Temple period,” explained Excavation Director Efrat Bocher.

Although not unprecedented, the team said that finding intact wood relics of this advanced age is rare, since organic materials like wood typically break down over such extended time periods. In this case, they suggest that the surprisingly intact beams were likely preserved by melting plaster, “sealing the burnt wood beneath.”

“During the destruction, they collapsed onto the floor,” Director Bocher explained. “We believe that the plaster cladding of the building’s walls, melted by the fire, covered the charred wooden beams, and ultimately enabled their exceptional preservation.”

Growth Rings Help Archaeologists Narrow the Site’s Dating Range

When discussing the historic and scientific value of the discovery, Dr. Johanna Regev of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who studied the wooden beams up close, noted the exceptional rarity of finding ancient wood with “such a large number” of visible growth rings.

“Here, in the City of David, we found thick beams with many rings, offering significant research potential,” Dr. Regev said.

For example, the researcher explains, more growth rings help scientists date sites and materials with increased precision and “higher dating resolution.”

“Until now, we could date finds within a range of hundreds of years,” Dr. Regev explained. “Now we can attain much greater precision, narrowing the dating range down to as little as ten years.”

City’s Rebuilders Left Ruins in Place as a “Testament to the Destruction”

While the historic site was witness to a tragic destruction, the research team said returning residents beginning to rebuild the city appear to have intentionally left the remains untouched for future generations to see.

“[They] probably made a deliberate decision to preserve the memory of the destruction by leaving behind remains that tell the story of the catastrophe,” the team explained.

Dr. Yiftah Shalev, who directs the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority alongside Prof. Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University, said the idea of a landscape of memory is “familiar from many cultures around the world.”

“Preserving memory is a human need, seeking to preserve what once existed,” Dr. Shalev explained. “Here we see it in its clearest form: a deliberate choice to leave ruins in place as a testament to the destruction and build the new layer over them.”

On a more personal note, Director Bocher noted the serendipitous timing of the discovery “just before Tisha B’Av.” According to Hillel.org, the holiday, which is recognized as the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, “is a day of mourning for tragedies across Jewish history, most particularly the destruction and loss of the first and second Temple and Jerusalem.”

“This discovery makes you feel that you are witnessing the very moment of destruction, the moment when it all happened,” the researcher concluded, adding that “it’s deeply moving.”

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

New analysis of microscopic plant remains collected from ashy pits within Cloggs Cave on Australian Aboriginal nation land confirms that local ancient inhabitants burned chosen grasses for magic and spiritual rituals dating back 25,000 years before present.

The research team behind the new analysis said the evidence also suggests that the ancient cave has been in continuous use throughout the entire timespan, offering scientists a rare glimpse into the magic and spiritual beliefs of Australia’s ancient inhabitants.

Oral Traditions Said Coggs Cave was Used for Magic and Spiritual Rituals

According to a statement announcing the ‘magical’ discovery, 19th-century ethnographic reports recorded a network of caves in Gippsland and the Southern Victorian Alps. Those same reports also noted that local oral traditions suggested that the caves were used by powerful women and men called “mulla-mullung” and other spiritual practitioners for magic, healing, and “cursing” rituals.

Previous archaeological expeditions determined that these caves, including the study site at Cloggs Cave, were occupied throughout the past 25,000 years. However, little direct evidence has been provided to support the oral traditions of magic and healing taking place within the caves.

Instead of cave art or other magical relics that may not have survived the passage of time, the research team, led by Dr Elle Grono, School of Culture, History and Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, focused on phytoliths, which are microscopic silica bodies from plants recovered from Cloggs Cave. To gain insight into the potential uses of Cloggs Cave, the studied phytoliths were recovered from its buried deposits.

When detailing the process, Dr. Grono said that phytoliths have the advantage of mostly accumulating where a plant decays. Conversely, plant pollen can be dispersed by winds or insects, diminishing some of their historic site value. This difference is critical, Grono said, because phytoliths found inside Cloggs Cave must have come from humans or other animals bringing them inside.

“No plants grow inside the cave due to a lack of light, so the phytoliths must have been carried in by people or by animals such as possums on their fur or through their scats,” the team leader explained.

Excavation of Ashy Deposits Includes Unexpected “Standing Stone”

To determine the taxonomic groups of the thousands of recovered phytoliths, the team examined the samples under a microscope. To ensure the samples were from plants brought into the cave by humans and not animals, the team used specimens collected from one pit that was 1.5 meters deep and a second that was 2.3 meters deep.

Grono said the team also exclusively studied half-burnt phytoliths from “ashy” layers within the pits. The researcher noted that this extra selection criterion also helps ensure the samples came from samples brought into the caves by humans, “as unburnt ones might have arrived through either means.”

The top layer of the two pits consisted of 73 thin, ashy layers of burnt plant material. When the research team performed optically stimulated luminescence and carbon dating tests to establish when the material was laid down, the latter via accelerator mass spectrometry,  the results placed the deposition of the material between 4,400 and 1,600 years ago.

When searching through the ashy pits, the team found a 28-cm-high “standing” stone. They note that subsequent analysis showed that the stone was likely erected in Cobbs Cave “by Old Ancestors for ritual purposes around 2,000 years ago.”

The “Old Ancestors” Were Selective About Which Grasses Were Brought Inside

When the analysis was complete, the team had identified 29 different phytolith types representing a wide range of plants. This included woody plants, herbs, and grasses.

The team determined that as much as 97% of the burnt matter came from grass. This included disparate species, such as grasses that prefer temperate or cooler climates and grasses that prefer warm and humid conditions to thrive, deposited in the same ash layer.

“Here we show that the Old Ancestors selected whole grasses from the wider landscape and carried them into Cloggs Cave to spread out in thin layers and burn,”  Dr. Grono said. “Over time, sediments covered these burnt layers, preserving each layer on top of another over thousands of years.”

The researchers said the taxonomic analysis revealed that the “Old Ancestors” were selective of which grass types they brought into the cave and which ones they omitted. For example, they avoided what the team noted were “diverse species” of grasses still plentiful in nearby riparian forest and open woodland before European settlement.

“The phytoliths found at Cloggs Cave were from different parts of grass plants such as stems, leaves, flowers, and roots, indicating that whole grasses were brought in, including the inedible parts,” Grono explained.

Selection and Burning Consistent With “Magic and Rituals”

Although there is no direct record of the reason the ancient people selected and burned grass inside of Cobbs Cave, dating back thousands of years, Professor Bruno David from Monash University, who co-led the excavations with GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Corporation, said the behavior is “consistent with GunaiKurnai traditional practices of using ash to perform magic and rituals.” Professor David also noted the practice could allow the participants to track the footsteps of anyone entering the cave, “including spirit beings.”

The team also found macro-botanical evidence, including fat-smeared trimmed wooden sticks from Casuarina trees, in deeper and older pit deposits. Professor David said this discovery suggests that “other kinds of rituals using woody plants” were also performed in Cobbs Cave.

When discussing the historical significance of the discovery, the researchers said that finding partially or completely burned phytoliths “throughout the dated deposits” suggests that humans intentionally brought selected plants and grasses into the cave and burned them “over the entire timespan of the past 25,000 years.”

The study “Phytoliths from Cloggs Cave, GunaiKurnai Country (southeastern Australia) reveal the gathering of whole grasses for burning practices inside the cave” was published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

Scientists from the Salk Institute have determined that brain waves in the visual cortex serve as a computational engine, allowing the brain to construct internal representations of the external world that enhance prediction, reconstruction, and perception capabilities.

While the scientists behind the new study focused their work on the visual cortex, they suspect that similar brain waves washing over other areas of the brain’s surface likely serve a similar role for other sensory systems.

Unraveling the Role of Traveling Brain Waves in the Visual Cortex

The human brain uses electricity to communicate between synapses. Research has shown that this electrical activity can travel in waves across the brain’s surface. Called neural traveling waves, the phenomenon’s role in brain function and consciousness is not completely understood.

Previous studies have established that traveling brain waves play a significant role in behavior and attention. In 2020, Salk neuroscientist John Reynolds, PhD, successfully identified traveling brain waves in the visual systems of animals during a wakeful state.

According to a statement from Reynolds, the senior and co-corresponding author on the new paper, and colleagues, the 2020 research effort also found a direct correlation between traveling brain waves in the visual cortex and an animal’s ability to perceive objects directly in front of them. The authors suggest this discovery explained the “classic conundrum” of searching for something like a pair of keys or a phone that was right in front of you the whole time.

Although the connection between traveling brain waves and an awake animal’s ability to perceive objects seemed solid, Reynolds said he was left wondering why. 

Process is Analogous to LLM’s Like ChatGPT

In their newly proposed theory, Reynolds and colleagues suggest that traveling brain waves are not simply “electrical noise” resulting from the brain’s normal relaying of signals. Instead, the Salk Institute team proposes that the neural connections responsible for the generation of traveling brain waves change their physiological structure, or “synaptic weights,” to more accurately reflect the outside world.

“Each sight, smell, sound, and action of an animal alters the connections that generate these waves, building the neural circuitry that the brain uses to construct an internal representation of the external world,” the team’s statement explains.

In the visual cortex, the part of the brain responsible for receiving and processing visual information, the team proposed that traveling brain waves perform four distinct functions. These include modulating visual perception from moment to moment and turning recent visual sensory inputs into “internal representations” of objects, people, and surroundings.

The team proposes that traveling brain waves also help humans generate short-term predictions about their surroundings, and “store and replay patterns that represent memories of events unfolding in time.” Reynolds said the process laid out by his team is analogous to how ChatGPT and other LLMs translate and interpret data.

“They learn statistical structure from language and use that knowledge to generate meaningful and appropriately structured text that reflects the patterns of language,” the researcher explained. “The brain may be doing something functionally similar—a biological generative model built from the ground up by experience.”

“One Step Closer” to Understanding How Our Brains Compute the World

When detailing the potential impact of their proposed role for traveling brain waves in the visual cortex, the team highlights the contrast between a rich and complex world and its general predictability.

“Objects around you exist in 3D space, you see the world in retinal images that change with your eye and body movements, and the laws of physics and physiology overlay this all,” they explain.

Reynold’s team says that traveling brain waves are merely the brain’s way of internalizing these predictable “regularities” and encoding them in its synapse network. If correct, they said that this encoding would allow the brain to “infer the likely causes of sensory input and construct an internal model of the world.”

“This framing brings us one step closer to understanding how our brains compute the busy, messy world around us, turning a complicated sensory onslaught into behaviors and experiences,” they conclude.

The study “Neural traveling waves in cortex: network mechanisms and potential roles in neural computation” was published in Neuron.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

A team of scientists exploring a possible deep-sea coral reef off the coast of Benin that 1960s researchers had deemed likely dead found a living, thriving reef supporting a complex underwater ecosystem, including several coral and fish species.

Led by scientists from the Institut de Recherches Halieutiques et Océanologiques du Bénin, the discovery is the first known mesophotic coral reef in the region and offers scientists a tantalizing target for future deep-sea marine-life expeditions.

Deep-Sea Coral Reef Spotted in the 1960s was Considered Dead

According to a statement announcing the unexpected discovery, previous historical surveys of the area had indicated a possible reef more than 50 meters below the water’s surface. When a 1960s survey detected the unusual feature, they suspected it was a coral reef that was likely dead.

When team leader Gérard Zinzindohoué and colleagues studied the features, they suspected that the team from the 60s may have provided them with a golden scientific opportunity. Although the feature’s depth ruled out a typical shallow-water coral reef, the researchers note that it could be an entirely different kind of reef structure, known as a mesophotic coral ecosystem, that can inhabit such depths.

“A mesophotic coral ecosystem lives deeper than the usual shallow coral reefs, in zones where light is much more limited,” Zinzindohoué explained. “Unlike typical shallow reefs, it does not always form a single continuous reef structure. Instead, it can appear as patchy or scattered coral communities spread across the seafloor.”

Instead of using mid-twentieth-century technology to settle the debate, the team turned to the National Geographic Exploration Technology Lab, which provided access to its Deep-Sea Camera System.

“We Could Actually See the Sea Floor”

Following the path set out by the 1960s survey, the team used the underwater camera to map the seafloor with sonar. After several passes, the team covered a total of 11.5 kilometers. Zinzindohoué highlighted the difficulty of the effort, noting that it was “not an easy field campaign.”

“It was a mix of long days at sea, technical problems, and a lot of uncertainty,” the researcher explained. “But then we saw structures on the sonar that looked like they could be reef signatures, which gave us hope that we were close.”

The closer the team drove the Deep-Sea Explorer’s cameras, the more the shockingly unexpected scene began to unfold.

“That was a big moment for us, because suddenly we could actually see the seafloor,” Zinzindohoué said.

Instead of the dark, lifeless structure anticipated by the original survey team, the new team found a healthy reef containing eight distinct types of coral. The system was also actively supporting eight fish species, with the camera capturing them feeding and sheltering among the corals. The species identified by the team include golden African snappers, blackbar soldierfish, Guinean angelfish, West African goatfish, the Monrovia doctorfish, three-banded butterflyfish, and two distinct species of damselfish.

“I still remember seeing those first images,” Zinzindohoué recalled of the vibrant ecosystem lying directly in front of the cameras. “It was a mix of excitement and disbelief, because after all this time thinking about this reef, suddenly there was something real in front of us.”

More Research Needed to Determine if the Coral Reef Was Ever Dead

When discussing the discovery’s significance, Zinzindohoué said that to the team’s knowledge, “this is the first confirmed record of a living mesophotic coral ecosystem on the Gulf of Guinea continental shelf.”

Although the cameras captured a complex ecosystem, the researchers said that the reef does not appear to be a continuous barrier. Instead, the deep-sea environment consists of several patches of coral that occupy rocky seabed areas most suitable for their survival. Still, they add that further surveys may identify more reefs in the same area.

“I think what we found is probably not an exception,” Zinzindohoué said. “It is more likely a reflection of how little we still know about coastal regions in West Africa and elsewhere. If we were able to find this reef again after 60 years, how many others are still undocumented or simply forgotten?”

Since the team was unable to sample the corals directly, they were unable to confirm the species identification with genetic analysis. The team was also hesitant to condemn the original 1960s survey, noting that it is impossible to tell, without more data, whether the corals were dead at the time and have since rebounded.

“This is still an initial exploration,” Zinzindohoué said. “The historical reports suggested that this could be a continuous coral reef barrier extending roughly 40 kilometers parallel to the coast. We only surveyed a small section of this area, and we had a limited number of visual transects.”

Although there are no immediate plans for a return expedition, the research leader said the only thing holding them back from learning more about these ecosystems, which are “still poorly known in this part of the world,” is adequate financial support.

“If I had all the grant money in the world, the first thing I would do is return to the site with a proper scientific diving and sampling program,” he said, before adding that “every additional piece of information matters.”

“I do believe there are more coral systems out there that we have not yet documented,” he said. “But we should not assume they are everywhere. Each discovery needs to be confirmed. Without going back into the field, we are really just guessing.”

On a personal note, the team leader said the most exciting part is understanding the reef’s history and the lessons that can be gleaned from this underexplored region.

“It feels like we have only just started to read an archive that has been there for a very long time.”

The study “First evidence of live mesophotic coral reefs on the Benin continental shelf” was published in Frontiers in Marine Science.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

Researchers from the University of British Columbia studying material from the mysterious dinosaur-killer meteorite that wiped out 75% of Earth’s species, including non-avian dinosaurs, have determined the doomsday space rock was likely a rare type of carbonaceous chondrite.

Although the international team behind the discovery, which includes researchers from Paris, Brussels, and Vienna, said the evidence for this category of “oddball” meteorite offers a viable solution to its mysterious composition, they note that the rarity of chondrite meteorites makes its origin a new mystery that needs to be solved by future research.

They also note that a chondrite meteorite impact would have much less effect on atmospheric sulfur, which is critical to most extinction models, potentially casting doubt on its central role in dinosaur extinction.

Many Details About the Dinosaur Killer Meteorite Remain a Mystery

According to a statement, the Cretaceous-Paleogene impactor resulted in one of the largest extinction events in the planet’s history. While most scientists agree that the event played a significant role in ending the dinosaurs’ reign, the study’s authors note that “the exact mechanism and the extent of the impact-extinction link are debated.” They also note that the origin and composition of the dinosaur killer have remained a mystery.

An analysis of the Chicxulub impact structure reveals that the doomsday dinosaur-killer meteorite was between 10 and 15 kilometers (approximately 6 to 9 miles) wide. Estimates also suggest it impacted Earth at 64,000 km/m (40,000 mph) beneath the modern-day Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.

Although previous studies identified the meteorite as similar to carbonaceous chondrites, the researchers said that carbonaceous chondrites are a diverse class of space rock, “leaving the exact nature of the impactor unclear.”

“Carbonaceous chondrites of the Ornans class (CO) are definitely not like the typical meteors you find in museum collections,” explained study co-author and visiting professor Dr. Philippe Claeys.

For example, the professor explained, a CO contains fewer volatile elements, such as zinc, carbon, Sulphur, and H20 “than other classes of meteorites we’ve discovered so far on Earth.”

One Mystery Solved

To try to unravel the mystery of the dinosaur-killer meteorite, the researchers teamed up with scientists from the Institut de Physique du Globe and the Université de Paris to conduct high-precision nickel isotope measurements of meteor samples from the event that have been collected over the years from the thin, worldwide layer of clay created by the explosive impact.

Dr. Claeys, a professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, currently visiting the Pacific Center for Isotopic and Geochemical Research in Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at UBC, noted the challenging nature of the isotopic analysis, primarily due to the limited number of samples.

“Only a minute fraction of the projectile is preserved in the planet’s KT clay layer because the entire meteorite vaporized upon impact,” the researcher explained.

Still, the study authors explain, evaluating Nickel isotopes offers several advantages over other testing methods. For example, Nickel has five isotopes that the researchers note  “allow for up to three separate internally normalized signatures.” They also highlight the availability of Nickel in “virtually all types of available early Solar System solids,” including iron meteorites, which allows for comparison with a wide variety of potential impactors.

Finally, they write, CI chondrites have a distinct Ni isotope signature from the rest of the class, therefore “making it possible to distinguish a CI-like impactor clearly” from other meteorite types.

After completing an isotopic analysis of samples of marine clays containing microscopic pieces of the ejecta, the team said their results “constrain the impactor to one group of carbonaceous chondrites, CO chondrites, “ as well as some evidence for “ungrouped chondrites.”

“By combining our new Ni isotope data with the existing evidence, we demonstrate that the composition of the Chicxulub impactor was most likely CO chondrite-like,” the researchers write, adding that this identification is possible “given nickel’s high abundance in primitive meteorites compared to the Earth’s crust and the distinct isotope compositions they record.”

A New Mystery is Created

While the isotopic analysis offers a compelling solution to the composition of the famed dinosaur-killer that slammed into Earth millions of years ago, the team said the identification casts doubt on the extent of its role in the dinosaurs’ extinction. Specifically, they note that CO chondrites are “dry” compared to others in their class, meaning they contain much less of the volatiles that most extinction theories cite as a significant mechanism.

“As highly volatile elements, such as C, N, and S, in CO chondrites are less abundant than in the typical CCs, questions arise whether the impactor was an essential contributor to the volatiles released during the impact,” they explained.

The most important volatile in most extinction theories is Sulfur (S). However, the authors note, CO chondrites would deliver “approximately half as much S” as more common types.

If the new analysis is correct, it also puts the dinosaur-killer’s origin in question. The authors note that possible sources include distant, debris-rich regions of the outer Solar System or even the outer area of the asteroid belt near Jupiter.

Combined with the compositional analysis lacking volatiles, the team notes that their findings allow “further studies of the mechanism behind the extinction.”

Finding “Doesn’t Alter Our Theory” of What Caused Land Dinosaur Extinction

When discussing the potential implications of their findings, the researchers said their study “highlights the extraterrestrial origin of the K-Pg mass extinction and the isotopes of Ni as a well-suited tool to characterize the nature of extraterrestrial material on Earth.” They also note that the composition of the dinosaur-killer “opens the door for further research into the connection between the impact and the mass extinction.”

From a scientific perspective, the research said their work “highlights the use of Ni isotopes in fingerprinting extraterrestrial materials on Earth,” and helps evaluate the risks associated with “potential future impact events and their consequences.” The study also shows how even an uncommon type of space rock can permanently alter the planet’s history.

“Being impacted by such a rare, distant projectile really underscores how unlucky the dinosaurs were,” Dr. Claeys said.

The researcher also noted that the lack of volatiles in this category of meteorite “doesn’t alter our theory of what caused the extinction event.” However, he notes, if correct, the result “makes it less likely that Sulphur contained in the impactor was the smoking gun.”  Instead, the fine debris “thrown into the atmosphere” by the forceful impact would have been the primary factor in the end of the dinosaurs.

The study “The origin of Cretaceous-Palaeogene impactor revealed by nickel isotopes” was published in Science Advances.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

An international research team led by Harvard scientists has announced the first-ever detection of an atmosphere on an Earth-like rocky exoplanet, LHS 1140 b, orbiting within its star’s habitable zone, only 48 light-years away.

The researchers behind the historic discovery, which they are calling “a major milestone in the search for life on other planets,” said the detection of an atmosphere on an Earth-like rocky exoplanet offers the strongest evidence to date that worlds with similar compositions and temperatures to Earth that are also capable of supporting life could exist beyond our solar system.

Models Predicted First Earth-like Rocky Habitable Zone Exoplanet Atmosphere

In a statement announcing the detection of an atmosphere around a habitable-zone rocky exoplanet, the discovery was motivated by theoretical predictions suggesting that LHS 1140 b may contain an atmosphere. The planet was even more tantalizing because its orbit around its host red dwarf star allows for liquid water on its surface, a key ingredient for life as we know it.

Although thousands of exoplanets have been confirmed since 1995, including habitable-zone rocky worlds similar in size and composition to Earth, the team notes that determining whether any of these potential Earth analogs maintain an atmosphere. Like water, an atmosphere is considered a likely necessity for life to emerge.

“An atmosphere is essential for a planet to support life as we know it,” explained Collin Cherubim, the lead author of a study detailing the findings, who recently earned his Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University.

Robin Wordsworth, the Gordon McKay Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering and Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard, said that as recently as twenty years ago, astronomers still didn’t know if other, terrestrial-type planets “even existed.” However, he explained, they quickly found that this type of planet was common, including some orbiting within their star’s habitable zone.

“The next question was whether any of them had managed to keep an atmosphere,” the professor added.

Infrared Observations Confirm Historic First  

Before performing any direct observations, the team used computer models to predict what they might find on LHS 1140 b. As noted, those models predicted an upper atmosphere rich in helium. The models also suggested that the atmospheric helium was slowly escaping into space.

To test the model’s predictions, Cherubim and colleagues gained access to the Warm Infrared Echelle (WINERED) Spectrograph on the Magellan Observatory in Chile. The team noted that this powerful telescope allowed them to observe an alignment of LHS 1140 b and another planet transiting its star “on the same night.”

When analyzing the data, the team found that one of the planets appeared to lack any measurable atmosphere. However, as their models had predicted, helium was actively escaping from LHS 1140 b. The finding confirmed that this rocky exoplanet orbiting within its star’s habitable zone was actively maintaining an atmosphere.

David Charbonneau, the head of the Harvard Department of Astronomy and an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and Cherubim’s co-advisor with Wordsworth, was initially skeptical because the entire concept was based on a mathematical prediction of a phenomenon astronomers had never witnessed directly. However, Professor Charbonneau ended up praising the student’s determination and follow-through, which led to the historic detection.

“Collin analyzed the planets we knew about and predicted that this one would have a helium atmosphere,” Charbonneau said. “Then he organized telescope time, got the data, and the detection was statistically rock solid.”

“Hopefully it’s just the First of Many More Observations to Come”

When discussing the implications of the findings, Cherubim noted that “this is the first time anyone has found an atmosphere on a rocky planet in the habitable zone of another star.” Professor Wordsworth agreed, once again noting that until now, planets in these categories with atmospheres had been purely theoretical.

“Now we know at least one has,” the professor said.

The data also suggest that LHS 1140 b’s atmosphere has likely survived for more than three billion years, roughly three-quarters of Earth’s existence. This durability makes LHS 1140 b an excellent candidate for future exoplanet atmosphere studies.

More broadly, the team said that using ground-based observatories to search for escaping gases, such as the helium detected leaving LHS 1140 b, “may become an important tool for studying atmospheres on rocky exoplanets.” They also note the potential value of atmospheric detection for astrobiologists searching for signs of life in the cosmos.

As for Cherubim, he plans on following up his historic discovery with a more detailed analysis of the planet’s atmospheric composition. He also said he would like to investigate the possible presence of surface oceans or other planetary characteristics typically associated with habitability and life. The entire team also said they would like to use Cherubim’s model to search for similar Earth-like, habitable-zone rocky exoplanets.

“This has been a model validation, and hopefully it’s just the first of many more observations to come,” Cherubim said.

The study, “Helium escaping from the atmosphere of a nearby rocky exoplanet orbiting in a habitable zone,” was published in Science.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.

An international team of researchers has demonstrated a new biosignature detection method for distinguishing between abiotic and biotic apatite mineral samples on Mars using instruments already aboard the Perseverance Rover, rather than returning samples to Earth.

The team said their mineral-based biosignature detection approach was successful in identifying samples with nearly 98% accuracy and allows for “deeper time” searches for signs of life, given the longer-lasting nature of minerals compared to biological materials. They also suggest their approach could broaden the capabilities of upcoming rover and life-hunting missions without adding new tools or sensors.

Advantages of a Mineral-Based Approach for Hunting Biosignatures

In a study detailing the team’s technique, Robert M. Hazen from the Carnegie Institution for Science and colleagues explained that searching for life and biosignatures beyond Earth “is a central objective of astrobiology.” They also note that this research is complemented by studies exploring the origin and early evolution of terrestrial life. Still, they add, although identifying biosignatures remains a key challenge, “robust mineral biosignatures remain limited.”

For example, most proposed biosignature missions focus on organic molecules or searching for fossils preserved in sedimentary environments or aquatic environments, including the subsurface oceans of some of the solar system’s moons. However, there are few, if any, proposed missions searching for signs of life preserved in mineral records, which the team notes “can retain records of biological activity over much longer geological timescales”

On Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover has meticulously collected soil and rock samples deemed most likely to contain biosignatures. However, efforts to send a future sample-return mission to the red planet to retrieve samples are currently stalled and may never be completed.

According to the study authors, there are flight-ready instruments “already deployed on the “Perseverance” rover and planned for deployment on the “Rosalind Franklin” rover capable of searching for signs of life in place rather than returning the samples to labs on Earth. However, they add, “to fully exploit these mission-limited yet information-rich tools, it is essential to efficiently extract as much diagnostic value as possible from the data they generate.”

To search for mineral-based biosignatures, the team focused its research on Raman spectroscopy.

Using Instruments Already Aboard Mars Rovers to Search for Life

“Raman spectroscopy is particularly attractive because it provides bond-specific information on crystal structure and chemical substitution in a nondestructive manner,” they explain.

The team also notes that the Raman spectra acquired by the rover’s instruments “are highly comparable to those obtained under laboratory conditions,” increasing the robustness of any possible life signal.

“This consistency enables direct translation of laboratory reference datasets to planetary environments,” they write.

However, they add, Raman spectra from natural geological samples are often complex, including “overlapping vibrational modes, heterogeneous backgrounds, and chemistry-dependent band shifts.” Until now, this complexity has made interpreting samples based on individual spectral peaks or qualitative inspection inherently challenging.

“Identifying reliable biosignatures that can be detected by flight-ready instruments, such as Raman spectroscopy, remains a central challenge in astrobiology,” the researchers explain. “Developing robust mineralogical indicators of life therefore represents a critical and complementary approach for planetary exploration.”

Approach Distinguishes Abiotic and Biotic Features

To test their approach, the team focused on the mineral apatite. A ubiquitous phosphate, the team notes that apatite can be found “in terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments.” Although apatite is a major component of biological formations such as teeth and bones, it also forms naturally, providing an opportunity to search for biosignatures over much longer timescales if scientists can differentiate the two.

“Here, we integrate Raman spectroscopy with interpretable machine learning to distinguish biotic from abiotic apatite, a ubiquitous phosphate mineral in terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments,” the researchers write.

First, Hazen and colleagues compiled 331 Raman spectra samples. Critically, they included only specimens with known origin attributes: biogenic, abiogenic, or synthetic.

Next, they used this data to extract 21 “band-resolved features.” This was accomplished by training a random forest classifier to identify the “most diagnostic” features of each sample.

“Determining the origin of a sample involves assessing multiple independently varying features of a Raman spectrum, including band positions, widths, and relative intensities, the type of multivariate analysis well suited to machine learning,” the study authors explain.

After some comparative analysis, the team ultimately determined that a sample’s carbonate band and the width of the dominant phosphate band, “reflecting chemical composition and crystal structure, respectively,” were the strongest indicators of biological, natural, or synthetic origin.

After using their method to check the 311 samples, the team said the model successfully  distinguished biotic from abiotic apatite “with classification accuracy exceeding 96%.” In fact, the team reported that their mineral-based biosignature detection method misidentified only one biotic apatite sample as abiotic and one abiotic sample as biological.

“Here, we show that biologically formed apatite can be distinguished from abiotic counterparts using interpretable machine learning applied to Raman spectra,” the study authors write.

Life Detection Across Diverse Planetary Environments

When discussing the potential implications of their new mineral-based biosignature detection approach, the team noted that their findings establish a “broadly applicable and mission-relevant strategy for deep-time archives and future planetary missions.” More broadly, the researchers note that their findings highlight the “growing importance of combining flight-ready analytical instruments with AI” to fully leverage datasets already captured by Mars rovers and other “in situ” planetary missions.

“As planetary exploration increasingly shifts toward autonomous decision-making and target selection, the integration of interpretable AI with mineralogical biosignatures offers a powerful and extensible framework,” they write.

Beyond mineral-based biosignature detection strategies, the research team notes that future life hunting missions will “increasingly rely on the joint interpretation of mineralogical and organic spectroscopic signatures.” These include on-board py-GC-MS measurements, infrared spectroscopy, luminescence, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence, and “other analytic methods.”

Future approaches will increasingly rely on AI to analyze these disparate datasets, which the authors note will allow for biologically mediated patterns to be distinguished from natural or synthetic backgrounds “in a physically and chemically consistent manner.”

“In this context, such an integrative and interpretable framework provides a pathway toward autonomous, mechanism-informed life detection across diverse planetary environments, advancing the broader goals of planetary science in understanding habitability, biosignature preservation, and the coevolution of geology and biology,” the authors conclude.

The study “Mineral biosignature identification from Raman spectroscopy using machine learning” was published in PNAS Nexus. 

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.

Scientists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have unveiled a method for tracking silently moving underwater and surface objects by using existing fiber-optic cables to measure water displacement.

The scientists behind the novel detection approach, which was designed to detect whales even when they aren’t vocalizing, also demonstrated the method’s ability to track surface ships and potentially underwater vessels, such as submarines, that traditionally rely on silence for stealth.

Tracking Silently Moving Whales and Other Objects

In the research team’s study, the authors explain that it is already possible to record and reconstruct marine mammal vocalizations, including those of whales, using seabed fiber-optic cables. They note that the current method, called distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), allows scientists to passively monitor whale behavior, “enabling both the detection of vocalizations and the simultaneous tracking of multiple individuals.”

However, they add, although this data can prove valuable in tracking these increasingly endangered animals, “it has not been possible to track marine mammals when they are silent.”

“A fundamental limitation of passive acoustic monitoring is that most methods rely on acoustic data, which is only available when whales vocalize,” the study authors explain, adding that this limitation “clearly demonstrates the need for new sensing methods that can detect silent whales.”

Although the researchers propose several methods, including combining DAS data with satellite and observational data to paint a more complete picture, they also note a “second path” that involves exploring current datasets to discover new, valuable acoustic signatures even when the animals are silent.

Detecting Hydrodynamic Pressure Changes Caused by Ships and Animals

When exploring new ways to interpret DAS data collected by seabed fiber-optic cables, the team explained how low-frequency strain variations may arise from “a range of physical mechanisms.” These include hydrodynamic processes “associated with moving objects.”

For example, the authors explain, when a ship moves across the ocean surface, it pushes water ahead of it and draws water along in its wake. This motion through the water medium generates a strain on the surrounding water described as a hydrodynamic pressure field. According to the team, this motion-induced pressure field  “extends downward through the water column.”

“The displacement of water generated by moving whales and ships induces a moving hydrodynamic pressure field that extends through the water column, dynamically loading and unloading the seafloor,” they explain.

Changes in this pressure field caused by moving objects cause sediments on the ocean floor to deform laterally and vertically. In areas of the seafloor with fiberoptic cables buried underneath, the DAS system records this “lateral deformation” of the sediments, which “translates into strain that can be observed in the DAS data.”

“This means that no acoustic signal is involved, and we can ‘listen’ to silent whales,” they write.

Tests Demonstrate Tracking Surface Ships and Submerged Whales

To calibrate their approach, the team used surface ships as “proxies” in a series of field experiments. According to their study, the four interrogator units (IU) were installed “during the DAS experiment on Svalbard in 2022.” Then, another unit was installed in Longyearbyen in March 2025. Although the study focuses on the newer IUs, the team notes that all the experimental data “was used to analyze how coupling affects the detectability of hydrodynamic pressure field signatures and how the signal characteristics change with increasing source-receiver distance.”

In those experiments, the team investigated four ships of different sizes. Notably, all ships were observed at a depth of 70 to 80 meters and were traveling at roughly the same speed. Critically, ship size, speed, and route data can be verified externally, providing a check on the study’s results.

“Ships are observed in the DAS data year-round, and the AIS is available to confirm which ship is sailing above the fiber and at what time,” they explain.

As expected, they found that the DAS signal amplitude “scales with the size of the ship.” For example, the smallest ship they observed barely registered above the background noise, making it the hardest to track. Conversely, the largest vessel tracked by the team, an icebreaker, left the clearest signal.

The researchers also demonstrated the ability to observe hydrodynamic pressure and velocity signals from a cruise ship at a water depth of 413 m, “and up to 550 m from the fiber cable.” However, when the team searched for whales, the range was much more limited.

“The smaller blue whales can be observed when diving within 40 m of the fiber-optical cable,” they explain.

During a dedicated test segment, the team monitored what they interpreted as several silently moving whales traversing through the detection zone. Although they were unable to independently confirm they were whales in the same way they could confirm the ships, the team notes that “multiple lines of analysis support the interpretation that whales are responsible for the observed signals.”

The team also notes that AIS data confirmed that no acoustic ship signatures were present “in the time window studied.” They add that this result “reduces the likelihood that the observed low-frequency signals originate from vessels.”

The Signal Amplitude Decreases with Increasing Distance From the Fiber

When discussing the implications of their findings, the team said their data shows that the observed low-frequency response captured by the fiber-optic cables “is consistent with translating hydrodynamic pressure fields generated by the displacement of water by moving ships and other large bodies such as whales.”

“This sensing method enables an approach to monitoring one of the world’s most endangered species,” they explain, adding that it is even more effective at detecting submerged objects than at detecting surface ships.

“A fully submerged object generates a more symmetric pressure field, while a surface-bound ship produces a truncated field due to the air–water interface, which limits the downward extent of the pressure field,” the study authors write.

When discussing the limitations of their innovative, silent, object-tracking approach, the team notes that it is only effective for tracking smaller ships and whales at close range.

“Kvitungen is the smallest ship investigated in this work and is barely observed above the noise floor for a water depth of ∼75 m,” they write. “Blue whales are even smaller and are unlikely to be detected at distances greater than approximately 30 to 40 m from the fiber.”

The team also notes that although larger ships generate stronger signals than smaller ones, “the signal amplitude decreases with increasing distance from the fiber.”

Other limitations involved data returns suggesting whales that were either “abnormally long or surprisingly small.” The team said this seemingly impossible result “underlines that our simple model needs further development to obtain more precise results.”

The study “Detecting silent whales using seabed fiber-optic cables” was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). 

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.

An international team of geophysicists examining the Southern Indian Ocean floor witnessed a section greater than two meters split apart, releasing millions of cubic meters of stored-up magma within just a few days.

Jean-Yves Royer, a marine geophysicist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Brest and a co-author of the study detailing the team’s serendipitous discovery, said witnessing the ocean floor splitting apart in real time was “a major surprise,” while the team hailed the scientific value of finally witnessing these processes up close.

Scientists Have Never Witnessed The Ocean Floor Splitting Apart in Real Time

Because the ocean floor is dynamic, the movement of tectonic plates pulling the existing crust away from mid-oceanic ridges allows magma to well up to the surface. When it dries, this material solidifies, adding to the existing crust. While scientists have understood this process for decades, no one has ever witnessed the phenomenon directly. This absence has left a gap in scientific knowledge that, as study co-author Isobel Yeo, a geoscientist at the National Oceanography Center in Southampton, UK, notes, persists to this day.

“We still know remarkably little about the frequency, magnitude, and dynamics of the eruptions and tectonic processes that build them”, the researcher explained

To try to fill that gap, the team focused its research on a section of the seafloor called the Southeast Indian Ridge, which runs east to west across the Indian Ocean. Due to its location, the ridge separates two tectonic plates, the Antarctic and the Australian.

The team notes that these two plates, which contain Antarctica and Oceania and the surrounding oceanic crust, are continuously moving in opposite directions by roughly six centimeters each year. Although both plates are exerting stress on the ridge, the team said the northward movement of the Australian plate accounts for most of this annual expansion.

The motion dynamics can also change by location. For example, one section of the Australian plate may stay stationary for a period and then suddenly experience a large surge in motion. These sudden events are accompanied by earthquakes. 

Ocean Floor Movement in Real Time

In hopes of catching the ocean floor splitting in real time, Royer and colleagues ventured to the Southeastern Indian Ridge in February 2024. Once on site, the team deployed three categories of sensors at several different locations along a 100-kilometer stretch of the ridge. The sensor array included five hydrophones that detect underwater sound, including the telltale sonic waves produced by earthquakes. The team also deployed 15 battery-powered acoustic beacons designed to emit and detect sounds at selected locations along the ridge.

Because the acoustic beacons can produce and receive sounds, the team programmed them to exchange audio signals every four hours. This regular exchange allowed the team to measure the time between sound and response, which they used to determine the distance between the two beacons at four-hour intervals.

After the sensors were all in place, the team’s efforts finally paid off. According to the study, the carefully placed hydrophones began to detect seismic tremors on the ocean floor. These signals were followed by several days of acoustic beacon returns, indicating some of the stations had moved. When the team calculated the time between beacon signals, they determined that some sections of the ocean floor had moved by “at least” two meters as they were pulled away from the ridge.

The team also found evidence that the ocean floor was splitting apart in real time, altering the ocean floor’s depth. According to a reading from a single pressure sensor, the depth change caused by the event was “substantial.”

a rare direct view of these processes in action

In the study’s conclusion, the research team estimates that 160 million cubic meters of lava rose between the split ocean floor and spilled onto the seafloor. They also suggested that the magma explosion emptied a reservoir that had accumulated along the ridge, which caused portions of the floor to “subside.”

Royer said the team was only expecting to find a vertical displacement of “a few centimeters.” Instead, he notes, “we measured 4.2 meters.” The team said this large amount of change suggests that three to six decades’ worth of stress from the northward movement of the Australian tectonic plate was released during the ocean-floor-splitting event.

When discussing the significance of witnessing the ocean floor splitting apart in real time for the first time, Yeo said their study “provides a rare direct view of these processes in action.”

The study “Anatomy of a seafloor spreading event captured by in situ seismogeodesy” was published in Nature.

 Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.

Scientists from Arizona State University have performed computer simulations suggesting viable methods for controlling the weather by ‘nudging” systems in their development stages with proven technologies to mitigate or even completely avoid the damage from extreme weather events.

Although the new approach, which the team termed “Weather Jiu-Jitsu,” hasn’t been tested in real-world conditions, the researchers behind the new perspective paper outlining the process said it could help humans better prepare for severe weather systems by finding ways to live with nature rather than reacting to it.

Controlling the Weather Could Mitigate Property Damage and Loss of Life

When detailing their approach, ASU researcher Qin Huang and colleagues highlight the historical damage caused by extreme weather events, including floods, heat waves, droughts, and ‘freezes.’ In addition to the loss of life, estimates suggest that climate extremes caused $417 billion in damage in 2024 alone.

The paper’s authors also note that such extreme weather events “are increasing in frequency and intensity,” a trend research suggests is strongly driven by rising global temperatures. Although there have been some efforts to mitigate the effects of extreme weather, the paper’s authors write that increasing populations and continued climate change “heighten exposure to risks that conventional infrastructure cannot fully address.”

“The growing impact of weather extremes on society highlights that traditional approaches such as dams, levees, and insurance alone may not be sufficient to address the widespread consequences of these hazards,” the authors write.

To explore alternatives, the team wondered if small adjustments to burgeoning weather systems could redirect their paths or lessen their severity. In some ways, it’s like redirecting an incoming meteor to miss the Earth or hit it at a more oblique angle to lessen the impact.

“Imagine harnessing the power of nature to help steer hurricanes away from land, redirect atmospheric rivers to spread their rain safely and evenly, or defuse extreme weather patterns like heatwaves, freezes, or prolonged droughts before they take hold,” Huang and colleagues write. “It’s a vision where we partner with Earth’s own forces to create resilience, rather than reacting to disasters. We call it Weather Jiu-Jitsu.”

‘Nudging’ Weather System Trajectories with Weather Jiu-Jitsu

When detailing how the process would work, the team explained that Weather Jiu-Jitsu takes advantage of the “chaotic sensitivity of mid-latitude atmospheric dynamics to redirect destructive weather trajectories through small, precisely timed perturbations,” using forecasting models that project system paths and intensities.

“Our thesis is that Weather Jiu-Jitsu, i.e., adaptive chaos control applied to mid-latitude atmospheric dynamics, may provide a 21st century approach to managing a range of extreme weather events by nudging the system trajectories,” they explain.

Due to the challenges and risks of testing weather-control methods in real-world conditions, the researchers developed proof-of-concept computer simulations. Critically, their approach used established models of atmospheric circulation and a large-scale artificial intelligence “deep-learning Earth system” model, Aurora, designed to predict weather at high resolution.

According to the team’s research, carefully timed seeding of clouds could have major impacts on a storm’s path and intensity, noting that “nudges applied days before peak impact can shift a hurricane track to avoid landfall on a major city, weaken the peak intensity of a blocking-driven cold extreme, and reduce atmospheric river moisture transport under favorable upstream conditions.”

When testing their weather control approach on historically extreme climate events, the results were significant. For example, the team found that small, carefully timed cloud seeding operations applied in the critical days before the peak of an extreme weather event “could have shifted the track of the 2012 Hurricane Sandy by about 300 miles to miss New York City.”

The model also indicated that a similar approach could have raised the lowest temperature extremes experienced during the 2021 Texas freeze “by about 18 degrees Fahrenheit.” Similarly, the model revealed that the approach could have reduced the damaging precipitation levels associated with the 2022 atmospheric river that caused flooding in California by about 5%.

“By leveraging the atmosphere’s inherent sensitivity, Weather Jiu-Jitsu seeks not to overpower nature, but to collaborate with it: nudging storm tracks, influencing jet stream meanders, and possibly mitigating compound extremes before they fully develop,” the authors explain.

Revolutionizing the Risk from Extreme Climate Events

When discussing the potential impacts of controlling the weather before serious damage can occur, the study authors noted that it would be “transformative” for the planet. They also noted that controlling the weather could offer an outsized benefit to the most vulnerable people “who do not have recourse to other protections from weather extremes.”

Still, they add that demonstrating the real-world benefits of their approach to controlling the weather while accounting for “natural variability” will require evidence of tangible outcomes. The suggestion is that these metrics would include “reductions in peak precipitation intensity, flood inundation extent, and insured economic losses.”

To achieve this goal, Huang and colleagues recommended a three-stage approach. In the near term, they suggested starting with “controlled deep-learning perturbation experiments” for historical extreme events like floods and droughts, and air them with an “observational system design.” In the medium term, Huang and colleagues suggested implementing “scaled regional pilot studies” and developing a “governance framework development with WMO and UNEP.” The final proposed phase involved limited operational pilot experiments in select locations “under formal international oversight with systematic outcome monitoring.”

“We outline an argument that control over catastrophic weather extremes is imperative to reduce exposure to catastrophic events that are not mitigated by traditional physical, financial, or social infrastructure, and explore conditions under which this may be feasible,” the authors conclude. “If such an approach were successful, it could revolutionize hydroclimatic risk mitigation.”

The study “Weather Jiu-Jitsu: Prospects for atmospheric nudging to defuse the impact of catastrophic weather extremes” was published in PLOS Water.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.