Blurs

In the aftermath of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, something extraordinary happened inside a Roman villa at Herculaneum. A library was destroyed. But it wasn't completely destroyed. The papyrus scrolls inside were exposed to extreme heat, carbonising them into blackened, brittle cylinders. The writing survived in some cases, but the books became so fragile that opening them could destroy the very information researchers were trying to recover. For almost two thousand years, the knowledge inside remained effectively sealed. Now scientists are doing something that sounds completely backwards. They are burning scrolls on purpose. Not the ancient ones. They are making modern replicas, filling them with known writing, rolling them up and deliberately carbonising them. Then they scan the wreckage. The reason is simple: if researchers can understand exactly what happens to writing when a scroll burns, they may be able to work backwards from the damaged objects at Herculaneum and...

Beneath the bustling streets of modern Italy lies an astonishing hidden world. Far below Rome, Naples, Orvieto and countless other cities stretches a labyrinth of tunnels, catacombs, aqueducts, chambers, quarries and forgotten passageways created over thousands of years. While millions of visitors admire Italy's famous monuments above ground, relatively few realise that an equally fascinating realm exists beneath their feet.  Some of these underground structures were engineering masterpieces that supplied water to entire cities. Others served as burial grounds, military refuges, places of worship or secret escape routes. Many remain only partially explored, and new discoveries continue to emerge from beneath Italy's ancient soil. These subterranean networks reveal a remarkable story of Roman ingenuity, survival and adaptation. They also fuel enduring mysteries about lost chambers, hidden treasures and forgotten sections of the ancient world that may still await discovery. The R...