The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Jesus's 'walk on water' illusion exposed?

A different kind of Bible bashing

Cloud based data management

Florida scientists have said the 'walk on water' miracle described in Matthew's gospel may have been no more than a spot of ice skating.

In a move certain to enrage the faithful, Professor Doron Nof at Florida State University's Bible belt Tallahassee campus and his co-authors say a combination of unusual atmospheric conditions and warm springs could have frozen parts of the surface of the Sea of Galilee.

Current winter temperatures in the region don't drop below double figures. However, paleoclimatologists reckon the atmosphere was, on average, about seven degrees centigrade cooler when JC made his show-stopping turn.

Nof's apparently sacriligious theory, appearing in the Journal of Paleolimnology, relies on warm saltwater springs that run along the latterday Lake Kinneret's western shore. They say colder freshwater above warm plumes would be prevented from taking part in convection currents that would normally mix it with other water and warm it up.

During a cold snap, Nof's model says that such patches on the surface could become cold enough to freeze.

To a distant observer, the team speculate, anyone standing on the ice could appear to be “walking” on the water.

It's not the first time Nof has courted controversy by explaining away phenomena described in the scriptures. In the early nineties he proposed theories the parting of the Red Sea was caused by unusual winds and current.

Hope his postman gets danger money. ®

SaaS data loss: The problem you didn’t know you had

More from The Register

New material enables 1,000-meter super-skyscrapers
Before you read on, see if you can guess how the new stuff will be used
Boffins build headless robo-kitties
Soft kitty, warm kitty, cuddly little ball of wire kitty
 breaking news
Latest NASA ASTRONAUT class is HALF FEMALE
Newbie 'nauts include lady Marine fighter pilot, male doctor
 breaking news
You've seen the Large Hadron Collider. Now comes the HUGE Hadron Collider
International Linear Collider ready to rock and roll
Boffins find evidence Atlantic Ocean has started closing
'Embryonic subduction zone' that flattened Lisbon headed for Blighty
Google launches broadband balloons, radio astronomy frets
A careless Loon could blind the square kilometre array
Hubble spies unlikely planet being born in hostile neighborhood
Hoovering a cloud of sand 7.5 billion miles from a tiny star
 breaking news
Jaguar to open new car-making factory in Blighty (virtually)
Britain still makes stuff, it's just not real any more...
 breaking news
Spin doctors brazenly fiddle with tiny bits in front of the neighbours
Quantum computer address bus just nanometres wide
House bill: 'Hey NASA, that asteroid retrieval plan? Fuggedaboutit'
Republican-led committee also swings budget axe at climate science