Things are not looking so good for the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH).
February 15, 2026 at 1:57 AM
Things are not looking so good for the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH).
A brief history of the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH)
August 8, 2025 at 7:07 PM
A brief history of the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH)
Longtime defender of evolution. Critic of creationism. Communicator of climate science. Exposer of climate denial & misinformation. My favorite BS to debunk is the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH) which combines these topics with pseudoarchaeology & misrepresents my own research on airbursts.
November 16, 2024 at 7:14 PM
Longtime defender of evolution. Critic of creationism. Communicator of climate science. Exposer of climate denial & misinformation. My favorite BS to debunk is the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH) which combines these topics with pseudoarchaeology & misrepresents my own research on airbursts.
It is time for the editors of PNAS, J. Geology, and J. Glaciology to step up with the same professionalism exhibited by PLOS One. There is more than enough evidence for similar (or worse) problems with YDIH papers in those Journals, and they are also documented on PubPeer. pubpeer.com/search?q=YDIH
February 15, 2026 at 4:08 PM
It is time for the editors of PNAS, J. Geology, and J. Glaciology to step up with the same professionalism exhibited by PLOS One. There is more than enough evidence for similar (or worse) problems with YDIH papers in those Journals, and they are also documented on PubPeer. pubpeer.com/search?q=YDIH
Call for abstracts: AGU session on the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH). agu.confex.com/agu/agu26/pr...
agu.confex.com
June 19, 2026 at 2:17 AM
Call for abstracts: AGU session on the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH). agu.confex.com/agu/agu26/pr...
Today Graham Hancock posted a fake photo with AI versions of Sean Gulick, Megan Bruck Syal, C. Vance Haynes, & Jonathan Overpeck supporting the YDIH. Hancock is leading a race to the bottom. Deep fakes might get clicks and fans, but increases distrust of anyone who pals around with this charlatan.
June 7, 2026 at 11:30 PM
Today Graham Hancock posted a fake photo with AI versions of Sean Gulick, Megan Bruck Syal, C. Vance Haynes, & Jonathan Overpeck supporting the YDIH. Hancock is leading a race to the bottom. Deep fakes might get clicks and fans, but increases distrust of anyone who pals around with this charlatan.
An excerpt on Hanns Hörbiger from Martin Gardiner’s classic “In the Name of Science” (1952). It makes me think of how the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH) is being pushed today: neo-Catastrophism, from WEL to YDIH.
December 6, 2024 at 6:56 PM
An excerpt on Hanns Hörbiger from Martin Gardiner’s classic “In the Name of Science” (1952). It makes me think of how the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH) is being pushed today: neo-Catastrophism, from WEL to YDIH.
Until Ancient Apocalypse came out, I was unaware of the depth of connection between the pseudoscience of the YDIH & other crackpot ideas including pseudoarchaeology, creationism, racist theories, & Atlantis. There are also links to global warming denial through Randall Carlson.
November 22, 2024 at 4:28 AM
Until Ancient Apocalypse came out, I was unaware of the depth of connection between the pseudoscience of the YDIH & other crackpot ideas including pseudoarchaeology, creationism, racist theories, & Atlantis. There are also links to global warming denial through Randall Carlson.
The Younger Dryas impact hoax (YDIH) may be with us a while longer.
#OnThisDay in 1953, the Piltdown fossils were declared a “perfectly executed and carefully prepared fraud." Instead, an ancient human cranium had been combined with a heavily modified orangutan jaw. The hoax had lasted forty years. 🧪🏺
November 21, 2024 at 3:58 PM
The Younger Dryas impact hoax (YDIH) may be with us a while longer.
I blame PNAS for creating the YDIH monster. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
(Reprint available on request).
(Reprint available on request).
November 20, 2024 at 3:59 AM
I blame PNAS for creating the YDIH monster. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
(Reprint available on request).
(Reprint available on request).
In our ongoing effort to promote opinion diversity and encourage the open exchange of data and ideas associated with the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH), we are soliciting abstracts for this session at the AGU annual meeting (San Francisco. 7-11 Dec 2026).
The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis (YDIH) at 20 Years: Scientific Revolution or Science off the Rails?
The YDIH first appeared in a 2006 book led by Richard Firestone and Allen West and announced to the scientific community at the May 2007 AGU Joint Assembly. Data from the book were presented as eviden...
agu.confex.com
July 19, 2026 at 3:56 AM
In our ongoing effort to promote opinion diversity and encourage the open exchange of data and ideas associated with the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH), we are soliciting abstracts for this session at the AGU annual meeting (San Francisco. 7-11 Dec 2026).
"There's very good evidence of railroad operations here on the old railroad bed. No evidence of an impact." A coauthor of the first YDIH paper (Firestone et al , 2007) reveals that his senior coauthors knew all along that their prime "evidence" was railroad slag. www.facebook.com/reel/1162558...
December 8, 2025 at 12:02 AM
"There's very good evidence of railroad operations here on the old railroad bed. No evidence of an impact." A coauthor of the first YDIH paper (Firestone et al , 2007) reveals that his senior coauthors knew all along that their prime "evidence" was railroad slag. www.facebook.com/reel/1162558...
I've been keeping an eye on reactions to retractions within the pseudoarchaeology realm for a little project-in-planning. Between the YDIH collective's now 3 (!) retracted papers and the retracted Gunung Padang paper, things aren't going well for the pseudoarch folks!
The Younger Dryas comet impact "theory" is dying a not-fast-enough death.
March 5, 2026 at 10:13 PM
I've been keeping an eye on reactions to retractions within the pseudoarchaeology realm for a little project-in-planning. Between the YDIH collective's now 3 (!) retracted papers and the retracted Gunung Padang paper, things aren't going well for the pseudoarch folks!
It strikes me that the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH) is the current parallel to Hörbiger’s flawed theory of “Earth changes.” As that was to Bellamy, so is the YDIH to Graham Hancock. Every generation has its cranks. Bellamy’s short essay is worth reading in that light.
December 6, 2024 at 4:40 AM
It strikes me that the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH) is the current parallel to Hörbiger’s flawed theory of “Earth changes.” As that was to Bellamy, so is the YDIH to Graham Hancock. Every generation has its cranks. Bellamy’s short essay is worth reading in that light.
Nobody does more to suppress the evidence for the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis than the Comet Research Group itself. #YDIH
“The chronic ongoing problem, for nearly two decades, is that the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis proponents withhold the evidence they claim to have. When independent scientists ask to see it — in the form of materials, for example — we are attacked for ‘suggesting fraud.’”: @boslough.bsky.social
Controversial comet theory struck by two new retractions
In a now-retracted paper, the authors report they found shocked quartz formed by an airburst from clouds of comet fragments that hit earth more than 12,000 years ago. Source PLOS One has retracted …
retractionwatch.com
March 5, 2026 at 9:43 PM
Nobody does more to suppress the evidence for the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis than the Comet Research Group itself. #YDIH
A brief history of the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH) and related fringe science.
August 8, 2025 at 7:32 PM
A brief history of the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH) and related fringe science.
Poor George. Nobody is paying attention to his podcast on the YDIH and other pseudoscience.
February 2, 2026 at 4:11 AM
Poor George. Nobody is paying attention to his podcast on the YDIH and other pseudoscience.
Who is George Howard and how did he become a Comet Research Group leader and coauthor? Most of you only know him as a blowhard cosplay biblical archeologist, founder of the Cosmic Summit, and Cosmic Tusk blogger. But he has coauthored a half dozen papers on the YDIH and the Sodom comet hypothesis.
February 16, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Who is George Howard and how did he become a Comet Research Group leader and coauthor? Most of you only know him as a blowhard cosplay biblical archeologist, founder of the Cosmic Summit, and Cosmic Tusk blogger. But he has coauthored a half dozen papers on the YDIH and the Sodom comet hypothesis.
Confession by junior coauthor of retracted YDIH paper. Deleted after posted on PubPeer, perhaps at direction of corresponding author Christopher Moore. This was one of 3 papers by Moore that has been retracted in less than a year (one being the notorious Sodom paper). web.archive.org/web/20250831...
February 17, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Confession by junior coauthor of retracted YDIH paper. Deleted after posted on PubPeer, perhaps at direction of corresponding author Christopher Moore. This was one of 3 papers by Moore that has been retracted in less than a year (one being the notorious Sodom paper). web.archive.org/web/20250831...
The pseudoarch folks are going to have field day when they hear about this, considering many already dislike Surovell after he led a paper discrediting the YDIH, and they already love to remind people about the early Clovis First debates 🙄
March 19, 2026 at 8:03 PM
The pseudoarch folks are going to have field day when they hear about this, considering many already dislike Surovell after he led a paper discrediting the YDIH, and they already love to remind people about the early Clovis First debates 🙄
Abuse of pal review. They should all be retracted. PNAS bears the burden of blame for the YDIH grift.
February 17, 2026 at 12:42 AM
Abuse of pal review. They should all be retracted. PNAS bears the burden of blame for the YDIH grift.
New video just released on the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH). David Miano interviews Vance Holliday, Rachel Phillips, Mark Boslough, & Vic Baker.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Nr...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Nr...
The Younger Dryas Comet Impact: An Investigation
YouTube video by World of Antiquity
www.youtube.com
January 22, 2025 at 12:00 AM
New video just released on the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis (YDIH). David Miano interviews Vance Holliday, Rachel Phillips, Mark Boslough, & Vic Baker.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Nr...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Nr...
Background info: Scott Harris coauthored this abstract with J. Wittke & Ted Bunch, for a meeting a couple months before the first YDIH paper (Firestone et al 2007). All three were coauthors. Scott had told Ted the glass was RR slag, but this got translated to "very unusual industrial process".
December 7, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Background info: Scott Harris coauthored this abstract with J. Wittke & Ted Bunch, for a meeting a couple months before the first YDIH paper (Firestone et al 2007). All three were coauthors. Scott had told Ted the glass was RR slag, but this got translated to "very unusual industrial process".