Latest news with #ShroudofTurin
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
New Paper Finds Something Very Weird About the Shroud of Turin
The mysterious Shroud of Turin, which is believed by many Christians to have laid atop Jesus Christ's body after his crucifixion, may be even stranger than we previously thought. In a new study published in the journal Archaeometry, Brazilian 3D designer Cicero Moraes lends credence to the theory that the shroud was a work of art rather than a genuine death shroud — and per the new paper, it may not have laid atop a human at all. Using three types of 3D modeling tools — MakeHuman, Blender, and CloudCompare — Moraes found that the contours of any "body" that would have imprinted upon the shroud is very unlikely to have been human. Instead, he believes, more likely it would have belonged to a statue. Comparing models of a "low-relief" statue versus an actual human body in those programs, the 3D designer found that his modeling of the statue with a cloth laid over it produced an outline that appeared much more like the shroud we know today, a statement about the new research explains. The modeling from a "3D body," as Moraes calls it, resulted in a "significantly distorted image." If Moraes' findings hold up, they'll add to a lengthy recent canon of academic in-fighting about the origins of the shroud, which is still considered by some Catholics and researchers to be authentic — which is to say, they believe it was the death shroud of Christ himself. Over the past 35 years, researchers have clashed over the age of the Shroud of Turin after a 1989 radiocarbon dating test found that small pieces from the ancient cloth appear to be from the 14th century CE, long after Jesus died. After American chemist Raymond Rogers suggested in 2005 that the piece of the shroud taken for the 1989 tests may have been patched on centuries after its initial creation, scientists finally put that theory to the test in 2022. That year, Italian researchers found, using an X-ray dating method, that a single strand from the shroud was actually from the first century CE — much closer to Christ's era than the 14th. With no real way to definitively disprove that the shroud covered Christ, other scientists, including Moraes, have suggested that it may have been created as a piece of art meant to represent Jesus. In 2018, for example, researchers from Italy and the United Kingdom posited that the "blood" patterns on the face of the shroud appeared to be "totally unrealistic" for a man lying flat on his back, suggesting they were added after the cloth was created for artistic effect. Unlike some of his peers, Moraes is offering no theories about the date of the shroud. Instead, he approaches the mysteries it presents with academic reverence and excitement. "This work not only offers another perspective on the origin of the Shroud of Turin's image," the 3D modeler said in his statement, "but also highlights the potential of digital technologies to address or unravel historical mysteries, intertwining science, art, and technology in a collaborative and reflective search for answers." More on religious mysteries: The Catholic Church Reportedly Called in an Exorcist to Deal With "Yeti Cult" Running Bizarre Blood Rituals at Archdiocese of Denver
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Image on The Shroud of Turin May Not Belong to a Real Human
The Shroud of Turin is shrouded in mystery. Viewed as a holy relic for centuries, this artifact is not what it looks like, according to yet another study. The old linen cloth and its faint spectral image of a man, which resembles traditional depictions of Jesus, were first documented in France in 1354, and yet to this day, no one knows who the imprint depicts, or how it was made. Some Christians believe this is the very sheet that wrapped around the body of Jesus Christ after he died (although the Catholic Church neither endorses nor rejects the idea). Skeptics believe it is either a work of art or a forgery. Though the controversial relic bears the faint impression of a naked adult male with long hair and a beard, Brazilian 3D designer and researcher Cícero Moraes argues the image is not the likeness of a real human. Related: Moraes' work supports a hypothesis, first put forward in 1978, which argues that the Shroud's image is art. Under this hypothesis, the image was probably made by placing a sheet on top of a low-relief sculpture, slightly raised from the background. Then, the linen was rubbed with pigment or browned somehow. Moraes is a self-taught specialist in historical facial reconstruction, which means he's adept at comparing 2D and 3D imagery. When he first took a look at the rigid and straight shapes of the Shroud's body, he found it somewhat incompatible with real anatomy. The deformation of the cloth didn't look as though it had been wrapped around an actual human body. Instead, Moraes thought it might be a painting on the fabric, or a low-relief print. To test that idea, he recreated both options. Using open-source, free software, Moraes compared how a sheet that was wrapped around a 3D model of a human body would look compared to a sheet laid on top of a low relief sculpture. In the case of the 3D model representing an authentic human body, the imprint of the figure looked wider and more stretched out than the Holy Shroud when the sheet was laid flat. This is called the Agamemnon Mask effect, because of a gold funerary mask from Ancient Greece that was first moulded to a face and then rolled flat. It shows slightly distorted features as a result. "The printed image, generated from the contact regions in low relief, shows high compatibility with that present on the Shroud of Turin, significantly corresponding to its contours, even considering a not-entirely flat base," concludes Moraes. His analysis of the shroud provides evidence that this is not an impression of anybody (let alone Jesus Christ), while avoiding a recent academic debate on the artifact's age. Some carbon dating attempts indicate that the shroud was made in Medieval times, but a recent controversial study dates it closer to the first century AD. Like Moraes, other researchers have noticed the shroud is not structurally deformed as would be expected by a 3D body. But the details are very faint and heated academic debates continue over how exactly the image was made. "Using the free and open-source tools described, anyone with such knowledge can recreate the fabric dynamics and contact mapping simulations, exploring the presented scenarios," says Moraes. This work, Moraes concludes, "highlights the potential of digital technologies to address or unravel historical mysteries, intertwining science, art, and technology in a collaborative and reflective search for answers." The study was published in Archaeometry. Related News Venting Doesn't Reduce Anger, But Something Else Does, Says Study Playing Video Games Has an Unexpected Effect on Kids' IQ, Study Discovers This 17th-Century Aristocrat Had a Clever Secret For Keeping Her Teeth
New York Post
01-08-2025
- Science
- New York Post
Shroud of Turin didn't wrap Jesus' crucified body — it was just art, new research claims
This holy linen's origins remain shrouded in mystery. Contrary to popular belief, the sacred Shroud of Turin was not used to cover Jesus' post-crucifixion and was actually a recreation created by artists, per a study published in the journal Archaeometry. 'The Shroud's image is more consistent with an artistic low-relief representation than with the direct imprint of a real human body,' Brazilian 3D digital designer Cicero Moraes, who used modeling software wrote in the paper, per the Daily Mail. Advertisement The legendary linen, which measures 14.5 feet by 3.7 feet, is one of the world's most iconic religious relics. The artifact is emblazoned with the visage of a crucified man, which penitents and religious scholars believe was formed when the shroud was used to wrap the Messiah's bloody body after he was taken off the cross 2,000 years ago. 4 Moraes various 3D simulation tools to digitally drape both bodies, before comparing the virtual fabric to photos of the Shroud snapped in 1931 — a forensic 'wrap' battle of sorts. Cicero Moraes However, skeptics have disputed the theory, citing a carbon dating analysis that placed the shroud's creation between 1260 to 1390 — a time when low-relief sculptures of religious figures were prevalent, especially on tombstones according to PBS. Advertisement But was the shroud Jesus' actual post-crucifixion cloth or a Medieval hoax? Moraes has seemingly settled the longstanding debate after using the aforementioned tech to scientifically prove that the Shroud of Turin couldn't have been used to swaddle JC. 4 'The Shroud's image is more consistent with an artistic low-relief representation than with the direct imprint of a real human body,' said Moraes while discussing the Shroud Of Turin (pictured). Getty Images To determine whether the cloth skewed more form or religious function, the virtual wizard devised two digital models: a 3D human body and a low-relief representation of the human form, Livescience reported. Advertisement He then used various 3D simulation tools to digitally drape both bodies, before comparing the virtual fabric to photos of the Shroud snapped in 1931 — a forensic 'wrap' battle of sorts. The virtual forensicist was reportedly building on a previous experiment where he just virtually covered a 3D body double without the low relief version. 4 The archbishop of Turin Severino Poletto attends the Solemn Exposition Of The Holy Shroud on April 10, 2010 in Turin, Italy. Getty Images Through this digital game of dressup, Moraes discovered that the low-relief recreation was an exact match for the pictures, while the 3D iteration was far from form-fitting. In the latter, the fabric deformed around the body in a phenomenon he analogized to the 'Agammemnon Mask Effect,' named after the preternaturally wide gold death face covering that was exhumed from a tomb in Greece. Advertisement 4 An archive negative image of the Shroud of Turin (L) is shown next to one recreated by an Italian scientist and released in Pavia October 5, 2009. REUTERS One can think of the phenomenon like painting one's face and pressing it into a piece of cloth. The resultant imprint is distorted and warped and looks almost nothing like a person's real countenance, making it unlikely that the immaculate Jesus image on the Shroud was his actual face print. Therefore, Moraes theorized that the shroud was not the genuine artifact used to clothe Jesus but was rather approximated via a shallow carving. 'The image on the Shroud of Turin is more consistent with a low-relief matrix,' he told Livescience. 'Such a matrix could have been made of wood, stone or metal and pigmented — or even heated — only in the areas of contact, producing the observed pattern.' Although he hinted at the remote possibility that the work was an 'imprint of a three-dimensional human body.' Much like the Jesus gravestone reliefs popular in the Middle Ages, Moraes believed that the Shroud was a funerary work, making it 'a masterpiece of Christian art.' Nonetheless, plenty of researchers maintain that the Shroud's image was formed by the actual body, er, face of Christ. Advertisement University of Padua professor Giulio Fanti asserted in a study that the Shroud of Turin offered legitimate proof of Jesus Christ's crucifixion wounds due to the blood stain patterns. Fanti posited that 'the different directions of blood flow from the side wound are discussed, the probable presence of pulmonary fluid,' and 'some bloodstains' point to trauma suffered by the Savior.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Mysterious landmarks on Mars have been discovered by NASA
NASA has shared images of bizarre looking landmarks on Mars over the years — prompting many to debate the possibility that the Red Planet was once home to aliens. Our fascination with Mars is one which simply refuses to die. As one of Earth's closest neighbours and one of the more likely candidates for life - let's be honest, nobody is surviving on the gassy giants such as Jupiter and Saturn - the Red Planet remains one of the focal points in our search for a lost alien civilisation. Often living up to its nickname, Mars often looks like a desolate red wasteland in images shared by NASA. However this hasn't stopped online sleuths from pouring over satellite imagery in hopes of finding signs of life. And of course, anyone who looks long enough is bound to find something. One particular image which has captured the attention of alien sleuths is the image of an 'exclamation mark' landmark on the planet. Captured in 2011 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), the spacecraft was able to capture the image of what appeared to be a giant exclamation mark on the Libya Montes highland area of the Mars. Could this be finally be evidence of the long lost alien civilisation we've all been looking for? As always, it depends on who you ask. One supporter of this theory is George J. Haas, founder of Mars research group The Cydonia Institute, who recently told MailOnline: "You don't have to be a geologist to know the difference between a rock and a sculpture." "There's no way you can explain that keyhole formation," he continued, adding: "The natural creation of two opposing geometrically designed formations seems to go well beyond the probability of chance." The 'exclamation mark' isn't the only landmark which Haas has flagged as suspicious over the years either, with the author highlighting images such as pyramid-like structures which were captured by astronomer Carl Sagan in 1972 as well as geometric patterns which resemble ancient cities and the infamous 'face' in the planet's Cydonia region. However, not everyone would agree, with many scientists arguing that it is all down to a phenomena known as the 'pareidolia effect'. A blog post from The Planetary Society has since branded the image as one of the many examples of 'pareidolia', which is the phenomenon in which humans are able to perceive shapes and patterns in completely random images. Common examples of pareidolia include seeing faces in inanimate objects such as clouds, the face of Jesus in the Shroud of Turin, underwater 'pyramids' or 'structures' on Mars.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How tax rules our politics (and lives)
Tax lawyer and journalist Dan Neidle opened his series Untaxing (Radio 4) with two extraordinary statements. One, that he was going to show how tax is one of the most significant and consequential forces in our lives. Two, that Albert Einstein was wrong about tax when he said it was the most difficult thing in the world to understand. Far be it from me to argue about tax with a man who founded a think tank called Tax Policy Associates and who advises the Scottish Government (among others) on tax issues, but his first point hardly needs proving to anyone. Ever since we learnt the story of Robin Hood, we've known tax as a fifth element in our lives. As for Einstein, well, having listened ahead to all five episodes of Untaxing, I am tempted to agree with the physicist. Neidle's series makes our tax systems seem arcane, opaque, fantastical, occasionally deranged, often frustrating and always baffling. Despite that – or perhaps because of it – it's a terrific series, filled with anecdote and insight, that will leave you with the feeling you should pay far more attention to tax beyond your payslip, the Budget and the adventures of Little John et al. Monday's opener was all about a napkin – 'the napkin that changed the world' – and revealed both Neidle's ability to zero in on quirks of history that prove to be seismic and how ideology and politicking give tax a bad name. The napkin was on a restaurant table in Washington DC in 1974, and scribbling on it was a young economist named Arthur Laffer. Watching him doodle a graph, with ever-widening eyes, were White House officials Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. What the doodle 'proved' was that if you raise taxes too much, revenues will actually go down. Though disputed, the 'Laffer Curve' is still popular today – it is regularly cited by, among others, Liz Truss, while in 2019 Donald Trump awarded Laffer the Presidential Medal of Freedom, referencing the famous napkin. The napkin is a Shroud of Turin for those who seek low taxation, but tax ideology works both ways. Recently, the Scottish Government raised the top rate of income tax to 48 per cent, which some believe will scare off higher earners and lead to less revenue. And what did Neidle and his colleagues at the Scottish Government's Tax Advisory Group have to say about this? 'Nothing,' said Neidle. 'Because they didn't ask us. It was pure politics.' More tax theory drawn up on the back of napkins. Yesterday delved into the murky story of the Beatles' inventive but ultimately flawed efforts to avoid income tax (surely Eleanor Rigby would have benefited from some of their revenues?), a tale that ultimately ended in Michael Jackson selling the rights to Lennon & McCartney's songs to pay his own tax bill. Today's episode is on Jaffa Cakes, tomorrow's on a porn-star lawyer who played a part in the downfall of Rangers Football Club. Neidle cherrypicks the minutiae expertly. The overall impression is of the British tax system as a towering, teetering, rickety old building, with extension built upon extension, and all sorts of oddities lurking in the basement. Five 15-minute episodes isn't nearly enough – I hope Radio 4 have Neidle back soon. Also managing to be riveting on an ostensibly dry economic subject was Invisible Hands (Radio 4), which is looking at the birth of the free market. That it's so compelling is no surprise, given that the man behind it is David Dimbleby, who shares Neidle's ability to extrapolate world-changing ideas from the smallest of moments. This first episode, for instance, found the origins of the free market in the downing of a Hurricane fighter plane in August 1940, the Egg Marketing Board and a copy of the Reader's Digest. Jo Barratt's production had the swing and sway (and the background music) of a juicy true-crime podcast, with Dimbleby gamely showing he could mix it with the young pups of podcasting. Here, it's all about storytelling. 'It turns out it's a much stranger story than you can imagine,' began Dimbleby, as the music grew more insistent. It's shameless, but I was hooked. And when that Reader's Digest came along, Dimbleby introduced it like this: 'A magazine that would change the course of Antony Fisher's life… and the history of this country – forever.' He even gave us the little details – in that edition, alongside the all-important article The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek, were pieces on 'strange animal friendships, the beard of Joseph Palmer and shepherds of the underground', a list of subjects that would fit quite pleasingly into Radio 4's schedules. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
