Prehistory Decoded

Several years ago, Marc Defant, a respected academic geologist, appeared on a Joe Rogan show with Michael Shermer (not a scientist, but a leading skeptic and debunker of what he thinks is pseudoscience) together to attempt to debunk Graham Hancock, Randall Carlson and the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis (YDIH). Malcolm LeCompte, also a respected academic geologist who has collaborated on many pro-YDIH papers, was also present to add some scientific balance. Graham, Randall and Malcolm held their ground. Earlier this year, Marc Defant switched sides and co-authored a pro-YDIH paper with other members of the Comet Research Group. In podcasts , he describes the evidence for the YD impact hypothesis as being overwhelming. I agree. Any fair-minded scientist who reads the relevent papers carefully should be able to see this. The combination of nanodiamonds, impact-like microspherules, platinum and high-temperature melts within a boundary layer with apparently synchronous age across half ...

Holliday et al.'s apparent refutation of the Younger Dryas Impacy Hypothesis (YDIH) in mid-2023 caused real problems for the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis, even though their apparent refutation was mostly a load of old nonsense. Wikipedia's editors loved it (of course - they were always baised against the hypothesis) and their bias has fed through to many AI models that prioritze Wikipedia's articles, despite the wiki's well documented biases and problems when dealing with contraversial issues. With their publication, opponents of the hypothesis were able to claim it had been comprehensively refuted, leading journal editors to retract and block several pro-YDIH papers. To get their data into the public domain, many pro-YDIH scientists have resorted to publication in their own peer-reviewed journal, Airbursts and Cratering Impacts. This is not a healthy situation, but it's better than no publication at all.  Of course, if Holiday et al. are correct and the YDIH is ...