European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF)

Stories

Writing read from a carbonized Herculaneum scroll for the first time in 2,000 years

Provided micro-CT scans of PHerc. 306

For 2,000 years, the text inside PHerc. 306B was sealed by carbonization. On Nov. 2, 2026, the Vesuvius Challenge awarded Liam Warner and Nicola Bodill a $50,000 First Letters Prize after they recovered readable letters from an X-ray scan.

Updated Nov 3

3D scan reveals superconductors are patchworks, not uniform crystals

New Capabilities

Provided the X-ray technology for the measurements

For about 40 years, physicists assumed cuprate superconductors were uniform crystals. A 3D X-ray scan of a material called LESCO shows a patchwork of two atomic arrangements, divided by boundaries hundreds of times wider than expected.

Updated Oct 27