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Voice of America
14-03-2025
- Science
- Voice of America
How Did a Man's Brain Turn to Glass 2000 Years Ago?
Almost 2,000 years ago, a young man was lying in his bed near Mount Vesuvius. Suddenly, an extremely hot cloud of ash came down from the erupting volcano. The heat was so intense that it turned part of his brain to glass. That is the theory Italian scientists have proposed to explain the strange case of an ancient Roman's brain. They said it is the only human tissue ever known to have naturally turned to glass. This rare brain could rewrite the story of one of history's most famous natural disasters. Mount Vesuvius is near the modern-day Italian city of Naples. The volcano erupted in the year 79 AD, covering the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum with a fast-moving layer of rock and ash called a pyroclastic flow. Thousands of bodies have been discovered in the two places. They are frozen in time, showing people today the daily life of ancient Rome. In the 1960s, the burnt remains of a man about 20 years old were found on a wooden bed in a building in Herculaneum used for the worship of the Roman Emperor Augustus. Italian anthropologist Pier Paolo Petrone, a co-author of a new study, noticed something strange in 2018. What was left of the man's brain had been changed into pieces of shiny black glass. Surprising finding Guido Giordano is the lead writer of the study published in Scientific Reports in February. He told the French News Agency (AFP) that these pieces are up to a centimeter wide. When the scientists studied the glass using an electron microscope, they discovered an "amazing, truly unexpected thing," he said. Complex networks of nerve cells and other identifiable parts of the man's brain and spinal cord were preserved in the glass, according to the study. How this happened is something of a mystery. Glass only forms in nature when extremely high temperatures cool very rapidly, leaving no time for crystallization. It is usually caused by meteorites, lightning, or lava. This is even more unlikely to happen to human tissues because they are mostly made out of water. The Roman's brain being preserved in glass is the "only such occurrence on Earth" ever documented for human or animal tissue, the study said. The scientists said that the brain must have been exposed to temperatures above 510 degrees Celsius. That is hotter than the pyroclastic flow that buried the city. Then the brain needed to rapidly cool down. All this had to happen before the flow arrived. The scientists think this only could have happened if the ash cloud from Vesuvius sent out a very hot blast before the pyroclastic flow arrived. This theory is supported by evidence of a thin layer of ash that settled in the city shortly before it was covered by thick layers of rock and ash. This would mean the people of Herculaneum were actually killed by the ash cloud — not the pyroclastic flow as had long been thought. 'Poorly studied' threat Giordano hoped the research would bring more attention to the threat of these hot ash clouds. They remain "very poorly studied" because they leave little evidence behind. French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft were the subjects of the 2022 documentary film Fire of Love. They were killed by such an ash cloud, Giordano said. And some of the 215 people killed during the 2018 eruption of Guatemala's Fuego volcano were also victims of an ash cloud, he added. "There is a window of survivability" for these hot blasts, he said, adding that building houses which can resist high heat near volcanoes could help. But why did the man with the glass brain alone suffer this fate? The other citizens of Herculaneum had some time to run away from the eruption. All the other bodies discovered there were clearly trying to flee. But the man, who is thought to have been the guardian of the Collegium building, stayed in bed in the middle of town, so he was the first hit. Giordano said that we will likely never know the whole truth of what happened that day. I'm Jill Robbins. Daniel Lawler reported this story for Agence France-Presse. Jill Robbins adapted it for Learning English. ______________________________________________ Words in This Story erupt – v. to send out rocks, ash, lava, in a sudden volcanic explosion layer - n. an amount of something that is spread over an area amazing - adj. causing great surprise or wonder spinal- adj. of, relating to, or affecting the spine preserve – v. to keep (something) in its original state or in good condition crystallization - n. the process in which cooling minerals form regular geometrical shapes meteorite - n. a piece of rock or metal that has fallen to the ground from outer space lava - n. melted rock from a volcano blast - n. a mass of air that moves very quickly and forcefully What do you think of this story? Write to us in the Comments Section.
Voice of America
14-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Voice of America
Visitors Laugh Away Troubles at the HaHaHouse Museum
A new museum of laughter in Croatia is offering to help people deal with the negativity of modern life. Visitors to the HaHaHouse in the Croatian capital Zagreb walk into a little cloud of white smoke when they step inside. Its purpose is to blow away their worries before they climb into a "giant washing machine". Then they move down a twisting slide into a space filled with little white balls where their trip to a happier place starts. Forty-three-year-old Andrea Golubic is the museum's creator. Golubic said she got the idea during the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, many people were feeling down, depressed and alone: "I realized that I had a mission -- to heal people with laughter." The idea "came straight from the heart", Golubic told the French News Agency (AFP). She had ideas for many of the museum elements in one day: 'that's how the HaHaHouse began." Golubic said a picture of her when she was seven-year-old inspired her. 'I was constantly joking as a kid," she added. Visitors press a button to be "disinfected from negativity" as soon as they step inside the museum, which has eight interactive zones, or areas. One has rubber chickens singing cheerfully. They sing songs like ABBA's "Dancing Queen." There is a karaoke room with distorted voices and a "Sumo Arena" for wrestling in puffed up clothes. There is also some serious history of humor from ancient to modern times told through theatre, film or the internet. The museum also explains different kinds of humor. These include word play, slapstick, dark humor and satire. Inner child Golubic said the HaHaHouse is popular with everyone from small children to older people. Adults say it is a good excuse to act like a child. "All those who still feel a bit of childish joy and embrace their inner child, will recharge themselves," she said. Retiree Bruno Dadic told AFP he was pleased by his visit "as there is never enough humor in life. "Laughter is a medicine for the soul," he said. Aleksandar Suka celebrated his fifth birthday with a visit. Visiting with his mother, the little boy said he liked lying on the "Bed of Nails" since they tickled him. Singer Zorica Bucic, from the coastal town of Split, said the museum was just right for our times. "Entering here is like entering childhood, being relieved of all problems,' she said. Bucic added that if you could come to museum often, you would not need to visit a psychologist. Psychologist Petar Kraljevic told AFP that laughter is a kind of weapon which gives people strength to face their problems. He said that if doctors could advise their patients to have "three hours of laughter' a day, people would feel much better. I'm John Russell. Lajla Veselica reported this story for Agence-France Press. Jill Robbins adapted it for Learning English. ____________________________________________________ Words in This Story museum –n. a building that holds many exhibits showing things related to a subject such as history, art or any other subject people are interested in negativity – n. an attitude in which someone considers only the bad qualities of someone or something twist – v. to curve or change direction suddenly inspire – v. to make (someone) want to do something; to give (someone) an idea about what to do or create interactive – adj. designed to respond to the actions or commands of a user karaoke –n. a pastime in which people sing along with music of popular songs slapstick – n. comedy that involves physical action (such as falling down or hitting people satire – n. a way of using humor to show that someone or something is foolish, weak, or bad; humor that shows the weaknesses or bad qualities of a person, government, society, etc. embrace – v. to accept (something or someone) readily or gladly recharge – v. to rest and relax in order to regain your energy and strength tickle – v. to make (someone) laugh by lightly touching a very sensitive part of the body with fingers, a feather, or the like psychologist –n. a health specialist who is not usually a doctor but aims to treat people with mental or behavioral problems What do you think of this story? Write to us in the Comments Section.
Voice of America
13-02-2025
- Science
- Voice of America
Important Terms and Ideas for Describing Artificial Intelligence
There are several terms experts use to describe computer systems in the field of artificial intelligence. Recently, the French News Agency (AFP) defined some of the common terms and ideas used in that field. Here is a version for English learners: Artificial intelligence The first term is 'artificial intelligence.' When asked what artificial intelligence is, the AI-powered ChatGPT system says that the term means 'the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think, learn and make decisions". AI's main quality or characteristic is taking in large amounts of data and then processing it using methods from statistics. AI involves using ideas from many fields including computing, mathematics, languages, psychology, and others. Currently, the technology is being used heavily for investigating health issues, translating human languages, and predicting problems in machine tools and self-driving cars. But AI is affecting many fields of business and industry. Algorithm A second important term is 'algorithm.' An algorithm is important to all computer operations. It is a series of steps or instructions followed by a computer program to get a result. Algorithms can give rules for an AI's behavior, helping it to realize the objectives of computer program developers. Unlike a simple computer program, AI algorithms permit a computer system to 'learn' for itself. Machine learning A third important term is 'machine learning.' Machine learning is one method that researchers have used in their efforts to produce artificial intelligence. Machine learning lets computers learn from data without being directly programmed on what results to produce. In recent years, the field of neural networks has given important results. In a neural network, connections between some nodes are strengthened and others weakened as the system learns and makes changes. Learning can be "supervised." This means the system learns to put new data into specific groups based on a model. For example, the system could learn to identify spam in an email or other messaging programs. "Unsupervised" learning permits the system to independently discover new areas or ways of doing things. These discoveries in the available data might not have been immediately clear. An example would be letting an online store identify buying trends in sales data. "Reinforcement" learning adds a process of repeated trial-and-error. In this process, the system is rewarded based on its outcomes, causing it to learn and improve. One example might be a self-driving vehicle whose objective is to reach its destination as quickly as possible but also safely. That requirement would lead it to learn to stop at red lights although it requires additional time. Deep learning Deep learning owes its name to its use of many layers of neural networks. Raw data is examined by each layer in turn at growing levels of abstraction. Geoffrey Hinton received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics. Hinton is credited with developing deep learning. Hinton received the prize along with 1980s neural-network developer John Hopfield. Francis Bach, head of France's SIERRA statistical learning laboratory, said this about deep learning: "The more layers you have, the more complex behavior can become, and the more complex the behavior can be, the easier it is to learn a desired behavior efficiently." The method might help lead to scientific discoveries. Language models We now turn to large language models (LLMs). These might be the most popular example of generative AI. Large language models power tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Google's Gemini. Such systems are able to write long papers, answer legal questions or even produce a cake recipe based on their statistical models. But the technology is still new. LLM's can suffer from "hallucinations"- the creation of content that is false or incorrect. Artificial general intelligence A final important term is artificial general intelligence (AGI) - one the big goals of the whole AI field. AGI suggests the unrealized dream of a machine able to reproduce all human processes of human thinking. People who push the idea include OpenAI chief Sam Altman and his competitors at Anthropic. They consider such a system to be within reach. The goal is to use large amounts of data and processing power to train LLMs that are increasingly powerful. But critics say that LLM technology has important limits, including its ability to reason. Maxime Amblard, computing professor at France's University of Lorraine, told AFP last year, "LLMs do not work like human beings." Amblard added that humans, as flesh-and-blood -intelligent beings, are "sense-making machines" with different abilities from today's computer systems. I'm Anna Matteo. And I'm John Russell. Pierre Celerier reported on this story for Agence France-Presse. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning _____________________________________________________ Words in This Story simulation – n. the representation of the functioning of one system or process by means of the functioning of another system statistics –n. pl. (science) the field of processing numerical information to describe processes and things neural –adj. related to the brain or nerves node – n. a point at which smaller parts begin or center spam – n. unsolicited messages (such as an email) that often have a commercial purpose trend – n. a line or direction of movement or change abstraction –n. the formation of ideas efficiently – adv. with success, competence, or a suitable effect
Voice of America
04-02-2025
- Science
- Voice of America
Huge Iceberg Could Threaten Penguins in the South Atlantic Ocean
Scientists are worried that a large iceberg heading toward an island in the South Atlantic Ocean could threaten wildlife there. Researchers say the iceberg is the largest in the world. It is moving through the South Atlantic toward the island of South Georgia. The island is a British overseas territory that is about 1,400 kilometers east of the Falkland Islands. Scientists say South Georgia is a main mating ground for wildlife, especially penguins and seals. The iceberg is officially known as A23a and it measures about 3,500 square kilometers. It has existed since 1986, when it broke off from the Antarctic shelf. Andrew Meijers is an oceanographer with the British Antarctic Survey. He told the French News Agency (AFP) that scientists have been using satellite imagery to follow the iceberg's movements. Meijers said observations had shown the iceberg had not broken into smaller pieces like some other so-called "megabergs" that passed through the Southern Ocean. He added that predicting the iceberg's exact path is difficult. But ocean conditions suggest it should reach South Georgia in two to four weeks. Meijers said he is worried the iceberg will get caught on the underground continental shelf around South Georgia. But he said it is also possible the large ice mass could miss the shelf and continue moving into open waters beyond South Georgia. If the iceberg does get caught, or stuck, on the shelf, Meijers said it could remain there for months or it could break into pieces. Meijers is concerned that this could harm efforts by penguins and seals on the island to feed and raise their young. Icebergs that have grounded there in the past led to the deaths of young penguins and seals, he said. Raul Cordero is a mechanical engineer from Chile's University of Santiago. He is also a member of the National Antarctic Research Committee. Cordero told AFP he thinks the iceberg will miss South Georgia. "The island acts as an obstacle for ocean currents and therefore usually diverts the water long before it reaches the island," he said. "The iceberg is moved by that water flow, so the chances of it hitting are not that high." Cordero added, however, that some iceberg pieces could affect the island. Soledad Tiranti is a glacier expert who is currently on an Argentinian exploration trip in the Antarctic. She told AFP that icebergs such as A23a "are so deep that before reaching an island or mainland they generally get stuck" on the seabed. It is currently summer in South Georgia and penguins and seals from the area have been looking for food in the cold Antarctic waters to bring back to their young. Meijers said the animals might have to go around the iceberg if it gets stuck. He added that if they had to move around it, this would take a lot of their energy, possibly leading to animal deaths. The seal and penguin populations on South Georgia have already been having a "bad season" with cases of bird flu, Meijers said. Iceberg A23a remained stuck for 30 years before finally breaking free from the Antarctic shelf in 2020. Scientists watching its movements say the iceberg has followed nearly the same path as other large ice masses in the past. The icebergs generally pass the east side of the Antarctic Peninsula through the Weddell Sea along a path known as "iceberg alley." They are pushed by the world's most powerful ocean current system, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. I'm Bryan Lynn. Agence France-Presse reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for VOA Learning English. ______________________________________________________ Words in This Story iceberg – n. a huge piece of ice that floats freely in the sea shelf – n. an area of relatively shallow water that surrounds a land mass continental shelf –n. an area of relatively shallow water that extends from the world's great land masses and beyond which is the deep ocean obstacle – n. something that makes it difficult or gets in the way of doing something; a barrier divert – v. to send someone or something to a place other than where they had expected to go glacier – n. a large mass of ice that moves very slowly, usually down a hill or valley alley – n. a narrow street or place where things are likely to pass
