Newly discovered exoplanet trio could unravel the mysteries of super-Earth formation

Three newly discovered exoplanets could help researchers redefine the shaky line between rocky and gaseous planets, according to new observations from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). TESS, which marks its first year of operations this month, spotted the trio of planets some 73 light-years away from Earth. The exoplanets are of a type that does not exist in our solar system, being between the Earth and Neptune in size.

New quantum computing building block developed

Researchers have developed a new building block for a quantum computer, bringing the technology a tantalising step closer. The team has built the first two-qubit gate between atom qubits in silicon, they report in the journal Nature. The quantum building block, which is capable of performing an operation of 0.8 nanoseconds, is around 200 times faster than existing spin-based two-qubit gates in silicon.

The oldest Homo sapiens fossil found outside Africa

A 210,000-year-old skull seems to be the oldest Homo sapiens fossil ever found outside Africa by 30,000 years. It was discovered, along with another fossil skull nearby, in the Apidima cave in southern Greece in the 1970s, but has only now been analysed using modern techniques. The second skull is that of a Neanderthal, who lived more recently, potentially upending some theories about the order in which Neanderthals and modern humans came to Europe. “Our findings support multiple dispersals of early modern humans out of Africa,” say the researchers, and highlight just how complex the human story is.

Philistines originated in Europe, DNA reveals

Archaeologists have known for a century that the distinctive ceramic pots and other artefacts that suddenly appeared in the 12th century B.C.E. Philistine cities resemble artefacts from the Mycenaean empire of Greece, the ancient power that, according to myth, battled Troy. Egyptian hieroglyphics depict a sea battle with people from the north whom 19th century scholars called the "Sea Peoples."

The DNA data suggest a kernel of truth to Greek and Middle Eastern legends that describe survivors who moved south after the catastrophic collapse of great Bronze Age civilisations of the Mediterranean in the late 13th and early 12th centuries B.C.E.

The Levantine Philistines examined had inherited 25% to 70% of their DNA from southern European ancestors, and the closest matches were to ancient people from the Aegean, Sardinia, and Iberia. The remaining DNA was from local people, suggesting their European ancestors had quickly interbred with their new neighbours.

Fragile topology

The mathematics hidden in materials keeps getting more exotic. Topological states of matter — which derive exotic properties from their electrons’ ‘knotty’ quantum states — have shot from rare curiosity to one of the hottest fields in physics. Now, theorists are finding that topology is ubiquitous, and recognising it as one of the most significant ways in which solid matter can behave.