General science thread

Quote:

🧵 New Theory About the Shroud

• Researcher: Brazilian 3D designer Cicero Moraes
• Method: Moraes used advanced 3D modeling software to simulate how cloth would drape over:• A full human body
• A shallow, low-relief sculpture

• Conclusion: The image on the Shroud matched the low-relief model far more closely than the full-body model.


🧪 Scientific Implications

• The cloth’s image is consistent with a low-relief matrix—possibly made of wood, stone, or metal—pigmented or heated only at points of contact.
• This technique would produce the faint, contact-only imprint seen on the Shroud.
• Moraes likened the distortion seen in the full-body simulation to the “Agamemnon Mask effect,” where pressing fabric against a 3D face distorts the image.


🎨 Historical Context

• Art historians note that low-relief funerary sculptures were common in medieval Europe.
• Carbon dating from 1988 placed the Shroud’s origin between 1260 and 1390 AD, supporting the idea that it’s a medieval artifact, not a 1st-century relic.


🕊️ Artistic Interpretation

Moraes suggests the Shroud was likely created as a masterpiece of Christian art, not a literal burial cloth. This aligns with theories that it was meant to evoke spiritual reverence rather than serve as forensic evidence.

Quote: odiousgambit

why people want scientists to examine the Shroud is beyond me, especially now that it has failed the proper antiquity test from the carbon 14 testing decades ago

Quote: odiousgambit

I don't know, the mitochondrial DNA is of a different nature. Studying it, scientists say all humanity traces back to one woman, the theory being that we as a species were almost wiped out by something.

So tracing back to some distant past would have to use mtDNA . Sounds likes there would be problems for your proposed case though .

Google AI says,
"Mitochondrial Eve | DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy
Mitochondrial Eve refers to the matrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all living humans, meaning the woman from whom all humans alive today inherited their mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). This individual lived in the past, and her existence is inferred from the study of mtDNA, which is passed down exclusively through the maternal line. It's important to note that Mitochondrial Eve does not represent the first woman, nor does she represent the only woman alive at her time; rather, she is the most recent woman from whom all living humans share a common mtDNA lineage"

Quote:

NASA's Perseverance rover on the Martian surface sent back photos showing what appears to be a massive cylindrical shape.

Quote:

Until she died on 19 August 2024, aged 117 years and 168 days, María Branyas Morera, of Spain, was officially the world’s oldest person.
When she was 116, a team of researchers collected blood, saliva and stool samples to analyse her genetics, microbiome and lifestyle.
Morera, who showed no sign of dementia, had many gene variants that keep blood lipid levels low, protecting the heart and cognition.
Blood test results also revealed her lipid metabolism was among the most efficient ever reported.

Team member Manel Esteller at the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain, says Morera didn’t drink alcohol or smoke, and adhered to a Mediterranean diet. She also ate three servings of plain, sugar-free yogurt every day.

The tests suggest Morera retained an efficient immune system into old age and a gut microbiome characteristic of a younger individual (Cell Reports Medicine, doi.org/g942ps).
One of the most “startling” findings was the high levels of Actinobacteriota bacteria in her gut, including the well-known probiotic Bifidobacterium. This typically declines with age, but is elevated in centenarians and supercentenarians, and is thought to have many anti-ageing benefits.

The team suspects her yogurt consumption helped replenish her Bifidobacterium levels.

Finally, the team tried to gauge the difference between Morera’s biological and chronological age by creating an “epigenetic clock” based on her DNA methylation – the process in which various genes are switched on and off. “Her biological age was an average 23 years younger than her chronological age, one of the reasons that she was alive,” says Esteller.