News brief Feb. 3-7

International

Researchers have managed to digitally unfurl a charred scroll that survived the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79.

The burnt document, like many others, was discovered in Herculaneum, Rome concealed in ash from the same volcanic event that buried the neighboring town, Pompeii. The University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library holds many of these unreadable scrolls, including the one used by the team.

They utilized X-ray imaging and artificial intelligence to uncover the text. The researchers speculate that the scroll will be legible and interpretable once they finish the restoration process.

“We’re confident we will be able to read pretty much the whole scroll in its entirety, and it’s the first time we’ve really been able to say that with high confidence,” Stephen Parsons, the project lead for the Vesuvius Challenge, an international competition to unlock the Herculaneum scrolls, told BBC.

The researchers took the scroll to the Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire where a synchrotron scanned the scroll with X-rays, creating a usable 3D reconstruction.

The only task left was using an AI to detect the ink on each layer, digitally unrolling the 10 meter long scroll. Papyrus and ink appear nearly identical when using these techniques, so it is difficult work.

“We can tell the entire scroll is full of text,” Parsons said. “Now we can work on making it show up more clearly. We’re going to go from a handful of words to really substantial passages.”

For reference, the Vesuvius Challenge celebrated a team for reading a mere 5% of another scroll last year.

National

Last Saturday evening, in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, 100,000 eggs worth $40,000 went missing from a trailer outside of Pete & Gerry’s Organics.

Authorities have not released any information about potential leads or explanations for how a theft of this magnitude was carried out unnoticed.

Pete & Gerry’s collaborates with 200 independent family-owned farms to supply organic eggs to the masses.

“These farms are typically run by a single family and small enough for each partner farmer to manage, delivering hands-on care to our hens, while still leading rich and fulfilling lives,” Pete & Gerry’s told ABC News.

The current economic climate contributes to the severity of the crime, since an avian flu outbreak has shot egg prices through the roof. According to the USDA, nearly half of the birds killed by the virus in 2024 were egg-laying hens.

The shortage has even caused popular restaurant chains like Waffle House to add a surcharge per egg to orders involving them.

“The continuing egg shortage caused by HPAI (bird flu) has caused a dramatic increase in egg prices,” Waffle House told CNN in a statement. “Customers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions.”

Local

A new bill may target storm-chasers in Oklahoma for better or for worse.

Sen. Mark Mann authored SB 158, called the Oklahoma Emergency Weather Response and Tracking Regulatory Act of 2025, to build a framework for professional severe weather trackers. The bill will require trackers to be officially licensed by the state.

To qualify, individuals must pass a criminal background check, maintain insurance for their tracking vehicles, and obtain a letter of endorsement from a chief meteorologist or designated official. Additionally, a license will cost $500 with a $250 annual renewal.

Sen. Mann told Oklahoma’s News 4 (KFOR) that safety is the primary goal. According to him, the bill will get amateurs off of the road and enable professionals to act as emergency responders.

“They would be able to operate as long as there was a qualified event within 150 miles of that radius, they would be able to move almost like an emergency vehicle,” Mann said. “It really makes sense to be able to license storm chasers so that they can move from one area of the state to the next in a quick fashion with emergency lights, so that they can begin providing feedback on that next storm.”

Not everyone will be thrilled about the proposed legislation, as Mike Morgan, Chief Meteorologist for KFOR, explained.

“Media storm chasing has been around every bit of it since the late 1970s, early 1980s. So, it’s certainly not a new topic. I think everything in this bill is subject to a lot of debate and a lot of fine-tuning.”