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The interstellar object is zooming along at around 152,000 mph (245,000 km/h) in an unusually flat and straight trajectory that is unlike anything else in the solar system.
3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar object ever recorded, and scientists are now scrambling to learn all they can about this rare object before it exits the solar system next year.
Rock-cut tombs housed the burial of an Egyptian man who lived during the Old Kingdom nearly 5,000 years ago.
(Image credit: Garstang Museum of Archaeology, University of Liverpool)
Researchers have successfully sequenced the genome of a man who lived in ancient Egypt 5,000 years ago. The DNA offers a rare window into the genetic history of ancient Egyptians, revealing that this individual had ties to both Mesopotamia and North Africa.
The man's body was recovered from a tomb in Nuwayrat, south of Cairo, in 1902, and is only the fourth ancient Egyptian genome to be sequenced — not to mention the oldest and most complete.
Purring is a surprisingly complicated volatilization.
(Image credit: Xiuxia Huang via Getty Images)
A purr is music to the ears of any cat lover. The low, gentle rumble is often a sign that our furry companions are relaxed and content. But is this cute volatilization unique to our feline friends?
Autonomous AI-controlled systems could be the future of space exploration.
(Image credit: Devrimb via Getty Images)
A new age of autonomous space exploration could soon be upon us — if the results of a recent artificial intelligence (AI) study are anything to go by. Researchers tested to see whether AI models like ChatGPT could hypothetically pilot a spacecraft using text prompts. ChatGPT performed surprisingly well and completed most of the challenges researchers set, though it didn't actually pilot anything.
Space exploration could change forever with the development of autonomous AI-controlled systems. Right now, speed-of-light limitations mean we can't directly control deep-space exploration spacecraft in real time, while human-piloted spacecraft have to cater to our inconvenient biological needs, restricting how far we can go.
RFK has suggested an alternative to culling birds infected with the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus.
(Image credit: Samuel Corum via Getty Images)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services, and Brooke Rollins, the secretary of Agriculture, have suggested the U.S. could allow the bird flu virus to spread through some poultry farms to identify immunity in surviving birds. However, on Thursday (July 3), researchers warned that such an approach is dangerous and could potentially trigger a new pandemic.
A group of virologists, veterinarians and health security experts wrote an article, published in the journal Science, in which they argued it would be ineffective to let the virus spread in farms and risk bird flu crossing over into human populations.
"Essentially, the longer you allow a virus that has shown to be effective in infecting multiple hosts survive in an environment, the greater the chance you give it to spread, to mutate, and to try its luck at adaptation," perspective first-author Erin Sorrell, a virologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told Live Science. "Worse case scenario, the virus adapts and expands its host range to become transmissible in humans … Now we have a pandemic."
Something for the weekend
If you're looking for something a little longer to read over the weekend, here are some of the best long reads, book excerpts and interviews published this week.
A facial reconstruction of a Stone Age woman has revealed what a prehistoric hunter-gatherer may have looked like in stunning detail. Researchers and artists created the reconstruction using the woman's skeleton, DNA and other scientific data.
The Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) hunter-gatherer, known as "Margaux woman," lived around 10,500 years ago in what is now Belgium. Researchers have found that she likely had blue or light-colored eyes, with a skin complexion that's slightly lighter than most other known Western Europeans from her time.
Patrick Pester is the trending news writer at Live Science. His work has appeared on other science websites, such as BBC Science Focus and Scientific American. Patrick retrained as a journalist after spending his early career working in zoos and wildlife conservation. He was awarded the Master's Excellence Scholarship to study at Cardiff University where he completed a master's degree in international journalism. He also has a second master's degree in biodiversity, evolution and conservation in action from Middlesex University London. When he isn't writing news, Patrick investigates the sale of human remains.
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