The mystery of the pink paintings

摘要

In 2003 after a dry, hot summer, the frescoes in the Crypt of the Original Sin in Matera, Italy, suddenly began to turn pink. To find out why, Paolo Visca and col leagues atthe Third University of Rome and the Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases (both in Italy) recently analyzed bacteria growing on the frescoes.