How is this a new discovery?

We may have more knowledge now about the sun's variability, but I learned about the sun being a variable star in the mid-1970s. Perhaps my professor was incorrect, but (evidently) back then scientists thought the multi-cyclical nature of the sun was a major factor in the coming and going of ice ages as well as the tendency of lesser, apparently cyclical climate changes.

There are many variable stars which exhibit behavior that would affect any "habitable zone planet" the same way our sun has been affecting ours.

Ronald Abraham said:

We may have more knowledge now about the sun's variability, but I learned about the sun being a variable star in the mid-1970s. Perhaps my professor was incorrect, but (evidently) back then scientists thought the multi-cyclical nature of the sun was a major factor in the coming and going of ice ages as well as the tendency of lesser, apparently cyclical climate changes.

There are many variable stars which exhibit behavior that would affect any "habitable zone planet" the same way our sun has been affecting ours.

Whether the Sun's (minor) variability affects weather/weather cycles has been talked about for a long time _but never proven_.

Most variable stars (the exception being eclipsing variables) are not like the Sun...they are evolved stars nearing the end of their lives.