Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
What secrets lie hidden within the ancient scrolls of Herculaneum? Ancient scrolls buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago. Dr. Brent Seales, a pioneer in digital restoration and virtual unwrapping, joins John Michael Godier to discuss his 20-year journey to read the unreadable. Discover how artificial intelligence, X-ray imaging, and 3D modeling are unlocking lost texts from antiquity, without ever physically opening the fragile scrolls.
Links:
https://www2.cs.uky.edu/dri/
https://www2.cs.uky.edu/dri/herculaneum-papyrus-scrolls/
0:00:03 – You have fallen into Event Horizon. John is joined today by Brent Seales
0:07:01 – Seales discusses the beginning of his work with digital restoration
0:14:10 – The Herculaneum scrolls: their history.
0:22:02 – The virtual unwrapping process.
0:29:45 – The role of AI in deciphering the Herculaneum scrolls and how the Vesuvius Challenge brought together global talent...
0:36:28 – What it means to access lost texts, and why these discoveries matter...
0:43:59 – Hopes for fully reading the scrolls, and why the Villa of the Papyri still holds more secrets...
YouTube Membership: youtube.com/channel/UCz3qvETKooktNgCvvheuQDw/join
Podcast: https://anchor.fm/john-michael-godier/subscribe
Apple: apple.co/3CS7rjT
More JMG
youtube.com/c/JohnMichaelGodier
Want to support the channel?
Patreon: patreon.com/EventHorizonShow
Follow us at other places!
@JMGEventHorizon
Music:
stellardrone.bandcamp.com
migueljohnson.bandcamp.com
leerosevere.bandcamp.com
aeriumambient.bandcamp.com
FOOTAGE:
NASA
ESA/Hubble
ESO - M.Kornmesser
ESO - L.Calcada
ESO - Jose Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org)
NAOJ
University of Warwick
Goddard Visualization Studio
Langley Research Center
Pixabay
What secrets lie hidden within the ancient scrolls of Herculaneum? Ancient scrolls buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago. Dr. Brent Seales, a pioneer in digital restoration and virtual unwrapping, joins John Michael Godier to discuss his 20-year journey to read the unreadable. Discover how artificial intelligence, X-ray imaging, and 3D modeling are unlocking lost texts from antiquity, without ever physically opening the fragile scrolls.
Links:
https://www2.cs.uky.edu/dri/
https://www2.cs.uky.edu/dri/herculaneum-papyrus-scrolls/
0:00:03 – You have fallen into Event Horizon. John is joined today by Brent Seales
0:07:01 – Seales discusses the beginning of his work with digital restoration
0:14:10 – The Herculaneum scrolls: their history.
0:22:02 – The virtual unwrapping process.
0:29:45 – The role of AI in deciphering the Herculaneum scrolls and how the Vesuvius Challenge brought together global talent...
0:36:28 – What it means to access lost texts, and why these discoveries matter...
0:43:59 – Hopes for fully reading the scrolls, and why the Villa of the Papyri still holds more secrets...
YouTube Membership: youtube.com/channel/UCz3qvETKooktNgCvvheuQDw/join
Podcast: https://anchor.fm/john-michael-godier/subscribe
Apple: apple.co/3CS7rjT
More JMG
youtube.com/c/JohnMichaelGodier
Want to support the channel?
Patreon: patreon.com/EventHorizonShow
Follow us at other places!
@JMGEventHorizon
Music:
stellardrone.bandcamp.com
migueljohnson.bandcamp.com
leerosevere.bandcamp.com
aeriumambient.bandcamp.com
FOOTAGE:
NASA
ESA/Hubble
ESO - M.Kornmesser
ESO - L.Calcada
ESO - Jose Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org)
NAOJ
University of Warwick
Goddard Visualization Studio
Langley Research Center
Pixabay
