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Secrets of the Dead
Decoding the Herculaneum Scrolls: AI Meets Ancient Texts
Reading the Herculaneum scrolls required multiple scientific steps that started with taking extremely high-resolution X-rays with a photon beam. Next, computer scientist Brent Seales created a deep-learning artificial intelligence program capable of examining the X-rays in minute detail. This examination identified which elements of the image were papyrus and which were ink.
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55:01
Discover the world of dinosaur fossil collecting, an unusual hobby with a growing market.
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55:15
Explore the sunken remains of an early Christian basilica in western Turkey.
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New evidence sheds light on the early indigenous societies of the Amazon.
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Research is revealing the hieroglyphic texts from within the tomb of an Egyptian scribe.
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55:20
Explore the last days in Pompeii, before the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius 2,000 years ago.
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Discover one of the most significant British archaeological finds of the century.
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54:55
What if climate change and pandemics caused of the decline of the Roman Empire?
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55:21
Would an Allied attack on Auschwitz have stopped future atrocities?
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55:15
Learn about the captain of a “mystery ship” who turned away from the "unsinkable" Titanic.
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55:41
Follow historian James Holland as he unearths the truth about amphetamine use in WWII.
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55:11
Archaeologists discover a mass grave with the bones of nearly 60 people near Luxor, Egypt.
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55:41
New evidence suggests the legend of King Arthur began in a Dark Ages trading village.