232 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 12: Fall 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Oh, those clever plants The Lecythidaceae or Brazil nut family is pantropical in distribution. Some members of this family produce two dif ferent kinds of pollen: (1 ) normal pollen for fertilization; and (2 ) nongerminating pollen that is collected by insects for food. The latter variety of pollen is considered (anthropomorphically) as the plant's way of rewarding insects for carrying the fertile pollen to other plants. As in so many of Nature's remarkable adaptations, the two types of pollen are located in exactly the right portions of the flower to match the anatomy of the foraging insect. In the figure, a carpenter bee collects infertile pollen from the bottom of the flower while being dusted on the head and back by the regions of the fertile pollen. (Mori, Scott Alan, et al; "Intrafloral Pollen Differentiation in the New World.. .. ." Science, 209:400, 1980.) Comment. How can the flower, even over many generations, determine that only the pollen from the upper portion is being used for fertilization and that the lower area of pollen may safely "be allowed" to become infertile? From Science Frontiers #12, Fall 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 12: Fall 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Currents Of Life Danny Brower and Richard McIntosh of the University of Colorado at Boulder have discovered that growing cells apparently generate electrical fields that control the shapes of living organisms. They have been experimenting with a disc-shaped alga with a lobed edge. Normally the algo reproduces by splitting in half, with each half regenerating the lost half. Nicely symmetric discs are manufactured. But if an external electrical field (about 14 volts/cm) is applied across the nutrient medium, the regeneration geometry is distorted. The experimenters surmise that the membrane chemistry is affected by the external field which augments or reduces cell-created electric fields. (Anonymous; "Electric Charges May Shape Living Tissue," New Scientist, 86:245, 1980.) Comment. Natural external electric fields, such as the atmospheric potential gradient, may therefore have some biological effects, as some experiments with electricity and plant growth have proven. From Science Frontiers #12, Fall 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Why conserve junk?A. Jeffries, working at Leicester University with globin genes from man and related primates, has been studying how these genes direct the blood cells to make the alpha and beta chains of hemoglobin. Jeffries' analyses seem to indicate that the genes now coding for these hemoglobin chains are almost identical to those existing in human ancestors some 500 million years ago. Two curious facts have cropped up, however. First, about 200 million years ago, these genes were modified very slightly and relocated to entirely different chromosomes. Second, 95% of the DNA associated with these genes is "junk" -- with no known use. Why did nature conserve junk for 500 million years? Are vital genes in the habit of jumping from one chromosome to another? (Yanchinski, Stephanie; "DNA: Ignorant, Selfish and Junk," New Scientist, 91:154, 1981.) From Science Frontiers #17, Fall 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 12: Fall 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The earth's ring The most profound climatic event of the Tertiary was the terminal Eocene event 34 million years ago. The sudden change in the abundance of forest plants suggests that the winters became much more severe while the summers remained about the same. At about the same time, the radiolaria were devastated by some sort of disaster. This was also the time when the North American tektite strewn field was deposited -- a field that stretches halfway around the world. John O'Keefe hypothesizes that some of the tektites and microtektites that rained down during this period missed the earth and went into orbit around it, forming an opaque Saturn-like ring. This ring might have lasted a million years or more; and its shadow could have caused the extrasevere winters postulated from botanical data. (O 'Keefe, John A.; "The Terminal Eocene Event; Formation of a Ring System around the Earth," Nature, 285:309, 1980.) Comment. Many who have previously speculated about terrestrial ring systems, such as I.N . Vail, were called pseudoscientists! Reference. The North American tektites are the subject of Section ESM3 in our Neglected Geological Anomalies. Ordering information here . Earth's ring shadow From Science Frontiers #12, Fall 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bioluminescent Cartwheels And Whirlpools In The Arabian Sea 6 March 1980. Arabian Sea. "At 1552 GMT bioluminescence in the form of diffused white light in 'whirlpool' and 'cartwheel' formations was observed; within 3 minutes it completely encircled the vessel and extended to the horizon. The 'cartwheel' formations were brightest at the centre with a halo effect surrounding the outer edges. As the vessel passed over 2 such formations the 'spokes' were estimated to be 2-2 metres in width and the entire concentration, which was more than the width of the vessel (approximately 27 metres), was observed on both sides of the bridgewing simultaneously. The 'whirlpool' formations, with a distinct central hub, varied from l to 2 metres in width and from 14 to 15 metres in length. The phenomenon was observed for 40 minutes." (Messinger, P.A .; "Bioluminescence," Marine Observer, 51:13, 1981.) Comment. This is the first report uncovered that described "whirlpool" formations. The variety of phosphorescent formations and their long durations cast doubt on the usual seismic explanation. Reference. The many strange types of marine biolouminescence are detailed in Section GLW in our catalog: Lightning, Auroras. Details here . From Science Frontiers #17, Fall 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 12: Fall 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ndes and reality (whatever that is!)Several books describing NDEs (Near Death Experiences) have appeared in recent years. The level of objectivity varies widely as do the interpretations of NDEs. Some authors are certain that NDEs confirm life after death; others see NDEs as states of consciousness to be expected from the physiological processes occurring dear death. Now a key medical journal has published a series of opinions by doctors familiar with NDEs and other death-bed events. Although the articles are quite objective, their thoughts span a wide spectrum. Pure reductionism occupies one end of this spectrum; that is, all NDEs can be explained in terms of known physiological processes. A few doctors, though, point out that NDEs are remarkably consistent regardless of cultural background. One doctor maintains that NDEs are "complex, baffling," and contain "perplexing paranormal features." (Rodin, Ernst, et al; "The Reality of Death Experiences," Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 168:259, 1980.) From Science Frontiers #12, Fall 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The gravitational "constant" is not!For too many years, physicists have been content with laboratory determinations of G (the gravitational constant) using the old Cavendish Balance. In this paper, Stacey and Tuck offer a disturbing collection of values of G determined from geophysical measurements; i.e ., measurements in mines, boreholes, and under the sea. These measurements are unanimous in producing G's that are larger than the usually accepted value by about 1%. Furthermore, the deeper the experiment, the greater the departure from the standard value. (Stacey, F.D ., and Tuck, G.J .; "Geophysical Evidence for Non-Newtonian Gravity," Nature, 292:230, 1981.) Comment. These geophysical measurements must be added to recent laboratory experiments indicating that gravity may not be best described by an inverse square law. See our Handbook Mysterious Universe. Ordering details here . From Science Frontiers #17, Fall 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Libyan Signs From Southeastern Kentucky Curious images and writings turn up with surprising frequency in North America. The sculpture illustrated was among several found in a cave on the Virginia-Kentucky border. Made life-sized from hard sandstone, it bears curious symbols on its back. Quite obviously, it is the head of an Indian chief, but the symbols might be Libyan, according to Barry Fell. He translates them as: "luminous, radiant, sun-like." Interestingly enough, the ancient leaders of the Natchez Tribe were called "Suns" and wore feathered headdresses like those of the Plains Indians. Further, the Natchez Suns apparently maintained that their ancestors came to North America from North Africa -- thus the Libyan symbols! (Calhoun, Vernon J.; "Libyan Evidence in Southeast Kentucky," Epigraphic Society, Occasional Publications, 7:127, 1978.) Comment. Much controversy swirls about such symbols and their proposed translations. From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mysteries Around Uranus August 15, 1980. European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile. Using the 3.6 -meter reflector and a photoelectric detector, astronomers recorded the occultation of a star by Uranus. The currently recognized rings of Uranus were duly noted as they dimmed the star's light, but so did seven other "objects." Observers at Las Campanas and Cerro Tololo, who were also monitoring the occultations, did see the seven extra occultations of the star. Clouds and faulty equipment have been ruled out. No one knows what caused the anomalies, (Anonymous; "More Mysteries of Uranus' Rings," Solar System Today, 3:56, 1981.) From Science Frontiers #17, Fall 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Shergottites and nakhlites: young and mysterious The shergottites and nakhlites are two types of meteorites that have scientists scratching their heads. Both types have been dated by various radioactive clocks at 1,300 million years or less -- far younger than all other meteorites. Where could such young meteorites have originated? The asteroids and moon's surface are far too old. A current guess is the surface of Mars. There, an impacting meteor could have blasted pieces of young lava sheets in space and thence to earth. The shergottites have a shocked structure and could well have originated in such catastrophism, but the nakhlites show no signs of violence and seem to require a separate explanation. (Anonymous; "Mystery Meteorites May Come from Mars," New Scientist, 91:219, 1981.) From Science Frontiers #17, Fall 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Are the sun's fires going out?After reviewing solar maeasurements from the last 200 years, Jack Eddy, of the Smithsonian Observatory, has concluded that the sun's diameter shrinks by about 10 kilometers per year. This observation fits nicely with the ten-year-old enigma of missing solar neutrinos. A shrinking diameter implies a cooling sun, while the paucity of neutrinos suggests that the sun's nuclear fires are at a low ebb. Something similar may have happened in the 17th. Century when the so-called Little Ice Age prevailed. (Anonymous; "Scientists Shrink from Smaller Sun," New Scientist, 82:982, 1979.) From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects An oasis on mars -- no palm trees but...Most of the data returned from the Viking Landers and Orbiters confirm a highly desiccated surface for Mars. Life-as-we-know-it would seem to be impossible in such an ultra-dry environment. The Solis Lacus region is an exception. On occasion, Orbiter photos of this region have revealed heavy frosts and fogs. Further, the clouds here have more moisture in them than elsewhere on Mars. Conclusion: Considerably more water exists near the surface of the Solis Lacus region than elsewhere. Since this area was the source of the great 1971 Martian dust storm, one wonders whether the unusual concentration of water has been revealed only because winds have stripped off the normally dry surface layer. (Huguenin, R.L ., et al; "Mars: An Oasis in Solis Lacus," Eos, 60:306, 1979.) Comment. Close-up photos of Mars show many signs of fluid erosion. Abundant water may still remain well below the planet's surface. Reference. Probable wet areas on Mars are cataloged at AME16 in The Moon and the Planets. Ordering information for this book is located here . From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Convergent evolution or chance look-alikes Why should caddis fly larvae and a species of aquatic snail look alike? Mimicry is rather common in nature for it often confers some sort of advantage to one or both of the species in the turmoil of evolutionary pressures. Or so the theory goes. Most examples of convergent evolution involve closely related species. In the present case, though, the species are in different phyla. The caddis fly larva builds its snail-like shell by cementing grains of sand together with a silk-like secretion, while the snail's shell is a calcareous excretion. One would expect a strong advantage to be conferred on one or the other species, especially in the matter of predation. Using brook trout as predators, how ever, proved perplexing, for the trout would eat only the snails, avoiding the carbon-copy larvae. (Berger, Joel, and Kaster, Jerry; "Convergent Evolution between Phyla...." Evolution, 33:511, 1979.) Comment. This is a remarkable case of mimicry. One wonders how the caddisfly larvae know exactly what snails look like, and how the unique shell constructing methods were coded into its genes by evolution. Or did the snail emulate the larvae? From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Saturn Is Still Cooking Away Observations from the earth and the Pioneeer spacecraft have long puzzled astronomers because they indicate that Saturn is radiating much more internal heat than it should. This anomaly leads to the outrageous possibility that Saturn is actually very young and has not cooled off as much as we would expect from theory. The infrared detector on the recent Voyager-1 flyby seems to show that the atmosphere of Saturn possesses only about half as much helium as theory would have. The surmise is that the missing helium is still residing in the planet. This might account for some of the abnormal heat generation. (Anonymous; "Puzzling over Saturn's Internal Heat," Eos, 62:538, 1981.) Comment. Thus, the excess-heat anomaly may be replaced by the missing-helium anomaly. Curiously, some ancient myths refer to Saturn as the "sun of night." Could Saturn have been much brighter not too long ago? From Science Frontiers #17, Fall 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Coral Carbon Ratios Confound Chronometry By measuring the carbon-14/carbon-12 ratios in the annual growth bands of coral, scientists hope to spot natural and man-made changes in global chemistry. For example, the large-scale use of fossil fuels should depress the ratio by adding carbon-12 in undue quanti ties. The advent of the nuclear age boosts the ratio through the addition of carbon-14 to the environment. Predictably, the carbon ratio rises dramatical ly after 1950 (the bomb tests, etc.). Before this date, however, anomalies crop up: Coral-ring and tree-ring data differ substantaially when they should not; Coral-ring carbon ratios from relatively close locales, such as Bermuda (solid line) and the Florida Keys (dashed line), also differ significantly. Item 1 might be due to non-atmospheric carbon upwelling in deep-ocean water; but this would not explain the Bermuda and Florida discrepancies. (Anonymous; "Carbon-14 Variations in Coral," Open Earth, No. 3 p. 30, 1979 Comment. These discrepancies are particularly relevant to the carbon-14 dating of seashells, which often produces wildly incorrect ages. From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Due to a fortunate coincidence you can read about a fortunate coincidence There are embedded in the fabric of our universe a number of curious coincidences among the so-called physical constants. Two amusing examples are: The size of a planet is roughly the geometric mean of the size of the universe and the size of the atom; and The mass of man is the geometric mean of the mass of a planet and the mass of the proton. Less hilarious is the observation that the age of the universe is of the order of the quotient of the electron time scale and the gravitational fine structure constant; and that only at the present time are physical conditions in the universe favorable to the existence of life-as-we-know-it! The surprising number of coincidences that have been identified suggests that we exist and are aware of the universe around us only when certain coincidences prevail among physical constants. Is "now" a magic moment in the history of the universe during which we have "happened" as a natural coincidence of blindly drifting physical constants, or did some metaphysical force tune the universe specially for us? This long, rather mathematical article is redolent with metaphysics and mystery. (Carr, B.J ., and Rees, M.J .; "The Anthropic Principle and the Structure of the Physical World," Nature, 278:605, 1979.) Comment. One might speculate that at other ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects How Ndes Differ From Obes NDEs (Near-Death Experiences) and OBEs (Out-of-the-Body Experiences) are rather common altered states of consciousness that are now the subject of considerable psychological research and public interest. OBEs, where one feels detached from his body and may even view it from afar, occur to many people who are not near death. Yet, the two phenomena have many features in common; so many that some psychologists have claimed that NDEs have no unique features at all. Gabbard et al have examined hundreds of experiences of both kinds and support the contention that none of the curious features of the NDE are the exclusive province of the NDE. They go a step further, however, by trying to separate NDEs and OBEs statistically. The following experiences occur significantly more often in NDEs: (1 ) Noises are heard early in the scenario; (2 ) The sensation of travelling through a tunnel; (3 ) The physical body is seen from a distance; (4 ) Other beings in nonphysical form are sensed, especially deceased people emotionally tied to the percipient; and (5 ) Encounters with communicative entities of a luminous nature. (Gabbard, Glen O., et al; Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 169:374, 1981.) From Science Frontiers #17, Fall 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects What was, is, and shall be Rupert Sheldrake, an English plant physiologist, has written a new book entitled A New Science of Life; The Hypothesis of Formative Causation. In it, he revives and expands the theory of morphogenic fields. Basically, this theory states that existing organized structures, such as crystals and organisms, establish fields that shape the future organization of matter into similar crystals and organisms in a probabalistic way. In other words, once a specific crystal (or life form) is synthesized, it sets up a morphogenic field that will make it easier to synthesize further the same, or nearly the same, crystal (or life form). To support his ideas, Sheldrake claims that it is common knowledge that a brand-new crystal form is difficult to synthesize at first but that further syntheses become easier and easier. The prevailing "scientific" explanation of this amazing fact is that fragments (seeds) of the initial synthesis are carried from lab to lab by humans and even the air! Morphogenic fields, however, explain such phenomena very nicely without postulating tiny crystal seeds in scientists' beards. Sheldrake then goes on to review McDougall's experiments in the 1920s in which trained rats from water mazes apparently passed their new knowledge on to their progeny. McDougall thought that he had proved the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Other biologists repeating his heretical experiments found that their first-generation rats solved the same water ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Were the british megaliths built as scientific instruments?Alexander Thom and his son have meticulously surveyed nearly 100 megalithic sites in Britain and nearby Europe. Archeologists generally applaud the Thoms' careful work but vehemently attack their conclusions. The Thoms see in their surveys evidence that the early Britons built megalithic astronomical instruments with scientific capabilities far beyond their needs for calendar-keeping. Actually, they suggest that these "primitive" people built a society so strong that it could devote time and labor to a program of astronomical research generations in extent. In short, they were precociously bright and socially strong; so much so that they could indulge their scientific desires. The Thoms' prehistoric scenario departs radically from that of the current archeological establishment, which has searched for flaws in the Thoms' work. Naturally, some defects have emerged. Clive Ruggles, the author of the present article, is one of the skeptics. He feels that the megalithic sites are impressive and intriguing but not the work of mental giants. After all, Ruggles says, 72 points of the compass have some lunar significance. Almost any circle of stones built for simple ritual purposes would have some significant lunar alignments! (Ruggles, Clive; "Prehistoric Astronomy: How Far Did It Go?" New Scientist, 90: 750, 1981.) Comment. The kind of statistical argument reminds one of those monkeys who will eventually type out the works of Shakespeare. Presumably, the ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Importance Of Nonsense One of the greatest surprises of modern molecular biology has been the discovery of "split genes" in higher forms of life. In the chromosomes of lowly bacteria, genes march along one behind the other, but in more complex organisms the genes are separated by segments of genetic material that apparently have nothing to do with the manufacture of protein. Because there seems no need for these inserted jumbles of genetic information, they are characterized as "nonsense." But evolutionists insist that this nonsense must have some survival value or it wouldn't be there! Present speculation is that the nonsense segments separate mini-genes that contain the blueprints for assembling well-defined parts of proteins that possess specific functions. To illustrate, the main part of the immunoglobulin molecule has four functional parts (one for interacting with cell membranes, another that functions as a hinge, and so on). Lo and behold, the immunoglobulin gene consists of four mini-genes separated by three segments of nonsense. The suspicion is that the evolution of higher life forms has been accelerated by keeping these prefabricated, functionally oriented mini-genes apart and shuffling them as integral units. The shuffling of entire functional elements rather than smaller bits and pieces of genetic information might speed up organic evolution. (Lewin, Roger; "Why Split Genes?" New Scientist, 82:452, 1979.) From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Old tektites in young sediments?A curious little geological debate now going on concerns the Australian tektites. The age of formation for these tektites, as determined by both fissiontrack and potassium-argon dating lies between 700,000 and 860,000 years. Geological evidence, however, suggests that the tektites fell only 7,000 to 20,000 years ago -- a substantial discrepancy. Surely, say some, these old tektites were washed out of some equally old deposits and transported to the young strata where they now reside. Not so, say Australian geologists, because most of these tektites are found in areas devoid of outcroppings 700,000 years old. Furthermore, the rather fragile tektites show little signs of wear, as they should if transported by flood waters for long distances. These and other geological facts militate against the 700,000-year date. Geologists have questioned the two dating techniques, while geophysicists think the geological evidence is shaky. (Chalmers, R.O ., et al; "Australian Microtektites and the Stratigraphic Age of the Australites," Geological Society of America, Bulletin, 90:508, 1979.) Comment. It is important to resolve this issue because the dating methods employed are crucial to the now-dominant theory of plate tectonics. In particular, the 700,000-year figure seems to represent a major crisis in biological and geological history. Reference. We expand on the ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 12: Fall 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Rehabilitation Of Cuvier Cuvier (1769-1832) was a catastrophist. To him, the record of death in the layers of fossiliferous rocks was obviously the consequence of terrestrial convulsions. But Cuvier's ideas were swept aside by the uniformitarians who saw the earth and its cargo of life unfolding with almost agonizing slowness. But Cuvier is making a comeback, as illustrated by the following back-to-back articles in Nature. We quote from the abstracts. "Closely spaced samples from an uninterupted calcareous pelagic sequence across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary reveal that the extinction of planktonic Foraminifera and nannofossils was abrupt without any previous warning in the sedimentary record, and that the moment of extinction was coupled with anomalous trace element enrichments, especially of iridium and osmium. The rarity of these two elements in the crust of the Earth indicates that an extraterrestrial source, such as the impact of a large meteorite may have provided the required amounts of iridium and osmium." (Smit, J., and Hertogen, J.; "An Extraterrestrial Event at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary," Nature, 285:198, 1980.) "Evidence is presented indicating that the extinction, at the end of the Cretaceous, of large terrestrial animals was caused by atmospheric heating during a cometary impact and that the extinction of calcareous marine plankton was a consequence of poisoning by cyanide released by the fallen comet and of a catastrophic rise in calcitecompensation depth in ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 12: Fall 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Anomalous Sounds From An Australian Fireball On April 7, 1978, a very large fireball passed through the atmosphere above the east coast of New South Wales. Seen by hundreds, it generated many high quality reports. Fifteen of the written reports mentioned anomalous sounds -- hisses, hums, swishes, and crackling sounds heard simultaneously with the visual sighting. Such sounds are anomalous because the meteor is tens of kilometers high and real sound would take a minute or more to reach the ground. (The sound from a detonating meteor is often heard several minutes later.) Keay is convinced of the reality of the anomalous sounds and suggests that the highly turbulent plasma in the meteor wake generates powerful electromagnetic radiation at audio frequencies. This intense radio energy reaches the earth at the same time the visible light does. It may be converted into sound as it interacts with the surface and the observer. (Keay, Colin S.L .; "The 1978 New South Wales Fireball," Nature, 285:464, 1980.) Reference. Sounds from high-altitude meteors (" electrophonic" sounds) are covered in GSH2 in our Catalog: Earthquakes, Tides, Anomalous Sounds. Information on this book is posted here . From Science Frontiers #12, Fall 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Was there really a big bang?Narlikar says, "Maybe not," and proceeds to tick off observational evidence against it. He begins, however, by pointing out the philosophical impasse encountered as Big Bang proponents look backward to time = 0 and earlier. Where did the matter/energy of the Big Bang come from? Was the venerable Law of Conservation of Mass/Energy violated? Big Bangers loftily dismiss such questions as "nonsense." Narlikar follows with some observational problems of the Big Bang: There seem to be objects in the universe that are older than the Big Bang age of the universe (9 -13 billion years); Quasar redshifts used to support the Big Bang theory may arise from the general expansion of the universe; The microwave background radiation of 3 K, which was gleefully embraced by Big Bangers as an echo of their version of creation, is actually of the same energy density as starlight, cosmic rays, etc., and need not have anything to do with the Big Bang; and The Big Bang Theory and General Relativity assume a constant G (the gravitational constant), but some recent lunar orbit measurements suggest that G is slowly decreasing! (Narlikar, Jayant; "Was There a Big Bang?" New Scientist, 91:19, 1981.) Comment. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the whole Big Bang business is the contempt with which theory supporters dismiss all objections. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Too Many Pages Missing The geological record has often been likened to pages in a book, each rock formation being a page, etc. The problem is that this book is not even close to being complete over most of the earth. Woodmorappe has examined the massive geological literature and drawn an extensive (and most impressive) suite of world maps showing just where the ten major geological periods are represented and where they are absent. The statistics are disturbing. Two thirds of the land surface display five or fewer periods; 15-20% of the earth's surface has three or less periods appearing in the "correct" order. Where are all the missing pages? Why, missing pages mean only that no deposition occurred in an area during the period in question or, if it did, erosion wiped it off the record. The "book" of strata forming the vaunted geologic column is really a composite of a few scraps from here and there. The enormity of what is missing is made all to clear by Woodmorappe's maps and statistics. (Woodmorappe, John; "The Essential Nonexistence of the Evolutionary-Uniformitarian Geologic Column: A Quantitative Assessment," Creation Research Society Quarterly, 18:46, 1981.) Comment. Do missing geological pages constitute anomalies? Not when taken one by one, for occasional lapses are to be expected. But taken en masse, the record seems so skimpy that one wonders ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 27: May-Jun 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The solar-system dust bin For hundreds of thousands of years, miscellaneous rocky debris swirling around the sun has been falling upon the icy wastes of Antarctica. The motion of Antarctica's ice sheet carries these meteorites conveyor-belt fashion out towards the encircling seas. But where Antarctic mountains get in the way, the rocky cargo tends to get concentrated. Several thousand meteorites have already been picked up at these favored spots. In just a few brief summers of searching, these massive finds have posed unexpected questions. Here is a sampling. The terrestrial ages (times since arrival on earth) measure between 1,000 and 700,000 years, implying that the Antarctic ice sheet may be at least 700,000 years old. This is unfortunate for several proposed scenarios of recent catastrophism, which envision an iceless Antarctica. At least 20 amino acids appear in the more than 40 carbonaceous chondrites picked up with sterile equipment. These meteorites are dated as 4.5 billion years old, or 1 billion years older than the earliest terrestrial life found in the rocks. These finds highlight the old question: Did meteorites seed life on earth? The much-publicized "lunar" meteorite, supposedly blasted out of the moon's crust by asteroid impact, thence falling to earth, shows little evidence of mechanical shock. If this meteorite, with a composition so similar to the Apollo samples is not from the moon, where ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 138: NOV-DEC 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Dynamics Of Oleaginated Carbohydrate Parallelopipeds Science can be very helpful in clarifying the many puzzles encountered in everyday life. This willingness to study mundane phenomena is seen in a recent analysis of tumbling, buttered toast. We quote from the abstract of the highly technical American Journal of Physics. In the study reported here it is found that the experimentally determined free fall angular velocity of a board, tumbling off the edge of a table, can only be predicted at all accurately if slipping is taken into account. The size and shape of the board used in the calculations and in the experiments were roughly the same as that of a piece of toast. In addition, it is found that the board, tumbling from a standard table of height 76 cm, will land butter-side down (neglecting any bounce) for two ranges of overhang ( o). o is defined as the initial distance from the table edge to a vertical line drawn through the center of mass when the board is horizontal. For our board (length 10.2 cm) the approximate ranges of overhang are 0-0 .8 and 2.7 -5 .1 cm. The importance of the 0-0 .8 cm (only 2% of all possible overhangs for which tumbling is possible) favoring a butter-side down landing should not be overestimated when pondering the widely held belief that toast, tumbling from a table, usually falls ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 49: Jan-Feb 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Monarch Migration An Illusion "The epic autumn migration of the eastern monarch butterfly to wintering grounds in Mexico, where millions cluster on trees in semi-dormancy to await spring, has become known as one of the standard 'wonders of nature' in the decade since the Mexican winter clusters were found." There are, however, some flies in this ointment: Monarchs tagged in the north have never been found in the Mexican clusters. Fall-fattened monarchs can store only enough energy for a flight of about 200 miles -- far too short, unless they refuel along the way (no one knows if they do or not); and The monarchs seen in Mexico are almost always in pristine condition and show no wing wear or tattering. A.M . Wenner, University of California at Santa Barbara, thinks that the "appearance" of mass migration reported frequently from many locales may just be due to a curious fall habit of the monarchs. It seems that widely scattered individuals begin to fly into the wind, and the wind concentrates and channels them to local roosts where they spend the winter. In other words, there is no long distance migration at all. (Rensberger, Boyce; Washington Post, September 15, 1986. Cr. J. Judge) From Science Frontiers #49, JAN-FEB 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... way of illustration, when a low-pressure area moves in, higher-pressure air residing in deep wells and caves comes rushing out (" exhaling")! Attach a whistle to a likely well and you have a "weather well" that warns of the impending change. The exhalations of large caves (" blowing caves") can be copious and strong; so much so that some aeronautical pioneers tested their airplane models at cave mouths. In a deeper sense, there are new measurements suggesting that the earth's solid crust also contracts by minute amounts in an annual cycle. For example, 50 GPS (Global Positioning System) stations in northeastern Japan detect east-west contractions of the crust of about 50 millimeters/year. The compressions are 15% faster in the fall and 15% slower in the spring. The same rhythmic squeezing has been discerned in a 150-meter tunnel dug into granite bedrock in the same region. To these instrument measurements can be added the strong tendency of some major volcanos to erupt in the fall when the biggest squeeze is on. The analogy of toothpaste being squeezed out of a tube is inescapable here! The cause of these annual "breathing" cycles is uncertain. (Kerr, Richard A.; "Earth's Breathing Lessons," Science, 291:584, 2001.) Comment. In principle, gravity waves could cause miniscule contractions of the crust, but it is difficult to see how they could have an annual cycle. From Science Frontiers #135, MAY-JUN 2001 . 2001 William R ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Solar Cosmic Rays Stimulate Thunderstorms Not so long ago the idea of short-term solar influences on terrestrial weather was treated with contempt. However, meteorologists are now being converted in droves because believable physical links have been found linking sun and earth. A prime example is the bombard-ment of the terrestrial atmosphere by solar cosmic rays. The cosmic rays and the secondary particles they create ion-ize enough of the atmosphere to disturb the entire planetary electrical circuit. The details of the circuit changes are still under study, but there seems no question about cosmic rays initiating thunderstorm activity. Plots of global thunderstorm activity peak strongly about three days after any maximum in solar cosmic rays. (Lethbridge, M.D . "Cosmic Rays and Thunderstorm Frequency," Geophysical Research Letters, 8:521, 1981.) Comment. At its present rate of decline the earth's magnetic field will reach zero in 1200 years. With this protective magnetic bottle gone, we see a good future for lightning rod manufacturers. hunderstorm frequency index shows a maximum 3 days after cosmic-ray maximum. From Science Frontiers #17, Fall 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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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 A True Fish Story "It happened during a smelt storm in early spring with the Rhonda K foundering dead in the icy water amid terrifying six- and eight-foot waves off Lake Huron's Thunder Bay light near Alpena." Wait a minute! A SMELT STORM? "' Spookiest thing I even saw,' Stiles said of the small fish carried from the water by the winds. 'Something I never heard of before. Smelt started falling from the sky. Thousands of smelt falling like a silver rain, and thousands of gulls going after them. The gulls were all around our heads picking up the smelt.'" (Barton, John; "A True Fish Story," Ann Arbor News, July 24, 1986. Cr. C.R . Engholm.) From Science Frontiers #47, SEP-OCT 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Rings of uranus: invisible and impossible?Now that they have discovered nine rings around Uranus, astronomers are having trouble explaining them. First, if they are made up of small chunks of matter, the laws of celestial mechanics dictate that they should quickly spread out radially into much wider rings in just a decade or two. In other words, if the rings are ancient they should not have maintained their present form. Second, the rings are invisible when one would expect them to be bright like Saturn's . Yet, they reflect less light than the blackest coal dust. T.C . Van Flandern proposes that each ring is actually a single satellite, so small that we cannot see it, and that it sheds gases as it orbits. This small solid body would make the celestial mechanics people happy, and the gases would be invisible to the eye but still absorb light, making the ring of gases detectable when Uranus occults a star. (Van Flandern, Thomas C.; "Rings of Uranus: Invisible and Impossible?" Science, 204:1076, 1979.) Comment. An alternative explanation is that the rings are recently acquired and will soon disappear. An 1847 observation of a ring around Uranus exists, but a datum this old carries little weight. See our Catalog: The Moon and the Planets for this old sighting. This book is described here . From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 ...
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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 The Stealth Catastrophe Recently, as geologists reckon time -- only 800,000 years ago -- Australia, Southeast Asia, and the eastern Indian Ocean were bombarded by untold numbers of small, oddly shaped stones called "tektites." New finds of tektites have expanded the strewn field of these Australasian tektites to include part of China. It now appears that about 30% of the earth's area was subjected to this stony bombardment. It is inescapable that the Australasian-tektite fall was a major event in the earth's history. But where are other signs of this great catastrophe? The present consensus holds that the Australasian tektites originated when a large celestial body slammed into our planet somewhere in Southeast Asia. The energy of the impact splashed droplets of molten rock into the atmosphere, where they were shaped aerodynamically and then fell as tektites. The extent of the immense Australasian-tektite strewn field implies a hard-to-miss crater about 100 kilometers in diameter. Yet, despite the geological recency of the event and despite much geological surveying, no convincing crater has been discovered. (SF#115) So, we have abundant evidence of a terrestrial event encompassing much of the planet but no "smoking crater"! The mystery deepens when one realizes that whatever cataclysm sent the Australian tektites aloft may have been comparable in magnitude to the impact that extinguished the dinosaurs (and other fauna) some 65 million years ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Deathbed Experiences Laid To Rest Over the years, doctors and psychiatrists have accumulated a large lode of deathbed or near-death experiences. Typically, one about to pass through the veil feels exhaltation, meets long-dead relatives, reviews his past life, encounters luminous beings, departs his body to view friends clustering around, and so on. What to make of it all? Is heaven or some sort of after life just beyond death's door? Alcock's analysis is very revealing. He first describes several well-known psychological states: out-of-the-body experiences, hypnogogic sleep, hallucinations, and the so-called mystical experience. He concludes that the full spectrum of deathbed experiences can occur any time, not merely during the final moments of life. Nothing unique happens at death's door, merely the altered states of consciousness expected at such a crucial moment. Thus, death-bed experiences reveal nothing of the territory beyond the grave. Alcock does maintain, however, that these various altered states of consciousness are very curious and well worth further study. (Alcock, James E.; "Psychology and Near-Death Experiences," The Skeptical Inquirer, 3:25, Spring 1979.) From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 125: Sep-Oct 1999 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The power of a paradigm Pre-columbiana Astronomy Ice-covered lake on mars? Leonid luminosity puzzle Biology Trannies of the tiny Snail-trail tale Dr. internet Geology Fossil meteorites The ups and downs of plate tectonics Geophysics Two down-falls Two non-falls Psychology Our untapped talents Sorrat Physics 10 YEARS OF COLD FUSION Unclassified More nominative determinism ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Submarine canyons: a 50-year perspective F.P . Shepard has devoted most of his professional life to the study of submarine canyons. These great canyons, some cut through thousands of feet of hard crystalline rock, dwarf the largest land-based canyons. No wonder Shepard was fascinated enough to spend his life collecting data and weighing possible explanations. After 50 years, he has concluded that these colossal submarine features have no single cause. Subaerial erosion, turbidity currents, submarine slumping, and faulting have all played roles. Anomalists will be most interested in Shepard's insistence that the evidence shows that subaerial erosion has played a major part in carving out the submarine canyons. This explanation is definitely frowned upon by most geologists because the Pleistocene sea levels dropped only about 100 meters according to current thinking. How could subaerial erosion account for canyons several thousand feet below present sea level? Shepard persists; the evidence is there. The continental margins must have risen and then sank back! He also points out that the Mediterranean seems to have dried up in recent geological times. Could the major oceans have dropped thousands of feet in a similar fashion? Shepard doesn't intimate this, saying only that the submarine canyons still present puzzles. (Shepard, Francis P.; "Submarine Canyons: Multiple Causes and Long-Time Persistence," American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin, 65:1062, 1981.) Reference. We ...
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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. 41: Sep-Oct 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Blinded By The Night Ron Westrum is a sociologist who specializes in cases where scientific data are rejected out-of-hand because they challenge prevailing paradigms too strongly. In this article, Westrum describes several classical cases where science has ultimately admitted its errors and embraced the formerly rejected data: 1. The fall of stones from the sky; 2. The existence of thousands of parent-battered children; and 3. The reality of the coelacanth. In connection with meteorite falls, he provides a wonderful quote from James Pringle, of the Royal Society: "I venture to affirm that, after perusing all the accounts I could find of these phenomena, I have met with no well-vouched instance of such an event; nor is it to be imagined, but that, if these meteors had really fallen, there must have been long ago so strong evidence of the fact as to leave no room to doubt of it at present." Next, Westrum tackles spontaneous human combustion and ball lightning, neither of which have been assimilated by science. He closes with a very complimentary paragraph on the Sourcebook Project and our Catalog of Anomalies, for which we thank him. (Westrum, Ron; "Blinded by the Night," The Sciences, 25:48, May-June 1985.) From Science Frontiers #41, SEP-OCT 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 12: Fall 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Gravity down, mass up The variation of the gravitational constant, G, with time would not be considered seriously were it not for the surprising coincidence of two enormous dimensionless numbers: (1 ) The ratio of the electrical to gravitational force between the electron and the proton in a hydrogen atom; and (2 ) The ratio of the age of the universe and the atomic unit of time. If these two ratios are truly equal, then G must decrease with time. Beyond the unstable feeling one gets, there is nothing in physics or cosmology to discourage a belief in time-varying gravity. Indeed, some as-tronomical data weakly support the idea. It is geophysics, though, where one finds strong evidence. Measurements of the decreasing length of the day and the expansion of the earth give about the same value for a decreasing G -- after other contributing factors have been eliminated. An interesting consequence of all this is that astrophysical theory seems to require that a decreasing G be balanced by increasing mass. Experiments are now underway to detect the continual creation of mass in terrestrial objects. (Wesson, Paul S.; "Does Gravity Change with Time?" Physics Today, 33:32, July 1980.) From Science Frontiers #12, Fall 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 12: Fall 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Static on the hare-lynx cycle signal Almost all ecology textbooks present the 10-11 year hare-lynx cycle as a classic case of prey-predator oscillations. The major data source for such population studies is the record of pelt sales rather than actual field observations. Looking beyond such superficial information, researchers have discovered that the quantity of pelts offered for sale by the Indians depends upon the amount of time they can divert to hunting pelts. This, in turn, is affected by the abundance of food animals, such as moose and hares. It is food first and pelts second. Furthermore, when the plants consumed by hares are overbrowsed during periods of dense hare population, they defend themselves by generating resins and other compounds toxic or repellent to hares. Thus, the hare abundance cycle is affected by: (1 ) Plant defenses; (2 ) Indian hunting strategies; and (3 ) The lynx. (May, Robert M.; "Cree-Ojibwa Hunting and the Hare-Lynx Cycle,: Nature, 286: 108, 1980.) Comment. Here is another case where the attractiveness of a theoretical model has dampened further inquiry. From Science Frontiers #12, Fall 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... The rocky sill at Gibraltar kept the Atlantic waters out of the Mediterranean, and this sea began to dry up. Farther to the east, the Black Sea was now cut off from the Mediterranean's salty water by the silt-choked Bosporus, that narrow strait separating Asia Minor from Europe. In consequence, the Black Sea became a vast fresh-water lake fed by Europe's rivers to the north. The Ice Age eventually waned, and the oceans and Mediterranean began to rise. About 7,000 years ago, the hydraulic pressure on the Bosporus silt plug became too great and it popped. Salty Mediterranean water poured into lowlands around the Black Sea. Scientists estimate that 50 cubic kilometers of water surged through the Bosporus each -- 200 Niagaras in one colossal waterfall. Falling some 150 meters, the thunder of falling water might have been heard 500 kilometers away! The Black Sea rose quickly, driving the shoreline and humans back a kilometer or two every day. The fleeing Neolithic farmers were forced up into the rich river valleys of Europe, carrying tales of the catastrophe as well as their culture and agricultural know-how into these areas. The Middle East was affected, too. The traumatic experiences of the survivors may have been the basis for the Sumerian and Biblical flood stories. (Mestel, Rosie; "Noah's Flood," New Scientist, p. 24, October 4, 1997. Also: Kerr, Richard A.; "Black Sea Deluge May Have Helped Spread Farming," Science, 279:1132, 1998.) ...
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... Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Tear Of The Gods?" This huge teardrop of ice, weighing four pounds, fell out of the sky and landed on a grass verge near stunned commuters at a bus stop in Ecclesfield, near Sheffield. Firemen took it back to Tankersley fire station and preserved it in a freezer. Later, someone took it out and dropped it." (Anonymous; "Tears of the Gods," Fortean Times, p. 9, no, 88, August 1996. Source cited: Sheffield Star, March 18, 1996.) Comment. Based on its weight, this "drop" of ice is about 5 inches across. One wonders where in the sky such a large drop of water could form and then freeze solid. The hackneyed explanation that ice falls come from leaky aircraft lavatories seems unlikely here! Reference. Ice falls or "hydrometeors" are described in GWF1 in the catalog: Tornados, Dark Days. This book is listed here . From Science Frontiers #107, SEP-OCT 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Enigmatic Stone Forts Of The American Midwest From diverse sources, J.D . Singer has drawn together a fascinating compendium of large stone forts and walled structures west of the Alleghenys. From Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and all across the Midwest come descriptions of stone structures of almost heroic proportions: A wall 5 to 12 feet high and almost a mile long at Fort Hill, Ohio; Two big walls at Fourteen Mile Creek, Indiana; Two massive stone walls or pyramids under Rock Lake, Wisconsin; and many more. Ignorance surrounds these structures. Who built them and when? Some are likely forts, for they are paralleled by ditches. Others seem to have no defensive value. The Moundbuilders may have hand a hand in some. Madoc and his wandering Welshmen are blamed for at least one wall! (Singer, Jon Douglas; "Stone Forts of the Midwest," NEARA Journal, 13:63 and 13:91, 1979. NEARA = New England Antiquities Research Association.) Comment. Concerted field work and searches of local archives would doubtless multiply the number of unexplained stone structures in the Midwest, just as it has in New England. For more on these forts see: Ancient Man. This Handbook is described here . From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 94: Jul-Aug 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Flat-plate hail Fig 1. A typical flat-plate hailstone from the May 17, 1993 fall. May 17, 1993. Berkshire, England. "As the cold front passed over Woodlands St. Mary, west Berkshire (183 meters above sea-level), at 1555 GMT, there commenced a 3-minute duration fall of unusual, flat-plate hailstones, measuring some 12 mm wide by 2 mm thick. These plates were smooth and glassy in appearance (indicating conditions of 'wet' growth) but not perfectly round, taking on an eccentric, wheel-like structure; with a 'hub' and four-spoke formation of transparent ice, having opaque areas in between." (Anonymous; "Flat-Plate Hail -- 17 May 1993," Weather, 48:433, 1993.) Comment. Other instances of hail platelets and small ice sheets may be found under GWP4 in Tornados, Dark Days. Ordering information here . The spoke-like structure mentioned above, however, is most unusual. It is difficult to imagine a meteorological process that could create millions of hailstones -- all with this strange geometry. From Science Frontiers #94, JUL-AUG 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... channels. The first class of observations consists of blasts of hot air noted some distance from violent lightning strikes but seeming associated with the discharges. Second, some superhailstones (hydrometeors) also seem to be correlated with violent lightning. The physical mechanism for the concentration and propulsion of matter is the electrostatic force naturally present in lightning discharge channels; it functions much the same as the particle accelerators in the physics lab. The observations of hot air blasts and superhailstones collected by Crew to support his theory are indeed suggestive, but more are needed. Crew also feels that some UFO sightings may be produced by the same mechanism. (Crew, E.W .; "Meteorological Flying Objects," Royal Astronomical Society Quarterly Journal, 21:216, 1980.) Comment. Note also that the fall of thunderstones is usually coincident with lightning discharges; and that some high quality observations of thunderstone falls are on record -- despite the tendency of Science to relegate them to myth. One must also consider the possibility that the passage of a meteor or superhailstone through the atmosphere might trigger lightning, thus putting the cart before the horse. From Science Frontiers #14, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... of black cats. Folklore assures us that black cats are bad luck. There may be something to this notion---at least for some people. Shahzad Hussain and his colleagues at the Long Island College Hospital in New York gave a questionnaire to 321 allergy sufferers asking them to describe their cats and assess the severity of their symptoms. Those with dark cats were four times as likely to have severe symptoms as people with light-coloured cats. "We were surprised," says Hussain. "So many questions need to be answered." (Anonymous; "The Dark Side of Black Cats," New Scientist, p. 27, November 4, 2000) Tales of toppling penguins. British scientists are heading for the South Atlantic in an attempt to disprove claims that penguins fall over backwards when aircraft fly overhead. Royal Navy and RAF pilots have been bringing back reports of toppling penguins since the Falklands War in 1982. The flightless birds are said to be so mesmerized by helicopters and jets that they lose their balance as they attempt to keep track of them. (Tweedie, Neil; "Scientists to Check on Toppling Penguins," The Age, November 2, 2000. As downloaded from the web: www.theage.com.au/frontpage/20001102/A22021-2000Nov2.html . Cr. P. Huyghe) But a missive from the British Antarctic Survey insists: .. .there is no scientific evidence for penguins falling over backwards when helicopters overfly. (Holden, Constance, ed.; "Prostrate Penguins?" Science, 290 ...
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... Some examples given of self-organizing biological phenomena are: (1 ) the sequencing of amino acids into selfreplicating structures; (2 ) slime-mold organization; and (3 ) the origin of the lens structure of the firefly. All of these claims are accompanied by computer simulations of self-organizing reactions. (Madore, Barry F., and Freedman, Wendy L.; "Self-Organizing Structures," American Scientist, 75:252, 1987.) Comment. While we believe that science is the best way yet discovered to search for truth, we have to admit that scientists sometimes get carried away in their zeal to explain things, especially with computer graphics. The Belousov-Zha botinskii reaction is certainly impressive. So is crystal growth. But are the atoms falling together to form a crystal analogous to soldiers falling into ranks; or the assembly of genetic information into the genotypes for our planet's multitudinous species? How far can we apply reductionism? Spectacular, evolving forms erupt in the Belousov-Zhabotinskii reaction. Waves of chemical activity propagate through a receptive liquid medium. From Science Frontiers #53, SEP-OCT 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... my car's hood. .. .. . "I cautiously got out to examine the fallen object. Tiny pieces had broken off, but it was largely intact and measured four to five inches across. I smelled it -- yes, it still carried a faint scent -- of pizza! It was a slice of pizza, solid as a rock and stone cold. This was no ordinary meteorite. I thought of God feeding the Israelites manna from heaven, but God knows I prefer pepperoni. This was plain, tomato and cheese, on a thin crust." (Becker, Peter W.; "Manna or Meteorite?" Sky and Telescope, 86:7 , August 1993.) Comment. After you stop laughing, recall that many accounts of fish falling from the sky mention that they are frozen. Hummm. Perhaps a whirlwind whipped through a pizzeria! Reference. Over the centuries, many strange objects have been reported to fall from the sky. See GWF in our catalog: Tornados, Dark Days. Description here . From Science Frontiers #90, NOV-DEC 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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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 Behind magnetic flip-flops The earth's magnetic field frequently reverses its polarity. Such flips can of-ten be correlated with climate changes, global ice volumes, sea-floor spreading rates, and deposition of black shales, tektite falls, biological extinctions, etc. The frustrating thing is the lack of clear-cut cause and effect; that is, how these phenomena are linked physically to the geomagnetic field. Part of the problem is that we can only guess at how the geomagnetic field is generated. Let us assume that the earth's magnetic field is created by dynamo action in the planet's fluid core. P. Olson finds analytically that the core dynamo may reverse sign due to fluctuations in core turbulence caused by two competing energy sources: heat loss at the mantle-core boundary and progressive growth of the inner core. In concept, the heat lost at the core-mantle boundary might be linked to climate changes and sea-floor spreading. Taking a different tack, D. Gubbins has investigated the possibility that field reversals are triggered by ice ages and meteorite impacts (tektite falls). The physical mechanism here would be the increase in pressure upon the core, which affects the rate of freezing in the outer core, and thus the power available to the core dynamo. Gubbins found that these externally caused pressure changes were too small to explain the polarity changes. However, the parameters involved ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 88: Jul-Aug 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Seashore Seiches At many spots around the world, sealevel rises and falls with periods of only a few minutes -- much shorter than the common semidiurnal tides and much longer than wind-generated waves. These oscillations of the water surface are termed "seiches." Two fundamentally different kinds of seiches have been noted in the recent literature. The first variety is transitory and can be set into motion by weather disturbances and earthquakes. The second is permanent and a bit more mysterious. Let's take transitory seiches first September 17, 1992. Anglesey, England. At about 0700 in the morning: "I was on the beach at Trearddur on western Anglesey, when an acquaintance drove down the beach towing a fishing boat. He launched the boat in about six inches of water and we then engaged in conversation for a couple of minutes. Turning to the boat, we were amazed to find that it was high and dry about 20 metres from the water's edge. Small flatfish, mainly immature brill, could be seen stranded and flapping in the wet sand. About a minute later, the sea started to return and quickly rose up the beach beyond where the boat had originally been launched. An hour later, the oscillation in sea level was still taking place. I determined that the period was just over three minutes and the amplitude just under one metre, the latter measured with reference to a half-submerged ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 17 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf088/sf088g13.htm
