Radiocarbon dating a third radiocarbon revolution. Occasionally, radiocarbon dating techniques date an object of popular interest, for example the Shroud of Turin, a piece of linen cloth thought by some to bear an image of Jesus Christ after his crucifixion. Three separate laboratories dated samples of linen from the Shroud in 1988; the results pointed to 14th-century origins, raising doubts about the shroud's authenticity as an alleged 1st-century relic. Researchers have studied other radioactive isotopes created by cosmic rays to determine if they could also be used to assist in dating objects of archaeological interest; such isotopes include , , , ,
Hydrogen isotope biogeochemistry reconstructions. Since water is the primary hydrogen source for photoautotrophs, the hydrogen isotope composition of their biomass can be related to the composition of their growth water and thereby used to gain insight into some properties of ancient environments. Studying hydrogen isotopes can be very valuable, as hydrogen is more directly related to climate than other relevant stable isotope systems. However, hydrogen atoms bonded to oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur atoms are exchangeable with environmental hydrogen, which makes this system less straightforward [ref to earlier H exchange section]. To study the hydrogen isotope composition of biomolecules, it is preferable to use