Man’s brain turned to glass in hot ash cloud from Vesuvius. Nearly 2,000 years after a young man died in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, scientists have discovered that his brain was preserved when it turned to glass in an extremely hot ash cloud.
Scientists found the glass in 2020 and speculated that it was a fossilized brain, but they didn’t know how it was made. The victim was about 20 years old when the volcano erupted in 79 CE, near modern-day Naples. Scientists now believe that a 510-degree Celsius (1,100-degree Fahrenheit) ash cloud surrounded the brain and then cooled very quickly, turning the organ into glass.
It’s the only known case of human tissue or any organic material naturally turning into glass.
