Mystery of how man's brain turned to glass after Vesuvius eruption

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The glassy product was discovered inside the guy’s skull in Herculaneum. Scientist state that it was produced by a super-hot ash cloud from Vesuvius that preceded its pyroclastic circulations.
(Image credit: Pier Paolo Petrone)

In A.D. 79, a guy who passed away in Mount Vesuvius ‘eruption near Pompeii had an unusual improvement: His brain relatively became glass. Researchers have actually long disputed how it took place, since the pyroclastic circulations of rock pieces, ash and gas that buried him would not have actually been hot enough, nor cooled rapidly enough, to “glassify” or vitrify the male’s brain.

Now, scientists have actually proposed a brand-new description: the pyroclastic circulations need to have been right away preceded by a superheated cloud of ash that very first quickly heated and after that quickly cooled the male’s brain as it dissipated, turning it to glass.

The brand-new research study, released Thursday (Feb. 27) in the journal Scientific Reportsis the current volley in a conflict over the product discovered in remains of the guy’s skull. The very first research study declaring this was released in 2020Critics declared the very same year that the “glass brain” might not have actually been brain tissue at all. The brand-new research study offers extra proof, nevertheless, consisting of residues of brain cells, that the authors recommend reveal the product is glassified brain tissue.

Ash clouds

The brand-new theory is supported by research studies of charcoal pieces discovered near the guy’s stays at Herculaneum, a seaside town a couple of miles from Pompeii that was ruined in the exact same eruption, research study lead author Guido Giordanoa geologist and volcanologist at Italy’s Roma Tre University, informed Live Science.

“At Herculaneum, we found charcoal fragments that experienced multiple [heating] events and the highest temperatures were associated with the early super-hot ash cloud,” he stated in an e-mail.

Related: Remains of guy who was ‘vaporized’ by Mount Vesuvius 2,000 years ago found

Such ash clouds are understood to have actually formed throughout numerous current volcanic eruptions that included pyroclastic circulations, consisting of the 1991 eruption of Japan’s Mount Unzen and the 2018 eruption of Guatemala’s Fuego volcanohe stated.

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The preliminary ash clouds consisted of little volcanic product therefore may appear to have little physical effect, he stated. They might still be deadly due to the fact that of their super-hot temperature levels– and the scientists approximate the preliminary ash cloud that covered Herculaneum was more than 950 degrees Fahrenheit (510 degrees Celsius), which was at very first hot enough– and then quickly cool enough– to vitrify the male’s brain.

(Image credit: Guido Giordano et al./ Scientific Reports )

The guy was eliminated throughout the eruption while resting on a bed in Herculaneum’s Collegium Augustalium, a civic organization that promoted the praise of the Roman emperors.

Glass brain

Some researchers have actually contested whether the glassy product discovered in the guy’s stays at Herculaneum was ever brain tissue. A research study released in 2020 in the journal Science & Technology of Archaeological Research led by molecular archaeologist Alexandra Morton-Hayward — now at the University of Oxford– declared that samples of the glassy product had actually not been offered to outdoors scientists. She and her coworkers likewise argued that the pyroclastic circulations at Herculaneum were not hot enough, nor had they cooled quickly enough, to turn a brain into glass.

The guy’s remains were discovered in the mid-1960s, revealing he had actually passed away while pushing a bed in a structure of the Collegium Augustalium, a civic organization that promoted the praise of the Roman emperor.

The brand-new research study by Giodano and his associates enhances their claim that the glassy product had actually belonged to the guy’s brain and provides tiny analysis revealing the remains of brain cells and other brain structures within the glassy product.

Archaeologist Pedar Foss of DePauw University in Indiana and the author of “Pliny and the Eruption of Vesuvius” (Routledge, 2022), who was not associated with the most recent research study, informed Live Science that it was unclear if the brand-new research study had actually dealt with the concerns over the nature of the product.

“I’m glad this work is being done, but there’s more that needs to happen before it can be confirmed,” he stated.

Tom Metcalfe is an independent reporter and routine Live Science factor who is based in London in the United Kingdom. Tom composes generally about science, area, archaeology, the Earth and the oceans. He has actually likewise composed for the BBC, NBC News, National Geographic, Scientific American, Air & & Space, and numerous others.