A young man was lying in his bed when a viciously hot cloud of ash swept down from the erupting Mount Vesuvius and turned his brain to glass almost 2,000

It was a surprising discovery when scientists examining the remains of a man who died in bed in the ancient city of Herculaneum after Italy's Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD found dark fragments resembling obsidian inside his skull.

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.