This week in stories we’re covering at The Debrief… Scientists say they have discovered an organism whose behavior mirrors the reproductive horror depicted in the “Alien” films. Elsewhere, physicists report that a recent levitation experiment could signal a breakthrough in the search for dark matter. Also, new genetic evidence of an ancient killer has surfaced in ancient medieval texts. And finally, a 15,000-year-old cave discovery in Ireland could push back evidence of the first humans on the island by 5,000 years.

Here’s a look at all the stories we’re tracking right now at The Debrief: 

• Biologists Were Wrong About the “American Cheetah” According to New Genetic Findings
  The extinct American cheetah wasn’t a true cheetah at all, say biologists in new research overturning scientific understanding of the big cat.
• Astronomers Detected Three Mysterious “Glitches” in a Pulsar That Had Gone Silent for Years
  Astronomers monitoring an unusual young neutron star report a stellar surprise after years of apparent silence.
• 4,000-Year-Old Tomb of Ancient Egyptian ‘Keeper of the Secrets’ Discovered at Saqqara
  Archaeologists at Saqqara uncover the 4,000-year-old tomb of Sekhentiu-Ptah, an official who guarded ancient royal secrets.
• Hidden in a Museum Collection for More Than a Century, Researchers Have Just Made a Bizarre New Discovery
  Researchers reveal several new species of a bizarre ocean creature that were uncovered after being hidden for decades in museum collections.
• No Longer Science Fiction, the U.S. Army is Moving a High-Energy Laser Weapon Into Production for the First Time
  The US Army has authorized its first contract for a directed energy weapons system, designed to take down threats with high-energy lasers.
• What If Consciousness Exists Beyond the Brain? Some Researchers Say This “Hard Problem” Requires a Radical New Approach
  Consciousness researchers are challenging academics to take a closer look at what philosophers call the “hard problem” of consciousness.
• Inside the Mind of a Billionaire Cheater: “At His Level of Wealth, Societal Ethics No Longer Register”
  A finance expert and Fortune 500 therapist peer into the potential motivations of billionaire cheater Steve Ballmer and his subordinates.
• What Caused Antarctica to Freeze Millions of Years Ago? New Clues Could Finally Solve This Longstanding Climate Mystery
  New clues to the formation of our planet’s oldest and largest ice sheet could help resolve a longstanding enigma about the southernmost continent.
• “We’ve Never Seen Anything Quite Like This”: A Strange Ten-Sided “Structure” Has Been Spotted on Saturn’s North Pole
  NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has glimpsed a ten-sided atmospheric wave at Saturn’s south pole, the first such jet pattern observed there.
• 1,500-Year-Old Structure Yields Previously Hidden Rooms, Ancient Paintings, and a Roman Era Channel to Nowhere
  Archaeologists have unearthed three previously hidden 1500-year-old rooms, ancient wall paintings, and a Roman-era water channel near Izmir.
• Wild Chimpanzees Keep Hurling Rocks at the Same Trees—Now Scientists Are Trying to Figure Out Why
  Scientists say chimpanzees repeatedly throwing stones at the same trees might indicate new evidence of previously undocumented “ritual” behavior.
• Did Ancient Campfires “Reprogram” the Human Brain with Flickering Light and Red Wavelengths?
  A new paper suggests that flickering, mostly red-wavelength firelight from campfires was able to reprogram the human brain for language.

This week in stories we’re tracking here at The Debrief: NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Telescope was launched on Sunday, and experts think this could be one of its most important discoveries in the years ahead. Meanwhile, scientists have discovered a magnetic “clock” in ancient pottery that could help museums distinguish real artifacts from modern fakes. And elsewhere, scientists say it might be possible that aliens are lurking in the acidic clouds of Venus.

Ready to get caught up on more of the latest science news? Here’s a look at other stories we’re covering right now at The Debrief…

This week in stories we’re tracking at The Debrief… Commercial space company Rocket Lab just unveiled GHOST, a game-changing new launch capability that could enable payloads to be carried to orbit from virtually anywhere on Earth. Meanwhile, in a stunning event that unfolded in Greenland, European satellites managed to capture the dramatic moment an “ice island” the size of Manhattan was formed. Elsewhere, archaeologists have uncovered a mysterious inscription that could link recent excavations to a “lost city” known only from ancient Egyptian texts. Finally, in a Debrief exclusive, an Afghan woman provides personal on-the-ground commentary about life in Afghanistan in a poignant reflection written on the day of her country’s independence.

Meanwhile, here’s a look at other stories we’re covering right now at The Debrief:

• Scientists Just Found a New Way to Investigate How Extinct Giants Ended Up in Australia’s Underwater Caves
• Immune Cells Revealed to Have a Unique Sense of Touch in New Research That Could Rewrite How We Understand Autoimmune Problems
• Scientists Grew Human Brain Organoids for Years and Discovered They Keep Track of Time
• British Security Coordination and the Limits of Allied Persuasion: How Foreign Partners Can Shape Strategy Through Clandestine Action
• MIT Team Reverse-Engineers a Curious 2000-Year-Old Roman Technology to Create Modern Material That Heals Its Own Cracks
• Lost for 1800 Years, a Mysterious Altar Linked to an Ancient Roman Cult Resurfaces as Drought Drains Europe’s Rivers
• A New Discovery at Göbekli Tepe Could Reshape Our Understanding of One of the Ancient World’s Most Perplexing Sites
• The Massive Asteroid Apophis Will Pass Closer to Earth Than Some Satellites in 2029—Planetary Defense Researchers are Getting Ready
• Scientists Used Lasers and Citizen Scientists to Find a “Lost World” of Giant Trees
• Bumblebees Are Turning Up Dead on Sidewalks This Summer, and Heat Isn’t the Only Culprit
• Your Brain Has an Air Traffic Controller—Here’s How It Keeps Information Moving
• James Webb Space Telescope Discovery Reveals Hidden Stars Massively Expanding Early Galaxies
• Experiments Show Color-Enriched White Light Can Affect Whether a Room Feels Hot or Cold

This week in stories we’re covering at The Debrief: Scientists have a new plan that could help them detect alien life that may be too exotic to be spotted otherwise. Elsewhere, these new transparent OLED glasses use “gamma wave entrainment” to supercharge brain connectivity, and in Bulgaria, a mile-long ancient Roman megastructure has surfaced from beneath one of Europe’s most famous waterways.

Finally, here’s a look at all the top stories we’re covering right now at The Debrief: