6 mysteries science can't solve - cnn

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(Oprah.com) -- Scientists have yet to explain the followingphenomena, or answer these three really, really big questions.

Divine phenomena: Padre Pio's stigmata

In 1918 a young priest was kneeling at prayer when he looked downand saw blood dripping from his hands, sides, and feet. His woundswere believed by many to be signs that he had been touched byJesus's suffering on the cross; others charged they were self-inflicted.

Though embarrassed by the controversy, Padre Pio went on toperform his work, gaining a worldwide reputation as a healer. Hisgood deeds reinvigorated the flagging Catholic faith in a waynothing else had since Saint Francis of Assisi preached simplicityand humility 700 years before. When he was canonized in 2002,300,000 people braved 100-degree weather to attend the ceremonyat the Vatican.

Oprah.com: How to find miracles in your own life

The Hindu milk miracle

On September 21, 1995, a worshipper at a New Delhi temple offereda spoonful of milk to a statue of Ganesha, the elephant-headedgod. To his astonishment, Ganesha sipped it.

Scientists argue that "capillary action" could have caused the milkmolecules to adhere to the statue's surface, drawing the milk up. Butwithin a few hours, Hindu temples from Bangladesh to Canada werereporting that their idols were drinking milk, too. Then, 24 hourslater, it was all over.

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6 mysteries science can't solveBy Jennifer Margulis and Meredith Bryan, Oprah.comDecember 7, 2010 10:42 a.m. EST

EDITION: U.S. INTERNATIONAL MXICO

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Scientists have yet to explainhow the universe began and ifaliens exist

It's only in the past 80 years thatexperts have lined up behind thebig bang theory

DNA sequencing is making iteasier to discover more aboutour planet's biodiversity

RELATED TOPICS

AstronomyIndiaPlanetary Science

The Roman Catholic ChurchStephen Hawking

12/7/2010 6 mysteries science can't solve - CNN.

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When the 2004 tsunami slammed into Banda Aceh, in Indonesia, itleveled almost everything in its wake. But as the 30-foot walls ofwater washed over the city's grand mosque, its 123-year-oldminarets and domes stood strong. Muslims everywhere took it as amiracle that God's house of worship was spared the ocean's wrath.

10 amazing natural phenomena

The really big questions

How did the unive rse begin?

It's only in the past 80 years that experts have lined up behind thebig bang theory, which took off after Edwin Hubble's 1929 discoverythat the billions of galaxies in the universe are not fixed in place butrather moving away from each other, presumably launched by theexplosion of some very hot primordial atom.

More recently, astrophysicists including the great Stephen Hawkinghave suggested the possibility of a "big bounce," during which theuniverse contracted to infinitesimal size before expanding again.Whether or not the physics will ever make sense to mere mortals,this much is certain: One of the best places to feel awed is theplanetarium.

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Do aliens exist?

Only conspiracy theorists believe in extraterrestrials. Right? Not sofast, says Frank Wilczek, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist at MIT, whopoints to a slew of recently discovered extrasolar planets -- planetsoutside our solar system -- with earthlike properties.

"It's been a major development," he says. "If I had to guess, I'd saythere are thousands, maybe millions, maybe billions of planets in thegalaxy with some form of life, and maybe hundreds or thousandswith intelligent life."

How many species live on Earth?

There could be three million, or there could be 100 million.Scientists agree only that there are a lot more than the 1.9 millionwe've already named (and that possibly one-third of all species onEarth are tropical beetles).

One of the reasons we haven't been able to get an accurate countis that most of the world's creatures are very, very small. But newtechnologies, like DNA sequencing, are making it easier to discovermore and more about our planet's treasure trove of biodiversity.

Oprah.com: 12 reasons even a skeptic can believe

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infonomics

Dear CNN and Oprah,

Many comments accompanying this article question your combined intelligence. In doing so, they have

overlooked the amazing courage in attaching such utter nonsense to your names. Few people are willing to

admit what we have always known: that some people, regardless of the indignity, will do anything for money.

From this day forward, I will always remember the both of you and your peerless courage in allowing yourselves

to be adjudged as fools for the sake of news . May you both live endless ly as s uch. less

0 minutes ago | Reply | Report abuse

ScienceSoma

This is easy to believe for those who pass along anecdotal drivel and perceive it as investigated empirical

evidence. There is no proof of anything within the first three examples here but that humans are pattern seeking

mamm als.1. Stigmata - first question - hands or wrists? It matters.2. Milk - s ...more

1 minute ago | Reply | Like | Report abuse

iPwn

Why is CNN pos ting articles like this? I have to go to foreign news s ources to read real news like this.A US

judge has dis mis sed a lawsui t that sought to halt Washington's a lleged p rogramm e to capture or kill

Americans who join militant groups abroad.The judge threw out the lawsuit by civil libertie...more

2 minutes ago | Reply | Like | Report abuse

iRichard

"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say,

there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't

know we don't know."

Donald Rumsfeld

Police: 12-year-old Virginia girl kidnapped, he rmother slain

Blast outside Indian tem ple injures at least 5,triggers stampede

[what's this]

York Times - Theater

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Constructiv1

Hey VanCarleno, you said "because their tiny little brains are not ready or not capable of processing complex

explanations that science gives". do you really think that you have a big brain? If you have a big brain make your

own explanation don't just process other people explanation. Science itself...more


Constructiv1

Hey VanCarleno, you said "because their tiny little brains are not ready or not capable of processing complexexplanations that science gives". do you really think that you have a big brain? If you have a big brain make your

own explanation don't just process other people explanation. Science itself...more


peepshow420

Drugs are bad, mm kay?

2 minutes ago | Like | Report abuse

KmVoss

They seriously need a function that rates any given article on here. This article should have never been written.

Its like som eone in grade nine googled s ome random religious garbage and tossed it together the night before

it was due. This is an ins ult to our collective intelligence. I guess there a... more4 minutes ago | Reply | Like | Report abuse

warhorse1

what is a false religion? does that mean the other religions are m ore true? i have my own ideas on the subject


Guest

These are not questions science can't solve! the last three are questions s cience is currently working to solve,

with the last one being a matter of surveying the entire planet, not easy but doable. The origin of the universe

has been addressed by string theory and the second by various s cientists s ...more

6 minutes ago | Reply | Like (4) | Report abuse

jdmi ntexas

saying string theory has solved the iss ue of the origin of the universe just dem onstrates that you know

nothing of string theory.


newsmongrel

fully*


newsmongrel

Don't cite string theory when you can't comprehend it yourself. Brilliant scientists and mathematicianscan't funny grasp this concept. Name dropping doesn't make you any smarter.


Chazsch

none of that references God. They reference idol worship (The Hindu milk miracle) and the Muslim faith (The

survival of Baiturrahim Mosque) and even the evil of Catholic canonizing ( Padre Pio's stigmata) but no mention

of GodBTW, when the Catholics put someone between you and God, when you have to ... more


7LayerDip

For the record, when you mention "stigmata" in the context of a scientific article, you should expect to be

called on your stupidity.




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IceT

History and the physical attributes of the hand and wrist have proven that Jesus would have been nailed

through the wrists, why does stigmata cause bleeding through the hands? Self inflicted mis interpretation

perhaps?!


Hoeech

The Romans didn't even use a "lower case t" shape for their crucifixions. They used a capital "T" shape sothat the victim would not be able to rest their head. But let's not let facts get in the way of a good fairy tale.

3 minutes ago | Like (1) | Report abuse

lgndsgn

Science can explain anything. Anything. What it cannot do is tell us how to interpret the information that's

represented.


Hoeech

There's a huge difference between "Mysteries science CAN'T solve" and "Mysteries science HAS NOT YET

solved." In any case, most of the above "mysteries" are not mysteries at all. Stigmata....self inflicted wounds

committed by a zealot. Hindu milk miracle....nonsense. The Baiturrahim Mosque....i... more9 minutes ago | Reply | Like (3) | Report abuse

GossamerS

Everybody loves s cience when it cures cancer or gives them insulin for their diabetes s hots, but when the sam e

methods are appli ed to a belief s ystem or the environment, it's suddenly garbage. I doubt any science

detractors have the faith to become Chris tian Scientists.


KmVoss

What are you babbling about?


7LayerDip

Knowledge and Faith are not interchangeable. In fact, they're polar opposites.


bufunation

Qatar has won the 2022 World Cup bid. Praise Allah.


erichs

The Lady of Our Fatima was that hysterics?


bufunation

I can take a whole rose, stem it all, and shove it right up my butt.


Hoeech

Prove it.


| View all comments



6 mysteries science can't solve - cnn

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