Exclusive: New evidence for hidden chambers beyond Tutankhamun’s tomb

Hello Nature readers,
Today we explore fresh evidence for hidden chambers at Tutankhamun’s tomb, hear that researchers could be inadvertently sharing — and absorbing— ideas through chatbots, and boggle at beautiful ctenophores.

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Hidden chambers at Tutankhamun’s tomb?

Researchers say they have new found evidence for the tantalizing, but controversial, idea that there are as-yet-unexplored chambers in Tutankhamun’s tomb that might hold the remains of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti. The team conducted a range of geophysical surveys, including the first use of gravitational techniques to probe the density of ground around the site, and say they strongly support the existence of a “hidden complex” of corridors and rooms predating the entombment of Tutankhamun.

Who gets credit for AI maths bombshell?

Controversy around OpenAI’s claim to have solved the Navier–Stokes problem — a major puzzle in fluid dynamics — highlights how researchers could be inadvertently sharing their work through chatbots. Mathematician Tristan Buckmaster raised the concern that the company might have had access to work that he and his collaborator had been chatting about with its AI tools for a year. An OpenAI spokesperson said that “no user inputs past July 3rd could have influenced this system in any way”. “I think academics may have been a little naive,” says Michael Jacobides, who studies digital ecosystems.

Once-in-a-lifetime 222-metre Moon crater

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted a ‘once-in-a-century’ event — a crater bigger than the Roman Colosseum, which formed when a rock, possibly this size of a three- to six‑story building, crashed into the Moon between 11 April and 22 May, 2024. Such a large-scale event is estimated to occur only once every 132 years.

Human brain tissue transplanted into mice

In the most extensive integration of human brain cells into an animal so far, lab-grown organoids have been wired into mice to take the place of a missing part of their brains. The hybrid animals offer an unprecedented way to test drugs and study diseases that involve abnormal brain development such as cerebral palsy, says neuroscientist and study co-author Sergiu Pașca. For those who might be worried, scientists say that human neurons could never function in a mouse as they would in a person, nor did this study present any risk of creating a super-intelligent mouse.

It’s ctenophore time

Ctenophores, also called comb jellies, seem to play a starring role in the evolution of the tree of life. They’re also extremely beautiful, when seen in the right light. Explore our growing understanding of these bizarre creatures, what they tell us about life on Earth and how awesome they look in this lushly illustrated feature.

‘Increasing inequality demands action’

A proposed body called the International Panel on Inequality (IPI) has the backing of the United Nations, the African Union, several national governments and more than 700 economists and other scholars of inequality. Nature is on side too, says the journal in an editorial. “So much is known about the causes and damaging consequences of severe inequality, but that this knowledge has failed to prompt meaningful action from politicians,” it says. “The proposed IPI is the best chance so far for inequality research to inform policy action that can change lives for the better.”