Science News Roundup: Factbox-Chinese tech firms working on ChatGPT-style technology; Blue Origin awarded its first NASA interplanetary launch contract for Mars mission and more

Like Microsoft and Google，Chinese tech giants such as Baidu and Alibaba as well as smaller start-ups have been working on AI projects for years. Croatian restaurant offers one pot menu cooked by robotic chef Craving gnocchi with lamb, black risotto or zucchini pasta?

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Egypt opens 4,000-year-old tomb on Luxor's West Bank, oldest open to public

Egypt has restored, documented and opened to tourists the Middle Kingdom tomb of Meru, the oldest site accessible to the public on Luxor's West Bank, home to some of its most spectacular Pharaonic monuments including the Valley of the Kings. Meru was a high-ranking official at the court of the 11th Dynasty King Mentuhotep II, who reigned until 2004 BC and who, like Meru, was buried at the necropolis of North Asasif, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

'Whodunit' mystery arises over trove of prehistoric Kenyan stone tools

Scientists have a mystery on their hands after the discovery of 330 stone tools about 2.9 million years old at a site in Kenya, along Lake Victoria's shores, that were used to butcher animals, including hippos, and pound plant material for food. Which of our prehistoric relatives that were walking the African landscape at the time made them? The chief suspect, researchers said on Thursday in describing the findings, may be a surprise.

Factbox-Chinese tech firms working on ChatGPT-style technology

The global buzz around Microsoft chatbot ChatGPT has spread to China, shoring up stocks in artificial intelligence (AI) related firms and prompting a flurry of local companies to announce rival projects. Like Microsoft and Google，Chinese tech giants such as Baidu and Alibaba as well as smaller start-ups have been working on AI projects for years.

Croatian restaurant offers one pot menu cooked by robotic chef

Craving gnocchi with lamb, black risotto or zucchini pasta? You can order any of them at a Croatian restaurant where a robotic chef is able to rustle up about 70 different one pot meals. Its owners say they believe the BOTS&POTS Sci-Food bistro in Zagreb is the world's only restaurant where ready-to-eat meals in a pot are made by robotic cookers with no human involvement other than loading the devices with fresh ingredients.

Blue Origin awarded its first NASA interplanetary launch contract for Mars mission

Blue Origin, the private space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was awarded its first interplanetary NASA contract on Thursday to launch a mission next year to study the magnetic field around Mars, the U.S. space agency and company said. Plans call for Blue Origin's recently developed New Glenn heavy-lift rocket to blast off with NASA's dual-spacecraft ESCAPADE mission in late 2024 from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, the agency said.

SpaceX test-fires Starship booster in milestone for debut orbital launch

SpaceX's towering Super Heavy booster, one half of the company's Starship rocket system, briefly roared to life for the first time on Thursday in a test-firing that puts the behemoth moon and Mars vehicle closer to its first orbital flight in the coming months. Thirty-one of the Super Heavy's 33 Raptor rocket engines fired for roughly 10 seconds at SpaceX's facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, the company's chief executive, Elon Musk, tweeted shortly after the test, shown during a livestream.

(With inputs from agencies.)