It took about 2,000 years for a group of scientists to find the world’s oldest brain. Natural history has surprised experts by revealing a one-of-a-kind fossil. In the lands of Italy, among human archaeological remains, a brain with living neurons was recently found.
As a result of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, a human brain was trapped in black vitreous material. The high temperatures of the eruption in 79 A.D. managed to keep the brain tissue almost intact and, therefore, some living neurons were preserved there.
Further examination of the tissue revealed the existence of a central nervous system that had been preserved. Using scanning electron microscopy and other tools, the team of scientists led by Dr. Pier Paolo Petrone of the Federico II University of Naples reported that some structures appeared to be neurons and axons.
“The discovery of a vitrified brain was truly exceptional, but the finding in it of a complete central nervous system composed of neurons and axons was amazing,” adds Dr. Petrone.
Life of the brain with the oldest neurons in the world
Proteins from human brain tissue were found in the brain. This confirms that there was life in the cerebral cortex, as well as in the basal ganglia, pituitary gland, amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, spinal cord, and cerebellum. Virtually the entire central nervous system was functioning. We owe this to the vitrification process that occurred here.
Often, the high temperatures of volcanic eruptions destroy everything in their path. In the case of this brain with living neurons, just as it was rapidly heated, it was also cooled, and the system that belonged to these human remains remained intact, revealing a historic mind.
Perhaps now we will be able to observe the mutations of the human brain. To understand what things have changed and how we adapt to the pace of change in nature. Today our minds are adapting to a different nature after the pandemic of the new coronavirus, and that may define in some way the minds of the future.
Text and photos courtesy of Ecoosfera
Photo by Pier Paolo Petrone
Translated by María Isabel Carrasco Cara Chards
