palimpsest

This is an interesting story on a greek text believed to have been authored by the ancient mathematician Archimedes that has been found and "deciphered." But the problem is that the book was almost beyonf deciphering--the texts, formulas and drawings by Archimedes, executed in brown ink, were erased in the Middle Ages and overwritten with a religious text. Museum specialists have irradiated the pages, made of goat leather, with UV light. Then they were bombarded with X-rays in a particle accelerator to bring out the traces of iron in the Byzantine ink. Amazing. I hope it's authentic.