Italy: Science Versus Faith

Via The Guardian- Members of the Italian Committee for the Investigation of the Paranormal (Cicap) are skeptical regarding the mysterious religious rite in Naples in which the dried blood of San Gennaro, beheaded in AD305 "miraculously" liquefies. Cicap have said the red-coloured contents are a thixotropic substance, based on iron chloride. This means that it liquefies when stirred or vibrated and returns to solid form when left to stand. According to Cicap, the substance was probably stumbled upon by an alchemist or a painter in medieval times.