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Here are a few brief reports about science and technology from around the planet, including one about what the eruption¹ of Mount Vesuvius might have done to one ill-fated resident of Herculaneum.

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Hi, I’m assistant news editor Sarah Lewin Frasier. And here’s a short piece from the April 2020 issue of the magazine, in the section called Advances: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Science, Technology and Medicine.

The article is titled “Quick Hits,” and it’s a rundown of some noncoronavirus stories from around the globe.

From Bolivia:

A new study traces how smoke plumes² from heavy Amazon burning in 2007 and 2010 deposited black carbon and dust in the Andes, speeding up melting of the Bolivian Zongo Glacier³ by boosting heat absorption.

From Italy:

New analysis suggests a fragment of ancient glass may have formed from a Herculaneum inhabitant’s brain, heated by the A.D. 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

From Cameroon:

Bones of children buried 3,000 and 8,000 years ago in Cameroon grasslands⁴ provided the first ancient human DNA⁵ from this region. The discovery illuminates⁶ early genetic⁷ diversity and at least one long-gone population.

From Finland:

Aurora⁸ chasers in Finland helped to identify a new feature in the Northern Lights. Nicknamed “the dunes,” it may reflect an elusive⁹ type of ripple¹⁰ in Earth’s upper atmosphere.

From Japan:

Researchers isolated¹¹ and grew an intriguing¹² single-celled microorganism in the lab from sediment¹³ off the coast of central Japan. The tentacled¹⁴ Archaean uses proteins common to multicellular organisms and might lend insight into how the latter evolved.

From New Guinea:

Off the island of New Guinea and northern Australia, researchers spotted¹⁵ four species of intricately patterned sharks that walk on their fins¹⁶ to hunt during low tides. They average less than a meter long and bring the total of known “walking” sharks to nine.

I’m Sarah Lewin Frasier.