238 results found.
... Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects "AN UNPRECEDENTED AND BIZARRE OBJECT"So said C. Burrows, codiscoverer of this new cosmic conundrum. The instigator of all the astronomical head scratching is our old friend Supernova 1987A, the subject of several past SF items. This time, the anomalies are associated with three bright rings now gracing 1987A's environs. The thin, dense, elliptical inner ring, the first to be noted, has always been a puzzle. Its diameter suggests that it was probably created about 30,000 years before 1987A blew up. But what is it? Its existence is hard to explain, as N. Panagia has confirmed: "The presence of a dense, thin, ring surrounding a massive star at the end of its evolution is not easy to account for." In other words, this ring is foreign to mainstream astronomical theory. Now, with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, two additional faint rings near 1987A have been detected. One seems to be the mirror image of the other. The bizarre part is that they are not centered on 1987A at all, like the ring mentioned above. One of the new rings seems to be in front of 1987A, the other in back -- but this is a subjective call. Speculation is rampant, and all three rings are enigmatic. Is 1987A blowing out rings of matter front and back? (Panagia, Nino; "Origins Revealed in Demise," Nature, 369:354, 1994. Cowen, R.; "Mysterious Rings ...
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... ., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1993) Nature reviewed the book in its January 20 issue. In addition, the RNA World was discussed recently in Science. We now extract one nugget from each of these two sources. From Nature's review. Humans are more primitive than microorganisms in the sense that we still retain cumbersome introns (nonsense DNA) in our genes, while lowly microorganisms have been able to eliminate them. From Science. No one seems to have a clue about where RNA came from. C. de Duve ventured that: ". .. the emergence of RNA depended on robust chemical reactions -- it is wrong to imagine that some fantastic single accidental event supported the development of the RNA World." In connection with the generally accepted idea that the evolution of RNA must have taken hundreds of millions of years: ". .. de Duve suggested that, on the contrary, for such a complex chemical process to succeed it must have been relatively fast in order to avoid decay and loss of information." (Brenner, Sydney; "The Ancient Molecule," Nature, 367:228, 1994. O'Neill, Luke, et al; "What Are We? Where Did We Come From? Where Are We Going? Science, 263:181, 1994.) Comment. O.K . There's the RNA World, then came ours. Will another kind of "world" succeed ours? Has it already? From Science Frontiers #92, MAR-APR 1994 . 1994-2000 William R ...
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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 A Unified Theory Of Geophysics It takes a lot of nerve to propose a theory that can unite such a fragmented field as geophysics. H.R . Shaw makes a try in his new book: Craters, Cosmos, and Chronicles: A New Theory of the Earth . Shaw's ideas have recently been reviewed in Science News and our item is based on that article. Shaw contends that cosmic projectiles -- asteroids and comets -- have controlled almost all features of the earth's evolution. For example: Impacts have determined the positions of the continents. They have controlled the geomagnetic field. They have created volcanoes and massive basalt flows. They have caused mass extinctions. Of course, for two centuries, other catastrophists have proposed similar dire consequences of giant impacts. But Shaw does introduce three ideas that are worth recording here. Large impact craters occur in swaths. Although this has been suggested before, Shaw has mapped out several swaths where large craters of about the same age are located. His "K -T swath" includes the Chicxulub crater (Yucatan), the Manson crater (Iowa), the Avak crater (Alaska), and three more in Russia -- all of which were gouged out about the time of the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K -T ) boundary. Shaw has plotted several other swaths of different ages. The application of chaos theory to solar system debris. Shaw hypothesizes that ...
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... blue light means that deepsea fish have evolved visual pigments different from those of surface fish and land animals. Visual pigments are complex chemical compounds, and one must suppose that many, many random mutations took place before deepsea fish were able to manufacture visual pigments different from their relatives living near the surface. (Or did deepsea fish come first?) But there is more to this story. Many dwellers in the black abysses generate their own light. They sport bioluminescent organs so they can be seen by others of their own species and, in addition, illuminate prey for easier capture. In another remarkable example of evolutionary convergence, these bioluminescent organs emit light spectrally matching the eye sensitivity of deepsea fish! So far, though, this story is not any more amazing that many others woven into evolution's fabric. But suppose that a deviant species of deepsea fish upset this cosy status quo by evolving visual pigment and bioluminescent organs operating in a part of the electromagnetic spectrum that other deepsea fish could not perceive. It would be as if this species had radar but the others did not! Well, three genera of dragon fish do have organs (photophores) that emit far-red light, and their eyes are correspondingly red-shifted by new visual pigments. Thus, these dragon fish can communicate with each other without being detected by other species. When hunting, they can prowl the depths with lights on, illuminating prey surreptitiously. Lab tests indicate that these dragon fish can detect a meal much father away than possible with their lateralline sense. (Partridge, Julian C. ...
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... . Although the pairs are from the same geographical regions, it is not obvious why this astounding mimicry should occur. Here, one cannot invoke the explanation that one species gains an evolutionary advantage by mimicking an unpalatable species, as with mimics of the Monarch Butterfly. That is, there seems to be no evolutionary advantage to looking alike. (Miller, Julie Ann; BioScience, inside front cover, March 1994. Miller's editorial remarks are based upon a later article by H.F . Nijhout, who also supplied the photographs. Nijhout's article explains how butterfly wing patterns may have evolved.) Comment. Cases of remarkable mimicry also occur among geographically separated species. For example, the North American Meadowlarks are dead ringers for the African Yellow-throated Longclaw. "Convergent evolution" names the phenomenon but doesn't tell how or why long chains of random mutations can come up with the same designs where there seems to be no "guidance" by the forces of natural selection. Perhaps genomes contain "subprograms" for those patterns and structures often used in biology. Of course, Sheldrake's idea of "morphic resonance" also applies here! From Science Frontiers #95, SEP-OCT 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... he has brought back some 4,000 stone tools collected at 15 sites in the Siberian permafrost to bolster his claim that Siberia, too, was a point of origin for hominids (see map). "Molchanov's controversial evidence is indeed striking: a collection of chipped and flaked rocks that are clearly artifacts fashioned by humanlike hands and that he contends are 2.5 million years old -- plus or minus a half-million years. "Remarkably, that same era marked the time when early human ancestors known as Homo habilis lived and left their remains in the tropical Olduvai Gorge of what is now Tanzania. Mochanov's collection of tools closely resembles the ones that anthropologists have long collected from digs in Africa." All this contrasts strongly with the dominant view of hominid evolution, which cites warm, verdant African forests and savannas as our most likely place of origin. Siberia, with its -50 winters and fleeting summers, hardly seems conducive to hominid speciation. Mochanov's rationale is that this severe climate actually stimulated ancient hominids to create tools, fashion warm clothing, and build winter shelters -- these Siberian hominids had to evolve or perish! In addition to the climate factor are two other problems: (1 ) The Siberian sites have yielded no hominid bones nor have animal bones of any kind been found; and (2 ) The dating of the tools is shaky. They cannot be radiometrically dated. Instead, Mochanov has had to rely on the tools' similarity to African tools of 2 million years ago, magnetostratigraphy, the decayed luminescence of ...
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... 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 mutation is found in Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. The Navajos, Apaches, and other so-called Na-Dene peoples entered North America a mere 5, ...
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... 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 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 75: May-Jun 1991 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The grand lake stream enigma Artifacts of the auriferous gravels Astronomy The first food: tholin Halley reappears! OF IRON WHISKERS AND PARTICLES THAT INCREASE MASS WITH AGE! Biology CAN ORGANISMS DIRECT THEIR EVOLUTION? MONSTER SKELETONS FOUND IN UNDERWATER FIJI CAVE Platypus paradoxes Geology Looking for the smoking gun THE DINOSAURS OF WINTER AND THE POLAR FORESTS Geophysics Unusual electrical (? ) phenomena Crop circle roundup Psychology SLI: A SOMEWHAT AMUSING PSI PHENOMENON ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 69: May-Jun 1990 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The enigmatic "mooring stones" Astronomy Mystery of the missing comets Megawalls across the cosmos A TRIO OF STRANGE METEORS Biology Extinction countdown Extinction discounted New species emerging? Don't pet your house plants! Geology Deep-sixing another hypothesis? A CLASH OF HYPOTHESES Geophysics Machine-like underground noises Lightning in the family Physics Fracto-fusion? Gravity-defying gyros come down to earth Krypton-cluster magic numbers General Spontaneous order, evolution, and life ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 60: Nov-Dec 1988 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Ogam, Ogam, Everywhere Unbelievable Baalbek Astronomy Why Didn't Galileo Resolve Saturn's Rings? Asteroids That Turn Into Comets A New Face on Mars? Biology Anomalous Geographical Distribution of Diabetes Mellitus Purposeful Evolution? Lop-sided Evolution Update on the "infinite Dilution" Experiments Geology Mysterious Stone Rings Global Fire At the K-T Boundary Another "Cookie Cutter" Hole Collision/eruption/extinction/ Magnetic Reversal Geophysics Mystery Glow on the Sea Floor Airborne Observations of the Marfa Lights Spiral-circle Ground Patterns in Field Crops Icy Comets Evaporating? General How Genius Gets Nipped in the Bud ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 51: May-Jun 1987 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology When were the americas peopled? How many migrations were there? Astronomy Supernova problems Were titius and bode right? A LARGER SUN DURING THE MAUNDER MINIMUM Biology First yeti photos? Giant fish reported in china The mite pockets of lizards Evolution through mergers Geology Forests frozen in time A QUESTIONABLE 200-MILLION-YEAR HIATUS Geophysics Shake no quake REMARKABLE PHOTOGRAPH OF THE MARFA LIGHT ANTARCTIC OZONE HOLE HAS COMPLEX STRUCTURE Psychology Glossolalia: possible origins RARE BUT THERE: HYPNOTIC ENHANCEMENT OF EIDETIC IMAGERY ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 55: Jan-Feb 1988 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Archeological Stonewalling and Shadow Science Curious Sand-filled Cavities in the Great Pyramid Sardinia's Prehistoric Towers Demystifying Those Australian Craters Early Boomerang Astronomy An Astronomical Paradox Why Do Spiral Galaxies Stay That Way? Or Do They? Biology Migrating Birds Collide with Magnetic Bump The Scientific Basis of Astrology The Ubiquity of Sea Serpents A Glitch in the Evolution of Whales Geology Do We Really Understand the Dinosaurs? Cyclothems As Solar-system Pulse Recorders Geophysics Wheels of Light: Sea of Fire Powerful Concentric Waves The Zeitoun Luminous Phenomena Presumed Ball Lightning Things That Bo Buzz in the Night Psychology Psyching Out Piezoelectric Transducers Goethe's Optics Reevaluated ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 41: Sep-Oct 1985 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The Australian Pyramids The Inka Road System California Skeletons Not So Old After All Astronomy Galaxy Redshifts Come in Clumps Wimps in the Sun? Biology An Animal That Photosynthesizes The Deceitful She-males Scrapie Transmitted by Prions Latest Episode: Loch Ness Evolution's Motor Runs Fast and Quietly Genetic Garrulousness Death and Social Class Geology Anatomy of A Magnetic Field Reversal Did the Australites Fall Recently? Geophysics Green Sky Flashes Ball Lightning Strikes Twice! Chemistry & Physics All Things Appear to Those Who Accelerate A Possible Crack in the Wall of the Temple of Relativity Restless Gold Unclassified Blinded by the Night ...
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... primates originated in Africa, spread to Europe, and then jumped to North America. This hypothesis may be over turned by the discovery of fossils of early primates in Wyoming. The revised route would be Africa-Asia-North America, the reverse of the prevailing theory. This item also remarks that "Remains of early 'true' primates have not been uncovered in Africa." The reason is that the deposits that should contain them have all been eroded away. (Bower, B.; "Wyoming Fossils Shake Up Views of Early Primate Migration," Science News, 129:71, 1986.) Comment. One wonders about the "missing" African strata and fossils. Perhaps they never existed. Here is an in-stance where theory requires certain data, as with evolution's missing links. Sometimes "missing" data is really missing! From Science Frontiers #45, MAY-JUN 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 40: Jul-Aug 1985 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Standing-stone Cluster in Eastern Massachusetts Megalithic Recycling Astronomy Planets As Sun-triggered Lasers Neptune's Arcs: Embryonic Moons? Next Let Us Consider Uranus What is It? A Black Hole, of Course! Biology Nessie Photos Not Retouched Frog Mothers Do So Care! Glitch in the Evolution of Funnelweb Spider Venom? Circadian Rhythms and Chemotherapy Genetic Code Not Universal! Geology Back to Guadeloupe Again Galapagos Younger Than Thought Libyan Desert Glass May Not Be the Product of Impacts. Geophysics Quakes and UFOs Vanishing Goo Multiple Whirlwind Patterns Psychology Mnemonism Not So Easy! Hypnotic Misrecall Chemistry & Physics Fruitfulness of Math Not An Intimation of A Transcendent Mind! The Most Profound Discovery of Science Messengers of A "new Physics" Double Nuclei At Darmstadt ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 26: Mar-Apr 1983 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology A Mysterious Copy of the Grave Creek Stone Archeology in Britain: Straying From the Party Line Astronomy Gyroscopic Galaxies Antarctic Meteorite May Have Been Blasted Off the Moon Biology Lizardless Thrashing Tails Nature's Ballistic Missile Prescient Evolution Geology Do the Continents Really Drift? Punching A Hole in the Asteroid Hypothesis Geophysics Slithering Patch of Light Earthquake and Subterranean Fire Psychology Everyone A Memory Prodigy The Mind's Rhythm Chemistry & Physics Maybe There's One Stable Particle! ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 36: Nov-Dec 1984 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Who Mapped Antarctica in Pre-medieval Times? The Mallia Table The Great Wall of the Incas Astronomy Galactic Shell Game Order From Disorder? Biology Four 'Clever' Adaptations Brains Not Hardwired Evolution of Man and Malaria Is A Dog More Like A Lizard Or A Chicken? Geology The Case Against Impact Extinctions Subterranean Electric Currents The Magnetic Jerk Problem Geophysics Spiked Ball Lightning Whirlwind Spirals in Cereal Fields: Quintuplet Formations More Mysterious Hums Psychology Hypnotically Accelerated Burn Wound Healing Mental Control of Allergies Why Most People Are Right-handed Chemistry & Physics Zeta Not A Higgs: Too Bad! ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The Inca's Use of Bismuth An Ordovician Hammer? The Azilian Pebbles Astronomy A Real Death Star The Moon's Moonlets Comet Puffs A Smoke Ring Bad Spin Split Biology The Failure of Two-dimensional Life Rubberneckia Killer Fungi Cast Sticky Nets Prisoners of the Boundary Layer California Sea Serpent Flap Mokele-mbembe Geology Horsing Around with Evolution Mima Mounds in the Kenya Highlands A Russian Paluxy Geophysics Experiments on Brown Mountain Light Flashes Overhead Mystery Cloud of AD 536 Wormy Ball Lightning Crab Fall At Brighton Psychology Imaging Cancer Away Chemistry & Physics High G-values in Mines Falling Masses Swerve South ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 32: Mar-Apr 1984 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Two Remarkable Inscribed Stones Astronomy Thou Canst Not Stir A Flower, Without Troubling of A Star Natural Laser Beacons A Mysterious Object Biology Subtle is the Virus An Ocean Full of Viruses An Even Larger Ocean of Life Spores Still Viable After 7,000 Years Animals As Nutrient Carriers Geology Terranes Continue to Pile Up Grand Canyon Shamed Again When the Earth Shifted Gears The Oklo Phenomenon and Evolution Earth's Magnetic Field Jerks Osmium Isotopes Support Meteoric Impact Geophysics Incredible Phosphorescent Display on the China Sea Ball Lightning Splits and Recombines Inside Soviet Airliner Booms Startle Arkansas Psychology Mental Deflection of Cascading Spheres What Makes A Calculating Prodigy? False Pregnancies in Males Unclassified The 'Great Silence'; Or Why Aren't Aliens Landing on the White House Lawn? ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 30: Nov-Dec 1983 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The Rock Lake Pyramids What Happened in 2345 B.c .? Astronomy Cosmic Rays Not Random Biology Cancer: the Price for Higher Life? The Problem of the Precocious Parr Hot Plants The Aortic Arch and Evolution A Weak Missing Link Geology The Arctic Womb Non-lethal Tektites Geophysics The Throbbing Earth Soil Temperatures Forecast Rainfall Patterns Giant Ice Block Falls in China Psychology Apathy and Cancer A Delusion of Doubles ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 28: Jul-Aug 1983 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Romans in Rio? Nazca Figures Duplicated Astronomy Beautiful Objects, Beautiful Theories The Better, Bigger Big Bang The Foamy Cosmos Chiron: the Black Sheep of the Solar System Biology Memory in Food-hoarding Birds Evolution by Numbers Geology The Alaskan Jigsaw Puzzle Hope for Atlantis? Bones of Contention Land Animals: Earlier and Earlier Geophysics Ball Lightning with Bizarre Structure Psychology Different Personalities: Different Brainwaves ...
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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. 8: Fall 1979 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Enigmatic Stone Forts of the American Midwest Libyan Signs From Southeastern Kentucky Astronomy Are the Sun's Fires Going Out? An Oasis on Mars -- No Palm Trees But... Due to A Fortunate Coincidence You Can Read About A Fortunate Coincidence Rings of Uranus: Invisible and Impossible? Biology Convergent Evolution Or Chance Look-alikes The Importance of Nonsense Geology Coral Carbon Ratios Confound Chronometry Old Tektites in Young Sediments? Iridium and Mass Extinctions Geophysics Brontides Become Respectable Chicken-plucking by Tornados Psychology Deathbed Experiences Laid to Rest ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 11: Summer 1980 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Bering Strait Theory Again in Trouble Numismatic Ufos Astronomy Mysterious Swirl Patterns on the Moon Biology Hierarchies of Evolution A Geothermal Womb? Geology Orphans of the Wild West More Huge Terrestrial Rings Geophysics Ignis Fatuus Ignorance Hark, Hark, the Dogs Do Bark Psychology Environmental Stress and Anomalies United by An Invisible Cord ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 2: January 1978 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The Stone Enigmas of New England Astronomy Sun-Earth-Moon System May Not Be Stable Changes in Solar Rotation Biology Hopeful Monsters Rather Than Gradual Evolution? Hedgehogs Use Toad Venom for Defense Blind Man Runs on Lunar Time Infections From Comets Geology Will Radiohalos in Coalified Wood Upset Geological Clocks? How Real Are Biological Extinctions in the Fossil Record? Geophysics Another Indian Ocean Light Wheel Ghostly White Disk and Light Beam in Sky Fast-moving Dark Bands Cross Halo The Morning Glory Giant Ball Lightning Psychology Does Man Survive Death? ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 1: September 1977 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology First Writing May Have Been Three-dimensional Ancient Iberian Jars Recovered Off Maine Coast Geology New England Seamounts Once Near Surface Astronomy Four Extragalactic Sources Expand Faster Than Light Biology Australian Mistletoes Mimic Their Hosts Motion Sickness Difficult to Explain in Terms of Evolution Addiction to Placebos Cattle Mutilations Called Episode of Collective Delusion Geophysics Animal Behavior Prior to the Haicheng Earthquake Lightning Superbolts Detected by Satellites ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 124: Jul-Aug 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Preadaptive Evolution "Preadaptive evolution" is a remarkable concept. Basically, it asserts that in some -- possibly many -- mutations, a useful response to an evolutionary challenge is "naturally" accompanied by useful responses to challenges that have not yet been posed to the life form in question. This prescience verges on the miraculous to the uninitiated, but mainstream biologists seem content to write the phenomenon off as merely good fortune -- like hitting two jackpots in a row on the same slot machine. A good example of preadaptation occurs when bacteria are cultured in the presence of an antibiotic. Within a few weeks, they have evolved a resistance to that particular antibiotic. This well-known phenomenon is easily explained by evolution. However, often the newly evolved (or "adapted") bacteria are also resistant to several other antibiotics that work by different mechanisms. All of the multiple gene changes needed for the several different defense mechanisms are controlled by a single site on the same chromosome. (Levy, Stuart B.; The Antibiotic Paradox , New York, 1992, p. 99. Cr. A. Mebane.) Comments. How can bacteria prepare defenses against antibiotics they have not been exposed to? Luck, prescience, or some unrecognized mechanism? In his Ever Since Darwin , S.J . Gould acknowledges that "preadaptation implies prescience although in actuality it means just the opposite! His explanation of "preadaptation ...
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... electricity. Gargalesis cannot be selfinduced. It consists of heavier pressures applied to specific parts of the body, especially the ribs and arm pits. But the finger probing usually has to be done by someone else. Gargalesis is often very unpleasant but is nevertheless likely to be accompanied by smiles and laughter. In fact, gargalesis can be so disturbing that medieval torturers supposedly tickled some of their victims to death! (A variant of Chinese water torture?) Ticklish areas on the human body. Tickling becomes anomalous only with gargalesis. The questions are: Why does this kind of tickling elicit laughter when it is so unpleasant? Why cannot one tickle one's self this way? At least most people can't . Why does gargalesis exist? What survival value does it have? Is evolution just having fun with us? C.R . Harris is a tickle researcher and has even designed a (fake) tickling machine to test her subjects. She believes she knows why we laugh when we are subjected to gargalesis. ". .. the smiling and laughter encourage the tickler to continue. If tickling produced a negative facial expression, conspecifics would be far less likely to engage in it during playful bouts -- thus cutting off the development of combat skills that might have survival value." Translation : tickling-plus-laughter promotes the roughhousing needed to develop combat skills. Chimps, deer, and most young mammals engage in similar sport for the same purpose; but, as far as we can tell, without the laughing. The inability to self-tickle is ...
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... This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Photosynthesis At Deep-Sea Vents The surprisingly rich populations of lifeforms that prosper around the hydrothermal vents have been thought to be utterly dependent upon chemical energy for their survival. Such now seems to be a limited view. There is light at the bottom of the ocean! "Of particular interest is the potential for deep-sea vents and subsurface environments to support geothermally (rather than solar-) driven photosynthesis. Recent work on ambient light conditions at hydrothermal vents indicates that the photon flux generated by thermal radiation of 350 C water should be sufficient to sustain lowlevel photosynthesis, and there is at least one report of a faculative phototroph isolated from water samples taken near a deep-sea vent." A particularly important implication of this undersea light source is that the evolution of photosynthesis need not have been dependent upon the existence of life on land. Also, hydrothermal vents could have served as refuges for photosynthesizing life forms down the geological eons when: (1 ) ocean surfaces were ice-covered; (2 ) the terrestrial surface was exposed to deadly levels of radiation, as when the ozone layer was destroyed; and (3 ) when volcanism or dust from meteor impacts blackened the skies. (Van Dover, Cindy Lee; "Biology in Extreme Environments at Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents," Eos, 70:F54, 1998.) From Science Frontiers #124, JUL-AUG 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... the outgassing of volcanos. But recent quantitative estimates tell us that the volcanic sources are grossly inadequate. So are all other possible terrestrial sources. Therefore, some scientists, such as D. Deming, University of Oklahoma, have been looking spaceward. Deming ventures that extraterrestrial sources of water and carbon may be four or five orders of magnitude greater than suspected. Obviously, a steady bombardment of icy comets might fulfill Deming's requirements. Down the long eons of geological time, they could have filled the oceans and showered all that excess carbon onto the planet's surface. Deming ups the stakes in the icy-comet controversy when he links these fluffy snowballs to the well-known vagaries of life on earth. "The extraterrestrial influx rate may also act as the pacemaker of terrestrial evolution, at times leading to mass extinctions through climatic shifts induced by changes in accretion rates with concommitant disruptions of the carbon and nitrogen cycles. Life on earth may be balanced precariously between cosmic processes which deliver an intermittent stream of life-sustaining volatiles from the outer solar system or beyond, and biological and tectonic processes which remove these same volatiles from the atmosphere by sequestering water and carbon in the crust and mantle." (Deming, David; "On the Possible Influence of Extraterrestrial Volatiles on Earth's Climate and the Origin of the Oceans," Palaeo , 146:33, 1999. Cr. P. Huyghe) Comment. Need we mention the book Living Comets , by F. Hoyle and C. Wickramasinghe? Why stop at water and carbon? From Science Frontiers # ...
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... into an EHE. EHEers report greater numbers of EHEs including meaningful insights, heightened creativity, and "lucky coincidences." Over time, or additional EEs/EHEs, or with a tremendous burst of insight, a subjective threshold is crossed. The experiencer's lifeview and whole worldview changes, and a new perspective (i .e ., double vision) is forged. Fresh transpersonal connections with a new vision of self and the world become established. In hindsight, advanced EHEers report that the whole process was life-changing and somehow felt "destined." It is at this stage of the EHE Process where the EHEer has literally transcended everyday "normal reality" and discovered with clarity and quiet wisdom his or her unique "calling" in life, and the calling to an evolution of consciousness for all life." (Brown, Suzanne V.; "Exceptional Human Experiences: Rethinking Anomalies and Shifting Paradigms -- An Introduction and Background Paper," Exceptional Human Experience, 15:21, no. 1, June 1997. Journal and Network address: 414 Rockledge Road, New Bern, NC 28562) From Science Frontiers #122, MAR-APR 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... These data, if confirmed, demolish the African Eve theory and support the often-reviled multiregional theory of humans origins. (Pennisi, Elizabeth; "Genetic Study Shakes Up Out of Africa Theory," Science, 283:1828, 1999. Bower, B.; "DNA Data Yield New Human-Origins View," Science News, 155:181, 1999.) Genetic Clocks Are Fickle. mtDNA clocks have implied that modern birds and mammals were contemporaneous with dinosaurs, and that some animals evolved millions of years before their first fossils. For good reasons, evolutionists are becoming wary about these molecular clocks. It is fast becoming obvious that: "Clocks tick at different rates in different lineages and at different times. And new work on the biology of mitochondria suggests that their evolution may be more complicated than researchers had suspected." (Strauss, Evelyn; "Can Mitochondrial Clocks Keep Time?" Science, 283:1435, 1999.) From Science Frontiers #123, MAY-JUN 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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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 Do Continents Really Drift?For geologists, Continental Drift (or "Plate Tectonics") is as vital to their scientific outlook as the Big Bang is to astronomers, or Evolution to biologists. Indeed, Continental Drift is taught as an unassailable hypothesis -- in essence, a "fact." It is, therefore, a tempting target for anomalists. Fortunately, there are some maverick geologists who are willing and able to draw up a list of arguments against the "fact" of Continental Drift. Australian P. James is one such brave soul. Here follows the abstract from one of his papers. "Anomalies in the three basic concepts of mobile plate tectonics -- sea-floor spreading, transform faults, subduction -- are analysed. The process is then extended to subsidiary aspects; sediments on a moving basement, continental evidence, mechanisms and measurements. In summation, the criticisms present a formidable and damaging document against the total framework of mobilism, both in its general concepts and it its detailed interpretations." From James' lengthy paper, we select just two anomalies that he has identified in the Atlantic where North America and Europe are supposedly drifting apart. First, repeated direct measurements of the drifting seem to be a wash; that is, there is no drift to speak of. The expansion of the Atlantic basin seems to be only 5-13 mm/year (just 20% of the predicted ...
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... BBB24 Unusual Mating Systems BBB25 Two Species with a Common Nest BBB26 Determination of Clutch Size BBB27 Exotic Objects and Eggs in Nests BBB28 Unusual Methods of Heating and Cooling Eggs BBB29 Brood Parasitism: How Did It Begin BBB30 Disparities between Parasite Host Adaptations BBB31 Tolerance of Parasite Chicks BBB32 Tolerance of Parasite Eggs Even When They Are Recognized as a Threat BBB33 Murder for Purposes Other Than Food and Brood Reduction BBB34 Infanticide BBB35 Siblicide BBB36 Information Processing in Migratory Behavior BBB37 Uncommon Groupings of Birds BBB38 Flock Synchrony BBB39 Flight Formations BBB40 Avian "Courts" and "Funerals" BBB41 Avian Graveyards BBB42 Huddling and Stacking BBB43 Bird Battles BBB44 Miscellaneous Curiosities of Avian Behavior BBC CHEMICAL PHENOMENA BBC1 Palatable Eggs More Vulnerable to Predation BBC2 Conspicuous Plumage Advertises Unpalatability BBC3 Why Did Stinking Birds Evolve? BBC4 Poisonous Birds and Poison Dart Frogs: Convergent Evolution? BBC5 Are Ratites More Primitive Than Flying Birds? BBC6 Did Australian Songbirds Evolve Earlier than European Songbirds? BBC7 Are Birds More Closely Related to Mammals Than to Reptiles? BBC8 The Inability of Some Birds to Synthesize Ascorbic Acid BBD DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS IN SPACE AND TIME BBD1 Discontinuous Populations of Birds BBD2 Uncolonized Areas: Unfilled Niches BBD3 Land Birds Observed Far at Sea BBD4 Late Survival of Moas and Passenger Pigeons BBD5 Distribution Curiosities BBE THE FOSSIL RECORD OF BIRDS BBE1 The Fossil Record of Birds and Associated Paradigms BBE2 Evidence against the Dinosaur Origin of Birds BBE3 Protoavis: A Pre-Archaeopteryx Bird? BBE4 Unresolved Nature of Archaeopteryx BBE5 The Apparent Absence of Transitional Forms of Feathers BBE6 Fossils of Ostrich Ancestors in the Northern Hemisphere BBE7 Controversial Feathers of the London Archaeopteryx Fossil BBE8 Giant Fossil Eggs BBF BODILY FUNCTIONS ...
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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 Swimming Up The Wrong Streams Of course, most freshwater fish do swim upstream in the usual way, but not the candiru. It is partial to very specific streams. This small, slim, scaleless species of catfish inhabits the Amazon where it preys on other fish, often by invading their gills and feasting on blood and tissue. They also aim much higher on evolution's ladder: they are the only known vertebrate parasites of humans. It is when they prey upon humans that they swim up the wrong streams -- at least their victims think so! Their technique is simple. They detect human urine released by swimmers and follow it right to the source. They don't stop there but insert themselves right into the penis and keep going, sometimes all the way to the bladder. Once inside the penis they erect their spines and cannot be extracted except by surgery. Left alone, they are not only excruciating to the unwise bather but can eventually be fatal. Surgeons have successfully extracted them from the bladder, but in remote areas penis amputation is the only answer! (Warren, Nicholas; "In Mare Internum," Fortean Times, p. 14, September 1999. Title translation: "Within the Inner Sea.") From Science Frontiers #126, NOV-DEC 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... and BMA25 in Mammals I) Occasionally, whalers have caught sperm whales with congenital, grossly twisted jaws that are completely useless in hunting, yet these animals thrive on a rich diet of fast, elusive squid. A. Werth of Hampden-Sydney College theorizes that these much larger cetaceans also suck in their prey just like the beaked whales. Sperm whales also generate sound pulses so strong that they can very likely stun the giant squid, their preferred food, as they pursue them with their sonar in miledeep blackness. (BMO10 in Mammals II) (Pennisi, Elizabeth; "Coming to Grips with Whale Anatomy," Science, 283:475, 1999.) Comment. Sperm whales and beaked whales are only distantly related, so that we have an interesting example of the triple parallel evolution of hunting strategy, acoustic-stunning capability, and large, piston-like tongues. Sperm whales may stun their prey with high intensity sound From Science Frontiers #122, MAR-APR 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... is the mouth; the other is at the so-called "vocal folds" deep in the throat (larynx). To control their "instrument" throat-singers move their tongues back and forth to change the standing waves in the vocal tract. The source of raw sound is the vocal folds. It is the vocal tract that shapes the raw sound into musical tones. Biofeedback is also involved as the throatsingers tweak the rate and manner in which the vocal folds open and close. (Levin, Theodore C., and Edgerton, Michael E.; "The Throat Singers of Tuva," Scientific American, 281:80, September 1999.) Comments. The human throat is obviously a complex musical instrument, but what survival value does this remarkable instrument have? Did evolution overshoot its mark? Incidentally, many birds can produce simultaneously two tones that are not harmonically related. However, these birds have a special doublebarreled organ called the syrinx. So, the avian "two-voice" phenomenon is not as unexpected as it is in humans. But, waxing skeptical, as usual, we ask why some birds would need a twovoice capability when ducks, herons, and many other birds survive very well with rather crude vocalizations. From Science Frontiers #127, JAN-FEB 2000 . 1997 William R. Corliss ...
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