“The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis suggests that approximately 12,800 years ago, Earth was hit by a fragmented comet, leading to massive wildfires, a sudden rise in sea levels, and a return to ice age conditions.”
The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis is a scientific proposal suggesting that a fragmented comet or asteroid struck or airburst over Earth approximately 12,800 years ago, triggering major climate change and other environmental shifts.
Judged as of Jun 10, 2026— the video's publish date
The Younger Dryas, an abrupt cooling period that began approximately 12,900 years ago, coincided with the extinction of numerous megafauna species, including woolly mammoths and giant sloths.
While some researchers claim evidence of cosmic airbursts at sites including Abu Hureyra, Syria, and across North America, the "Younger Dryas impact hypothesis" is considered a fringe theory and has been widely refuted by the broader scientific community for lacking reproducible, conclusive evidence
While the Younger Dryas (approx. 12,900 years ago) was a period of abrupt global cooling that coincided with the extinction of many North American megafauna, it is not scientifically established as the sole cause of these extinctions; rather, extinction is widely considered a complex process driven
While the Younger Dryas was a period of significant cooling in the Northern Hemisphere, global sea levels continued to rise throughout this interval as part of the broader, ongoing deglaciation following the Last Glacial Maximum, rather than experiencing a "mysterious" rise specifically caused by th