The brain of a child who lived in the 13th century has been found preserved, complete with neurons and cerebral cells.

An international team of researchers has identified intact neurons and cerebral cells in a mummified medieval brain, according to a study published in the journal Neuroimage.

Found inside the skull of a 13th century A.D. 18-month-old child from northwestern France, the brain had been fixed in formalin solution since its discovery in 1998.

“Although reduced by about 80 percent of its original weight, it has retained its anatomical characteristics and most of all, to a certain degree its cell structures,” anatomist and palaeopathologist Frank Ruhli, head of the Swiss Mummy Project at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, told Discovery News.

The brain was the only tissue preserved in the infant’s skeletonized body.

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A dozen shipwrecks, some of which are unusually well-preserved, have been found at the bottom of the Baltic sea by a gas company building an underwater pipeline. [Thx Kristen]

The oldest wreck probably dates back to medieval times and could be up to 800 years old, while the others are likely from the 17th to 19th centuries, said Peter Norman, of Sweden’s National Heritage Board.

“They could be interesting, but we have only seen pictures of their exterior. Many of them are considered to be fully intact. They look very well-preserved,” Norman told The Associated Press.

Thousands of wrecks from medieval ships to warships sunk during the world wars of the 20th century have been found in the Baltic Sea, which doesn’t have the ship worm that destroys wooden wrecks in saltier oceans.

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Frescoes painted by 14 century master Giotto have been brought to life under ultraviolet light, revealing the artwork’s long-lost colour and detail.

The researchers stumbled on the ultraviolet technique by accident, after spending four months mapping the frescoes as preparation for a possible future restoration.

In the course of the project, they found that by shining ultraviolet light on the paintings they were able to see much more than was visible to the naked eye.

The frescoes are thought to have been admired by Michelangelo and are said to have influenced his work nearly 200 years later.

The paintings were covered in whitewash in the 18th century and then underwent a brutal restoration in 1840, when the whitewash was removed with the aid of steel wool scrubbers and solvents. The work left the masterpieces faded, scratched and washed out.

Art lovers, however, are unlikely to see the enhanced paintings because permanently bathing them in ultraviolet would damage them.

Restorers hope instead to use the ultraviolet images to build a computer-generated facsimile of the chapel.

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The remains of a 9th century moat, a rampart dating back to the 10th-11th centuries, and an illustration of the castle have been unearthed in Prague.

This one of a kind depiction was found on the lowest level of the stonework. As Ms. Marikova-Kubkova said, “this is the first find of this type in Prague.” The surprising finding was made on the final stage of excavation works in the premises to the south of the passage from the second to the third courtyards.

The remnants of Prague Castle’s fortifications were first uncovered only in the middle of the 20th century while construction works at the third courtyard were in progress. It is supposed that this very spot was a kind of cult place in the 9th century.

The archeologists managed to uncover only the lowest level of the fortifications stonework near the south passage. Some historical sources testify that local terrain originally was wave-like, but it was flattened in the 16th century while consctructing the buildings that do exist there in our days. As a result, almost all evidence of the previous dwellers activities was completely destroyed.

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Scientists in Leicester, England, have used 70 tons of liquid sugar to preserve the remains of three medieval bridges.

Experts from the University of Leicester immersed the 11th century bridges – whose ruins were so heavy they had to be carried in sections by eight-man teams – in tanks of sugar solution.

Leicestershire County Council persuaded British Sugar to provide the sticky haul in three huge delivery batches after a retired local GP found the fragile 11th century timbers in Hemington Quarry in 1993.

“Securing the viability of the bridge is testament to the natural preservative qualities of sugar,” said Dr Julian Cooper, head of food science at British Sugar.

“Our long association with the River Trent at Newark made it a privilege to be involved in the restoration of the Hemington Bridge, which once spanned the same river.

“Now we have reached the final stages of this 15 year conservation process, we congratulate the determination of those involved in safeguarding the bridge for generations to come.”

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