If you want to annoy a scientist, just say the word "miracle." This reaction will come because many miracles are not entirely supernatural. Every time a seemingly unexplained event occurs, there is a good chance that someone, somewhere, is wasting tons of blood, sweat and tears trying to understand why this is happening.
However, this demystification of the world does not necessarily make it a more boring and less interesting place, far from miracles. What makes the world so fascinating is that we learn about all of this. Besides, quite often truth is stranger than fiction anyway.
So, do you think there are plenty of unexplained things in the world? The article presents a number of "miraculous" events that actually turned out to be something else.
Oracle of Delphi and her crazy prophecies
The Oracle of Delphi, high priestess of the Temple of Apollo in Delphi (Ancient Greece), gained immense popularity for her unusual ability to foresee the future. She often spoke with the god Apollo. It turns out that the numerous women who took on the role of Pythia, the high priestess, were probably under the influence of hallucinogenic fumes.
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In a 2001 study, archaeologists traveled to the Delphic Temple, where these mystical rituals were performed between 1400 BC. e. and 381 AD e. Scientists speculate that the temple was located near a crack in the rock, from which ethylene gas, a known drug that causes euphoria and trance, was leaking.
Weeping Virgin Mary Statues
Over the years, dozens of reports of Virgin Mary statues have been circulated around the world with tears constantly oozing from their eyes. In most cases, these crying statues are often a hoax or a practical ploy designed to influence particularly sensitive natures. In fact, many people have even been denounced as fraudulent church officials.
However, the Catholic Church does accept one crying Madonna as a miracle. This fact was recorded in Syracuse (Sicily) in 1953. But Italian chemist Luigi Garlachelli was able to explain this strange phenomenon in the mid-1990s. He found this to be true fiction, offering his own explanation for the fact. He recreated this particular statue using similar materials and found that glazed plaster absorbs water and moisture, but prevents it from pouring out until a very small crack appears. In this case, water can collect in the crack and then pour out of it.
Regarding reports of tears mixed with blood, Dr. Garlaschelli said: “Nowadays Madonnas cry with blood. In my opinion, this is because we now have a color TV”.
Face of jesus
Jesus is everywhere … His face can be seen even in your fish sticks. The face of Jesus Christ has been spotted on a wide variety of foods (at least 22 foods by Bazfeed's last count), from the ubiquitous bitter toast and breakfast tacos to titanium messianic forms.
This old urban legend appears to refer to pareidolia, the tendency to find and recognize a relative image, pattern, or (most often) face in a meaningless image.
Carl Sagan, in his book The Phantom World - Science Like a Candle in the Dark, argued that pareidolia probably originated as a way of survival. Particularly in low light situations, it makes it easy to pick up a threat, such as an approaching face from a distance, which can save lives. Thus, we have become very sensitive to face recognition as well as other potentially recognizable visual stimuli.
Sometimes an old brain trick can misfire slightly and we read a meaningless image deeper than necessary, like seeing the face of Jesus on your fish stick.
Littlewood mathematician's miracle law
Undoubtedly, there is a reasonable explanation for the allegedly inexplicable things. However, there is one important thing to consider when learning about the miracles associated with the particularly interesting "law of really large numbers."
British mathematician J. Littlewood suggested that, according to statistics, a person experiences "one luck in a million" approximately every 35 days. Depending on their belief system, some people may equate this event with a miracle. To one person what happened seems to be an ordinary coincidence, and to another as divine grace.
