The eruption of Mount Vesuvius 2,000 years ago turned a victim’s brain tissue into glass. Scientists say they have figured out how this unusual phenomenon occurred.

A recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports described how a young man's brain was transformed into glass during the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. Scientists believe that a cloud of ash as hot as 510 degrees Celsius enveloped the brain and then cooled rapidly,

Researchers found organic glass in the skull of a volcano victim, indicating the extreme and unique environment triggered by Vesuvius's eruption in 79 CE.