When can a person's brain turn into glass?

Approximately 2000 years ago, on the territory of the presentIn Italy, a terrible event happened - the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Under the clouds of gases, debris and hot ash were four Roman cities at once: Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae and Oplontis. Huge structures and human bodies were lying under a layer of frozen ash thousands of years ago, because the active study of these places with the help of modern equipment began only in the 20th century. Every year scientists make more and more amazing discoveries, and one of them was made quite recently. On the territory of the deceased city of Herculaneum, the remains of a young man were found, who even the brains survived... Talking about the find, scientists explained howThus, the soft tissues of the body were able to be stored for many years. In short, the brain of the deceased person turned into glass.

For the brain to become glass, certain conditions are necessary

Archaeological find in Italy

The amazing discovery was told inScience Alert. The body of a 20-year-old young man was found during excavations by the Augustal College. This was the name of a large building in the middle of the city of Herculaneum. It was a gathering place for people who worshiped Emperor Augustus like a deity. At the time of the eruption of Vulcan, the discovered man was clearly lying on one of the beds. Researchers are confident that he was one of the members of the college and death overtook him suddenly.

Herculaneum city today

Skull exposed to 500 degree temperaturethe young man cracked. While studying his body, scientists looked inside the head and found something black and shiny there. It looked like something like glass, but to find out more precisely, scientists decided to use an electron microscope. Inside the glass cover, the researchers noticed small "balls" and tubes. It has been suggested that they are dealing with a well-preserved fragment of the human brain that died 2,000 years ago. Good preservation was due to the fact that it heats up sharply and separating, the liquid in the human body turned into a kind of glass.

Preserved fragment of the brain under a microscope

In the course of further study, it was found thatthe found "balls" are neurons. And the tubules are nothing more than axons - the processes of nerve cells through which nerve impulses are transmitted. Scientists have no doubts about this, because the sample found inside the glass was once carbon and oxygen, that is, it is organic tissue. A fragment of the brain was found in the back of the skull, so scientists speculated that the remaining cells belonged to the spinal cord and cerebellum.

A brain cell enlarged under a microscope

See also: Archaeologists unraveled the secret of one of the most mysterious statues in the world

Amazing findings of scientists

Detection of well-preserved brain cells -this is a great success for the scientific community. Such discoveries are made very rarely, but they still take place. For example, in 2008, in the northern part of England, scientists managed to find a skull of a representative of the Iron Age. The remains are perfectly preserved even after 2600 years - scientists even managed to study some fragments of the brain. It is believed that the soft tissues of ancient humans did not decompose due to the substances contained in the clay. They acted as preservatives and prolonged the safety of the human body. Most likely, the hot lava of Vesuvius played the role of the same preservative.

The same 2600-year-old skull

Preservation of soft tissues is also promotedcold environmental conditions. That is why scientists often manage to find well-preserved remains of mammoths and other ancient animals in Siberia. In 2019, the Internet was actively discussing the head of a wolf, which had lain in the ice of Siberia for 40,000 years. The study of the remains was undertaken by a group of scientists from Russia, Japan and Sweden. The find helped researchers track how much wolves evolved over the course of several decades. You can read about the unique find of Russian scientists and look at photographs of the head of an ancient animal in this article.

If you like our articles, subscribe to us on Google News! This will make it easier for you to keep track of new content.

Also, Siberia has recently managed to find the mostthe complete skeleton of a mammoth today. According to scientists, this discovery is almost one of a kind. The most interesting thing is that initially the remains of ancient creatures are found not by professionals, but by ordinary people. So it happened in this case - huge bones of the skull, ribs and feet were noticed by the inhabitants of the village of Seyakha. Read more about this event in this article.