Mount Vesuvius turned this ancient brain into a glass. Here as

The explosion of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD is probably the most famous for the introduction of the Roman city of Pompeii. But in nearby Herculaneum, also buried in the explosion, the preserved skeleton of a young man lying in the bed contained a startling discovery: the remains of his brain’s glass.

When the researchers studied shiny samples, they saw what they seemed to be nerve cells. A new study now reveals more details on how glass could have formed, the team reports on February 27 Scientific reports.

Glass forms when a liquid – usually melted sand – cool quickly. So manufacturers make windows and cups. The process can also occur naturally, as when the lighting hits a sandy desert, forming glass bumps called Fulgasia. Before the remains of the brain of the new Rome were discovered, however, the soft biological tissue of the glass had not been found in nature, the researchers say.

“When we realized there was really a glass brain, the scientific question was: How is it possible?” Says Guido Giordano, a geologist and volcanologist at Roma University three.

Giordano and colleagues used a technique called differential scanning calorimetry, which included heating the already brain glass pieces, to determine the temperature at which the glass had formed. Shards underwent structural changes at temperatures above 510 ° Cight (950 ° Fahrenheit), suggesting that it is the temperature that the brain tissue initially struck to return to the glass.

Researchers argued that the rapid attack of hot volcanic ash, rock and gas that embedded Herculaneum could not be responsible for turning the brain pieces into glass. Similar pyroclastic flows have been found at a maximum of 465 ° C and would not have cooled as fast as to turn the brain into glass. On the contrary, a much hotter cloud of ash probably hit the young man and spread quickly, allowing the necessary cooling. Only later were buried in thick volcanic waste, the team says.

So why did the young man’s brain completely disintegrate in extreme heat? His skull may have been related to him, the researchers suggest. The bones may have protected against direct contact with the cloud ash.