The hellish heat from Mount Vesuvius's eruption turned this victim's brain to glass

image: Pier Paolo Petrone

Researchers in Pompeii were studying the skeleton of a young man who died following the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Inside his skull, the found strange glass fragments. A close look revealed what appeared to be solidified nerve cells. Turns out, the shiny shards are bits of the fellow's brain.

"When we realized that there w…