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In A.D. 79 , a man who croak in Mount Vesuvius ' eruption near Pompeii had a rare shift : His brain seemingly turned into glass . But scientist have long debated how it happened , because the pyroclastic flows of rock’n’roll fragment , ash and flatulency that inter him would not have been hot enough , nor cooled quickly enough , to " glassify " or vitrify the gentleman’s gentleman ’s head .
Now , research worker have proposed a Modern explanation : the pyroclastic period must have been immediately antecede by a superheated swarm of ash that first rapidly heated up and then chop-chop cooled the man ’s genius as it fritter , turning it to looking glass .
The glassy material was found inside the man’s skull in Herculaneum. Researchers state that it was created by a super-hot ash cloud from Vesuvius that preceded its pyroclastic flows.
The newfangled research , published Thursday ( Feb. 27 ) in the journalScientific Reports , is the late volley in a conflict over the material found in remains of the man ’s skull . The first study exact this waspublished in 2020 . But critic alleged the same year that the " drinking glass brain " may not have been brainpower tissue at all . The newfangled subject area provides additional evidence , however , including remainder of brain cells , that the authors suggest show the material is glassified mind tissue .
Ash clouds
The unexampled theory is supported by work of charcoal fragments found near the human race ’s stiff at Herculaneum , a seaside town a few miles from Pompeii that was destroyed in the same eruption , study lead authorGuido Giordano , a geologist and volcanologist at Italy ’s Roma Tre University , told Live Science .
" At Herculaneum , we found oxford gray fragments that see multiple [ heating ] events and the highest temperature were link with the early tiptop - live ash tree swarm , " he said in an email .
relate : Remains of man who was ' vaporized ' by Mount Vesuvius 2,000 class ago discovered
(Image credit: Guido Giordano et al./Scientific Reports)
Such ash tree clouds are know to have formed during several recent volcanic eruption that featured pyroclastic flows , including the 1991eruption of Japan ’s Mount Unzenand the 2018eruption of Guatemala ’s Fuego vent , he say .
The initial ash clouds hold back little volcanic material and so might seem to have little physical impingement , he said . But they could still be fatal because of their super - hot temperatures — and the researchers estimate the initial ash cloud that covered Herculaneum was more than 950 degrees Fahrenheit ( 510 degree Celsius ) , which was at first hot enough — and then quickly cool off enough — to vitrify the man ’s brain .
The man was killed during the eruption while lying on a bed in Herculaneum ’s Collegium Augustalium , a civic insane asylum that promoted the adoration of the Roman Saturnia pavonia .
(Image credit: Pier Paolo Petrone)
The romish seaboard town of Herculaneum , about 10 miles northwest of Pompeii , was destroy in the same blast of Vesuvius in A.D. 79 . The vent can be seen here on the sensible horizon .
Glass brain
However , some scientists have disputed whether the glassy textile found in the man ’s remains at Herculaneum was ever genius tissue . A discipline put out in 2020 in the journalScience & Technology of Archaeological Researchled by molecular archaeologistAlexandra Morton - Hayward — now at the University of Oxford — claimed that samples of the glassy textile had not been made useable to external researchers . She and her colleagues also argued that the pyroclastic flux at Herculaneum were not hot enough , nor had they cool off tight enough , to turn a brain into chalk .
The gentleman’s gentleman ’s clay were found in the mid-1960s , show he had died while lying on a bed in a building of the Collegium Augustalium , a civic institution that advertise the worship of the Roman emperor moth .
— rarified fresco bring out in Pompeii shows type of cleaning lady who ' give way free from manlike order to dance freely , go hunting and eat raw meat in the lot '
— Pompeii victim are n’t who we thought they were , deoxyribonucleic acid psychoanalysis reveals
— 4,000 - year - old footprints near Pompeii show people fly Mount Vesuvius eruption thousands of years before the famous one
The fresh field by Giodano and his colleagues reinforces their claim that the glassy fabric had been part of the man ’s brain and presents microscopic analysis showing the remains of brain cells and other brain structures within the glassy textile .
ArchaeologistPedar Fossof DePauw University in Indiana and the generator of " Pliny and the Eruption of Vesuvius " ( Routledge , 2022 ) , who was not involved in the previous field of study , told Live Science that it was not clear if the new inquiry had adjudicate the question over the nature of the material .
" I ’m beaming this workplace is being done , but there ’s more that needs to happen before it can be confirm , " he said .
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