Scientists virtually read charred Herculaneum scrolls

Researchers created their own baked and rolled papyri and showed that writing could be deciphered by detecting lead in the ink. By combining X-ray computed tomography (CT) with X-ray fluorescence, the team identified the lead, virtually unrolled the scroll and clearly read the text inside.

“The letters lit up like Christmas trees,” said Douglas Seiler, a former inventor and study co-author. The technique could help researchers read thousands of ancient scrolls recovered from the Roman town of Herculaneum, which was charred by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, if the scrolls contain ink.

Nature | 5-minute read

Reference: PLoS ONE paper

New microscope could reveal materials at near-absolute-zero temperatures

Early next year, scientific equipment maker Bruker plans to ship the first scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) that uses liquid helium to operate stably near absolute zero.

The device, named GAIA, which stands for “Generational Advance in Instrumentation for Analysis,” can image materials for more than 30 hours at temperatures as low as about −266 °C (7 Kelvin). The advances could enable researchers to explore never-before-seen material properties and may help revolutionize quantum computing, the researchers say.

Nature | 7-minute read

Radio waves detected from an exoplanet for the first time

Astronomers have detected radio waves emanating directly from Beta Pictoris b. This is the first time such a signal has been observed from a planet outside our solar system.

The researchers separated the planet’s radiation from its host star’s radiation by choosing candidates that were large, relatively close to Earth and well away from magnetically quiet stars. The signal originates from auroral radio emissions, similar to signals from the aurora borealis and southern lights on Earth.

BBC Sky at Night Magazine | 5-minute read

Reference: arXiv preprint (not peer reviewed)

This week’s infographic: How cells die

This week’s feature explores several previously unknown mechanisms of cell death, many of which have been discovered in the past year or two. Scientists are eager to connect these newly identified death pathways to disease and explore medical applications, including killing cancer cells, calming inflammatory diseases and rescuing dying cells in the heart and brain.

However, studying cell death can be difficult. Cell biologist Scott Dixon jokes that when a cell-death experiment is successful, the material disappears.

Nature | 11-minute read

Features and insights

How to protect memory and reasoning in the age of AI

There are growing concerns that using AI could slow memory and reasoning skills. Although evidence so far is limited, friction is generally your friend. Learning requires effortful cognitive processing, experts say.

Researchers are developing strategies to keep the brain in good shape. One technique, metacognition—the ability to think, plan and monitor one’s own learning—increases students’ progress in school by an average of eight months per year compared with students who are not taught it.

Nature | 11-minute read

How gun-control policies may help prevent suicide

Suicide is the leading cause of death in the United States, and firearms cause more than half of those deaths. Public health experts and suicide-prevention activists advocate gun control as part of an evidence-based strategy to limit access to lethal means.

“That’s what will save the most lives,” says psychiatrist Paul Nestadt. Laws requiring guns to be kept securely in homes where children live have been shown to reduce youth suicide. Requiring a permit to purchase a gun was also associated with at least a 15% reduction in gun-suicide rates in Connecticut and Missouri.

KFF Health News | 12-minute read

References: Annual Review of Public Health paper (2025) and Preventive Medicine paper (2015).

It’s Fat Bear Week

The annual big and beautiful brown bear showdown is underway in Alaska’s Katmai National Park. The impressive girth of these muscular bears helps them survive hibernation.

Vote for your favorite chunky cubby here. You can also relax with the bears on the Brooks Falls live webcam.

If you have feedback about your favorite healthy, spherical animals or this newsletter, please let us know at [email protected].

Thank you for reading,

Flora Graham, Nature Briefing Editor-in-Chief

Contributed by Jacob Smith

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