SCIENCE LAB SCENICS : HERCULANEUM HEAT

 

VESUVIAN crucible yields a glass brain : FIVE years ago, Italian researchers published a study on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 that detailed how one victim of the blast, a male presumed to have been in his mid-20s, had been found nearby in the seaside settlement of Herculaneum.

He was lying facedown and buried by ash on a wooden bed in the College of the Augustales, a public building dedicated to the worship of Emperor Augustus.

In 2018, one researcher discovered black, glossy shards embedded in the man's skull. A 2020 paper speculated that the heat of the explosion had been so immense that it had fused the victim's brain tissue into glass.

Forensic analysis revealed proteins common to brain tissues and fatty acids found in human hair, while a chunk of charred wood unearthed near the skeleton indicated a thermal reading as high as 968 degrees Fahrenheit [ 520 Celsius ].

It was the only known instance in which soft tissues - much less any organic material - was naturally preserved as glass.

A paper published in Nature has verified the fragments are indeed glassified brain.

Using techniques such as electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry, scientists examined the physical properties of samples taken from the glassy fragments and demonstrated how they had been formed and preserved.

The World Students Society thanks Franz Lidz.