What happened
Microsoft said yesterday it has developed a computer chip based on a new "topological" state of matter — not solid, liquid or gas — that it expects will underpin exponentially faster and more powerful quantum computers "within years, not decades." The company said its custom-built topological superconductor — topoconductor — can "observe and control Majorana particles" to produce topological quantum bits, or qubits, the building blocks of quantum computing.

Who said what
Microsoft said it created eight topological qubits and placed them on its new Majorana 1 processor, but there was a "clear path" to fitting each chip with a million qubits, the requisite "threshold for quantum computers to deliver transformative, real-world solutions" like self-healing building materials and breaking down microplastics. "All the world's current computers operating together can't do what a one-million-qubit quantum computer will be able to do," the company said.

Scientists have "chased the dream of a quantum computer — a machine that could exploit the strange and exceedingly powerful behavior of subatomic particles or very cold objects — since the 1980s," The New York Times said. Microsoft's quantum technology could "leapfrog" rival methods being developed at Google, which two months ago "unveiled an experimental quantum computer that needed just five minutes to complete a calculation that most supercomputers could not finish in 10 septillion years — longer than the age of the known universe."

What next?
Quantum computing is "still in its nascent stages," The Wall Street Journal said, but the race is on and "industry experts suggest the first commercially viable quantum computers could begin to appear in the next half decade or so."

What happened
An Egyptian-British archaeological mission has found the tomb of King Thutmose II (pictured above, center), who ruled ancient Egypt about 3,500 years ago, Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said Tuesday. It was the final undiscovered royal tomb of Egypt's 18th dynasty and the first burial chamber of a pharaoh unearthed since Tutankhamun was discovered in 1922.

Who said what
Archaeologists determined that the tomb, unearthed in 2022, belonged to Thutmose II from shards of alabaster jars and the tomb's kingly decor, Dr. Piers Litherland, the mission's British field director, told the BBC yesterday. The tomb itself "turned out to be completely empty," he said, "not because it was robbed but because it had been deliberately emptied," probably after it was flooded a few years after the king's burial. The mummy of Thutmose II was discovered in the 19th century, not far from his tomb.

"Little is known about Thutmose II," CNN said. He is "best known for being the husband of Queen Hatshepsut, regarded as one of Egypt's greatest pharaohs and one of the few female pharaohs who ruled in her own right," the BBC said. The tomb revealed that Thutmose II was buried by Hatshepsut, his wife and half-sister. She was buried in the Valley of the Kings.

What next?
Litherland said his team would continue searching the area and had a rough idea of where to find Thutmose II's second tomb, which he hoped was still intact and filled with treasures.