103 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 42: Nov-Dec 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Great pyramid entrance tunnel not astronomically aligned Early in the Nineteenth Century, astronomer John Herschel speculated that the ancient Egyptians had constructed the Great Pyramid so that the downwardly slanting entrance would be aligned precisely with the pole star, Thuban (Alpha Draconis), when the star was at its lowest culmination. Over 70 years ago Percival Lowell ran through the calculations and found that Thuban was not near the tunnel's line of sight when the pyramid was constructed (about 2800 BC). No one seems to have listened to Lowell, even though he was quite correct. Most books on the Great Pyramid still insist on the fancied pole star alignment. If the entrance tunnel wasn't pointing at the pole star, what other esoteric reason did the pyramid builders have for the 26 .523 angle? (It seems that everyone expects all dimensions of the Great Pyramid to have special significance.) R.L . Walker, of the Naval Observatory, has come to the rescue. He observes that the tangent of 26 .523 is almost exactly (actually 0.4991). Although there may be some occult significance to , this fraction also signals to us that 26 .523 is also the angle created when two cubical blocks are laid horizontally for every one installed vertically, as in the sketch. It seems that 26 .523 is simply the natural consequence of the internal pyramid construction process. (Anonymous; "End of ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 117: May-June 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Hard Facts At Cahokia Monk's Mound, the largest mound at the Cahokia Mounds State Historical Site, in Illinois, is not what it seems. Superficially, it is a terraced earthen mound 100 feet high and more than three football fields long. What we now see of the mound was apparently constructed between 900 and 1200 AD. The prevailing dogma has long been that the Indians who built Cahokia worked only with earth, never with stone. Indeed, suitable stone is scarce in the area. On January 24, 1998, while drilling to construct a water drainage system at Monk's Mound, workers hit stone -- at least 32 feet of it -- perhaps a region of cobbles or slabs of rock. This region of stone, of undetermined geometry, is located 40 feet below one of the terrace surfaces, but still well above the base of the mound. The stones could well be an artificial structure of some sort. The discovery challenges the current thinking about the culture that built Cahokia. Only further research will reveal the extent and configuration of the stony region and where the stones may have come from. An editorial in the March 14, 1998, St. Louis Post-Dispatch put the Cahokia discovery in the larger context: New World archeology is in flux. Humans occupied the Americas long before 12,000 BP, and some of them may have been Caucasian (e .g ., ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 74: Mar-Apr 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Did the pharaohs cheat with concrete?" The Great Pyramid of Egypt, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, may have been at least partially constructed with man-made concrete. "Edward Zeller, cirector of the radiation physics laboratory at Univ. of Kansas Space Technology Center, Law rence, recently examined a stone sample, taken from a pyramid passageway, under a binocular microscope and discovered that it was filled with oval air bubbles, 'like you'd expect to see in plaster,' he says. "The finding supports a theory proposed by French geochemist Joseph Davidovits, who says Egyptians built the pyramids by pouring concrete into forms. Such technology was not thought to have existed during the construction of the pyramids around 2690 BC. "Zeller still has his doubts. "' The sample is clearly made of manufactured stone and it's part of the pyramid,' he says. 'But a single speci-men does not a pyramid make.'" (" Did the Pharoahs Cheat with Concrete?" R&D Magazine, p. 5, December 1990. Cr. J. Wenskus.) Reference. An earlier report on the theory proposed by Davidovits may be found in SF#54. From Science Frontiers #74, MAR-APR 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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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 Did captive christians and moslems build this mayan pyramid?The cover of the 1993 volume of Epigraphic Society Occasional Papers presents a color photograph of a Mayan stepped pyramid at Comalcalco, Tobasco, Mexico. This pyramid, which is also known as Temple 1, is constructed of fired bricks. The pyramid and bricks are not anomalous, but the graffiti inscribed on thousands of the bricks is, for it is typical of Roman North Africa. Punic, Libyan, and Arabic scripts are represented. Barry Fell suggests that the temple was constructed by Christians and Moslems captured by the Mayans long before Columbus ventured westward into the Atlantic. (Fell, Barry; Epigraphic Society, Occasional Papers , 22:57 and cover, 1993.) Comment. Refer to SF#90 for possible evidence of ancient Romans in Texas. From Science Frontiers #91, JAN-FEB 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 110: Mar-Apr 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Alphamagic Squares Not everything in SF is profound or anomalous, although we hope most of the items are at least interesting. Magic squares, we think, are endlessly fascinating. They exist in forms that verge on the unbelievable. You can even construct large magic squares from smaller magic squares. Nevertheless, the fact that alphamagic squares exist in large numbers is unexpected. Alphamagic squares come in pairs. The first member of the pair consists of a magic square in which the numbers are spelled out letterwise, as in this example: five twenty-two eighteen twenty-eight fifteen two twelve eight twenty-five The numbers add up to 45 in all rows, columns, and diagonals. The square is "magic" in words. The second member of the pair is formed by counting the number of letters in each word of the first square, thus: 4 9 8 11 7 3 6 5 10 This square is also magic, adding up to 21 in all directions! Just a fluke, you say? Not so. You can even construct alphamagic squares in different languages. In his column in Scientific American, I. Stewart provides examples in French, German, Welsh, and even Swahili! In German, there are no less than 221 alphamagic squares using numbers under 100. (Stewart, Ian; "Alphamagic Squares," Scientific American, 276:106, January 1997.) Comment. The "deep ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 19: Jan-Feb 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A PREHISTORIC TVA?The Hohokam Indians lived along the Salt River Valley, in Arizona, about 300 BC to 1450 AD. They constructed a network of irrigation canals that is certainly one of the wonders of the Ancient New World. Early investigators recorded more than 500 kilometers of major canals and 1,600 kilometers of smaller ones. (Less than 10 kilometers of these remain intact today.) One of the main canals was 3 meters deep, 11 meters wide at ground level, and 14 kilometers long. Old and recent aerial photos show traces of an incredibly complex irrigation network. W.B . Masse, the author of this article, is very impressed by the earth-moving task but even more so by the degree of social coordination and control that must have been exerted all along the Salt River Valley in building and regulating the use of this remarkable canal system. (Masse, W. Bruce; "Prehistoric Irrigation Systems in the Salt River Valley, Arizona," Science, 214:408, 1981.) Reference. Many other ancient canal projects are described in our Handbook: Ancient Man. Ordering information here . Composite map of canals near Tempe constructed from aerial photographs. From Science Frontiers #19, JAN-FEB 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 81: May-Jun 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects More Mouse Engineering Shortly after writing in SF#79 about the "Ancient Greek Pyramids" and the Saharan mice that construct small pyramids of pebbles to extract moisture from the air, we serendipitously ran across the following: " Australian Native Mice . The species P. chapmani builds low mounds of pebbles over its burrow systems, and P. hermannsburgensis may use these mounds after they are constructed. The pebbles are of a uniform size and cover a large area, often a meter in diameter. The pebbles are probably collected both by excavation and from the surface. Some local mammalogists believe these are used as dew traps. Since the air around the pebbles warms more rapidly as the sun rises than do the pebbles themselves, dew forms on the pebbles by condensation. As the areas in which these mounds are found are quite dry, except after a heavy rain, these dew traps solve the problem of water shortage. Local farmers use the many pebble mounds for mixing concrete. It is believed that the ancient people of the Mediterranean region used a dew trap method comparable to that of P. chapmani ." (Nowak, Ronald M.; "Australian Native Mice," Walker's Mammals of the World , Baltimore, 1991, p. 820.) Comment. Now we must decide between at least three possibilities. Since the Australian native mice and Saharan mice are many thousands of miles apart, we have: (1 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 82: Jul-Aug 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A CONNECTICUT SOUTERRAIN?Souterrains, such as that figured, are megalithic constructions usually considered to be exclusively of European origin. This look-alike, at Montville, CT, could indicate pre-Columbian contacts. Here are some details: "This underground site is built into a rocky hillside in an isolated region. A 37 ft. passage of straight-sided drywall stonework is interrupted after 8 ft. by a 3 ft. collapsed section. It then continues on for 20 ft. to a little corbelled chamber whose end wall is cut into a roughly quarried and levelled ledge. On the slope around the souterrain are about 100 cairns, some carefully constructed; others appear to be the result of field clearing." (Anonymous; "An Arm-Chair Field Trip," NEARA Journal, 26:87, Winter/Spring 1992.) NEARA = New England Antiquities Research Association. Comment. The prevailing explanation of such New England lithic structures is that they were simply colonial root cellars or something of the kind. The structure figured is certainly a very ambitious root cellar! Reference. Our handbook Ancient Man investigates these New England chambers in some detail. For more on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #82, JUL-AUG 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 60: Nov-Dec 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Unbelievable Baalbek The city of Baalbek, called Heliopolis by the ancient Greeks, lies some 50 miles northeast of Beirut. Here are ruins of the greatest temple the Romans ever tried to construct. However, we must focus not on mundane Roman temples but upon a great assemblage of precisely cut and fitted stones, called the Temple today, which the Romans found ready-made for them when they arrived at Baalbek. It was upon this Temple, or stone foundation, that the Romans reared their Temple of Jupiter. No one knows the purpose of the much older Temple underneath the Roman work. J. Theisen has reviewed the basic facts known about the Temple's construction -- and they are impressive, perhaps even anomalous. Being 2,500 feet long on each side, the Temple is one of the largest stone structures in the world. Some 26 feet above the structure's base are found three of the largest stones ever employed by man. Each of these stones measures 10 feet thick, 13 feet high, and is over 60 feet long. Knowing the density of limestone permits weight estimates of over 1.2 million pounds. Some people with impressive engineering skills cut, dressed, and moved these immense stone blocks from a quarry 3/4 of a mile away. A walk to this quarry introduces the observer to the Monolith, an even larger block of limestone: 13 feet, 5 inches; 15 ...
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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 The Great Hopewell Road Ancient peoples had a thing about processional roads; that is, roads used for rituals rather than commerce or simply getting from one place to another. In Britain, for example, there are the grand processional avenues at Avebury and the longer, wider Icknield Way. In South America, the famed Inca roads were preceded by thoroughfares 100feet wide that had no obvious practical purpose. The hundreds of miles of unnecessarily straight roads leading to Chaco Canyon in New Mexico seem to have been primarily for pilgrims making ritual treks to the great ceremonial complex in the canyon. Did the Indians east of the Rockies construct special roads for ritual processions? We do know of the Mohawk Trail, the Virginia Warriors Trail, and other utilitarian roads through the wilderness. And before the settlers plowed them up, there were travel-worn trails six feet deep in the earth of Iowa. Now, we learn that, indeed, the Hopewell Culture may have built a long road mainly for ritual processions. It is called the Great Hopewell Road, and it is thought to connect the Hopewell centers at Newark and Chillicothe -- a distance of 60 miles through the heart of Ohio. In 1862, the first 6 miles of this controversial road, marked by parallel earthen banks, were surveyed by two brothers, C. and J. Salisbury. They noted that the road extended much farther in the direction of Chillicothe. B. Lepper ...
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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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... . Almost 6,000 years ago, Neolithic people began erecting a great funeral center and fortress here. When the ramparts were complete, they were visible for miles. The southern and western sides were rimmed by a timber-framed rampart 2,500 meters long. The northern flank was protected by a 1,200meter multiditch outwork. "A Neolithic herdsman who looked up to the hilltop in about 3,400 BC would have seen an impressive site. Crowning Hambleton Hill was a huge defensive enclosure with three concentric ramparts. The inner rampart, the most formidable of the three, was supported by 10,000 oak beams as thick as telephone poles. In the ditch around the ramparts human skulls placed at intervals added an eerie note to the appearance of the fortifications." Such a construction feat must have taken considerable organization and community energy, much like the pyramids then under construction in Egypt. In the absence of stone quarries and with plenty of forests, Hambleton Hill's fortress was simple wood and dirt, but nonetheless very impressive. Even its great size, however, did not save it from conquest and burning. (Mercer, R.J .; "A Neolithic Fortress and Funeral Center," Scientific America,, 252:94, March 1985.) Reference. To learn more about ancient British hill forts, read our Handbook Ancient Man. Details here . From Science Frontiers #39, MAY-JUN 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 5: November 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A 6,000-YEAR-OLD STRUCTURE IN SCOTLAND Timber fragments from a building 78 feet long, 39 feet wide, and 30 feet high, have been radiocarbon-dated at 4,000 B.C . The size and method of construction of this ancient building on the edge of the Scottish river Dee indicate a high level of civilization 1,000 years before Stonehenge. At the same time civilization was supposed to be getting its start in the Middle East, the precocious Scots were evidently constructing large wooden structures, cultivating barley, and probably tending domesticated farm animals. (Anonymous; "An Epic Find," Time, p. 64. June 26, 1978.) From Science Frontiers #5 , November 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... stones. I was filled with disbelief -- it just couldn't be -- someone was having fun with my senses; Western Europe, yes, but here, in Massachusetts, no. The reality of the scene before me was very difficult to focus on, the parallel with sites I had seen in Scotland and Ireland was astonishing." Thus wrote James P. Whittall, II, when describing a group of standing stones on a mound called Druid Hill, at Lowell, Massachusetts. The mound itself is 112 feet long by 56 feet wide. The stones are separated into two groups as shown. Since the site is near a highly populated area, it has seen some disturbance, and some stones have been moved. There is no historical record of the site's construction; the stones may have been there for centuries. Neither has there been any archeological investigation or site dating. Obviously, much more research must be done before we can get a clear idea as to who the builders were. Despite its close resemblance to European standing-stone complexes, the Lowell cluster could be a recent construction -- an intentional replica of European sites. Note that it is called Druid Hill! Other possible builders might have been American Indians (who are known to have built some stone structures), Iron Age Scandinavians, or Bronze Age wanderers from Europe. (Whittall, James P., II; "A Cluster of Standing Stones on Druid Hill, Lowell, Massachusetts," ESRS Bulletin, 11:19, no. 1, 1984. ESRS = ...
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... paper before the American Chrmical Society. "An authority on ancient building materials reported evidence Friday that the Egyptian pyramids were built of a remarkable synthetic stone that was cast on the site like concrete. "The new theory challenges the widely accepted belief that the pyramids were built from natural stone obtained from quarries and laboriously moved to the site on wooden rollers. "Dr. Joseph Davidovits said that the synthetic pyramid stone was made with cement far stronger than modern portland cement, which binds together the rock and sand in concrete. Portland cement has an average span of about 150 years, he said, but cements like those used in the pyramids last thousands of years. .. .. . "Davidovits said that a new deciphering of an ancient hieroglyphic text now provides some direct information about pyramid construction and supports his theory that synthetic stone was the construction material. .. .. . "Davidovits said the cement used in the pyramids binds the aggregate and other ingredients together chemically in a process similar to that involved in the formation of natural stone. "Portland cement, in contrast, involves mechanical rather then molecular bonding of the ingredients. Thus, pyramid stone is extremely difficult to distinguish from natural stone. "He cites a number of other pieces of evidence to support his theory. Chemical analyses of stone from the pyramids, for example, show it contains minerals not found in Egyptian quarry stone. "Laboratory analyses have also revealed indications of organic fibers -- possibly human or animal hair -- inside the stone used to built the pyramids. Davidovits said he believes the materials ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 90: Nov-Dec 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Is nothing certain anymore?It was discouraging enough to learn that many natural systems, from simple pendulums to our weather, are basically chaotic; that is, tiny changes in the initial conditions upon which predictions are based can lead to highly unpredictable outcomes. Chaotic systems are usually qualitatively predictable but not quantitatively predictable. We have no choice but to live with this chaos; it seems that that's the way the cosmos is constructed! However, it now seems that the situation is even worse than chaotic! Some systems, perhaps most systems, are also indeterminate, meaning that we cannot predict their qualitative behavior either. A simple example is the water swirling down the bathtub drain. This is not only chaotic but it has two qualitative final states: clockwise and counterclockwise. Regardless of which hemisphere you are in, you can change the direction of swirl with negligible effort. Each of the two final states of motion is still quanti tatively unpredictable. Systems that are more complex will possess many different final states, all chaotic. Can nature really be fundamentally chaotic as well as qualitatively uncertain? J.C . Sommerer and E. Ott have mathematically examined a relatively simple system consisting of a single particle moving in a force field, experiencing friction, and being periodically jolted. Besides settling into chaotic motion, this particle may also be forced away to infinity -- two radically different final states. The analysis revealed that for any ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 116: Mar-Apr 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Those Ancient Greek Pyramids That's right. Greek pyramids! On Greek soil, at Hellenikon and Ligourio west of Athens in the Argolid region, are two limestone pyramids that are stylistically very much like those at Giza near Cairo. The big difference is size; the Greek pyramids are only the size of a large room compared to the Great Pyramid's height (with capstone) of almost 500 feet. When excavations were made around the Greek pyramids in the early 1900s, pottery fragments from the Fourth Century B.C . were found, and it was presumed that the pyramids were also constructed then; that is, about the time of Alexander the Great. Recent dating of crystals from internal surfaces of the limestone blocks using thermoluminescence puts the construction times back two millennia. The Hellenikon pyramid dates to 2730 B.C .; the Ligourio, to 2260 B.C . This means that the Greek pyramids were built in roughly the same time frame as the Egyptian pyramids. Why would the ancient Greeks want to build miniature pyramids? The classical scholar Pausanias wrote in the Second Century A.D . that the Hellenikon pyramid was a cenotaph for the dead fallen in a fratricidal battle 4,000 years ago. Nobody believed his story until now. (Hammond, Norman; "Did the Early Greeks Simply Copy the Pyramids of Egypt?" London Times, August 1, 1997. Cr. A.C . ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 46: Jul-Aug 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Tree-toting extraordinaire We quote first an abstract from an article appearing in American Antiquity. "Identification of spruce (Picea) and fir (Abies) construction timbers at Chetro Ketl in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, implies that between A.D . 1031 and 1120 the Anasazi transported thousands of logs more than 75 km. These timbers came from high elevations, probably in mountains to the south (Mt. Taylor) and west (Chuska Mountains) where Chacoan interaction was well established. Survey in these mountains might disclose material evidence of these prehistoric logging activities." The article proper contains even more startling statistics. The ten major pueblos in Chaco Canyon alone consumed an estimated 200,000 trees. The average primary beam was 22 cm in diameter, 5 m in length, and weighed about 275 kg (600 pounds). Since these logs show no transportation scars, they were probably carried rather than dragged or rolled. Such labor required a large, complex sociocultural system. (Betancourt, Julio L., et al; "Prehistoric Long-Distance Transport of Construction Beams, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico," American Antiquity, 51:370, 1986.) From Science Frontiers #46, JUL-AUG 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 134: MAR-APR 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Incroyable?" Incredible?" Yes, if what paleoastronoer C. Jegues-Wolkiewiez claims is borne out by further study. The venue here is the Lascaux Cave in France where, some 17,000 years ago, Cro-Magnon artists drew incredibly expressive portraits of animals in the glare of torches. Its is in this cave's dark recesses that Jegues-Wolkiewiez sees two phenomena that could overturn our view of the Cro-Magnon culture. First, he claims that some of the animal paintings are really based upon star configurations. In effect, humans 17,000 years ago were constructing a zodiac of sorts. This was about 10,000 years be-for the ancient Babylonians laid out their first zodiacs. For example, Jegues-Wolkiewiez asserts that the painting of a bull in Lascaux is drawn and positioned such that it mirrors a group of stars in the constellation Scorpio. He identifies several other like "congruences." Cro-Magnons, it seems, were astute observers of the heavens and attempted to make some sense out of the star configurations they saw. Cro-Magnon artist painting a zodiac figure on cave ceiling. His assistant holds a star map to guide him. The second claim of Jegues-Wolkiewiez notes that on the summer solstice the last rays of the setting sun penetrate the cave and illuminate a bison painted in red. He believes this is no accident, and that, 17, ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 107: Sep-Oct 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Did Mozart Use The Golden Section?Does the brilliance of Mozart's compositions derive entirely from his musical genius, or did he rely in part upon a mathematical construct: the famous Golden Section or Golden Ratio? The Golden Section is a mathematical formula for dividing into two parts: a geometrical line, a musical composition, or anything else possessing the property of length. The ratio of the two divided parts is the Golden Section, which equals 0.618.* For some artists, musicians, architects, the Golden Section is the most esthetic way of dividing the length of anything. For humans, the history of the Golden Section goes back at least as far as Euclid in 300 BC. For nature, it began eons ago: The shapes of pine cones, starfish geometry, and other dimensions of living things incorporate the Golden Section. The questions we address here are: (1 ) Did Mozart consciously make use of this ratio, 0.618, in his music? (2 ) Why is the Golden Section esthetically pleasing? It is not well known that Mozart was fascinated by mathematics as well as music. He even jotted down equations in the margins of some of his compositions. Chances are excellent that he knew of the Golden Section and its reputation for conferring elegance on structures -- even musical compositions. J.F . Putz, a mathematician, has measured some of Mozart's works ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 132: NOV-DEC 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Earthmovers of the Amazon In South America, most archeologists gravitate to the highlands of the Andes to study the grand cities, roads, and geoforms constructed by the Inca, the Nazca, the Tiahuanacans, and other ancient cultures. Many coffee-table-type volumes are filled with glorious color photos resulting from such research. Much-too-neglected is the Amazon Basin. The belief is widespread that there is nothing of great archeological importance there -- just oppressive jungle, biting bugs, and primitive tribes. That there is much of scientific significance hidden under the lush greenery is just now being realized. For example, A.C . Roosevelt has already proven that surpringly advanced cultures did inhabit the Amazon Basin for thousands of years. ( SF#71 ) We are now learning that some of these Amazon peoples were extraordinary earthmovers. Having little stone to work with, they matched the achievements of the Inca in the mountains just to the west with many miles of earthen causeways. Canals just as long were dedicated to fish-farming. Huge mounds rising above the flood plains supported villages. Even the mounds hold mysteries. One of them, named Ibibate, has been described by anthropologist W. Balee as being: .. .as close to a Mayan pyramid as you'll see in South America.... Beneath the forest cover is a 60-foot [18-meter] human-made artifact ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 34: Jul-Aug 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Note On Perfect Pitch An individual with perfect pitch can identify a tone without hearing a second tone for comparison. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that such individuals possess a set of frequency standards somewhere in their permanent memories. The less fortunate of us do not have the genes that lead to the construction of these cerebral frequency standards. (Anonymous; "A Note on Perfect Pitch," Scientific American, 250:82, June 1984.) Comment. Question 1. Does perfect pitch have any survival value that would stimulate its evolution? Question 2. How are these frequency standards coded on the genes? From Science Frontiers #34, JUL-AUG 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 64: Jul-Aug 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bimini Archeological Anomalies Bimini offshore features. C marks regular blocks. E indicates ancient beach lines. F is the current shore. G is forested shore. See text for A, B and D. The famous Bimini "wall" or "road," in the Bahamas, has engendered many a sensational article in the popular press. Atlanteans and even extraterrestrials have been credited with the building of the "road" and other constructions reported around the Caribbean island. The fact is that the "road" does exist, but the weight of opinion among those who have investigated it is that it is a natural formation of beach rock fractured in a disturbingly regular manner. But this assessment does not mean that all anomalies in the shallows around Bimini have been exorcised. D.G . Richards, in a splendid article in the Journal of Scientific Exploration gives us a blow-by-blow account of the investigations (both amateur and professional) of Bimini waters. It is a curious panorama of wild claims by adherents of the Cayce-inspired Atlantis searchers and the knee-jerk academic scoffers - both of which go overboard! Be this as it may, our purpose here is the recording of some of the features near Bimini that Richards thinks are still anomalous. Three of these are located at A, B, and D in the accompanying drawing, which is based on an aerial photo taken at 6,000 feet. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 83: Sep-Oct 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Flat-faced chephren not sphinx!J.A . West, mentioned above, holds that the Sphinx was not built by the pharaoh Chephren circa 2500 BC. Rather, the revisionists say, it was constructed some 5000 years earlier by predecessors of the "classical" Ancient Egyptians. Adding fuel to the controversy is a reconstruction of the Sphinx's visage by F. Domingo, top forensic artist of the New York Police Department. Domingo traveled to Egypt to measure first-hand the exact dimensions of the statue's facial features. When Domingo compared the Sphinx's profile as it probably appeared originally with the profile of Chephren taken from a statue in the Cairo Museum, there was scant resemblance. (West, John Anthony; "The Case of the Missing Pharaoh," New York Times, June 27, 1992. Cr. J. Covey) But the story doesn't end there. Orthodontist S. Peck responded to the Times article suggesting an even more radical notion: "The analytical techniques he [West] and Detective Frank Domingo used on facial photographs are not unlike methods orthodontists and surgeons use to study facial disfigurements. From the right lateral tracing of the statue's worn profile a pattern of bimaxilliary prognathism is clearly detectable. This is an anatomical condition of forward development in both jaws, more frequently found in people of African ancestry than in those from Asian or Indo-European stock. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 38: Mar-Apr 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Who built the east bay walls?Ranging along the hills east of San Francisco Bay are long stretches of walls constructed from closely fitted basalt boulders. Some of these boulders weigh more than a ton. In some places, the walls reach five feet in height and three feet in width. They extend for miles along the hill crests from Berkeley to Milpitas and beyond. Russell Swanson, one of the few persons willing to pursue the walls in the field, estimates that all the walls strung together would run for at least 20 miles. Naturally, time and civilization have destroyed some of the walls, but what remains is most impressive. The searches of property records going back to the Gold Rush and the studies of Spanish mission records give no hints of who built the walls or why. Evidently they are centuries old, possibly prehistoric. Why would anyone build miles of walls from ponderous boulders along miles of ridge crests? They appear to serve no practical purpose. Scientists seem to show no interest in the walls. One even stated: "I don't know of anyone who's come up with a credible explanation. I think what you're getting is an indication that there isn't any academic work in it." (Burress, Charles; "Unraveling the Old Mystery of East Bay Walls," San Francisco Chronicle, December 31, 1984. Cr. R. Swanson.) Comment. ...
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... remarkable people of the ancient Southwest, circa 900-1200 AD, who, as far as we can tell, disappeared rather suddenly. L'Amour has the Anasazi returning to a parallel world through a space warp in a kiva window. Archeologists have not yet found this remarkable kiva, so we must be content with the things they left behind, but these are impressive enough. A long article in Scientific American introduces us to the accomplishments of the Anasazi. We will concentrate here on their road system, but cannot let a few general statistics go by unnoticed. Of the nine Great Houses of the Anasazi in Chaco Canyon, in northwestern New Mexico, Pueblo Bonito is the best studied. It covers three acres and once rose to at least five stories, with some 650 rooms. Constructed of tightly fitting sandstone blocks, each Great House required tens of millions of cut sandstone slabs. For floors, the Anasazi carried logs from forests 80 kilometers away. The Chaco Canyon Great Houses required about 215,000 trees -- quite a problem in transportation. Strangely enough, the Great Houses seem to have been used only occasionally. In fact, Chaco Canyon was too poor agriculturally to support a large, permanent community. If this is so, what was the purpose of the Great Houses with their many kivas (large circular pits)? Obviously, they were for "ceremonial purposes" -- the standard explanation for enigmatic buildings and artifacts. The Anasazi also built a marvelous system of roads leading to Chaco Canyon. The accompanying map reveals hundreds of miles of roads converging from ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 10: Spring 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Dynamic Dna Smugness over our discovery of the genetic code and some simple features of biological synthesis has recently been undermined by the recognition that the so-called nonsense segments in genes may be important after all. Now comes the realization that the DNA molecule may not be a staid, static construction. Travelling kinks and other disturbances seem to play some unknown role in biological recognition. Some biochemists have even suggested that DNA winds and unwinds or "breathes" like a living thing as it helps to manufacture biological substances. (Spencer, Michael; "Bent DNA," Nature, 281:631, 1979.) Comment. The addition of the time dimension to biological synthesis evokes thoughts of oscillating systems, frequency dependence, filters, etc. Perhaps Nature has invented something better than the silicon chip. From Science Frontiers #10, Spring 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 80: Mar-Apr 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Dead Water Two recent issues of Weather discuss some of the unusual geophysical phenomena encountered by F. Nansen in his epic attempt to reach the North Pole at the end of the last century. Nansen first endeavored to go as far north as he could in his specially constructed vessel, the Fram . It was on the Fram that he struggled with "dead water." J.M . Walker, drawing from Nansen's marvelous written account Farthest North , describes the phenomenon: "Towards the end of August 1893, when Fram was off the Taymyr Peninsula, near the Nordenskiold Archipelago, 'dead water' was encountered. In the words of Nansen, this is 'a peculiar phenomenon', which 'occurs where a surface layer of fresh water rests upon the salt water of the sea, and this fresh water is carried along with the ship, gliding on the heavier sea beneath as if on a fixed foundation'. It 'manifests itself', he observed, 'in the form of larger or smaller ripples or waves stretching across the wake, the one behind the other, arising sometimes as far foward as almost midships'. When caught in dead water, Nansen reported, Fram appeared to be held back, as if by some mysterious force, and she did not always answer the helm. In calm weather, with a light cargo, Fram was capable of 6 to 7 knots. When in dead ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 47: Sep-Oct 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Earth's womb Three recent items indicate that scientists are now recognizing how the earth's crust is tailor-made for biochemical reactions of great variety and complexity. First, E.G . Nisbet explains how subsurface hydrothermal systems are ideal places to make biochemical products, particularly in the light of the discovery that RNA molecules can extrude introns and then behave like enzymes. "The most likely site for the inorgan ic construction or an RNA chain, which would have occurred in the Archaean, is in a hydrothermal system. Only in such a setting would the necessary basic components (CH4 , NH3 , and phosphates) be freely available. Suitable pH (fluctuating around 8) and temperatures around 40 C are characteristic of hydrothermal systems on land. Furthermore, altered lavas in the zeolite metamorphic facies, which are rich in zeolites, clays and heavy metal sulphides, would provide catalytic surfaces, pores and molecular sieves in which RNA molecules could be assembled and contained. If the RNA could then replicate with the aid of ribozymes and without proteins, the chance of creating life becomes not impossible but merely wildly unlikely." The article concludes with a statement that self-replicating molecules synthesized in hydrothermal systems would be pre-adapted to "life" in the open ocean if they "learned" to surround themselves with bags of lipids. (Bag of lipids = a membrane.) (Nisbet, E.G .; " ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 16: Summer 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects How Do Cancers Attract A Supporting Cast The ability of a cancer cell to grow depends upon getting a good supply of blood from its host's capillary system. Cancer cells, always insidious, seem to be able to con its host's body into constructing a special system of capillaries just to support tumor growth. First, the cancer sends out a chemical signal that attracts the host's mast cells. As the mast cells work their ways to the cancer, they apparently leave a heparinlined tunnel for the capillary cells to follow. Before long, the body has provided the blood supply the cancer needs to grow and possibly, eventually kill the host. (Gunby, Phil; "How Do Cancers Attract a Supporting Cast?" American Medical Association, Journal, 245:1994, 1981.) Comment. In view of all of Nature's marvelous adaptations, why hasn't the body evolved a counter strategy to foil cancer sabotage? Reference. Many more anomalous features of cancer can be found at BHH23-35 in our Catalog: Biological Anomalies: Humans II. Details on this book here . From Science Frontiers #16, Summer 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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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 The "kites" or "keyhole" structures of the middle east Thousands of walled structures decorate the deserts and plains of the Middle East. Most are V-shaped terminating in a cul de sac studded with large rock piles. (See illustration.) Most of the wall arms are 300-3 ,000 meters long. They are constructed of basalt rocks from ancient lava flows. Artifacts found nearby suggest ages of at least 7,000 years. Younger, but very similar, structures have been found in Central Asia. A. Betts of the University of Sydney has been exploring these walls and attempting to discern their purpose. The best explanation seems to be that the ancient inhabitants of the region drove herds of wild animals into the wide mouths of the kites and then slaughtered them when they were trapped at the corral-like ends. The worst explanation is that extraterrestrials built them for some unknown purpose! (Anderson, Ian; "Prehistoric Prey Met Death through a Keyhole," New Scientist, p. 15, September 24, 1994.) Comment. Some kite walls extend 30 kilometers (18 miles) and represent a considerable investment of labor. See also: Field, Henry; "Early Man in North Arabia," Natural History, 29:32, 1929. Of course, aliens could have herded ancient humans into the kites. Remember the classic sci-fi story: "To Serve Man ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 98: Mar-Apr 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Nobel gossip!Have you heard that: Alfred Nobel originally planned to use his fortune for the construction of crematoria all over Europe, but opposition from the Catholic Church forced him to find another way to use his money; thus, the coveted prizes? And that Nobel never established a prize for mathematics because his wife had had an affair with a mathematician? (Griffith, John; "Smoke Scheme," New Scientist, p. 48, January 14, 1995) From Science Frontiers #98, MAR-APR 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 101: Sep-Oct 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Polar-bear bones confound ice-age proponents Given the unquestioning fealty accorded the Ice Ages, it is not especially odd that the information reported below has not received wider circulation. In 1991, construction workers at Tysfjord, Norway, 125 miles north of the Arctic Circle, accidentally dug up polarbear bones that were later radiometrically dated as at least 42,000 years old, probably 60,000. R. Lie, a zoologist at the University of Bergen, and other scientists subsequently found the bones of two more polar bears in the area. These were dated as about 20,000 years old. An associated wolf's jaw was pegged at 32,000 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 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 104: Mar-Apr 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The pit-zodiacs Schagen-Muggenburg lies 50 kilometers north of Amsterdam. The Muggenburg part of the town name is only a few years old. Before it was built, archeologists were allowed to explore the meadows making up the construction site. L. Therkorn, an archeologist from the University of Amsterdam, led the exploration team. The digs yielded artifacts going as far back as 300 AD, when this region was sparsely populated by farmers. However, if Therkorn et al had dug up only these old bones and pottery shards, we would not be writing this for SF! For anomalists, it was the pits -- old pits that had been filled in and that seemed to be arranged in an intricate pattern that mirrored the star constellations making up the classical Greek zodiac. But this revelation didn't come until later. After all, pits are common in archeology. Often they contain just rubbish, sometimes human remains. "But the pits at Muggenburg are different. There are 57 of them, each about a meter wide and deep, extending over about half a hectare [about 1 acres] They were certainly not used for storage because the level of the groundwater is too high. Nor were they used as dumps; archaeological evidence shows that they were filled in shortly after they were dug, and some have very little in them." It was only when Therkorn mapped the pits did she see that they ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 106: Jul-Aug 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Stonehenge in the 1990s: a mainstream view In a recent number of Nature, C. Ruggles reviewed the present status of Stonehenge as mainstream archeologists now see this world-famous monument. oThe construction of Stonehenge began a bit earlier than previously thought: 2950 50 BC. But beneath the present parking area are post holes dated 4,000 years earlier! They are apparently not related to the Stonehenge we know. oThe idea that Stonehenge's bluestones, which originated in the Preseli Mountains of southwest Wales, 200 kilometers distant, were carried to Salisbury Plain by glaciers has been emphatically disproved by geologists. These 4-ton stones were transported by people! This great effort required precocious social organization, communication, and some kind of psychological impetus. oThe sarsens -- those even bigger stones that define Stonehenge in our mind's view -- evoke the same sorts of questions as this issue's eccentric flints: Why? and How? Ruggles writes: "Why it was important to bring stones from so far away is an open question, as is the issue of how people achieved the almost unimaginable feat of hauling the sarsens, weighing 25 tonnes or more, over 30 km from the Marlborough Downs in the north." oNew studies of the other ancient monuments in the vicinity of Stonehenge have revealed that they were not placed at random. Many are visible from Stonehenge. Stonehenge is at the center of a number of ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 57: May-Jun 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Who built these chambers?New England's many stone chambers have long piqued the curiosities of archeologists and laymen alike. The archeologists are adamant that all of these structures were constructed by Colonial farmers. However, some of these chambers seem unlikely potato cellars! J. Egan has provided architectural details on 14 impressive stone chambers located in southern New England. Of these, two seem hardly the work of practical farmers. The first is the Pearson Chamber, at Upton, Massachusetts. It is 10 feet high and 11 feet wide inside -- pretty large for vegetable storage. The second is the Hunt's Brook "souterrain," Montville, Connecticut. It is 38 feet long and only about 3 feet high for most of its length, and ends in a 5-feet-high chamber. We cannot visualize farmers crawling this distance for potatoes! In fact, this structure does resemble the megalithic "souterrains" of Europe. (Egan, Jim; NEARA Journal, 22:6 , Summer/Fall 1987. NEARA = New England Antiquities Research Association.) Plan view of Hunt's Brook "souterrain", almost 38 feet long. The dotted lines represent capstones. Adapted from the NEARA Journal. From Science Frontiers #57, MAY-JUN 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 80: Mar-Apr 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ancient greek pyramids?Yes, the ancient Greeks had their pyramids, too, only they had a very practical purpose: They were water-catchers. They had learned that piles of porous rocks could, in desert climes, capture and condense surprisingly large quantities of water. Take, for example, the 13 pyramids of loose limestone rocks that the Greeks constructed some 2500 years ago at Theodosia in the Crimea: "The pyramids averaged nearly 40 feet high and were placed on hills around the city. As wind moved air through the heaps of stone, the day's cycle of rising and falling temperatures caused moisture to condense, run down, and feed a network of clay pipes. "One archaeologist calculated a water flow of 14,400 gallons per pyramid per day, based on the size of the clay pipes leading from each device." Weren't the ancient Greeks clever? But perhaps they had observed how some mice in the Sahara pile small heaps of rocks in front of their burrows and lick the condensed moisture off in the morning. Possibly we should have classified this item under "Biology"! (Dietrich, Bill; "Water from Stones: Greeks Found a Way," Arizona Republic , p. AA1, December 22, 1991. Cr. T.W . Colvin.) From Science Frontiers #80, MAR-APR 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 111: May-Jun 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects An Anasazi Ley Line?A popular archeological pastime in Britain is "ley hunting" or the search for alignments of ancient sites. The underlying premise is that the peoples who constructed Stonehenge, Avebury, and other megalithic sites had a penchant for aligning them, even when they were separated by many miles. Exactly why anyone would wish to go to such trouble escapes the modern mind. American archeologists generally eschew ley hunting, but S. Lekson, from the University of Colorado, was surprised to find that three important Anasazi sites in the Southwest are actually aligned with high precision along Longitude 107 57'. The three sites are: Aztec Ruins and Chaco Canyon (New Mexico) and Casas Grandes (Mexico). Even though the first and last are separated by about 450 miles, all sites are within 1 kilometer (5 /8 of a mile) of the north-south line. Lekson maintains that an alignment this precise cannot have happened by chance. How could the Anasazi have achieved such an accurate alignment over such rugged terrain? It would not be easy even with modern transits. (Cohen, Philip; "One Dynasty to Rule Them All," New Scientist, p. 17, December 14, 1996.) Comment. It is interesting but perhaps not relevant that the Olmecs, predecessors of the Anasazi farther to the south, may have possessed the magnetic compass. See: Carlson, John B. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 115: Jan-Feb 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Woodhenges Before Pyramids The ancient inhabitants of Britain were constructing massive structures before Cheops, builder of the Great Pyramid, was even born! One of these structures is 5,000 years old. It is located at Stanton Drew, in southwestern England. But tourists at the site see only the Great Circle of standing stones, which is impressive enough but only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. What is more spectacular is "seen" only by sensitive magnetometers. These instruments detect faint, ghostly remains of the magnetotactic bacteria that consumed the giant oak pillars that graced this site five millennia ago. The soil inside the Great Circle reveals that there were once 400-500 oak pillars on the site. These massive cylinders were probably a meter in diameter, 8 meters (26 feet) high, and weighed 5 tons each. The rings of pillars occupied an area about the size of a football field (100 meters in diameter). The Stanton Drew woodhenge was probably too large to have been roofed, but the oak columns might have been carved or decorated. Why would anyone cut, haul, and array hundreds of massive oak pillars in nine concentric circles? Obviously, the ancient Britons used this oaken temple to seek help from supernatural powers! Well, that's what the archeologists say, but who really knows? (Hawkes, Nigel; "Woodhenge Find Rivals Stone Circles," London Times, November ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 23: Sep-Oct 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Astronomy At Poverty Point The astounding complex of six octagonal ridges, 4,000 feet across, at Poverty Point, Louisiana, was not recognized until 1953, when aerial photographs were analyzed. Roughly 3,000 years old, the ridges are intersected by avenues that seem to align with summer and winter solstice points as well as some more obscure astronomical azimuths. These alignments represent remarkable astronomical sophistication for the New World in 1,000 B.C . (Anonymous; "Louisiana's 4,000-Foot Calendar," Science Digest, 90:22, July 1982.) Comment. An incredible amount of labor was expended in constructing the six, huge concentric ridges. Actually, sighting lines could have been built with just a few mounds or simple markers. The Indians, if that is what they were, must have had something additional in mind to move all that dirt! Let's not be condescending and say that the ridges were for "ritual purposes," when we really have no idea of their purpose. Note, too, that the better-known hilltop earthen forts in Britain possess similar openings in their walls, undermining any theories that they were purely defensive works. From Science Frontiers #23, SEP-OCT 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 25: Jan-Feb 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Manifestations of earth energy at megalithic sites?Stories have long circulated that strange phenomena cluster about megalithic sites, such as Stonehenge. Those who claim psychic powers state that earth energies (whatever they are) seem to focus at these ancient constructions. The story goes that the builders of the stone circles could also detect these natural forces and intentionally chose these spots where the energies were most powerful. "Proper" siting and orientation were doubtless important to the builders of the megalithic structures, but can modern, no-nonsense science even begin to explore these mystical, psychic claims? Given today's scientific impatience with all psychic subjects, one would not expect a scientific journal, even a popular one, to touch the subject of "earth energies." Yet, here is an article describing the use of ultrasound detectors and Geiger counters in surveying megalithic monuments for foci of earth energies. Sure enough, curious enhancements of ultrasound intensity were discovered at the Rollright Stones. At another site, the natural radiation background level was anomalously depressed. It is all very mystifying. (Robins, Don; "The Dragon Project and the Talking Stones," New Scientist, 96: 166, 1982.) Comment. This appearance of this article would be comprehensible if it were in the April 1 issue of New Scientist, but it wasn't . In truth, of course, there could be something in the "earth energy" ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 50: Mar-Apr 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Connecticut "boat" cairn An unusual, large stone cairn is located atop Rattlesnake Hill in Connecticut's Natchang State Forest. At an elevation of 640 feet, it commands an almost 360 view. Its long axis is aligned with the Pole Star. The cairn seems to have been constructed according to some plan rather than just being a deposit of cleared stones. One's first impression is that it resembles a boat. Could it be a Norse "ship burial" such as found in Europe? It is impossible to prove such a conjecture without tearing the cairn apart. (Whittall, James P., II; "The 'Boat" Cairn, Chaplin, Connecticut," Early Sites Research Society Bulletin, 12:39, December 1986.) A side view ofthe Connecticut "boat" cairn. From Science Frontiers #50, MAR-APR 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 28: Jul-Aug 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Nazca Figures Duplicated Sensational literature makes much of the huge geometrical figures and outlines of animals etched into the high Peruvian tablelands. Most of these figures and lines are so large that one can fully appreciate them only from the air. This fact has led some writers to invoke ancient astronauts and even ancient Peruvian balloon technology. The fact of the matter is that archeological evidence is pretty convincing that the Nazca Indians constructed the lines about 500 A.D . But did they have extraterrestrial help or use some advanced technology? The author of the subject article, with the help of a few friends, answered these questions quite convincingly -- in the negative -- in the summer of 1982. Using sticks and string, they scaled up a small copy of the famous Nazca "condor" into a 440-foot replica of the real thing on a Kentucky landfill. The scaling up involved no high technology; in fact, even angular measurements were avoided. Instead of removing stones to make the lines, as the Nazcans did, lime was applied. The whole figure was laid out and limed in just a few man-hours. Then, from an aircraft at 1,000 feet, photos were taken. Lo and behold, a very convincing replica of the Nazca condor appeared on the prints. Still unanswered, though, is why anyone would want to make such huge drawings. (Nickell, Joe; "The Nazca Drawings ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 133: JAN-FEB 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Roads of Easter Island When the Fourth Dynasty Egyptians set about building the Great Pyramid, they built a stone-paved road from the Giza Plateau to the dock on the Nile where barges arrived from quarries upriver. The road's hard, smooth surface eased the task of hauling the huge blocks of limestone and granite to the construction site. Three thousand years later, the Easter Islanders faced a similar transportation problem in moving their huge stone heads -- some weighing as much as 90 tons -- from the quarries to stone platforms (ahu) on the coast, where the monstrous heads would stare out across the empty Pacific. Much has been written about how the more than 800 stone heads were dragged from the quarries by brute force and then erected on the ahu. Thor Heyerdahl and others have even managed to duplicate some phases of the operation. However, the voluminous Easter Island literature is not as forthcoming about the roads the natives built to accelerate this Ethic traffic. The Easter Island roads have turned out to be as curious as the statues themselves. During the summer of 2000, geologist C.M . Love and a crew of 17 students excavated sections of the three main roads that carried statue traffic. Parts of these roads were actually carved into the island's bedrock-lava flows mainly. Strangely, the roads were not flat but V- and U-shaped in cross section. They averaged 3 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 34: Jul-Aug 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Pouring A Pyramid The ancient Egyptians may have been more clever than we thought. Instead of chipping away laboriously in limestone quarries to precisely shape the stones constituting the pyramids. they may have cast the stones from a slurry of crushed limestone and a special mineral binder. Polymer chemist Joseph Davidovits has examined the limestone casing stones that were used to face the some of the pyramids. (Most of the facing stones were removed for use in modern construction projects.) Davidovits claims that the casing stones contain minerals not found in the quarries, and that they contain as much as 13% binder material. In addition, the casing stones have a millimeter-thick coating of binder. This theory might help explain the precise fitting of the stones. Others have also analyzed the stones and oppose the claims of Davidovits. (Peterson, I.; "Ancient Technology: Pouring a Pyramid," Science News, 125: 327, 1984.) From Science Frontiers #34, JUL-AUG 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 135: MAY-JUN 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Where Is The Maestro?As we learn more and more about the gene complements of our planet's multitudinous life forms, the more it seems that the vaunted genome may not incorporate all of the information necessary to construct a living organism. Despite assurances to the contrary, we must ask if we really know the whole story. These doubts manifest themselves as we see that creatures that are very much alike genetically may be radically different morphologically. In this vein, C. Ventner asserts that all higher vertebrates have roughly the same genes. The animals that result from these re-markedly similar genomes depend upon when specific genes are turned on and off. Ventner says, "We have the same number of genes as cats and dogs, but differently regulated." The genes themselves are supposed to be simply protein factories. Somehow, they are turned on and off (" expressing" themselves) in just the right sequences to help build the target animal. In a far-stretched analogy, the genes are the instruments in an orchestra and the proteins they produce are the notes in a symphony. But where are the symphony's score and its conductor? Very similar orchestras, it seems, can play radically different symphonies given different scores as interpreted by a maestro. Each living thing is likewise a symphony of proteins, each played by the genome at just the right time. But just where are the score -- ...
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... Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Path Of The Pyramids About the same time the Egyptians were hauling 100-ton limestone blocks to the Giza Plateau, some South Americans were toting basketball-size rocks in bags woven from reeds to a site called Caral, located 23 kilometers from Peru's Pacific coast. While the Egyptians piled their weighty blocks neatly into pyramids, the South Americans simply dropped their stones, reed bags and all, onto crude but growing piles. When finished, the largest "rock pile" at Caral contained 7 million cubic feet of rocks and had assumed the shape of a pyramid (or platform mound) four stories high (60 feet) and covering an area 500 by 450 feet. This was probably the first monumental architecture in the New World; and it was constructed some 800 years earlier than mainstream archeologists had expected. In fact, Caral boasts six large platform mounds, three sunken plazas, and many impressive buildings. Layout of the Coral site in Peru. For all its precocious architecture, Caral is a "preceramic" site; that is, it was built before the advent of pottery in South America. Caral was "officially" discovered in 1905, but it was neglected by both archeologists and grave robbers because there were no artifacts to collect and nothing worth stealing. No one recognized its great age until recently. Today Caral is recognized as the work of the first complex society in the New World. (Solis, Ruth Shady, et al; "Dating Cara a Preceramic Site in the Supe Valley on the Central Coast of Peru, ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 136: JUL-AUG 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Genome-map User Beware!Omissions. Amid much hullabaloo, it was announced recently that the human genome has now been mapped. To everyone's surprise, we are said to be constructed from blueprints containing only about 30,000 genes. But how accurate are these maps that were drawn up so hastily in the bitterly contested race between the publically and privately sponsored programs? How good are those computer programs that identified these 30,000 or so genes? According to W. Haseltine, who heads Human Genome Sciences, "They're reading smudged text through foggy glasses." Haseltine's company claims to have found more than 90,000 human genes. Two other organizations have identified between 60,000 and 65,000 genes. A research group at Ohio State University at Columbus analyzed the same data used by the public consortium and estimates that there are actually human 80,000 genes! In fact, this groups avers, the public consortium's software seems to have missed 850,000 gene segments for which there already exists protein or RNA evidence. The human genome map seems to harbor many terrae incognitae. So, we best not draw profound conclusions just yet. (Kintisch, Eli; "So What's the Score?" New Scientist, p. 16, May 12, 2001.) Errors. The genome-mapping efforts of both the public consortium and private company (Celera ...
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... issue of Scientific Amer can . We have room here to mention only the Myxobacteria, many of which never exist as single cells in nature. Even those that do are "social" in the sense that, when two cells meet, they align themselves side by side and go through ritual motions that seem foreign to such "simple" organisms! (Where is this "dance" encoded in the single cells? Do they have 'memories'?) Movements within colonies of Myxobacteria are highly coordinated. "Trails of extracellular slime are secreted and serve as highways for the directed movement of thousands of cells, rhythmic waves pulse through the entire population, streams of bacteria move to and from the center and edges of a spreading colony, and bacteria aggregate at specific places within the colony to construct cysts or, in some species, to form elaborate fruiting bodies." The Myxobacteria also collectively form baglike traps to engulf and digest prey. It is apparent now that as simple as a single bacterium may seem, bacterial colonies are pretty complex. (Shapiro, James A.; "Bacteria as Multicellular Organisms," Scientific American, 258:82, June 1988.) Comment. How are the collective actions of bacteria effected? Is there a central control center? Oh, oh! We are falling into the reductionist trap again! Life forms do not have to operate like computers do, nor do their functions have to be defined in those block diagrams we like so well. There may be holistic forces involved that escape reductionist thought. It is all very remarkable that bacteria ...
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... in the earlier part of the Early Intermediate period (ca. 350 B.C . to A.D . 650) - i.e ., to a time following the establishment of irrigation agriculture as the primary subsistence focus, but prior to the rise of state societies. .. .. . "As is well known, several studies have been conducted that involved mapping and computer analysis of the Nazca lines to examine the hypothesis that they were related to astronomical phenomena. This theory is now discounted, at least as it applies to the great majority of the lines which do not appear to have been oriented toward the sky. More recent studies dealing with the lines have provided convincing arguments. primarily through comparison with lines currently in use on the Bolivian altiplano, that they were constructed as part of elaborate ritual ceremonies related to agricultural fertility." (Wilson, David J.; "Desert Ground Drawings in the Lower Santa Valley, North Coast of Peru," American Antiquity," 53:794, 1988.) Comment. Not surprisingly, the author of the above article, D.J . Wilson, has neglected the popular theory that the Nazca lines were etched to attract and guide extraterrestrial visitors. Mainstream archeology always opts for ex planations involving rituals and societyunifying activities. But why make geoglyphs that cover hundreds of square miles and can hardly be appreciated at all from the ground? Getting back to the article itself, Wilson continues in some detail with the Santa Valley geoglyphs. These differ from the classical Nazca lines in that they display fewer abstract designs and ...
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