124 results found.
... 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 Cancer: a precambrian legacy?Throughout much of Precambrian time until the onset of the Cambrian period some 540 million years ago, single-cell organisms dominated the planet. The goal of each individual cell was to prosper and proliferate. Competition with other cells, including those of the same species, was intense. Altruism did not exist. The most successful species were those that were tough and aggressive. Nevertheless, as the Cambrian began, some single cells suppressed their mutual antagonisms and formed partnerships. Thus were born the first metazoans -- the multicellular species. The road was now open to the evolution of what we term "higher" life forms. But before really complex organisms could evolve, the selfish, aggressive characteristics inherited from the ancestral single-cell species had to be tamed. Unfortunately, some of the controls that evolved -- and which we have inherited -- do not always work. Conversely, they sometimes work too well. J.M . Saul has described how the appearance of cancer in complex multicellular organisms may be the consequence of the failure of biochemical controls evolved to curb cell aggression: "Such failure may be seen as reversion to ancestral cellular behavior, or as failure of a cell with a monocellular heritage to perform metazoan tasks for which it was not originally designed. In such instances, the resultant types of wild and indiscriminate proliferation and variation would resemble pathologies classified as 'cancer.'" ...
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... seashells Most will admit that many seashells are pretty, but how did all those colors and geometrical markings arise? Perhaps a more profound question is: Why do sea-shells need to be pretty in the first place? After all, most (but not all) of the shell owners do not have eyes with which to appreciate their handiwork! However, mathematicians and computer modellers do have eyes. They have also had a lot of fun and some success in devising algorithms (mathematical methods) for the generation of seashell markings. In fact, our title above is also the title of a new book by H. Meinhardt, which suggests how a suite of simple biochemical processes can create those shells coveted by collectors. Meinhardt has devised equations that describe chemical factors that turn pigment-generating cells on and off. In its simplest form, a mathematically modelled seashell is a two-dimensional sheet that grows along only one edge. Cells on this edge may or may not secrete pigment depending upon chemical "influences." B. Hayes describes how this sort of model operates: The triangular pattern on Cymbiola innexa suggests the presence of a "global control element" that turns the pigment-secreting cells on and off in the correct order -- something like a computer-controlled loom! "Given this generating mechanism, some shell patterns are easy to understand. A series of vertical stripes -- that is, stripes running perpendicular to the growing edge -- implies a static distribution of pigment secreting cells in the mantle margin. Where a cell or group of cells is permanently ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 92: Mar-Apr 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Is immortality only a mutation away?Here follows the lead sentence of the abstract of a recent letter to Nature : "We have found that mutations in the gene daf-2 can cause fertile, active adult Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodites to live more than twice as long as wild type." (Kenyon, Cynthia, et al; "A C. elegans Mutant That Lives Twice as Long as Wild Type," Nature, 366:461, 1993.) Comment. C. elegans is a roundworm only about a millimeter long. Roughly a thousand cells make up its tiny body, and scientists have charted the birth and death of each cell from egg to adult. This roundworm's life is a mosaic of changing cells, as some die to make way for new cells with different agendas. Somehow this programmed sequence of cell death and birth can be slowed down by mutations and thus increase longevity. Wouldn't any mortal speculate that perhaps human longevity might, like that of C. elegans , be extended by modern gene manipulators? Sure, it's quite an extrapolation from roundworm to human, but our cells are programmed just like those of C. elegans . Change a gene here and there, and we might all live as long as Noah! From Science Frontiers #92, MAR-APR 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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 Garden?" Science, 268:373, 1995.) Comment. Random mutation has been a linchpin of Neo-Darwinism because it is "scientific"; that is, non-supernatural. We see in adaptive mutation that other scientific mechanisms may indeed exist that make biological evolution more than just a plaything of chance. Furthermore, ...
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... not look the same. Caterpillars may yield a family tree different from that inferred from the butterflies. Which is correct, or are they all correct? Back to the review. Waxing heretical, Williamson points out that an organism may have more than one phylogeny ! Larvae may have ancestries different from the adults. How heretical can one get? But in the ocean, spermatozoa often cannot find an egg of the correct species. They may then fertilize eggs of a distantly related species. In such "wide hybrids," the larvae may resemble one parent and the adults the other. There is much more. The gist of it all is that evolution has been much more than random mutation and natural selection. Hybridization and outright mergers (endosymbiosis) have played important roles. Even our own cells harbor mitochondria that have their own DNA. They are probably bacterial invaders that long ago settled down in the cells of our ancestors. (Van Valen, Leigh M.; "Anomalous Larvae and the Burning of Heretics," Evolutionary Theory , 10:279, 1994. Cr. K.L . Partain.) From Science Frontiers #100, JUL-AUG 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 2 to 80 m diameter, in which the plants (primarily grain crops) are flattened in a horizontal position. Plants from crop formations display anatomical alterations which cannot be accounted for by assuming the formations are hoaxes. Near the soil surface the curved stems often form complex swirls with 'vortex' type patterns. In the present paper, evidence is presented which indicates that structural and cellular alterations take place in plants exposed within the confines of the 'circle' type formations, differences which were determined to be statistically significant when compared with control plants taken outside the formation. These transformations were manifested at the macroscopic level as abnormal nodal swelling, gross malformations during embryogenesis, and charred epidermal tissue. Significant changes in seed germination and development were found, and at the microscopic level differences were observed in cell wall pit structures. Affected plants also have characteristics suggesting the involvement of transient high temperatures." (Levengood, W.C .; "Anatomical Anomalies in Crop Formation Plants," Physiologia Plantarum, 92:356, 1994. Cr. N. Talbott) From Science Frontiers #98, MAR-APR 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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 more than DNA must be involved. [This observation does seem simplistic, because DNA could, in principle, code for metamorphosis.] Like DNA, this "something more" passing from parent to offspring conveys information on the biochemical level. This aspect of heredity has been by-passed as geneticists have focussed on the genes. Cohen and Stewart summarize their views as follows: "What we have been saying is that DNA space is not a map of creature space. There is no unique correspondence between the two spaces, no way to assign to each sequence in DNA space a unique animal that it " ...
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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. 93: May-Jun 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Marine Snow The marine analog of the high-altitude U2 used to collect interplanetary dust is the scuba diver armed with small jars and syringes. In these, marine biologists, such as A. Alldredge, collect the tiny bits of debris drifting downwards from the ocean's upper layers. This is the "marine snow." Its constituents are mainly: ". .. the tiny leftovers of animals, plants, and non-living matter in the ocean's sun-suffused upper zones. Among these particles are chains of single-celled plants called diatoms, shreds of zooplankters' mucous food traps, soot, fecal pellets, dust motes, radioactive fallout, sand grains, pollen, and pollutants. Microorganisms also live inside and on top of these odd-shaped flakes." Marine snow is everywhere in the ocean. Sometimes, it reaches blizzard proportions, and divers cannot see beyond a few feet. Measured in millimeters, the marine snowflakes are much larger than the average interplanetary dust particles (but of course interplanetary dust itself is also a constituent of marine snow). The bigger marine snowflakes -- over 0.5 mm -- are a major food source for deep-sea denizens waiting below for this manna from the watery heaven. The reason for mentioning marine snow in Science Frontiers is that biologists like Alldredge are really pio-neering new territory, where new anomalies must surely dwell. "' ...
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... 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-Theraputics Research, 15:85, 1990. Cr. M. Bischof.) Comment. Recall that mitogenetic radiation from cells, long derided by the scientific establishment, has now been detected. See SF#73. Look again at the rather obscure reference ...
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... Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Dna Undermines Key Paradigms Lately, the Wall Street Journal has expanded its coverage from stocks and bonds to the Marfa lights and other scientific anomalies. Now, it is challenging archeological sacred cows using mitochondrial DNA. Quite a switch from pork futures! Of course, the WSJ is not a recognized scientific source, but its reporter did get his information directly from D.C . Wallace, a well-known professor of genetics and molecular medicine at Emory University and a champion of the African Eve theory. Surely an unusual illustration for the archeology section, but the DNA in these mitochondria may upset long-held theories of human migration. Anyway, Wallace has been studying mitochondria, those little energizers in human and animal cells. Strangely, mitochondria have their own DNA, which is separate and distinct from the nuclear DNA that directs other biological processes. Mitochondrial DNA has had its own history of evolution and is different for various human populations. Wallace has used this fact to trace the origins of American Indians by comparing their mitochondrial DNA with that from Asians, Africans, etc. His conclusions are controversial to say the least. The Amerinds, who comprise most of the Native Americans, arrived in a single migratory wave 20,000-40,000 years ago -- not merely 12,000 years ago! Native Siberians lack a peculiar mutation of mitochondrial DNA that appeared in the Amerinds 6,000-10,000 years ago, casting doubt on the Siberian land bridge theory. Instead, this particular ...
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... would expect acoustical information transmission would be degraded. This would be true enough if linear information theory applied, but some, perhaps all, real situations are nonlinear. In such instances, information flow can actually be enhanced by the presence of optimized random noise. Stochastic resonance (SR) is the term applied in such cases of nonlinear statistical dynamics. J.K . Douglass et al write: "Although SR has recently been demonstrated in several artificial physical systems, it may also occur naturally, and an intriguing possibility is that biological systems have evolved the capability to exploit SR by optimizing endogenous sources of noise. Sensory systems are an obvious place to look for SR, as they excel at detecting weak signals in a noisy environment. Here we demonstrate SR using external noise applied to crayfish mechanoreceptor cells. Our results show that individual neurons can provide a physiological substrate for SR in sensory systems." Put more simply, the crayfish nervous system has the potential for cashing in on SR in noisy environments. However, the authors also remark that humans, too, accordingly to psychological experiments, seem to harness SR in the perception of ambiguous figures in noisy situations. (Douglass, John K., et al; "Noise Enhancement of Information Transfer in Crayfish Mechanoreceptors by Stochastic Resonance," Nature, 365:337, 1993.) Comment. In humans, then, and probably crayfish and other life forms, evolution via random mutation has just happened to hit upon a very sophisticated technique for improving communication! From Science Frontiers #91, JAN-FEB 1994 . 1994-2000 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 67: Jan-Feb 1990 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology New world culture old Fantastic claim by explorer Archeological riddle The ancient-humans-in-europe controversy Astronomy Direct observations of hyperion's chaotic motion A NEW QUASAR DISTANCE RECORD: A NEW EMBARRASSMENT Explaining lunar flashes with life-savers Astronomers up against the "great wall" Biology Dna on cell surfaces Really-deep rivers Geology We live atop a chemical retort Australasian tektites coughed up by a moon of jupiter? Microorganisms complicate the k-t boundary Continuity at the conrad discontinuity Geophysics Eyewitness account of cropcircle formation Possible ball lightning in ankara Psychology Solar activity and bursts of human creativity Geomagnetic activity related to mental activity Psychotherapy may delay cancer deaths Physics A WATCHED ATOM IS AN INHIBITED ATOM General A HUNGARIAN UFO ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 42: Nov-Dec 1985 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Immense Complex of Structures Found in Peru Great Pyramid Entrance Tunnel Not Astronomically Aligned More Pyramid Caveats Astronomy A Large Quasar Inhomogeneity in the Sky Double-star System Defies Relativity Peace and Sunspots The Missing Sunspot Peak A Different Way of Looking At the Solar System Origin of the Moon Debated Biology Ri = Dugong; Doggone! Can Spores Survive in Interstellar Space? Fungus Manufactures Phony Blueberry Flowers Music in the Ear Guiding Cell Migration Remarkable Distribution of Hydrothermal Vent Animals Trees May Not Converse After All! Geology Feathers Fly Over Fossil 'Fraud' Sand Dunes 3 Kilometers Down The Night of the Polar Dinosaur Geophysics The Sausalito Hum Mysterious Hums: the Sequel Psychology Left-handers Have Larger Interbrain Connections Geomagnetic Activity and Paranormal Experiences Taking Food From Thought Logic & Mathematics The Fabric of Prime Number Distribution Chemistry & Physics Speculations From Gold ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 49: Jan-Feb 1987 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Those Old Maps of Antarctica Inca Walls and Rockwall, Texas Astronomy Enormous Stellar Shell Raises Theoretical Questions Radar Glories on Jupiter's Moons Optical Bursters Halley's Confounding Fireworks Neptune's Strange Necklace Recent Explosion on Sirius? Biology Prebiological Chemistry in Titan's Atmosphere Million-cell Memories? Grounded Bats Nicheless Philosophical Confusion? Monarch Migration An Illusion Geology Moho Vicissitudes A Slice of Ocean Crust in Wyoming The NACP Anomaly Reversed Magnetization in Rocks Geophysics Geomagnetic Reversals From Impacts on the Earth Mystery Plumes and Clouds Over Soviet Territory Sailing Through A Waterspout Psychology Personality and Immunity ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 37: Jan-Feb 1985 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology A Disaster-driven Early Civilization Another Remarkable Specimen of Ancient Man Astronomy The Puzzle of the Moon's Origin When Mars Had Lakes Why Aren't the Martian Craters Worn Down? Flip-flop Radio Jets? Biology The Genome's Responses to Challenges "hopeful Monsters" in Iceland? Parasites May Reprogram Host's Cell Geology More Doubts About Asteroids The Earth is Expanding and We Don't Know Why The Grand Canyon Conundrum Evidence for A Giant Pleistocene Sea Wave Recent Pulsations of Life Geophysics "Crystal" Ball Lightning The Big Divot! Shower of Coke Chemistry & Physics Squarks and Photinos At Cern? What Does it All Mean? The Secret of it All is in the Pi ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 19: Jan-Feb 1982 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology A Prehistoric TVA? The Diffusion of Science in Prehistoric Times Astronomy The Rims of Galaxies Spin Too Fast Problems At the Rim of the Solar System Magic Numbers in Helium-atom Clusters Biology Species Stability is A Real Problem Geology African Fossil Sequences Support Punctuated Evolution Stratum Shuffling At Plate Boundaries Fatal Flaw in Pole-flipping Theory Geophysics Why So Little Lightning At Sea? Psychology Mind Marshals White Blood Cells Anomalous EEG Discharges Magical Communication in the Subatomic World ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 126: Nov-Dec 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Vegetable Connection Within the human brain, probably quite close to the number module, there must be a "vegetable module"; that is, a few brain cells that recognize and process information about vegetables. Furthermore, there must be cross-talk between the vegetable and number modules. This is obvious from the following query posted in New Scientist. "Why is it that when you repeatedly ask someone addition problems that all add up to six (such as two plus four, one plus five) for a number of minutes and then ask them to think of a vegetable, 90 per cent of people will say "carrot"? "The person you are asking must have no knowledge of what you are asking them or why. The questions should be asked rapidly, encouraging the person answering to answer them quickly with little thought." (Versteegen, Adam; "Carrot Brains," New Scientist, p. 97, Jule 24, 1999.) From Science Frontiers #126, NOV-DEC 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Cystic Fibrosis Gene Humanity's "Missing" Mutations Persistence of ITD Gene Overall Human Mutation Rates Very Low "Junk" Genes and Human Evolution Curious Genetic Homologies HIV-Like Gene in Human DNA BHH HEALTH BHH1 Health and Environmental Electricity BHH2 Health and Weather BHH3 Disease Epidemics Correlated with Solar Activity BHH4 Epileptic Seizures Correlated with the Moon BHH5 Disease Epidemics Correlated with Volcanic Eruptions BHH6 Anomalous Periodicities in Disease Epidemics BHH7 Anomalous Appearance and Propagation of Disease BHH8 Epilepsy and Rhythmic Phenomena [BHB7, PBH] BHH9 Health-Problem Synchronicities in Identical Twins BHH10 Extreme Longevity BHH11 Historical Changes in Average Longevity BHH12 Longevity Correlated with Brain Size in Hominid Evolution BHH13 Longevity Correlated with Lifeline Length BHH14 AIDS without Measurable HIV Antibodies BHH15 HIV-Infected Persons Who Do Not Develop AIDS BHH16 Anomalously Small Fractions of HIV-Infected T-Cells in AIDS BHH17 Anomalous Levels of HIV Antibodies in AIDS BHH18 Deliberately HIV-Infected Simians and Accidentally HIV-Infected Humans Who Do Not Develop AIDS BHH19 HIV-1 and HIV-2 Are Far Separated Genetically BHH20 Anomalous Demographics of AIDS BHH21 Possible Cofactors in AIDS BHH22 HIV, AIDS, and Gaia BHH23 Apparent Immortality of Cancer Cell BHH24 Subversive and Suicidal Properties of Cancer Cells BHH25 'Insidious" Properties of Cancer Metastases BHH26 Spontaneous Cancer Regressions BHH27 Bodily Potential Differences Correlated with Cancerous or Precancerous Conditions BHH28 Cancer Correlated with Date of Birth BHH29 Cancer Incidence Correlated with Appendix Removal BHH30 Cancer Remissions and Cures Correlated with Severe Infections BHH31 Anomalous Effect of Radon Exposure on Lung-Cancer Incidence BHH32 Father's Radiation Exposure Increases Cancer Incidence in His Children BHH33 Atavistic Nature of Cancer BHH34 The Ubiquity of Proto- ...
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... STRUCTURAL ANOMALIES INDICATED BY GRAVITATIONAL ANOMALIES ECG1 Remarkable Gravity Anomalies ECG2 Gravity Trends That Challenge the Continent-Accretion Model ECG3 Gravity Data Indicating Large Mantle Inhomogeneities ECG4 Anomalous Gravity Signals Following Earthquakes ECH HEAT-FLOW ANOMALIES ECH1 Mid-Plate Volcanism ECH2 Hawaiian Hot-Spot Tracks ECH3 Dearth of Continental Hot Spots ECH4 Non-Random Distribution of Hot Spots ECH5 Thermal Plumes Correlated with Other Geophysical Activity EQ SEISMIC PROBING OF INNER EARTH EQA LOCALIZED STRUCTURES IN THE CORE AND MANTLE EQA1 Stratification of Basement Rocks EQA2 Deep Continental Roots EQA3 Deep Penetration of Subducted Slabs EQA4 Lateral Inhomogeneities in the Lower Mantle EQA5 Mysterious Structures at the Core-Mantle Boundary EQA6 Seismic Reflectors EQD SEISMIC DETECTION OF LARGE SCALE DISCONTINUITIES, ZONES, STRUCTURES EQD1 Velocity Discontinuities EQD2 Channels and Zones EQD3 Structural Anomalies of the Inner Core EQD4 Anomalies Associated with Mantle Convection Cells EQQ ANOMALOUS SEISMIC SIGNALS EQQ1 Deep-Focus Earthquakes ES STRATIGRAPHIC ANOMALIES ESA EMBEDDED ACCRETION STRUCTURES ESA1 Cylindrical Structures in Rock and Unconsolidated Sediments ESA2 Spherical Aggregates ESA3 Concretions ESA4 Small Fused Structures ESA5 Geodes ESA6 Orbicules ESB ANOMALOUS BIOLOGICAL PHENOMENA IN GEOLOGY ESB1 Biological Extinction Events ESB2 Biological Explosion Events ESB3 Recent Vegetation and Shallow Water Fossils at Great Depths ESB4 Long-Buried, Undecomposed Organic Matter ESB5 Living and Fossil Marine Organisms Found Far Inland ESB6 Living Organisms and Recent Fossils at Very High Altitudes ESB7 Growth Structures on Marine Organisms and Their Fossils ESB8 Animals Entombed in Rocks ESB9 Living Organisms at Great Depths ESB10 Fossils of Warm-Climate, Light Dependent Organisms Found in the Polar Regions ESB11 Time-Wise Anomalous Fossils ESB12 Skipping in the Fossil Record ESB13 "Special" Nature of Fossils ESC ANOMALOUS CHEMICAL PHENOMENA IN GEOLOGY ESC1 ...
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... 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 Traitors Within One of the insidious talents of cancers is their ability to coax neighboring, normal tissue to do their bidding. What cancer cells need most, if they are to grow, is sustenance, as normally provided by blood vessels. Obligingly, even though it could lead to their own demise, the tissues surrounding the cancer will grow new blood vessels to supply the killer in their midst. It has now been discovered that some particularly aggressive cancers, some melanomas, for example, can grow without the help of nearby subverted tissue. They can manufacture their own blood vessels which carry nourishment to malignant cells deep in the cancers. These self-made blood vessels differ from normal vessels in their lack of endothelial cells. They are also organized in distinctive patterns of loops around clusters of cancer cells. Normal blood vessels tend to be arranged more randomly Although they originate in specialized tissues, such as the prostate gland, the cells in aggressive cancers become unspecialized. In a sense, they revert to embryonic cells that can then become any kind of cell, such as those in blood vessels. Cancer cells are atavistic -- throwbacks to the womb. (Barinaga, Marcia; "New Type of Blood Vessel Found in Tumors," Science, 285: 1475, 1999. Spinney, Laura; "Organized Killers," New Scientist, p. 11, September 11, 1999.) Comment. It's all very ...
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... viruses control the oceans? You may avoid the beaches after you learn that one teaspoon of seawater typically contains 10-100 million viruses and onetenth that many bacteria. Obviously, most are harmless to humans. However, the viruses do infect the bacteria and phytoplankton, destroying them, and thereby releasing their nutrients. By doing this, they keep the oceans' biological engines running. Further, the viruses act as genetic engineers as they transfer DNA from one individual to another. The oceans may be viewed as vast test tubes in which biodiversity is maintained by teeming, invasive viruses. (Suttle, Curtis A.; "Do Viruses Control the Oceans?" Natural History, 108:48, February 1999.) We are only 10% human! The average human body contains 100 trillion cells, but only 1 in 10 of these cells is your own. The remaining 90% are bacteria. These alien organisms coat your skin and pave your inner passageways from mouth to anus. Of course they are much smaller than your own cells, so what you see is mostly you. Even so, you are a composite creature and cannot survive without these tiny hitchhikers and symbionts. Just as in the oceans, our bodies are battlegrounds. Each day we are thrice invaded by massive new armies of bacteria present our food. Water and air, too, bring more combatants into the fray. Our resident bacteria continually fend off the invaders or accommodate them. Some are pathogenic and must be killed; others are useful in many ways, as in digestion. Who's really in ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 126: Nov-Dec 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Number Module B. Butterworth, author of the new book The Mathematical Brain , proposes that your brain boasts a tiny module of cells -- just over your left ear -- that endows you with a sense of number. These cells allow you, for example, to grasp instantly "fourness," say the number of corners on a square without counting them one-by-one. Unfortunately, this capability usually does not exceed fiveness. If there were 10 people on a corner, you would have to count them individually -- if you are normal. But some people are abnormal. Recall from SF#125, the savant who could tell at a glance that 111 matches littered the floor without counting each individually. He grasped 111-ness! At the other end of the scale, Signora Gaddi cannot even distinguish that 20 is greater then 10. She cannot use the telephone or catch numbered busses. Facts involving numbers above four are a mystery to her. Even when there are four or fewer objects, she must count them one-byone. Nevertheless, Gaddi's intelligence and social skills are normal. She lost her number-savvy when she suffered a stroke that apparently short-circuited that number module over her ear. Are other mammals equipped with number modules? No one knows. And what forces encouraged the human brain to sprout a few extra cells on the inferior parietal lobule; that ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 123: May-Jun 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Nanobes Get used to this term! Of course you know about microbes. Well, nanobes are also life forms but so much smaller than microbes that they deserve the prefix "nano" (for 10-9 ) rather than "micro" (for 10-6 ). The smallest recognized bacteria, Myco plasma , lack cell walls and fall in the size range 150-200 nanometers. Nanobes are much smaller: 20-150 nanometers. But are nanobes really alive? A drill core recently extracted from a stratum of sandstone 3 kilometers deep off the coast of Western Australia was found to be infected with miniscule filamentous structures. P. Uwins and her colleagues at the University of Queensland believe these structures (" nanobes") are alive. They appear to grow and have cell walls. But skeptics assert that some lifeless chemical structures also grow. Others suspect contamination of the sample as it was raised to the surface and handled. Published photos of the nanobes look very much like the structures in the Martian meteorite ALH84001, which are claimed to be fossilized extraterrestrial bacteria. (SF#116) (Dayton, Leigh; "Tiny Wonders," New Scientist, p. 13, March 27, 1999.) Comment. R.L . Folk claims that so-called "nannobacteria" (100-400 nanometers) are ubiquitous on the earth. Few biologists believe that life forms can be this small, and ...
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