Man's brain turned to glass by Vesuvius volcano ash cloud

This was such a vast conflagration that the mixture of molten metal it produced was supposed to be the origin of a prized, and extremely expensive, material known as Corinthian bronze.

After years of patient work around the globe, volcanologists and climate modelers are now sure: in the years 536 and 539/540, there occurred at least two volcanic eruptions of almost unprecedented magnitude. The first of them may have been somewhere in the tropics, although the location has not yet been pinned down conclusively. The second was at L