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In this calendar week ’s skill tidings , we take a journeying to the past tense , as far back as our very former human root . First hold back , ancient Egypt , where archaeologists working at a temple in Taposiris Magna have observe what they think is abust of Queen Cleopatra VII , famed for her love story with Roman leadership Julius Caesar and Mark Antony . While not everyone is convinced , coin limn the late nance ’s top dog were also found at the site , substantiate a joining with the ancient ruler .
This is not the only tantalizing treasure that ’s been revealed this calendar week . run short further back , imagine how a 9 - year - old boy must have experience when a orphic , trilateral - shaped stone he discovered three days sooner on a beach in Sussex , England , turned out to be a50,000 - twelvemonth - old neandertal hand ax . " It ’s an dead incredible find , " James Sainsbury , conservator of archeology and social history at Worthing Theatres and Museum , told Live Science .
Science news this week includes a bust that archaeologists believe might portray Queen Cleopatra, and Google’s latest quantum computing chip, Willow.
But that ’s enough looking into the past ( at least for now ) — an announcement from Google this week may have marked the start of a new epoch in quantum computing …
Quantum breakthrough solves 30-year problem
Google ‘Willow’ quantum chip has solved a problem the best supercomputer would have taken a quadrillion times the age of the universe to crack
Google scientist have unveiled a young quantum mainframe that , in five mo , solved a puzzle that would have taken the world ’s best supercomputer a quadrillion time the age of the cosmos to check .
The Saratoga chip , called " Willow , " overcomes a major problem inquantum computingthat has beset the theater of operations for the last 30 years . Quantum computers are inherently " noisy " as their unit of reckoning , called qubits , have a tendency to exchange information with their environment . For most systems , the more qubits that are used , the more errors pass off . But with Willow , the more qubits that are add up , the fewer errors there are , pave the agency for scale - up quantum computers .
Discover more technology newsworthiness
Google’s new quantum chip, called “Willow,” overcomes a major problem in quantum computing.
— ' Drones ' drove New Jersey and New York . How close are we to learning what these UAPs in reality are ?
— newfangled quantum figure milepost smash web reality record
— Meet ' Chameleon ' – an AI good example that can protect you from facial recognition thanks to a sophisticated digital mask
How long does it take to get to the moon?
Life’s Little Mysteries
How long does it take to travel to the moon?
Our rocky satellite orbits Earth atan average space of 238,855 miles(384,400 kilometre ) . However , go there can take anywhere between eight hour and 4.5 months .
The Apollo missions took several days , with the Apollo 11 bunch taking 109 hours and 42 minutes from liftoff to Neil Armstrong ’s famous " small stone’s throw . " Butwhy are these timing so variable ?
5,700-year-old mystery
Stone Age ‘CSI’: Archaeologists identify a family killed in a house fire nearly 6 millennia ago
Human bones happen upon in a theater that burn down 5,700 years ago provide " CSI"-style clue about the dying of seven people in prehistoricUkraine .
The beaten-up bone were discovered at a scorched settlement roughly 115 miles ( 185 km ) south of Kyiv . But this was no average theater fire — archaeologists find that two of the people had suffered violent head injuries just before end , while an quarantined skull shard belong to to a third individual was placed above their bones nearly a century subsequently .
" We can only muse whether there was a connection between the fire and the turn of baneful wildness , i.e. killing the people in the star sign , leaving their corpse , and setting the house on fire , " researcher wrote in the study .
A Stone Age house excavated in Kosenivka, Ukraine, revealed a CSI-style mystery surrounding a family’s deaths.
Discover more archaeology newsworthiness
— Burials of 28 hoi polloi Andrew Jackson enslaved discover at his Hermitage plantation in Tennessee
— Modern human antecedent and Neanderthals mated during a 7,000 - year - long ' pulse , ' 2 new studies uncover
The exceptionally preserved fossil of a species calledAustralopithecus afarensis,nicknamed Lucy, has transformed our understanding of humanity’s tangled family tree.
— New study reveals how ancient ' sky disc ' was made , squashing claims it was a counterfeit
Also in science news this week
Infamous ' sofa trouble ' that boggle mathematicians for X may eventually have a solution
Male humpback heavyweight crossed 3 oceans for sex , inadvertently breaking space record for coinage
Our Dominicus may be overdue for a ' superflare ' stiff than billions of atomic bombs , young research warns
Large , ghostly white crab - like predator discovered at the bottom of the Atacama Trench
Science Spotlight
Lucy’s last day: What the iconic fossil reveals about our ancient ancestor’s last hours
Fifty years ago , paleoanthropologistDonald Johanson and his teamunearthed a fossil skeleton in Ethiopia , dub Lucy , belonging to a species calledAustralopithecus afarensis .
From a distance , she might have look like a small child , standing on two leg at about 3.5 feet ( 1 meter ) tall . Her last daytime was likely pass searching for food , climbing shrubby tree and see over her shoulder for sabre - toothed cats and hyena . But little did she know that , 3.2 million geezerhood afterward , her skeleton wouldtransform our agreement of manhood ’s knotty family tree .
Something for the weekend
If you ’re count for something a footling longer to read over the weekend , here are some of the intimately recollective reads , Word excerption and consultation publish this week .
' It explains why our ability to focus has gone to underworld ' : Screens are assaulting our Stone Age brains with more selective information than we can handle[Book extract ]
What are ' attachment styles , ' and is there science to back them up?[Explainer ]
How well do you know our cosmic neighborhood?[Quiz ]
And something for the skywatchers :
Cold Moon 2024 : Watch the net full moon of the twelvemonth rise with Jupiter this weekend
Geminid meteor shower 2024 : How to see the twelvemonth ’s last big display of ' shooting stars ' before it ’s too late
Science in motion
Watch Chinese security robot with wheels for feet scramble down hills and perform acrobatics
Taiwanese firm DEEP Robotics has release footage of its all - terrain security robot , " Lynx . " The quadruped machine , with bicycle instead of hands and foot , can repel , climb and do acrobatics while mapping out treacherous outdoor terrain .
Promotional footage released by the company shows the Lynx model as it wave at gamey speed on " two metrical foot " down a wooded side , scramble up a 30 - inch ( 80 centimeters ) stone wall and drives down a 50 - degree , uneven side cover in rock and shrubs .
