Science
Science, so far, has completely failed to prove that the Shroud is authentic or fake.
- The 1988 carbon dating, we now know, was a bust.
- No one truly knows how the images were formed. Attempts to show how they might have been formed have been a complete failure. The best explanations remain highly speculative.
The one thing science has succeeded in doing is proving that the images were not painted, are not some form of medieval proto-photography or any other known artistic method. This does not mean, as some in the media often report, that proponents of authenticity believe the images were miraculously formed. It only means nobody knows.
- Are the images painted?
- What is the nature of the images?
- What is the current status on the carbon dating?
- Did a biological polymer throw off the carbon dating?
- What is the significance of vanillin in understanding the age of the Shroud?
- Is the blood on the Shroud real?
- What is the second face and what does it mean?
- Are there limestone particles on the cloth and what does that mean?
- What is the Diffusion Hypothesis of image formation?
- What was STURP?
- What attempts have been made to show how the images were faked?
- What is the nature of the cloth?
- Is there pollen from the areas of Jerusalem, Edessa and Constantinople?