Controversial Noah's ark reports

Recently I came across some reports on Noah's ark.
Some said:
Noah’s Ark would have floated even with two of every animal in the world packed inside, scientists have calculated. Although researchers are unsure if all the creatures could have squeezed into the huge boat, they are confident it would have handled the weight of 70,000 creatures without sinking.

A group of master’s students from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Leicester University studied the exact dimensions of the Ark, set out in Genesis 6:13-22.
According to The Bible, God instructed Noah to build a boat which was 300 cubits long 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high – recommending gopher wood for the enormous lifeboat.
The students averaged out the Egyptian and Hebrew cubit measurement to come up with 48.2cm, making the Ark around 144 metres long – about 100 metres shorter than Ark Royal.
Using the dimensions, the Archimedes principal of buoyancy and approximate animal weights they were astonished to find out that the Ark would have floated.
Student Benjamin Jordan, 21, from Bury St Edmonds, said: “Using the dimensions of the Ark and the density of the water, we were able to calculate its buoyancy force, which, according to Archimedes’ principle, is equal to the weight of the volume of fluid the object displaces.

“This meant we were then able to estimate the total mass the Ark could support before the gravitational weight would overcome the buoyancy force, causing the Ark to sink.”
Previous research has suggested that there were approximately 35,000 species of animals which would have needed to be saved by Noah, enabling the students to conclude that the dimensions given in the Bible would have allowed Noah to build an ark that would float with all of the animals on board. The students had to swap gopher wood for cypress wood, as Biblical experts continue to speculate as to what gopher wood might be. Some think it may just mean plained timber. Student Thomas Morris, 22, from Chelmsford, said: “You don’t think of the Bible necessarily as a scientifically accurate source of information, so I guess we were quite surprised when we discovered it would work. We’re not proving that it’s true, but the concept would definitely work.” It is a separate matter whether all of the animals would fit inside an ark of these dimensions – the physics students were simply calculating the buoyancy of the ark. The students presented their findings in a paper for the Journal of Physics Special Topics, a peer-reviewed student journal run by the University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy ( Ref1).

( Let me tell you very clearly that this work was done by  Masters students! They only proved 'still water archimedes force'. That is nothing compared to sagging and hogging forces when waves come into picture. And what about the dynamic stability? Some say they are  convinced such construction would fail in many points, including water getting inside.

What about the food these animals require to survive? Can the boat withstand that weight too?)

And religious people are jumping with joy. "We have been proved right!", they say.

Proved right what? This study doesn't prove anything except that it says, according to some calculations, this is possible in certain conditions - in lab conditions- theoretical conditions. Not in actual conditions where several forces come into effect!

And media here  jumped to a conclusion. One report (ref 2) in a news paper here even declared:

70,000 animals sailed in Noah's Ark ( a misleading caption using an affirmative word 'sailed'): Noah's Ark, mentioned in the Bible , may indeed have floated without sinking-even with two of every animal in the world on board , a new study has claimed. The study by the University of Leicester students shows Noah's Ark would have  been strong enough to carry pairs of each animal i.e., 70,000 animals.

(After reading this, it seems, several religious leaders of various Churches here  are telling the believers, science has proved the Bible story is right! We are right all the while. The stories of Bible are true. So keep believing in them. This is according to my Christian friends who happily asked me whether this is true)

And my reply to them is: Don't interpret things to suit your beliefs. This study by the students only says the Noah's Arc would have handled the weight of 70,000 animals without sinking in 'theoretical conditions'. Very interesting to know that. I will not be surprised to think that  somebody might have  calculated this during the time when Bible was written too and he might have incorporated these  calculations into the story.  This is no big deal.

Yes, theoretically this is possible. But what about actual conditions?

Anybody can guess the situation when so many animals ( 70,000) were squeezed tight into a single boat  along with their food rocked by waves destabilizing it. Haven't we heard  so many  stories when several people got into boats to cross rivers in this part of the world and got drowned in actual conditions? Sorry to disappoint you believers. But there is a lot of difference between theory and practicals. Now try to do this in real conditions in a sea. I want to see the results. Go ahead and prove this is possible in actual conditions too. Until then I prefer the company of skepticism.

References:
1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10740451/Noahs-Ark-...

2. Deccan Chronicle, dated 4th April, 2014 ( Quoting PTI)