A brain transmuted into glass by the famous volcano should have been impossible. Some scientists say it still is.

Now, the scientists say they have worked out the sequence of events that likely killed the victim and led to the formation of the unique and puzzling glass, thought essentially to constitute ...

The conclusion, from research published in Scientific Reports, is based on an analysis of the physical properties of the glass, thought to comprise the fossilized brain of the individual.

The young man’s skull and spine likely protected the brain from “complete thermal breakdown,” allowing fragments of the unique organic glass to form. Unlike pyroclastic flows, which hug the ...