Science news this week: An 'interstellar visitor' and the oldest ancient Egyptian genome ever sequenced

Interstellar object and DNA
This week's science news includes an interstellar visitor and the oldest ancient Egyptian genome ever sequenced. (Image credit: David Rankin/Catalina Sky Survey/KATERYNA KON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images)

To kick off this week's science news, our solar system received an unexpected "interstellar visitor." On Tuesday (July 1), NASA and the International Astronomical Union confirmed the existence of a mysterious space object, most likely a comet, hurtling toward our little corner of the universe. The next day, NASA gave it an official name — 3I/ATLAS.

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.

Ancient Egyptian genome

Oldest and most complete ancient Egyptian human genome ever sequenced reveals ties to Mesopotamia

Rock-cut tombs in black and white.

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.

Discover more archeology news

Roman army camp found in Netherlands, beyond the empire's frontier

125,000-year-old 'fat factory' run by Neanderthals discovered in Germany

300-year-old pirate-plundered shipwreck that once held 'eyewatering treasure' discovered off Madagascar

Life's little mysteries

Are cats the only animals that purr?

an orange cat looking very happy and relaxed while lying down

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?

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AI space pilots

ChatGPT could pilot a spacecraft shockingly well, early tests find

an illustration of a futuristic spaceship exiting a large hangar into outer space towards a blue glowing star

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.

Discover more space news

Astrophotographer snaps 'once-in-a-lifetime' shot of solar flare photobombing the ISS

'A completely new phenomenon': Astronomers spot a planet causing its star to constantly explode

Farthest 'mini-halo' ever detected could improve our understanding of the early universe

Also in science news this week

Wild orcas offer humans food. Could they be trying to make friends — or manipulate us?

MIT's high-tech 'bubble wrap' turns air into safe drinking water — even in Death Valley

New blood test detects cancers 3 years before typical diagnosis, study hints

Watch mud volcano erupt beneath a crown of flames in Taiwan

Beyond the headlines

RFK's proposal to let bird flu spread through poultry could set us up for a pandemic, experts warn

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifying before the House Appropriations Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on May 14, 2025 in Washington.

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.

'It's how I would imagine I would react if I saw a real-life giant dinosaur': What Jurassic World Rebirth's scientific advisor thinks of the movie (Interview)

What are whole-body MRIs, and are they worth the hype? (Query)

Mesopotamia quiz: Test your knowledge about the ancient civilizations of the Fertile Crescent (Quiz)

And something for the skywatchers:

2 'new stars' have exploded into the night sky at once — potentially for the first time in history

Science in pictures

See the stunning reconstruction of a Stone Age woman who lived 10,500 years ago in Belgium

Three people stand around the reconstructed head holding a skull, a model of a skull, and an incomplete model of a head

The facial reconstruction of the Margaux woman on display in June 2025 with Kennis & Kennis in Dinant, Belgium. (Image credit: ©2025 Vakgroep Archeologie University Ghent.)

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.


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Patrick Pester
Trending News Writer

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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