The Independent is reporting that a team of Italian scientists who have been investigating the Shroud of Turin for years have finally managed to duplicated the particular characteristics of the “negative” image seen on the linen.

But…

“… they only managed the effect by scorching equivalent linen material with high-intensity ultra violet lasers, undermining the arguments of other research, they say, which claims the Turin Shroud is a medieval hoax.

Such technology, say researchers from the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (Enea), was far beyond the capability of medieval forgers, whom most experts have credited with making the famous relic.

“The results show that a short and intense burst of UV directional radiation can colour a linen cloth so as to reproduce many of the peculiar characteristics of the body image on the Shroud of Turin,” they said.

And in case there was any doubt about the preternatural degree of energy needed to make such distinct marks, the Enea report spells it out: “This degree of power cannot be reproduced by any normal UV source built to date.””

More here.

I’m not sure it’s conclusive proof that the image wasn’t made by a forger a thousand years after the event of the resurrection. And I don’t think people who doubt will accept this as proof of the Resurrection, but…

I’m happy to have this as an early Christmas present.