Understanding the news, not the hype.

Understanding the news... calling out the hype, and reminding scientists to publish rather than announce directly to the media aka "It's a void" not a "Chamber"
Edit: Additional information added below November 7, 2017.
You might have noticed there are some "big" discoveries that I don't post about. You might also have considered recently how the media portray events, the emergence of "fake news" and other aspects of how we receive and understand information.
For this story, as a person with a scientific background and knowledge in the field of Egyptology, I searched for measured, scientific and accurate data regarding this latest discovery, which as an "international committee under Prominent Egyptologist and former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass" pointed out in their feedback to the scanners should "be committed to scientific steps, including publishing the finding in an international journal magazine such Nature instead of addressing the media."[1]
Ouch! So until that study is published in a peer reviewed scientific journal, let's just skip the hype and pseudo-archaeology and go for what we actually know.
Here's a summary of the latest "big" discovery:
Muon scans found a large void in a pyramid which contains a lot of other voids...
Here's what 5 years of study of Multi-disciplinary Egyptology teaches me to conclude from this data:
Further investigation may teach us more about pyramid construction.
And from the media hype:
Whenever the word pyramid is used in a headline, the hyperbole comes out as well with "mysterious", "secret" and "hidden" not far behind.
The public probably isn't aware that pyramids aren't necessarily 'solid' (don't get me started on ramp construction...).
This is not to say I don't get excited about discoveries made in the field of Egyptology. Far from it! I just get excited about discoveries that contribute tangibly to our understanding of the ancient world.This discovery while certainly interesting, has not led us to any further understanding of pyramid construction (yet) and when it does I will let you all know!
Additional: Doctor Hawass (love him or hate him) rightly points out our huge responsibility to educate people outside the field.
“We are not at all against any discovery but we as a scientific committee are responsible for explaining to non-Egyptologists the purpose and method of construction of the Great Pyramid. We wrote in our report which we presented to El-Enany that the ScanPyramids project should continue their work but they have to use the scientific approach, and we are happy that this paper is published. We, on the other hand, are going to publish a paper on our opinion on this work, as a scientific committee.” [2]
In other words: More SCIENCE, less SPECULATION please!
Sources:
[1] Egypt: Discovery of void inside Khufu’s Pyramid needs more study http://www.sis.gov.eg/Story/119312?lang=en-us
[2] https://www.inquisitr.com/4598857/egyptologist-zahi-hawass-declares-void-hidden-in-great-pyramid-of-giza-is-not-a-new-discovery/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2017/11/04/what-archaeologists-want-you-to-know-about-the-great-pyramid-void/#5476dd19af9e

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