Aug 18, 2026 2:46 PM
In this week's stories from The Debrief, we look at how scientists have a plan that could help find alien life, and other science and technology stories in the news.
(Image Credit: SKAO/SARAO)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:
- Archaeologists Unsealed an Ancient Egyptian Tomb and Discovered Something Completely Unexpected Inside Spanish archaeologists excavating an ancient Egyptian Tomb near Luxor discovered 16 mummies and one unexpected yet intimate addition.
- 3.5-Billion-Year-Old Organic Chert Reveals One of Earth’s “Earliest Known Occurrences of Biologically Generated Organic Matter” Scientists studying ancient chert have found 3.5-billion-year-old signs of life on Earth, making it some of the oldest evidence ever found.
- 4,000 Years Ago, These Ancient Seafarers May Have Brought Symbolic Art to Distant Lands Earlier Than Their First Neolithic Pottery The ancient Austronesian maritime civilization may have carried painted art on its journeys before developing its first Neolithic pottery.
- Space Is Getting Crowded—Now Surging Satellite Demand Prompts SEOPS ‘Waymaker’ Program to Add Second 2028 Mission Commercial space launch company SEOPS Space has announced an unprecedented second Waymaker LEO rideshare mission in 2028 due to high demand.
- Scientists Spot Dolphins Using Shells as Tools to Catch Fish, Further Challenging a Longtime Marker of Culture Scientists observing dolphins in Australia just made a remarkable discovery: these lively aquatic mammals use tools to help them capture fish.
- Something Sparked a Technological Revolution in China 146,000 Years Ago—Archaeologists Have Now Linked It to a Mysterious Extinct Human Species During the harsh conditions in ice age China 146,000 years ago, a remarkable survival strategy was being developed by early humans.
- A Neanderthal Gene May Be Making Some Modern Humans Bigger and More Muscular Physically larger humans today may owe their large muscle mass to an inherited Neanderthal growth hormone receptor.
- Archaeologists Have Unearthed a Rare and Mysterious Runestone at an Ancient Site in the Faroe Islands An ancient runestone has been discovered on the floor of a structure being excavated by archaeologists at Sondum on Sandoy.
- “The Record Was Just Made”: Fastest Man on Earth Sets Hydrogen-Powered Land Speed World Record Engineering giant JCB has announced that the Fastest Man on Earth has set a new hydrogen-powered world record with its Hydromax engine.
- Solving This London Mystery Led to the Discovery of a New Species Almost 6,000 Miles Away A misidentified frog species that was well known across Ecuador and Colombia remained unrecognized by science for decades—until now.
- This Hidden Structure Within the Building Blocks of Atoms May Dictate the Imbalance Between Matter and Antimatter New evidence suggests the structure that holds protons together also dictates the quantum property that separates matter from antimatter.
- A Mysterious 45,000-Year-Old Seafloor Discovery Reveals New Evidence Denisovans Were Extremely Large Ancient human fossils dredged from the seafloor near Taiwan are providing new insights into the appearance—and the large size—of the mysterious Denisovans.
- Inspired by Coral, These Scientists Are Regrowing Bone Under Some of the Most Challenging Conditions Medical scientists in China have developed a new method for regrowing bone after Steroid-Induced Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head.
- Newly Deciphered 1500-Year-Old Inscriptions Reveal Ancient Imperial Death Decree Newly deciphered 1500-year-old inscriptions reveal details of ancient tax fraud and an imperial death decree for the offenders.
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