Science Frontiers
The Unusual & Unexplained

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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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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 32: Mar-Apr 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects What makes a calculating prodigy?The above title is also that of a new book by Steven Smith. Naturally, the book is full of anecdotes about the phenomenal accomplishments of calculating prodigies, both unlettered children and such famous scientists and mathematicians as Euler, Gauss, and A.C . Aitken. The latter ". .. had the uncanny power of mentally computing, to a long string of decimals, the values of e and e163 When asked (by his children) to multiply 987...1 by 123...9 , he remarked afterwards: 'I saw in a flash that 987...1 ... by 81 equals 80 000 000 001, and so I multiplied 123...9 by this, a simple matter, and divided the answer by 81.'" But what, asks Smith, led Aitken to 81? To this question, which is the heart of the mystery, he commendably admits he has no reply. And the same deep mystery confronts us even after all has been said about the sur, as distinct from the underlying, structure of the processing. At the unlettered end of the spectrum of mental calculators, the ". .. ignorant vagabond, Henri Mondeux, who at the age of 14 years, before the French Academy of Sciences, was able promptly to state two squares differing by 133." Of course, some mental feats of calculation can ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 87: May-Jun 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Calculating prodigies, gnats, and smart weapons In a thought-provoking letter to New Scientist, J. Margolis commences with the observation that calculating prodigies (idiot savants), who are often also mentally retarded, can easily and almost instantaneously recognize 20-digit prime numbers! Gifted mathematicians with so-called photographic memories cannot perform such mental feats using known methods for identifying primes. What do the calculating prodigies know that the rest of us do not? Better algorithms; that is, calculating methods? Margolis expands on this: "All this suggests some relatively simple, subconscious algorithms which have not, as yet, been explicitly formulated. ... in this direction might well result in new mathematical insights. "It need not be surprising that mathematical insight is more fundamental than language. Even a primitive animal brain is 'wired" to perform exceedingly complex computations essential for survival in an unpredictable environment. The latest 'smart' weapons are rudimentary compared with a humble gnat. Mathematics could be a by-product of these functions. Language is a comparatively recent evolutionary innovation and it is quite possible that conscious manipulation of abstract symbols has not caught up with an innate ability to perceive quantitative relationships." (Margolis, Joel; "What Gnats Know," New Scientist, p. 58, January 30, 1993.) From Science Frontiers #87, MAY-JUN 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 6: February 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Some Highly Focussed Minds Here is a modern study of calculating prodigies, idiot savants, or, as Rimland prefers, "autistic savants." Calculating prodigies are rarely idiots; that is, with IQs below 30: rather they are almost always autistic, displaying gross disturbances in communication, and/or motor behavior. Rimland and his colleagues have studied 5,400 autistic children and found 10% of them to have extraordinary abilities. We hear most often about those prodigies who can multiply large numbers in their heads instantaneously or give us calendar information far in the past or future without the blink of an eye. But autistic savants are also prodigal in ... fields of art, music, and mechanics. No one knows how they per-form their feats, although psychologists speculate that their minds are intensely focussed on their special skills to the exclusion of most everything else. A few "normal" people, such as Gauss and Ampere, have matched the capabilities of the autistic savants, but the rest of us have our minds spread too thinly. We are in the majority, so the autistic savants usually end up in institutions while we plod along outside. (Rimland, Bernard; "Inside the Mind of the Autistic Savant," Psychology Today, August 1978.) Comment. We may speculate that the capabilities of the autistic savants are inherent in all of us, awaiting only some key. From Science Frontiers #6 , February 1979 ...
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... he could name every make of car he saw on the road. (Anonymous; "Boy Has Genius Figured Out at 3," London Times, March 1, 1999. Cr. A.C .A . Silk) Comment. Kerr is certainly precocious and in him we see the glimmerings of capabilities we may all have but cannot tap. Unlike so many "savants" and "calculating prodigies," Kerr is not deficient in "normal" human skills. He is just unusually smart. He has partially penetrated a sort of barrier that seems to prevent most of us from drawing from a reservoir of remarkable mental capabilities. In savants and calculating prodigies, this barrier is ruptured and these talents flow readily to the fore -- but usually at the cost of some "normal ... talents. Two Australian scientists, A. Snyder and J. Mitchel, have studied the "savant syndrome" and have presented their findings in the Proceedings of the Royal Society (B266:587, 1999). The gist of their paper was reported by R. Highfield in the Chicago Sun-Times . "These savants are often autistic, a developmental disorder that leaves them with little ability to empathize with others. However, some possess astonishing skills. "He [Snyder] believes the ability to tap raw information -- the mind's secret arithmetic -- is possessed by mathematical savants. They can multiply, divide, factor and identify prime numbers of six and more digits in seconds, or identify the number of objects they can see at a single glance -- 111 ...
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... human talents. Sacks says that perfect pitch, though common in musicians, occurs only in about 1 of every 10,000 people. Among the autistic, however, the incidence rises to perhaps 1 in 20. He next moves on to "savants;" that is, individuals with exceptional mathematic, mechanical, musical, and artistic talents, but with serious deficiencies in other human attributes. Calculating prodigies and other "idiot savants" immediately come to mind here. Sachs claims that perfect pitch is is even more common among the savants. In fact, all muscial savants seem to have it. Perfect pitch is also common among those with Williams syndrome, which he defines as: "a -- syndrome which predisposes to hyperacusis and exceptional development of auditory, musical, and verbal skills ... combined with striking visual and conceptual deficits." (Sacks, Oliver; "Musical Ability," Science, 268:621, 1995.) * A person with perfect pitch can identify a tone without needing a second tone for comparison. SF#99 = Science Frontiers #99. From Science Frontiers #102 Nov-Dec 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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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... Ganzfield Experiments Animal Telepathy Telepathy under Hypnosis Atavistic Nature of Telepathy Geomagnetic Enhancement of Telepathy Psychic Odor/Taste PI INFORMATION PROCESSING PIB INPUT/OUTPUT ANOMALIES Word Blindness Dyslexia Autism Typing Skills Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon Mirror Script Braille and the Brain Optical Illusions Generation of Random Numbers Cocktail-party effect Stuttering Difficulty of Learning English Brain Modularity Attentional Blink Revelation Intuition PIC ANOMALOUS INFORMATION PROCESSING Mathematical Savants Calendar Calculators Musical Prodigies Mechanical Savants Subconscious Time-Reckoning Mental Processing during Sleep Chess Prodigies Accelerated Mental Processes Mnemonists PIG MYSTERIES OF GENIUS AND CREATIVITY Early Appearance of Genius Genius and Mental Illness Origin of "Strokes of Genius" Periodicity in Creativity Humor and Creativity Genius and Season of Birth Aesthetics and Creativity Dream Creativity PII EIDETIC AND AFTER IMAGES Eidetic Imagery Vivid Afterimages Eidetic Imagery and Retardation Eidetic Imagery and Hallucinations Recovery of ... Imagery through Hypnosis PIK CONSCIOUSNESS Consciousness and Hypnosis Nature of Consciousness Free Will Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics [BHT22] PIM ANOMALIES OF MEMORY Capacity of the Human Brain Emotional Enhancement of Memory Learning and Memory under Anesthesia Hypnosis and Memory Pseudomemory Hypnotic Misrecall Mnemonics Photographic Memory Prenatal Mental Life Inherited Memories False-Memory Syndrome Memory-Processing Bottlenecks Memory Regression [PHP] Cryptonesia PIP ODDITIES OF PERCEPTION Synesthesia Optical Illusions [PIB] PL HALLUCINATIONS AND ILLUSIONS PLD NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES Near-Death Experiences NDEs in Non-Threatening Situations Involuntary Memories during Illness and Injury PLF HYPNAGOGIC AND HYPNOPOMPIC ILLUSIONS Hypnagogic Illusions Hypnopompic Illusions PLG HALLUCINATIONS, APPARITIONS, ILLUSIONS Migraine Hallucinations Epileptic Hallucinations Drug-Induced Hallucinations Hallucinations during Sensory Deprivation Conjurable and Manipulatible Hallucinations Spontaneous Hallucinations Fairies, Elementals, etc. Religious Hallucinations (Angels) Psychic Lights (Welsh Revival ...
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... Subjects Reincarnation of ramanujan?In India, Shakuntala Devi is considered to be the reincarnation of Srinivasa Ramanujan, about whom we heard in the above item. We will not comment on the reincarnation bit, but it does seem that S. Devi's remarkable capabilities are somewhat different from those of Ramanujan. The latter intuitively saw mathematical relationships as expressed in equations and identities; Devi is a mental calculator of no mean talent. In 1977, Ms. Devi beat a UNIVAC 1108 computer to the 23rd root of a 201-digit number. The machine, which required two hours to program for the task, took more than a minto solve the problem. She took 50 seconds. "And, in 1981, she made the Guinness Book of World Records as the 'Human Computer' ... is also a calendar calculator, being able to name the day of the week for any date in the past or future, taking into account leap years and calendar changes. She never attended school or had any formal mathematical training! (Young, Luther; "Numbers Whiz Takes Delight in Beating Computers;" Baltimore Sun, January 21, 1988, p. A1.) Comment. Such prodigies have appeared regularly down recorded history. What is the meaning of the phenomenon? Why does evolution produce talents that far exceed the "need" of the species? Is there a "need" that we are not aware of? It could be that prodigies are precursors of new evolutionary developments, which will leave poor homo sapi ens in the intellectual dust. Surely, science fiction has a ...
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... Larger Ocean of Life Spores Still Viable After 7,000 Years Animals As Nutrient Carriers Geology Terranes Continue to Pile Up Grand Canyon Shamed Again When the Earth Shifted Gears The Oklo Phenomenon and Evolution Earth's Magnetic Field Jerks Osmium Isotopes Support Meteoric Impact Geophysics Incredible Phosphorescent Display on the China Sea Ball Lightning Splits and Recombines Inside Soviet Airliner Booms Startle Arkansas Psychology Mental Deflection of Cascading Spheres What Makes A Calculating Prodigy? False Pregnancies in Males Unclassified The 'Great Silence'; Or Why Aren't Aliens Landing on the White House Lawn? ...
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... existed, it would seem that the moths developed these special organs in anticipation of the bats! (Gall, Lawrence F., and Tiffney, Bruce H.; "A Fossil Noctuid Moth Egg from the Late Cretaceous of Eastern North America," Science, 219:507, 1983.) Comment. Do humans have talents that seem unimportant now but which may be useful some day? Calculating prodigies, eidetic imagers, etc. From Science Frontiers #26, MAR-APR 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... prehistory. The most formidible arithmetic problems are child's play to it. Some researchers maintain that it is our consciousness that prevents us from realizing the full potential of this spongy sack of neurons. Consciousness, you see, is a necessary filter that permits only useful, practical information to flash before us as we attempt to deal with the real world. Of what survival value is calendar-calculating in today's world when we have our PCs? Or even yesterday's threat-filled world? (Future worlds? Who knows?) The consciousness filter is only partially effective in autistic savants. It is a bit porous in normal childhood, when streaks of genius sometimes seep through. Some normal children possess the power to reproduce in great detail complex scenes seen only briefly. ... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 127: Jan-Feb 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Our Filtered Brains Beneath the thin bone of your cranium lies an organic information processor of prodigious speed and capacity. We see brief glimpses of its real power in the mental performances of those autistic savants who can tell us instantly the day of the week for January 1, 2022, [Saturday] or draw fantastically detailed and accurate sketches of scenes after just a brief glance. You may scoff, but you could do the same if your consciousness didn't suppress your innate mental talents. There is growing suspicion that our brains process and store just about everything our senses convey to them. Our brain is also a number-cruncher of ...
Terms matched: 2  -  Score: 157  -  15 May 2017  -  URL: /sf127/sf127p16.htm
... 64200 Biosphere 0.3 In this article, these figures are made more understandable by physical descriptions of some of the truly colossal deposits of oil, coal, and limestone. For example, in the Canadian Rockies, the Livingstone limestone was deposited 2000 feet deep on the margin of the Cordilleran geosyncline but thins eastward to about 1000 feet in the Front ranges. ". .. it may be calculated to represent at least 10,000 cubic miles of broken crinoid plates." Two implications are: Even if the earth's biosphere were completely converted into oil, coal, and limestone each year, the earth would have to be far older than the 6000 years desired by the creationists, unless most of the carbon deposits had non-biological origins, which seems unlikely. The immense ... of carbon tied up in biologically produced deposits was originally abiogenic. Where did it come from? Abiogenic methane and carbon dioxide released from the crust seem the most likely sources. This means that the crust must have once had, and may still have, prodigious supplies of methane. T. Gold and S. Soter have long argued that the earth's crust still retains and sometimes releases methane. (Morton, Glenn R.; "The Carbon Problem," Creation Research Society Quarterly, 20:212, 1984.) Comment. Methane gas releases may account for several anomalies, such as earthquake lights and unidentified detonations. From Science Frontiers #34, JUL-AUG 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... , with its islands of mental ability in a sea of mental handicap and disability. "Through the past century, since Down's description of this disorder, the several hundred idiot savants reported in the world literature have shown remarkable similarities within an exceedingly narrow range of abilities, given the many possible skills in the human repertoire. Why do so many idiot savants have the obscure skill of calendar calculating? Why does the triad of retardation, blindness, and musical genius appear with such regularity among them? Why is there a 6:1 male-to-female ratio in this disorder? What accounts for the more common occurrence of the idiot savant among patients with infantile autism than among those with other developmental disabilities?" Other questions that can be framed based on the rest of the ... at 4, and who could play back flawlessly any piece of music, re gardless of complexity. He could also repeat a discourse of any length in any language without the loss of a syllable. (Treffert, Darold A.; "The Idiot Savant: A Review of the Syndrome," American Journal of Psychiatry, 145: 563, 1988.) Comment. Note that many child prodigies, who are different from idiot savants, lose their talents as they age. From Science Frontiers #58, JUL-AUG 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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