It was a surprising discovery when scientists examining the remains of a man who died in bed in the ancient city of Herculaneum after Italy’s Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD found dark fragments resembling obsidian inside his skull. It turns out the eruption had somehow turned his brain into glass.
It is the only case on record of such a phenomenon, and researchers now have answers for why and how it happened.
They say the vitrification—transformation into glass—of this victim’s brain was the apparent effect of a scorching ash cloud that suddenly descended upon his city along the Bay of Naples, instantly killing all the inhabitants....
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