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In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum.  

A cloud of scorching ash buried a young man in Herculaneum.  As the ash cooled, it turned some of his brain to glass.  Above, we're looking at some of his nerve cells.

Pier Pablo Petrone is a biologist and forensic anthropologist at the University of Naples Federico II in Italy.  He has found brain samples before, but says they were of a soaplike substance or were mummified.

But in this case, the brain turned to glass as it was heated, liquefied and cooled.  This process is called vitrification.  Petrone and colleagues used electron microscopy to study the remains - they found layers of tissue wrapped around tendrils in the brain tissue and concluded it was myelin, a fatty substance that helps carry signals along nerve fibers.

"This is the first ever discovery of ancient human brain remains vitrified by hot ash during a volcanic eruption."

Science News