Scientists Develop a Superman-like X-Ray Vision to Read Sealed Historic Document

Scientists have finally learned to do something that Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman, came up with in 1938- Use X-ray vision to see things that are hidden from plain sight. 

 (Image: Superman, issue 37. 1939. Credit: DC Comics/ Jerry Seigel/Joe Shuster)

   In this research finding from Science Magazine in March, 2021, Scientists developed an "x-ray vision" to read a sealed document! It only took 83 years to make the concept a reality.. of course, computer code to decipher a rolled up document played a part, otherwise, it would have not been possible to read it! Here's the story from the journal Nature Communications:

 

UNLOCKING HISTORY RESEARCH GROUP

Source: 

Science Magazine: March 15, 2021

In a feat worthy of Superman, scientists have read a letter sealed in 1697—without opening it. Instead, they used a high-resolution x-ray scanner to see through layers of paper and a computational algorithm to digitally unfold it, NPR reports. The letter, a request for a copy of a death certificate, was intricately folded using “letterlocking,” a common way to prevent tampering before the invention of the envelope.

 The new approach to reading old closed letters not only avoids damaging paper, the researchers write today in Nature Communications, but it also preserves the unique folding patterns that were once a top-level security strategy.