THE most maddeningly difficult jigsaw puzzle would be a walkover for a new
software package. Its authors say it could piece together priceless frescoes
destroyed by an earthquake in 1997. The frescoes by Giotto were shattered when
an earthquake hit the 13th-century Basilica of St Francis in Assisi, about 130
kilometres north of Rome.
Anyone who has put a jigsaw together knows how difficult it is to match up
pieces containing similar colours. In the smashed frescoes, the task of figuring
out where each tiny piece belongs could take years.
A computer, however, might do it in a matter of…
