Life, Science and Fiction

by David Derbyshire For lovers of fashion, it's the ultimate vintage shoe. Created more than 5,500 years ago at the dawn of civilisation this perfectly preserved brown leather lace-up is the oldest shoe in the world. It was created from a piece of cow hide 1,000 years before the Great Pyramid of Giza and stitched together with leather thread. The size 4 shoe - discovered buried in a cave in Armenia - is so well preserved that its lace is still intact. Archaeologists say it probably belonged to a woman who deliberately buried it in the cave during a mysterious ritual. The cave also contained three pots, each containing a child's skull, along with containers of barley, wheat and apricot. For Dr Ron Pinhasi, University College Cork, the shoe is a discovery of a lifetime. 'We thought initially that the shoe and other objects were about 600-700 years old because they were in such good condition,' said Dr Pinhasi. 'When we discovered that the sho...

by Teresa Neumann Parting of the Red Sea?"People have always been fascinated by this Exodus story, wondering if it comes from historical facts. What this study shows is that the description of the waters parting indeed has a basis in physical laws." For years, atheists have dismissed Biblical miracles as myths or outright fabrications. Although Christians and Jews believe these miracles—such as the parting of the Red Sea—truly happened and were orchestrated by God Almighty Himself, it is only recently that researchers have come to admit that, at least scientifically, the Red Sea really could have parted for the fleeing Children of Israel. A report in The Daily Mail details how U.S. scientists studied ancient maps of the Nile Delta region, pinpointed where the crossing may have occurred, and then studied computer modeling which suggested a powerful wind "could have divided the waters just as depicted in the Biblical story." According to the report...