Micah Hanks

1 month ago | thedebrief.org | Micah Hanks

Stunning new deep-field imagery captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed one of the most distant known galaxies observed by astronomers. Formed just 280 million years after the Big Bang—a blink of the eye at cosmic timescales—the new imagery of galaxy cluster Abel S1063 provides astronomers with an unprecedented look at some of the earliest galaxies to have formed in our universe.

1 month ago | thedebrief.org | Micah Hanks

Researchers studying an ancient form of writing used by the Incas in pre-Columbian South America have unraveled new clues to a longstanding mystery. The research, undertaken by Professor Sabine Hyland at the University of St. Andrews, reveals that the enigmatic form of communication, known as quipu (also written as khipu), helped record observations of the ancient climate during the height of the Incan Empire.

1 month ago | thedebrief.org | Micah Hanks

Welcome to this week’s Intelligence Brief… Recently, an after-action report on the U.S. government’s readiness in the face of potential threats from space has revealed concerns about our vulnerability to severe solar storms.

1 month ago | thedebrief.org | Micah Hanks

NASA’s Perseverance rover has captured new images of a mystery gleaming in the Martian skies as dawn approached over the Red Planet earlier this year. The images, captured shortly before 4:30 a.m. on March 1, 2025, revealed what NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab called “a hauntingly beautiful glimpse” of the planet’s mysterious moon Deimos, in long-exposure composite imagery. The stunning view was assembled from 16 images of the otherwise faintly glowing moon as it rose in the Martian pre-dawn sky.

1 month ago | thedebrief.org | Micah Hanks

New findings indicate that a massive solar storm, roughly 500 times more powerful than any previously recorded, left its mark on our planet near the end of the last Ice Age. Approximately 14,000 years ago, the unprecedented solar event—now judged to be the most powerful known to have occurred—marked Earth’s transition into the Holocene epoch, according to the findings of an international team of scientists.