Radar clues spark debate on Egyptian queen

Archaeologists claim to have discovered hidden chambers behind the walls of Tutankhamun’s tomb in a radar survey. The find resurrects a controversial theory that the young king’s burial place connects to a larger tomb containing his mother-in-law Nefertiti, whose resting place has never been found. Although not all researchers are convinced the hidden rooms exist, Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves says if the ancient queen is found to have been buried like a pharaoh, “it could be the biggest archaeological discovery ever”.

Experiment exploiting quantum entanglement breaks distance record

Chinese scientists have transmitted the quantum version of computer memory between two entangled clouds of atoms over 50 kilometres. The feat, which was achieved using standard fibre optic cables, breaks through the 1.3 kilometre barrier achieved by previous quantum memory experiments. Entanglement — dubbed "spooky action at a distance" by Einstein — is a cornerstone of quantum physics. The ability to manipulate the spin, position and momentum of two — or more — entities separated by distance underlies future technologies such as secure communication systems.

Neanderthal skeleton holds clues about ancient death rites

Once we thought that ours was the only species to use rituals to mourn the dead. Then archaeologists discovered hints of pollen from colourful meadow flowers around a Neanderthal skeleton in a remote cave in Iraq. Now, half a century later, new remains of these human cousins have been unearthed at the same "flower burial" site in Shanidar Cave, about 150 kilometres from Mosul.

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All 'Out Of Africa' humans have neanderthal DNA in their genomes through interbreeding. Only present-day humans regard neanderthals as a different and less advanced species.

First exoplanet spotted from stellar aurora

For the first time, astronomers have discovered an exoplanet by looking at how it whips up the magnetic field of its star. Researchers examined the radio emissions from a star called GJ 1151 and found an unusually lengthy solar flare that they say could only be caused by a hidden Earth-size planet. It’s tricky to confirm the finding with other exoplanet-detection methods, but if the technique stands up, it offers a whole new way to find distant worlds.

Arrokoth comes into focus

New analysis of data captured last year by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft reveals the distant Solar System object once known as 2014 MU69, now called Arrokoth, in sharp detail. The 36-kilometre-long Kuiper belt object is extremely red, probably because cosmic rays have blasted its surface to create red organic molecules. Its two lobes are thought to have merged gently in the early days of the Solar System, at least four billion years ago.

Oldest ever fossil evidence for modern bees

Nests that are 100 million years old seem to offer the oldest fossil evidence for modern bees. The tunnels and structures inside the nests closely match those created by modern bees in the Halictidae family — also called sweat bees — and particularly to the Halictini tribe. The finding supports other evidence showing that bees and flowers diversified around the same time, during the early Cretaceous.

Australian rock art dated using wasp nests

Dating of carbon in mud wasp nests that line shelters in the Kimberley reveal the distinctive rock art style was created around the end of the last Ice Age, a new study suggests.

A universal law of turbulence

Mathematicians have uncovered a simple universal law to describe the type of turbulence you see when mixing paint or stirring milk into coffee. Researchers harnessed the handy statistical characteristics of randomness to show that these systems, although chaotic, mix with a predictable structure.

New Generation of Dark Matter Experiments Gear Up to Search for Elusive Particle

Three major experiments are poised to take on the challenge of directly detecting dark matter. Two will search for elusive WIMPs, and will be shielded from a cacophony of other particles by being located deep underground in old mines. The other, in an ordinary lab, will attempt to coax out evidence of the uncountable trillions of axions that are theorised to surround us everywhere.

Cosmic Dance Offers Fresh Test for General Relativity

The death dance of a white dwarf star and a pulsar reveal relativistic frame dragging — also known as the Lense-Thirring effect — in which a fast-spinning object distorts the fabric of space-time around it. Such a mind-boggling effect is due to the brain-bending qualities of the two stars. The white dwarf orbits at speeds of up to a million kilometres per hour, making its year only about five hours long. The pulsar itself spins around more than two times per second. The white dwarf is the size of Earth and the pulsar is the size of a city — but both contain more mass than the Sun. The pulsar’s metronome-like radio emissions showed researchers how this extreme relativistic system pulls space-time around it, causing the pulsar’s orbit to wobble exactly as predicted by general relativity.