A breakthrough in digital imaging has allowed researchers to read an entire section of a charred scroll from the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum. Using machine learning to detect subtle differences in the texture of the carbonized papyrus where ink once sat, the AI has reconstructed a previously unknown Epicurean treatise.
The text discusses the nature of perception and the senses, attributed to the philosopher Philodemus. This success paves the way for reading hundreds of other scrolls that were previously considered too fragile to ever be opened or read.