Science Frontiers
The Unusual & Unexplained

Strange Science * Bizarre Biophysics * Anomalous astronomy
From the pages of the World's Scientific Journals

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About Science Frontiers

Science Frontiers is the bimonthly newsletter providing digests of reports that describe scientific anomalies; that is, those observations and facts that challenge prevailing scientific paradigms. Over 2000 Science Frontiers digests have been published since 1976.

These 2,000+ digests represent only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The Sourcebook Project, which publishes Science Frontiers, also publishes the Catalog of Anomalies, which delves far more deeply into anomalistics and now extends to sixteen volumes, and covers dozens of disciplines.

Over 14,000 volumes of science journals, including all issues of Nature and Science have been examined for reports on anomalies. In this context, the newsletter Science Frontiers is the appetizer and the Catalog of Anomalies is the main course.


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Compilations of back issues can be found in Science Frontiers: The Book, and original and more detailed reports in the The Sourcebook Project series of books.


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... through the scientific community at least twice before. Back in 1961, B. Nagy et al discovered tiny particles resembling fossil algae in carbonaceous chondrites. They called these particles "organized elements." Ultimately, these curious particles were explained as natural crystals and terrestrial contaminants. (Ref 1.) Much earlier, in 1881, Hahn, an eminent German geologist, asserted that he had examined thin sections cut from chondrites and found fossils of sponges, corals, and crinoids. In fact, the extraterrestrial coral that Hahn found even received the scientific name Hahnia meteoritica ! In the end, though, Hahn's meteoric life forms met the same fate as the "organized elements" of Nagy et al. (Ref. 2) Ref. 1. Urey, Harold C.; "Biological Materials in Meteorites: A Review," Science, 151:157, 1966. Ref. 2. Bingham, Francis; "The Discovery of Organic Remains in Meteoritic Stones," Popular Science Monthly , 20:83, 1881. Both references can be found in our Handbook Mysterious Universe. For information on this book, visit here . Some of the "Organized elements" found in carbonaceous chondrites in the early 1960s. They turned out to be terrestrial contaminants (Ref. 1). From Science Frontiers #108, NOV-DEC 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... . Recently, a motorist near Cairns, Australia, was forced to stop by a sixfoot cassowary standing in the middle of the road. He edged the car forward slowly, but the huge bird stood its ground. Then, he blew his horn. Bad move! The cassowary objected by kicking the auto, pushing the radiator into the fan, which cut a hole in it. (Anonymous; "Feedback," New Scientist, p. 104, June 13, 1998.) Comment. The flightless cassowaries are armed with sharp toenails, with which they disembowel New Guinea natives who displease them. Besides disposing of obstreperous automobiles, cassowaries are said to catch fish by wading into streams, spreading out their wings, waiting, and then closing them on sheltering fish. (From: Biological Anomalies: Birds). From Science Frontiers #119, SEP-OCT 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... . Cr. D. Phelps. Also: Anonymous; "300 Starlings Drop out of Sky Dead," Scranton Times, October 31, 1998. Cr. M. Piechota.) Comment. A much greater avian catastrophe took place near Worthington, Minnesota, March 13-14, 1904. After a storm, dead and dying Lapland Longspurs were strewn over a wide area. A scientist from the Minnesota Natural History Survey marked off squares in the snow covering two frozen lakes and began counting and counting and counting. On the lakes alone, 750,000 Lapland Longspurs lay dead. It was estimated that 1,500,000 died just in the area around Worthington. The injuries of the longspurs were much like those suffered by the starlings. (Details in our latest catalog: Biological Anomalies: Birds) From Science Frontiers #121, JAN-FEB 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... structure of the cosmos over the billions of years that followed the Big Bang? The astronomical quandry is this: If the very early universe looks pretty much the same as today's universe, the implication is that mass, the source of gravitational sculpting, is scarce. But this is at odds with the cosmic expansion rate which implies a much higher density of matter. (Appenzeller, Tim; "Ancient Galaxy Walls Go up; Will Theories Tumble Down?" Science, 276:36, 1997.) Comment. The existence of galaxy walls, like so many astronomical constructs, depends upon the assumption that the red shifts of galaxies are proportional to their recessional velocities and, additionally, their distances and ages. So much rides on this one assumption. The same situation prevails in biology, where everything is founded on the assumption that random mutations and natural selection can together generate any degree of complexity, sophistication, and innovation seen in nature. The history of science tells us that many paradigms have fallen because they depended upon faulty assumptions. From Science Frontiers #116, MAR-APR 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Martian Life: Act Ii The final issue of New Scientist for 1996 carried an article entitled "Death Knell for Martian Life." Was all that media hype for naught? What will NASA do now? Wait! Another putative Martian rock may save the day. Picked up in Antarctica in 1974, meteorite EETA 79001 weighs 7.9 kilograms and is superficially unimpressive. Inside, though, researchers I.P . Wright and C.T . Pillinger found a surprising quantity of organic compounds -- actually 1.5 parts per thousand by mass. This fraction is so large that terrestrial contamination seems remote. Furthermore, the organic component contains 4% more carbon-12 (relative to carbon-13) than the adjacent carbonate minerals. This is strong evidence that the organics had a biological origin. Similar tests on the media-hyped Martian meteorite ALH 84001 yielded the same carbon ratios. Pillinger remarked: "These results offer the strongest support yet for the hypothesis that life once existed on the planet." So far so good, but EETA 79001 conveys two additional facts -- both very tantalizing: (1 ) This meteorite was blasted off the Martian surface only about 500,000 years ago; and (2 ) It probably came from a different hemisphere than ALH 84001. From all this, a somewhat shaky conclusion: Life on Mars existed not only recently (and perhaps is still present) but was (or is) widespread on the planet! (Anonymous; "Life on Mars: Part Two," Sky and Telescope, 93:12, January ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 99: May-Jun 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Biological precursors of the 1995 kobe earthquake The Japanese are meticulous observers of animals. Many keep birds, insects, fish, etc. as pets. When scientists at the Osaka City University asked for reports of unusual animal behavior around the time of the great January 17 quake, over 1,200 people in the Kobe-Osaka area came forth with anecdotes. Some typical pre-quake observations were: Doves flying into walls. Caged birds (Chinese hawk-cuckoos) flying against the sides of their cages. Fish rising to the surface in great numbers. At the port of Shioya, "millions" of gizzard shad turned the surface of the water into silver. Captive stag beetles and turtles emerging from hibernation. And strangest of all, silkworms and fish in ponds orienting themselves in the same directions. (Minami, Shigehiko; "Creatures Went a Bit Batty, Maybe Knew Quake Was Coming," Asahi Evening News, February 25, 1995. Cr. N. Masuya) Cross reference. Many luminous phenomena were also seen. For descriptions of so-called "earthquake lights" refer to GLD8 in our catalog Lightning, Auroras, etc. It is listed here . From Science Frontiers #99, MAY-JUN 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 100: Jul-Aug 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The watchmaker is not blind after all!Neo-Darwinists are chained to the premise that evolution proceeds "blindly"; that is, mutations are random and unrelated to the biological needs for survival. This assumption is enshrined in R. Dawkins' book The Blind Watchmaker . Catchy though this title is, it looks more and more like the Watchmaker sees something. For over a decade, experiments have hinted that those mutations that are helpful to an organism's survival occur more often than those that are not "adaptively useful." This controversial phenomenon is termed "adaptive mutation." (SF#64 and SF#96*) A recent issue of Science presents two more papers that seem to confer the gift of sight on the old Watchmaker. Biochemist J.A . Shapiro, in a commentary accompanying the two Science papers, highlights a significant feature of adaptive mutation in bacteria: The genetic changes involved are multicellular. In other words, DNA rearrangements in one cell are actually transferred to other cells. But most profound of all for the whole science of biology is his sentence: "The discovery that cells use biochemical systems to change their DNA in response to physiological inputs moves mutation beyond the realm of 'blind' stochastic events and provides a mechanistic basis for understanding how biological requirements can feed back onto genome structure." (Shapiro, James A.; "Adaptive Mutation: Who's Really in the ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 99: May-Jun 1995 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The inscribed bricks of comalcalco Ancient modern life and carbon dating Traces of the southern flotilla Astronomy Where have all the black holes gone? Ltps and ets Biology Curious brain asymmetries Did darwin get it all right? When scents make no sense Biological precursors of the 1995 kobe earthquake Geology Ballistic panspermia Geophysics Warning cars rolling uphill ahead 90-DAY SEA-LEVEL OSCILLATION AT WAKE ISLAND Luminous precursors of the 1995 kobe earthquake Psychology The untapped human mind Physics Why does spaghetti break into three pieces instead of two? ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 94: Jul-Aug 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Our genes aren't us!Almost without exception, biology textbooks, scientific papers, popular articles, and TV documentaries convey the impression that an organism's genes completely specify the living animal or plant. In most people's minds, the strands of DNA are analogous to computer codes that control the manufacture and disposition of proteins. Perhaps our current fascination with computers has fostered this narrow view of heredity. Do our genes really contain all the information necessary for constructing human bodies? In the April 1994 issue of Discover, J. Cohen and I. Stewart endeavor to set us straight. The arguments against the "genes-are-everything" paradigm are long and complex, but Cohen and Stewart also provide some simple, possibly simplistic observations supporting a much broader view of genetics. Mammalian DNA contains fewer bases than amphibian DNA, even though mammals are considered more complex and "advanced." The implication is that "DNA-as-a -message" must be a flawed metaphor. Wings have been invented at least four times by divergent classes (pterosaurs, insects, birds, bats); and it is very unlikely that there is a common DNA sequence that specifies how to manufacture a wing. The connections between the nerve cells comprising the human brain represent much more information than can possibly be encoded in human DNA. A caterpillar has the same DNA as the butterfly it eventually becomes. Ergo, something ...
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... foxes") displays primate overtones. The very idea that bats of any kind could be closely related to humans and apes was quickly dismissed by most zoologists. Flying mammals -- the bats -- evolved only once according to mainstream theory; later the Order Chiroptera (" hand-wings") split into the small, mainly insect-eating microbats and the large, fruit-eating megabats. It was all pretty obvious; how could such complex, specialized animals have evolved twice? But in Science Frontiers, there is ever the "however": "Arnd Schreiber, Doris Erker and Klausdieter Bauer of the University of Heidelberg have looked at the proteins in the blood serum of megabats and primates and found enough in common to suggest a close taxonomic relationship between the two groups. (Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 51:359)" An explanation might be that the similarities between the microbats and megabats represent adaptations to similar environmental niches rather than a common ancestry. (Timson, John; "Did Bats Evolve Twice in History?" New Scientist, p. 16, June 4, 1994.) Comment. Does the black box labelled EVOLUTION contain a special subprogram for converting hands into membaneous wings whenever it seems profitable to do so? Or are we somehow missing a different sort of evolutionary process, perhaps something akin to the "directed evolution" suggested by some experiments with bacteria? (SF#64) The possible separate evolutions of micro- and megabats is covered in more detail in BMA41 and BME1 in Biological Anomalies: Mammals I and II, respectively ...
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... location, form, and size of objects, but they will swear that they "see" nothing at all. In fact, they are blind by all tests. They have blindsight. One explanation of blindsight maintains that the visual cortex has not been totally destroyed, and that functional remnants remain. In scientific terms, blindsight represents "suboptimal functioning of the primary visual cortex." But now, A. Cowey and P. Stoerig report that they have totally removed the primary visual cortex from monkeys' brains. (Something one would not try with humans!) Tests with the visual cortex-less monkeys demonstrated that they possessed blindsight. Therefore, blindsight does not seem to be "suboptimal functioning" of a damaged brain -- at least in monkeys. Blindsight thus remains a mysterious biological function. How do blindsighted humans detect objects of which they are not visually aware? Somehow information about the visual world appears in the brain. (Cowey, Alan, and Stoerig, Petra; "Blindsight in Monkeys," Nature, 373: 247, 1995. Also: Kaas, Jon H.; "Vision without Awareness," Nature, 373:195, 1995) Blindsight in humans is cataloged under code BHT3 in Biological Anomalies: Humans I. Ordering information here . From Science Frontiers #98, MAR-APR 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... almost all Darwinists also see evolution as purposeless. It was blind chance that gave us the capabilities to build aircraft and tunnel into opposite sides of a mountain and meet in the middle. Moliner is highly skeptical that such amazing, "cooperative, adaptive" talents could have come about in an unbiased, purposeless universe. Suppose, he asks, vipers were philosophically minded. They might look at their marvelously complex fangs with the canals inside, a nearby poison gland, a poison storage reservoir with special ducts leading to the fangs, a fang-erection mechanism, a set of muscles to squeeze the poison reservoir, and a nervous system to control the whole system, and conclude that there must be an Ophidian Principle at work in the universe for vipers to end up with all these neatly interconnected biological components! Using the foregoing musings for a launch pad, Moliner assails Darwinism head on, employing the "what-good-is half-a -wing" and "complexity" arguments: "It is easy to visualise how random mutations followed by natural selection could lead to the right curvature of the fangs for better grasping of prey. But what would have been the selective advantage of the rest of the poison system if just one of its components had failed to evolve? To claim that it can be achieved through unbiased evolution is like expecting that nine independent miners can attack the core of Mount Everest from various points at the foot of the Himalayas and meet exactly in the middle without the guidance of a surveyor." (Moliner, E. Ramon; "' I Hiss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 102: Nov-Dec 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Two politically incorrect biochemical anomalies "Whether one views it as females attacking males or as a biological favoritism toward men, the fact is that men's bodies accept donor organs from women while women's bodies reject organs from men. Scientists speculated that a male-specific antigen -- a protein that exists in all cells of a man's body, but in none of a woman's -- causes this incompatibility." (Seachrist, L.' "Finding the Gene for Female Attack," Science News, 148:132, 1995.) Comment. Even so, females obviously do not reject male embryos. For more, see BHI4 "The Enigma of the Fetal Graft" in Biological Anomalies: Humans II*) "It is wellknown that if a bitch urinates on your lawn, you'll get a brown circle of dead grass, whereas a dog's urine does no visible harm. What is the chemical involved and why do only bitches excrete it? Does the same apply to the male and female of other animals (including humans)?" (Wylie, Andrew; "Wee Problem," New Scientist, p. 89, August 5, 1995.) *To order this book, see: here . From Science Frontiers #102 Nov-Dec 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 100: Jul-Aug 1995 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Microbes threaten radiocarbon dating Astronomy Has jupiter flashed before? A POT POURRI OF MARTIAN CUSIOSITIES (AND WE DON'T MEAN "FACES" AND "PYRAMIDS") Biology Anomalous larvae and the burning of heretics When humans were an endangered species Straight from the horse's ear The watchmaker is not blind after all! Geology Weird icicles Giant sea-bed pockmarks Geophysics Anomalous phenomena associated with the 1908 tunguska event How can the moon affect the earth's temperature? Kobe quake jostles the geo- magnetic field Superhail Physics When different universes rub together Another starchy anomaly Unclassified Unidentified object ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 95: Sep-Oct 1994 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Blondes in ancient china Evidence of tobacco in ancient egypt Dwarf mammoths in ancient egypt? Astronomy "AN UNPRECEDENTED AND BIZARRE OBJECT" Comets, asteroids, or neither? This was the big one, but where did it come from? Snowballs in hell? Biology It's according to hoyle and wickramasinghe Music of the hemispheres The urge to replicate: part i The urge to replicate: part ii Geology Might diamonds be dead bacteria? Deep quake deepens mystery Geophysics Sylvanshine: a newly recognized optical phenomenon Gamma-ray flashes in the upper atmosphere A DEEP-SEA HYDROTHERMAL VENT INSTEAD OF A WARM LITTLE POND? Psychology The solar wind and hallucinations Physics Cold fusion update: 1994 Miscellaneous A SKEPTIC'S NDE -- NOT SO MYSTICAL ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 94: Jul-Aug 1994 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Earth's oldest paved road Music and theories of everything Astronomy First you don't see it; then you don't don't see it Beware the ides of june -- and the rest of the month, too! The shattering of 951 gaspra Biology LACRIMA MORTIS: THE TEAR OF DEATH Cancer: a precambrian legacy? Horse sense? Those strange antarctic fishes Our genes aren't us! Geology The incorruptibility of the ganges Geophysics Flat-plate hail Mystery radio bursts Plane weirdness made plain An offset solar halo of 28 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 106: Jul-Aug 1996 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Oklahoma's ornate flints: "eccentric" or fraudulent? Stonehenge in the 1990s: a mainstream view Astronomy A SAGA OF SOOT: PART I A SAGA OF SOOT: PART II A SAGA OF SOOT: PART III Biology It's a mole-rat, jim, but not as we know it Facing up to divebombers Fiddling up worms Ichthometers measure pollution A BOON TO THE LUMBER INDUSTRY? Geology Mud springs regurgitate ancient fossils Impact craters: the party line revised and re-revised Geophysics Looking up into a tornado funnel Multiple phosphorescent wheels Psychology Does the human brain compute, or does it do more? Slamming the door on parapschology -- again ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 93: May-Jun 1994 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The spirit pond inscription stone Molecular clock places humans in new world 22,000-29,000 bp Astronomy Anomalous horizon glows seen on the moon From dust unto dust Biology Marine snow A REALLY ERRANT PIGEON A REALLY ERRANT SEAL Cold-blooded birds? Why snakes have forked tongues Lactating male bats Geology The nebraska sand hills: wind or water deposits? The giant crystal at the heart of the earth Geophysics Strange explosions at sasovo, in russia Just plane weird Psychology The healing of rents in the natural order Mathematics Btt and surreality ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 98: Mar-Apr 1995 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Ancient egyptians in the new world? Carbon-14 dating: under a cloud? Translating the grand traverse stone Astronomy The earth has recently been swallowed by a cloud of inter-stellar gas Arp banished, but not redshift anomalies A YAGI WATCHES A SOLAR ECLIPSE Biology Emf fertilizer? Vampire fish -- [x -rated item] Some shaky observations Blindsight also occurs in monkeys Geology A UNIFIED THEORY OF GEOPHYSICS Six immense armadas of icebergs invaded the north atlantic Geophysics An unknown atmospheric light phenomenon Crop-circle litmus test? Earthquake ripples in the ionosphere Psychology Madness and creativity How to test for lucid dreaming Physics Can we explore hyperspace? Unclassified Nobel gossip! ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 101: Sep-Oct 1995 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology FROM THE SUNSWEPT LAGOON Astronomy THE METAL-FROSTED MOUNTAINS OF VENUS! ALH 84001: A MESSAGE FROM MARS OR PERHAPS SOME OTHER PLANET IRONCLAD PROOF OF THE MOON'S ORIGIN? Biology THE ALGORITHMIC BEAUTY OF SEASHELLS MORE HEAR EARS DRAGON FISH SEE RED MALE DOLPHIN KILLS MAN Geology POLAR-BEAR BONES CONFOUND ICE-AGE PROPONENTS A TRIPLE ANOMALY IN A DIAMOND THE GIANT LANDSLIDES OF HAWAII "ALMOST INCONCEIVABLE" CHANGES IN THE GEOMAGNETIC FIELD CHINA'S BERMUDA TRIANGLE Geophysics DEATH WAVES AND SEEBARS STRANGE PHENOMENON DETECTED BY RADARS AND SATELLITES AN ASTONISHING MEDLEY OF BIO LUMINESCENT DISPLAYS Unclassified THE GREAT EXODUS ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 97: Jan-Feb 1995 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The "inscribed wall" at chatata, tennessee Whence the 200,000 logs of chaco canyon? Astronomy How can some stars be older than the universe itself? Did the universe have a beginning? Solar-system puzzles Biology Fruit dupe Possible survival of giant sloths in south america The early (and persistent) insect catches the bird! Geology The earth's most common topographical feature: abyssal hills The 627-foot water slide between australia and india The age of fire and gravel Geophysics Football-sized snowflakes A LINE IN THE SEA Rubber duckies chase nike shoes across pacific Psychology A MAJOR STUDY OF DOWSING Mentally influencing the structure of water Does the past influence the future? ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 104: Mar-Apr 1996 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Reinventing the neandertals The pit-zodiacs Astronomy Men like gods The petrozavodsk phenomenon Biology It's "smothers" not "pods" Search-and-destroy sperm The magnetic mountain Geology A HOLLOW, TRIANGULAR ICICLE A METEORITIC EVENT LAYER IN ANTARCTIC ICE The whale-on-its-tail fossil An antarctic bone bed Geophysics Puzzling winds Ball lightning materializes in a sitting room Bright sparks erupt from beach Psychology An invisible information superhighway? ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 103: Jan-Feb 1996 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology A REMARKABLE MAYAN SUSPENSION BRIDGE Did irish monks build this new england chamber circa 700 ad? Two probable frauds Astronomy Einstein's nemesis: di herculis A BRIEF HISTORY OF QUANTIZED TIME Biology Passenger pigeons not extinct! I HISS THEREFORE I AM Geology Target: south america Fossil mantle plume under south america But what about the hawaiian volcanic chain? Geophysics A SUBTERRANEAN TROMBONE Anomalous radar echoes and visual phenomenon "BLUE JETS" EMITTED UPWARD FROM TOPS OF THUNDERCLOUDS Stythe = choke damp Psychology Seeing is feeling Mathematics How to find a piece of pi ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 96: Nov-Dec 1994 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology That little "roman" head from precolumbian mexico The "kites" or "keyhole" structures of the middle east Astronomy On the sun, south is almost everywhere The moon: still partly molten? Lunar crater chains Biology Too identical! Why do flying fish have such colorful wings? "ADAPTIVE" MUTATION Electric snakes Geology Satellite spies strange stripes Two really deep oceans Geophysics The 536 ad dust-veil event Underwater thumps Remarkable straw fall Unusual lunar halo Psychology Psi phenomena and geomagnetism Physics Cold fission? Mathematics Lazzarini eats humble pi (posthumously) Unclassified A CURIOUS STRING OF COINCIDENCES Close encounters with unknown missiles ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 105: May-Jun 1996 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology A PICTURE SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS Darwinism in archeology! Hidden messages in genesis? Astronomy Wrong-way stars in spiral galaxies It Biology Arboreal internets Mixed-up people Oxygen deprivation at high altitudes and the enhancement of reproduction ecstas in advanced mammalian species The nether universe of life Geology Eight little craters all in a row The karoo: the greatest vertebrate graveard Geophysics Possible nocturnal tornado lit up b electrical discharges Another milk sea Psychology English muddles the brain Learning under anaesthesia If it doesn't work, kick it! Physics Real perpetual motion? Is matter infinitel divisible? Unclassified American anomalophobia ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 102: Nov-Dec 1995 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology ANCIENT ACOUSTICAL ENGINEERING THE CANDELABRA OF THE ANDES Astronomy HUGE FIREBALL EXPLOSION IN 1994 2,000,000,000 BC: THE EPOCH OF QUASARS Biology TWO POLITICALLY INCORRECT BIOCHEMICAL ANOMALIES FROM DUST UNTO ABYSSAL MUD PERFECT PITCH AND SUNDRY SYNDROMES KING CRAB CONGREGATIONS THE BIRDS Geology WARM LAKE FOUND UNDER ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET REMNANTS OF TUNGUSKA "WEIRD ICICLES" IN A REFRIGERATOR Geophysics A TUNGUSKA-LIKE BLAST IN BRAZIL IN 1930 STYTHE? ICE "METEORITES" FALL LONG-LIVED BUBBLE IN THE ATMOSPHERE Psychology UNCONVENTIONAL WATER DETECTION FUNGAL PHANTASMS Mathematics 1, 089, 533, 431, 247, 059, 310, 875, 780, 378, 922, 957, 447, 308, 967, 213, 141, 717, 486, 151 Physics SOUR GRAPES! ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 99: May-Jun 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Curious Brain Asymmetries Perfect pitchers vs. everyone else. An individual possessing perfect pitch can identify any musical note without comparing it to a reference note. It is said to be a uniquely human talent. (But how can we know?) Language, too, is thought to be be a gift accorded only to humans. Is there a biological connection between these "unique" capabilities? Since language is primarily a left-brain function, it is logical to see if the secret of perfect pitch resides in that half of the brain, too. This is just what a group of researchers headed by G. Schlaug did with the help of magnetic resonance imaging. They compared the planum temporale regions in the brains of 30 musicians (11 with perfect pitch, 19 without) and 30 non-musicians -- all matched for sex and age. The left planum temporale region was larger than the right for both musicians and non-musicians, but in the musicians the asymmetry was twice as great. Furthermore, the musicians blessed with perfect pitch were the most asymmetric of all in this respect. (Schlaug, Gottfried, et al; "In Vivo Evidence of Structural Brain Asymmetry in Musicians," Science, 267: 699, 1995. Nowak, Rachel; "Brain Center Linked to Perfect Pitch," Science, 267:616, 1995) Comment. Perfect pitch is nice to have, but why should it ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 99: May-Jun 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Luminous precursors of the 1995 kobe earthquake In the same collection of clippings from Japan that yielded the biological precursors were several accounts of earthquake lights (EQLs). Some residents of Kobe and nearby cities saw aurora-like phenomena in the sky just before and after the quake. A Kobe firefighter observed a bluish-orange light above a shaking road that lasted about 4 seconds. A hotel employee on his way to work on Rokko mountain: "saw a flash running from east to west about two to three meters above the ground shortly after the quake. The orange flash was framed in white." Flashes of light were widely observed. (Shimbun, Yomiuri; "' Aurora' Flashes Observed before, after, Quake," The Daily Yomiuri , February 9, 1995. Cr. N. Masuya) From Science Frontiers #99, MAY-JUN 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 94: Jul-Aug 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Those Strange Antarctic Fishes A representative Notothenioid fish from Antarctic waters. (From: Eastman, Joseph T,; Antarctic Fish Biology , San Diego, 1993.) In the frigid waters ringing the continent of Antarctica live approximately 275 species of fishes, 95 of which are assigned to the suborder Notothenioidei. This particular group of fishes is renowned for its unusual adaptations, as outlined below by D. Policansky: "Some of them have glycoprotein antifreezes in their blood, some have no hemoglobin, some have so small a temperature tolerance that they die at temperatures above 4 C, some are neutrally buoyant despite lacking swim bladders, and some live as deep as 2950 meters. The suborder has no known fossils, largely because no bony feature -- indeed, no single character of any sort -- can be used to define it. How did these animals arrive there, what are their ancestors, how do they make a living in such an environment, and how can they support commercial harvests?" (Policansky, David; "Southernmost Fauna," Science, 264:1002, 1994.) Comment. Those species lacking hemoglobin in their blood are doubly perplexing: (1 ) Zoologists still do not know how sufficient oxygen is transported in these fishes, for what substitutes for normal blood seems inadequate; (2 ) How could they have evolved from hemoglobin-carrying fishes? and (3 ) Why switch from hemoglobin at ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 95: Sep-Oct 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A DEEP-SEA HYDROTHERMAL VENT INSTEAD OF A WARM LITTLE POND?If earth life didn't arrive from outer space (See under ASTRONOMY.), it may have arisen a couple miles below the ocean's surface at hydrothermal vents. The curious glows recently remarked at these vents (SF#87) have stimulated much speculation as to the potential role of these glows in the origin of life: "The history of hydrothermal activity predates the origin of life, and light in the deep sea has been a continuous phenomenon on a geological time scale and may have served either as a seed or refugium for the evolution of biological photochemical reactions or adaptations." We formally classify this item under GEOPHYSICS because scientists are still pondering how these glows are created. Some of the light is obviously black-body radiation from the very hot (350 C) water but: ". .. other potential, narrow-band sources of light may be superimposed on the blackbody radiation spectrum, including crystaloluminescence, Cerenkov radiation, chemiluminescence, triboluminescence, sonoluminescence, and the burning of methane in supercritical water." (Van Dover, Cindy Lee, et al; "Light at Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents," Eos, vol. 75, 1994.) Comment. If cold, diffuse molecular clouds in deep space can synthesize glycine, imagine what the hot, chemically-rich fluids around hydrothermal vents might be able to do. ...
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... 93: May-Jun 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A REALLY ERRANT SEAL Deep in the frozen wastes of Antarctica, at an altitude of 1,300 meters [about 4,000 feet], B. Lytskjold came across a dead seal. The nearest coastline was 250 kilometers away. (Anonymous; "Seal That Went Walkabout," New Scientist, p. 11, January 15, 1994.) Comment. Actually, many such "mummified" seals have been found high in the Antarctic mountains far, far from water. They are usually crabeater seals. No one knows why they head inland to certain death. Reference. Additional observations of wayward Antarctic seals may be found in BMD5 in the catalog volume: Biological Anomalies: Mammals II. To order, see here . From Science Frontiers #93, MAY-JUN 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... All the secretory cells turn off and on in synchrony, so that light and dark bands are left behind on the surface of the shell as the growing edge moves on." All well and good, but some seashells have intricate patterns that require modellers to imagine traveling waves of excitation, oscillating chemical systems, signals that travel faster than chemical diffusion, and longrange synchrony employing a "global control element." These patterngenerating schemes are clever and rather successful on the theoretical level. Indeed, the seashell modellers are rather smug about their accomplishments. (Hayes, Brian; "SpaceTime on a Seashell," American Scientist, 83:214, 1995.) Comment. The seashell modellers, of course, do not have to explain how or why "global control elements" evolved. The biological rendering of "long-range synchrony" is left unexplained. Although humans will pay large sums for intricately patterned seashells, the anomalist must ask why these patterns exist at all? Why are they beautiful? Of what use are the patterns to the sea-shell inhabitants who cannot appreciate them? From Science Frontiers #101 Sep-Oct 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... , the human race began anew during the last 400,000 years. Unfortunately, DNA analysis cannot say where the very grim reaper came from. (Gibbons, Ann; "The Mystery of Humanity's Missing Mutations," Science, 267:35, 1995.) Comment. The hand that wiped the slate clean, or nearly so, might have been a meteor impact, a pandemic, the Ice Ages, a flood, volcanism, etc. Whatever it was, it seems to have largely spared Africa. The chimps and gorillas there apparently did not pass through the bottleneck. Even more interesting is the observation that the DNA of Subsaharan Africans does shows more variability and therefore seems older than that from humans elsewhere on the planet. (See BMG9 in our catalog volume: Biological Anomalies: Humans III.) Or perhaps Subsaharan DNA only seems older because it was not forced through that bottleneck. There are implications here for the African Eve theory. From Science Frontiers #100, JUL-AUG 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... two-digit pairs. Each pair has a learned associate (e .g . 00 is a bicycle, 57 is tomato sauce, 39 is Hitler, 41 is mum, his mother's age when he started this system). For larger numbers these associates are combined into wholes which are usually highly imageable (a bottle of tomato sauce riding a bicycle) and attached to some other associate to the hotel name." (Ref. 2) TM's mnemonics seem weird, but they work; and they probably could work for anyone -- for we barely tax our mental powers in modern life. But would our latent mental capabilities been of use to ancient man, or is this still another case of "evolutionary overshoot", as we harped on so heavily under BIOLOGY in this issue? References 1. Wilding, John, and Valentine, Elizabeth; "Memory Champions," British Journal of Psychology, 85:231, 1994. 2. Wilding, John, and Valentine, Elizabeth; "Mnemonic Wizardry with the Telephone Directory -- But Stories Are Another Story," British Journal of Psychology, 85:501, 1994. From Science Frontiers #99, MAY-JUN 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Jun 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Did darwin get it all right?Believe it or not, the above title appeared in Science rather than the Creation Research Society Quarterly. (We never thought we'd see the day!) And right beneath, in large type, is: "The most thorough study yet of species formation in the fossil record confirms that new species appear with a most un-Darwinian abruptness after long periods of stability." In the article that follows, R.A . Kerr reviews several recent studies of fossil bryozoans and snails. Some of these painstaking dissections of the fossil record were carried out by scientists initially committed to Darwinian gradualism. Even these researchers have been forced to acknowledge that much biological evolution proceeds not in minute steps but by large jumps or saltations. Such abrupt speciation is tough enough to explain, but even more daunting are those species untouched by change over millions, even hundreds of millions of years. Indeed, the major characteristic of the fossil record and, therefore, earth life as a whole, has been stasis rather than speciation, despite all manner of asteroid impacts and climatic traumas. Nevertheless, many biologists think that species are somehow frozen in time by environmental forces that keep them from straying from their little niches. This being so, paleontologist D. Jablonski, University of Chicago, asks: If stability is the rule, how do you get large-scale shifts in morphology? How do you get from funny little Mesozoic mammals to horses and whales? ...
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... Nov-Dec 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects "ADAPTIVE" MUTATION Six years ago, J. Cairns performed experiments with bacteria that implied that said bacteria could "direct" their own mutations so that they could cope more speedily with sudden environmental trauma. (SF#64) In Cairns' experiments, bacteria unable to digest lactose were presented with an all-lactose diet. They quickly acquired the mutations needed to digest the only food available. They did not have to wait for random mutations to accidentally hit upon the correct genome changes. A firestorm spread across the scientific community, even though other researchers saw similar effects. It was traumatic! One of science's foundation stones was at risk. The current theory of biological evolution insists that all mutations are random. Cairns believed he had shown that his bacteria experienced only useful mutations. This claim was too awful to accept. In the July 21, 1994, issue of Science, two new papers appeared that, while not proving that only useful mutations occur in Cairns-type experiments, do indicate that something unusual is indeed happening. Basically, when bacteria are under stress (say, starving), a "distinctive" type of mutation occurs! Is "distinctive" a code word for "non-random"? The title of the commentary accompanying the two articles says it all. (Culotta, Elizabeth; "A Boost for 'Adaptive' Mutation," Science, 265:318, 1994.) From Science Frontiers #96, NOV ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 96: Nov-Dec 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Too identical!" Identical twins were admitted to the same hospital with the same injury after separate accidents within the space of an hour. Liam Lynch, 6, of Cookham Rise, Berkshire, broke his collar bone climbing his garden fence, and his brother suffered the same fate after tripping while running. Both were taken to Wycombe General Hospital." (Anonymous; "Twins' Identical Mishaps," London Times, April 6, 1994. Cr. A.C .A . Silk) Cross reference. Cases of nearly simultaneous deaths of identical twins are collected in BHF35, in our catalog: Biological Anomalies: Humans II. Details here . From Science Frontiers #96, NOV-DEC 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... . He sees his hunt for the Mapinguari as more than just another useless monster hunt: "If South America's largest terrestrial mammal has been hidden to science until 1994, what else does the Amazon have in terms of biodiversity that's new to us?" (Stolzenberg, William; "Bigfoot of the Amazon," Nature Conservancy , p. 7, July/August 1994. Anonymous; "The Mother of All Sloths," Fortean Times, no. 77, p. 17, October/November 1994.) Comment. Where is the 1897 skin? What happened to the sloth killed by the gold miners? Cryptozoology has always been plagued by disappearing critical evidence! The possible survival of the giant sloth is covered in greater depth under BMD11 in our catalog: Biological Anomalies: Mammals II. See description here . From Science Frontiers #97, JAN-FEB 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 000 years. The problem is that Norway and many other northern circumpolar lands are believed to have been buried under a thick ice cap during the Ice Ages. In particular, northern Norway is thought to have been solidly encased in ice from 80,000 to 10,000 years ago. Polar bears could not have made a living there during this period. Clearly, something is wrong somewhere. (Anonymous; "Polar Bear Bones Cast Doubt on Ice Age Beliefs," Colorado Springs Gazette , August 23, 1993. An Associated Press dispatch. Cr. S. Parker. A COUDI item. COUDI = Collectors of Unusual DataInternational) An associated conundrum. Some authorities have stated that polar bears evolved recentlyonly 10,000 years ago! Polar bear evolution is discussed in more depth in: Biological Anomalies: Mammals II. Ordering information here . From Science Frontiers #101 Sep-Oct 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 100: Jul-Aug 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Anomalous Larvae And The Burning Of Heretics Adult and larval stages of a stag beetle. Could these radically different forms of the same species have had separate and different evolutionary histories? Our title comes from L. Van Valen's review of a book by D.I . Williamson entitled Larvae and Evolution: Toward a New Biology . We can only touch upon a few of the many profound anomalies raised by the book. We begin with a paragraph from Van Valen's review: "Williamson has given us a new set of anomalies. Mostly he does this by showing that what we know doesn't fit together as well as we thought it did. In particular, the major phylogeny of the animal kingdom as estimated from adult characters doesn't fir very well with that estimated from larvae. Such a discrepancy for different stages has occasionally been reported within families of insects, and it has an apparent resemblance to the discordance occasionally found between phylogenies inferred from morphological and molecular characters. In such cases, the usual conclusion (I ignore data chauvinists) is that we should somehow use all the available information to infer the correct phylogeny. After all, there was just one real phylogeny that occurred in the past, and we want to find it as closely as we can." Comment inserted by the compiler. Van Valen is saying that three evolutionary Trees of Life can be drawn from adult morphology, DNA structure, ...
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... I turned the canoe to this particular direction, got things lined up, felt very, very comfortable in this cold, wet, rough environment and then there was a break in the clouds and the moon was there." (Finney, Ben; "A Role for Magnetoreception in Human Navigation," Current Anthropology, 36:500, 1995.) Ancient Pacific navigators making the voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti (in the Society Islands) dreaded crossing the doldrums near the Equator. Hawaii (not shown) is north of Tahiti at about 20 N. SPCZ=South Pacific Convergence Zone. Map from Irwin G.,; The Prehistoric Exploration and Colonisation of the Pacific. (Available from the Sourcebook Project). Reference. Human directional and "magnetic" senses are covered in: Biological Anomalies: Humans I. See description of this book here . From Science Frontiers #101 Sep-Oct 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... orifices of animals, anchors itself with two hook-shaped teeth, and gorges on blood. The gills of other fish are its usual targets, but the orifices of other animals, including humans, are fair game, too. This Amazonian fish is only about 1 centimeter (less than ½ inch) long, making it smaller than the infamous candirus that threaten bathers in other South American streams. Once a candiru slithered into a cut on a researcher and could be seen wriggling under the skin toward a vein. Candirus also anchor themselves inside their victims' orifices, requiring surgical removal. (Homewood, Brian; "Vampire Fish Show Their Teeth," New Scientist, p. 7, December 3, 1994.) For more on this fish, see BHX12 in our catalog: Biological Anomalies: Humans III. To order: go to here . From Science Frontiers #98, MAR-APR 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... to be no evolutionary advantage to looking alike. (Miller, Julie Ann; BioScience, inside front cover, March 1994. Miller's editorial remarks are based upon a later article by H.F . Nijhout, who also supplied the photographs. Nijhout's article explains how butterfly wing patterns may have evolved.) Comment. Cases of remarkable mimicry also occur among geographically separated species. For example, the North American Meadowlarks are dead ringers for the African Yellow-throated Longclaw. "Convergent evolution" names the phenomenon but doesn't tell how or why long chains of random mutations can come up with the same designs where there seems to be no "guidance" by the forces of natural selection. Perhaps genomes contain "subprograms" for those patterns and structures often used in biology. Of course, Sheldrake's idea of "morphic resonance" also applies here! From Science Frontiers #95, SEP-OCT 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Might diamonds be dead bacteria?How can something as beautiful, pure, and crystalline as a diamond be made from dead, disgusting bacteria? In truth, all diamonds are full of impurities and curious microscopic structures. (See: "Diamonds Are an Anomalist's Best Friend" in SF#92.) The main constituent of diamonds is carbon, but even chemically pure carbon is contaminated in a sense. The contaminant is light carbon; that is, C12 , which is an isotope used preferentially by living organisms. Some diamonds, it is found, contain anomalously large fractions of C12, which suggests they have an organic origin. Some diamonds also contain sulfide inclusions that have sulphur-isotope ratios also symptomatic of a biological origin. The specific diamonds suspected to have an organic origin are the so-called "eclogitic" diamonds. These diamonds may have obtained their carbon and impurities from bacterial communities that once lived around hydrothermal vents that existed along ancient mid-ocean ridges. Subsequent metamorphism (heat and pressure) turned the masses of bacteria into eclogitic diamonds. So, those sparklers of yours may just be clumps of billion-year-old bacterial corpses! (Nisbet, E.G ., et al; "Can Diamonds Be Dead Bacteria?" Nature, 367:694, 1994.) Definition. Eclogites comprise a class of metamorphic rocks formed at extremely high temperatures and pressures. From Science Frontiers #95, SEP-OCT 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 85: Jan-Feb 1993 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Clams before columbus Europe's mystery people Astronomy Heavy traffic in near-earth space WHY INTELLIGENT LIFE NEEDS GIANT PLANETS Biology Biology's big bang Singing caterpillars The lures of mussels WHEN A BIRD IN THE HAND IS WORSE THAN TWO IN THE BUSH Growth spurts in children GEOMAGNETIC STORMS AND HUMAN HEALTH Our chemical brain Geology Biogeology Two tsumani tales Geophysics A PARADE OF SPINNING PHOSPHORESCENT WHEELS BALL LIGHTNING PUNCHES CIRCULAR HOLE IN WINDOW Unclassified Three views of mortality Electronic channeling ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 81: May-Jun 1992 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology LONG BEFORE THE VIKINGS AND POLYNESIANS BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR TWO VERY EARLY NEW WORLD CONTACTS Computer confirms crossing! The latte stones Astronomy Galaxy spins wrong way That's the way the universe bounces Indigestible supernova leftovers Biology More mouse engineering Plants of the apes Rhythms in rhythm Shc or h/t homicide? Eusocial beetles Geophysics Rayed ball lightning hits plane Auroral sounds Unidentified light explained? Four luminous spinning vortices Psychology The tyranny of the [normal] senses Folie a deux involving a dog! Chemistry & Physics MUTANT MOLECULES FIGHT FOR FOR SURVIVAL Deep-sixing 666s ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 91: Jan-Feb 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Some People Are Brighter Than Others We broached the subject of human bioluminescence in SF#59 and Biological Anomalies: Humans I, where the major evidence was anecdotal in nature. It is now evident that we have missed an important corpus of laboratory results, in which the spectra and intensity of human radiation has been measured. For example, consider the following abstract: "In measuring the output of light from the human skin, we estimated the total photon rates to be of the order of 170-600 photons/s /cm2 , depending on anatomical location. The light was strongest at the red end of the spectrum, but fell below detectable levels in the ultraviolet. Significant variations were observed between individuals in both photon rate and spectral profile. The photon rate also varied significantly with time for a single individual." It is important to recognize that, although the flux of photons emitted by individual cells is very low, it greatly exceeded the flux of blackbody radiation at 37 C (about 10-9 photon/s /cm2). Photon count for one subject. Experiments demonstrate that human bioluminescence originates mainly in body tissue, particularly skin cells, and not from skin bacteria or the blood. The authors of the present paper believe that the radiation comes from the "oxidation production of radicals." (Edwards, R., et al; "Measurements of Human Bioluminescence," International Journal of Acupuncture & Electro ...
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... pizza for the answer. I can remember when my college roommates and I routinely created life every week in our refrigerator. My theory is that around 4.5 billion years ago, the earth was bombarded by intergalactic pizzas. These then provided the ideal breeding ground in which early organisms could thrive and later evolve." (Greene, Mark D.; "How Life Began," Time, 142:8 , November 1, 1993.) Comment. Charles Fort would certainly have chuckled over the near-simultaneous mentions of intergalactic pizzas in two diverse publications. A second report underscores the mystery presented by the unexpected diversity of life in the deep-sea ooze. J.D . Gage and R.M . May ponder in Nature : "Why there should be such exuberant biological diversity in an environment apparently lacking in the habitat complexity of, say, tropical rain forest -- whose species richness it might rival -- remains an enigma." In fact, the enigma becomes more profound when one finds there exists a "depth effect" paralleling the terrestrial "altitude effect." "This phenomenon is associated with an increase in species richness with depth, and is essentially like the pattern of increasing numbers of plant and animal species as one moves down from mountain tops to sea level." This "depth effect" is just the opposite of what one would expect as one descends into the ever blacker, ever colder, higher-ambient-pressure environment. The cause(s ) of this increasing biological diversity eludes us. (Gage, John D. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 87: May-Jun 1993 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The 50,000-year-old americans of pedra furada The zuni enigma The american discovery of europe! Astronomy The earth: a doubly charmed planet Cosmic soot and organic asteroids Biology Fossil feathers fly Is caddy a mammal? The uniqueness of human adolescence Animals attack human technological infrastructure Late survival of mammoths Geology Whence the earth's pulse? Giant impact-wave deposit along u.s . east coast Geophysics The vent glow and "blind" shrimp Amazons in the sky The bottle-green icebergs of antarctica Psychology Alien abuctions: were they, are they real? Calculating prodigies, gnats, and smart weapons ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 91: Jan-Feb 1994 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Dna undermines key paradigms Did captive christians and moslems build this mayan pyramid? A LARGE CELTIC PYRAMID IN GERMANY? Astronomy Two-faced planets and moons Pairs of ghostly spots sweep across jupiter Biology Some people are brighter than others Crayfish communication Pizzaspermia! The earth's biosphere, 'tis no thin veneer Geology Do earthquakes raise mima mounds? Geophysics Remarkable hailstones Lightning stalled aircraft Post-lightning glows Fiber fall ...
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