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Well preserved 2,000-year-old brain cells found in Vesuvius victim
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:25 am
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:25 am
Brain cells have been found in exceptionally preserved form in the remains of a young man killed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius almost 2,000 years ago, an Italian study has revealed.
The preserved neuronal structures in vitrified or frozen form were discovered at the archaeological site of Herculaneum, an ancient Roman city engulfed under a hail of volcanic ash after nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD.
“The study of vitrified tissue as the one we found at Herculaneum ... may save lives in future,” study lead author Pier Paolo Petrone, forensic anthropologist at Naples’ University Federico II, told the AFP news agency.
“The experimentation continues on several research fields, and the data and information we are obtaining will allow us to clarify other and newer aspects of what happened 2,000 years ago during the most famous eruption of Vesuvius,” said Petrone.
The victim whose samples were examined was a man aged around 20 whose remains were discovered in the 1960s splayed on a wooden bed.
The extreme heat of the eruption and the rapid cooling that followed essentially turned the brain material to a glassy material, freezing the neuronal structures and leaving them intact, Petrone explained in the study, published Tuesday by US peer-reviewed science journal PLOS One.
“The evidence of a rapid drop of temperature – witnessed by the vitrified brain tissue – is a unique feature of the volcanic processes occurring during the eruption, as it could provide relevant information for possible interventions by civil protection authorities during the initial stages of a future eruption,” according to Petrone.
Mount Vesuvius eruption 'turned victim's brain to glass'
Vesuvius’ eruption covered Herculaneum in a toxic, metres-thick layer of volcanic ash, gases and lava flow which then turned to stone, encasing the city, allowing an extraordinary degree of frozen-in-time preservation both of city structures and of residents unable to flee.
As they investigated the organic material turned up by the study, researchers managed to obtain unprecedented high resolution imagery using scanning electron microscopy and advanced image processing tools.
With the post-eruption preservation locking in the cellular structure of the victim’s central nervous system, researchers have seized on the chance “to study possibly the best known example in archaeology of extraordinarily well-preserved human neuronal tissue from the brain and spinal cord,” PLOS One noted.
The preserved neuronal structures in vitrified or frozen form were discovered at the archaeological site of Herculaneum, an ancient Roman city engulfed under a hail of volcanic ash after nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD.
“The study of vitrified tissue as the one we found at Herculaneum ... may save lives in future,” study lead author Pier Paolo Petrone, forensic anthropologist at Naples’ University Federico II, told the AFP news agency.
“The experimentation continues on several research fields, and the data and information we are obtaining will allow us to clarify other and newer aspects of what happened 2,000 years ago during the most famous eruption of Vesuvius,” said Petrone.
The victim whose samples were examined was a man aged around 20 whose remains were discovered in the 1960s splayed on a wooden bed.
The extreme heat of the eruption and the rapid cooling that followed essentially turned the brain material to a glassy material, freezing the neuronal structures and leaving them intact, Petrone explained in the study, published Tuesday by US peer-reviewed science journal PLOS One.
“The evidence of a rapid drop of temperature – witnessed by the vitrified brain tissue – is a unique feature of the volcanic processes occurring during the eruption, as it could provide relevant information for possible interventions by civil protection authorities during the initial stages of a future eruption,” according to Petrone.
Mount Vesuvius eruption 'turned victim's brain to glass'
Vesuvius’ eruption covered Herculaneum in a toxic, metres-thick layer of volcanic ash, gases and lava flow which then turned to stone, encasing the city, allowing an extraordinary degree of frozen-in-time preservation both of city structures and of residents unable to flee.
As they investigated the organic material turned up by the study, researchers managed to obtain unprecedented high resolution imagery using scanning electron microscopy and advanced image processing tools.
With the post-eruption preservation locking in the cellular structure of the victim’s central nervous system, researchers have seized on the chance “to study possibly the best known example in archaeology of extraordinarily well-preserved human neuronal tissue from the brain and spinal cord,” PLOS One noted.
This post was edited on 10/8/20 at 9:27 am
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:26 am to Dandy Lion
The last thing that went through his mind was lava.
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:26 am to soccerfüt
quote:
The last thing that went through his mind was lava.
*ash
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:27 am to Dandy Lion
When you close your eyes.
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:33 am to Dandy Lion
When playing "the floor is lava" goes wrong.
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:46 am to Dandy Lion
Will this be counted as a Covid death ?
This post was edited on 10/8/20 at 9:47 am
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:48 am to deathvalleytiger10
quote:
Well preserved 2,000-year-old brain cells found in Vesuvius victim
Just like many lawyers today....
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:50 am to Dandy Lion
quote:
Mount Vesuvius eruption 'turned victim's brain to glass'
Sounds like a nice way to go out.
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:50 am to Dandy Lion
quote:Please let Ruth Bader Ginsburg rest in peace...
Well preserved 2,000-year-old brain cells found
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:52 am to LSURussian
quote:
Please let Ruth Bader Ginsburg rest in peace...
She is a little stiff
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:54 am to Dandy Lion
So one day, when they have artificial brain processors, we can hook this dude up to one and converse with him Futurama style.
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:54 am to LSURussian
quote:
Please let Ruth Bader Ginsburg rest in peace...
On a somewhat serious note, I understand she was Jewish, I was under the impression that as a Jew they must be buried the day of death or no later than the day after, they paraded that old bird around for what seemed like a week?
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:55 am to Dandy Lion
Cool let's make turtles out of them
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:56 am to Dandy Lion
quote:
Well preserved 2,000-year-old brain cells
Can't have been that bright living next to an acive volcano, amirite?
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:58 am to The Pirate King
quote:
Sounds like a nice way to go out.
Nerd [on] off FWIW there is a National; Geographic series on Vesuvius and the eruption and Pompeii , details how Pliny the elder documented the eruption. Also gory details on death by pyroclastic flow...
Posted on 10/8/20 at 9:59 am to Dandy Lion
I watched a video about Vesuvius a few years ago. That could've been me. Really makes you think...
Posted on 10/8/20 at 10:00 am to ClientNumber9
This guy may have been going for some booty when the ash got him, how embarrassing.
Posted on 10/8/20 at 10:22 am to LSUWoodworker
Not sure if I can post the image, but, they found one trying to get one last wank in before his world ended.
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