Ryan Whalen

2 weeks ago | thedebrief.org | Ryan Whalen

Roughly two to three billion years after the Big Bang came “Cosmic Noon,” which astrophysicists have discovered was a crucial period for a particular class of galaxies, Lyman Alpha Emitters (LAEs), then experiencing their first significant wave of star formation. A Rutgers University-New Brunswick researcher led the new study, which the team believes will provide essential insights into the universe’s history, helping to explain how galaxies grow and evolve.

2 weeks ago | thedebrief.org | Ryan Whalen

Chinese and German scientists have utilized the Transit Timing Variation (TTV) technique to locate an exoplanet super-Earth for the first time, validating a new tool that significantly broadens the possibilities for exoplanet detection. Since the first discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a sun-like star in 1995, astronomers have been seeking Earth-like planets residing in their star’s habitable zone.

3 weeks ago | thedebrief.org | Ryan Whalen

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations indicate that Pluto’s atmosphere is unlike any other in the solar system, confirming a 2017 hypothesis and potentially revealing how the early Earth developed a habitable atmosphere from its nitrogen and hydrocarbon beginnings. Pluto is covered in a haze of nitrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide, whose individual particles regulate the atmosphere’s energy balance as they heat and cool.

3 weeks ago | thedebrief.org | Ryan Whalen

While quantum computers may help advance computing power as Moore’s Law potentially enters its twilight period, the technology has been vulnerable to environmental disturbances, which a new magnetic quantum material could address. Researchers from several institutions, including Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, Aalto University, and the University of Helsinki in Finland, developed the new material.

3 weeks ago | thedebrief.org | Ryan Whalen

A new AI model has revolutionized the dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls, revealing they may be older than previously thought and aligning some fragments with their presumed time of authorship. While the Dead Sea Scrolls are immensely important documents to historical and biblical studies, the dating of the individual scrolls has remained elusive until international researchers developed Enoch, a new date prediction AI model, which has helped change our understanding of the materials’ age.