A Mummy Speaks (2020)
Karnak temple priest and scribe Nesyamun, who served Ramses XI between 1099 and 1069 BCE, had hoped he would speak in his afterlife as he had in life. Thanks to modern technology, he got his wish. University of London speech scientist David Howard used a CT scan and a 3-D printer to reconstruct his vocal tract, then hooked the print to a loudspeaker and used an electronic signal to reproduce the vocal sound. Because Nesyamun’s tongue muscles had decomposed long ago, and the 3-D printout wasn’t the soft, flexible folds of human vocal cords, the team wasn’t able to recreate speech. What they did create has a tinny, odd sound. The single tone produced is just a first step toward letting Nesyamun speak again.