219 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 90: Nov-Dec 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Ktb Hole KTB = Kontinentales Tiefbohrprogramm der Bundesrepublik Deutschland If you could drop a pfennig down the KTB hole, it would take several minutes to hit bottom, for this research drill hole has now penetrated to 7.5 kilometers. It is the second deepest man-made hole, after the Soviet 12-km hole in the Kola Peninsula. Drilled solely for scientific purposes, the rocks and strata encountered by the KTB drill bits have forced the redrawing of German geological maps. The "real" subterranean world turned out to be quite different from that inferred from both surface indications and the seismic and electrical probing of the depths. Three specific surprises are worth mentioning: Temperatures in the drill hole rose far faster than predicted. The expected boundary (" suture") between two old tectonic plates thought to exist at 3 km according to surface geology had not yet appeared at 7.5 km. Most interestingly, crevicular structure (crevices and pores) existed at almost all depths, even though theory said they could not because of intense pressures. And these voids were filled with fluids. P. Keher, a KTB scientist, was amazed at what the drill found: "When I started 25 years ago, the idea was that the deeper you go into the crust, the drier it gets." (Kerr, Richard A.; "Looking -- Deeply -- into the Earth's Crust in Europe ...
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... : Spring 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Invention Of Agriculture May Have Been A Step Backward Anthropological texts have always ballyhooed the development of agriculture as one of man's greatest achievements. Not so, says Mark Cohen, of SUNY Plattsburgh. The switch from hunting and gathering to sedentary agriculture, it seems, occurred rather suddenly and was attended by a sharp drop in life expectancy. Ancient human bones reveal much more disease, fewer older people, and more violent deaths for centuries following the adoption of agriculture. Why did humanity give up the surprising degrees of security, freedom, and leisure intrinsic in hunting and gathering? Cohen claims that population pressure was the cause. Unable to stem the human population explosion, ancient humans were forced to adopt a life of toil, disease, and stress. (Lewin, Roger; "Disease Clue to Dawn of Agriculture," Science, 211:41, 1981.) Comment. Is there an echo of the Garden of Eden story here? From Science Frontiers #15, Spring 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... evolutionist would expect. Instead, they remain un-changed until they become extinct. This striking aspect of the fossil record is not predicted by neo-Darwinism -- and there is the rub! (Williamson, Peter G.; "Morphological Stasis and Developmental Constraint: Real Problems for Neo-Darwinism," Nature, 294:214, 1981.) Comment. In neo-Darwinism, evolution unfolds by small accumulated changes, the causes of which may be chemicals in the environment, nuclear radiation, and other "stresses." Neo-Darwinism goes hand-in-hand with geological Uniformitarianism, both of which are favored philosophically by scientists because slow change is more amenable to scientific explanation. The large sidewise steps of punctuated evolution are difficult to explain in terms of known "forces." In this context, the radical concepts of directed panspermia and the impact of viruses on evolution may be important! From Science Frontiers #19, JAN-FEB 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... There was some unusual and selective damage in the town and even in the village 20 km from the epicenter. Azimuth distribution of hurled frozen soil from the crater and damage had four lobes. But, on the other hand, a tree 10 m from the epicenter was undamaged. There was no damage on the ground level at a distance up to about 1 km from the crater (only ground swing and jerking), but several high suspended electric wires were torn off. At large distances, there was unusual damage at the ground level, and even water pipes at a distance up to 15 km from the epicenter were torn off. During the explosion, in closed and undamaged rooms, in most cases different things flew with soft landings, and even some people were transported by a unknown force. Hollow plastic toys and electric lamp bulbs exploded. Inner windows were smashed while outer ones were undamaged. At a distance of about 10 km from the main crater, two more pits in the ground appeared simultaneously with the main crater. Soil was hurled, and there were light phenomena." (Ol'khovatov, A. Yu.; personal communication, March 1994. Russian references cited by Ol'khovatov were: Izvestiya , p. 8, November 17, 1993; and Izv. AN USSR Earth Phys , 27:606, 1991.) From Science Frontiers #93, MAY-JUN 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... that go to make up our history;" i.e ., the long history of parapsychological research. [? ?] Instead, Beloff suggests that a paranormal phenomenon actually represents a "violation of the natural order." Nature, he says, reacts to these rents in the fabric of the cosmos by healing them just as our bodies heal wounds. The more robust the phenomenon, the more strenuously nature reacts, apparently almost completely ignoring the "weak" phenomena. (Beloff, John; "Lessons of History," American Society for Psychical Research, Journal, 88:7 , 1994.) Comment. We could add to Beloff's list of phenomena: UFOs, the Loch Ness monster, crop circles, cold fusion, infinite-dilution results, the fifth force, windshield pitting, ancient astronauts, and polywater, to name a few. We predict that the scientific community will not countenance these "violations" of natural order any more than it welcomed Sheldrake's morphogenic fields! From Science Frontiers #93, MAY-JUN 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 21: May-Jun 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Magnetic tune played on saturn's rings The strange dark radial spokes seen in Voyager's photos of Saturn's rings wax and wane with a period of about 621 minutes. This is very close to the rotation period of Saturn's magnetic field. Somehow, the rotating magnetic field interacts with the particles making up the rings, forcing density or reflectivity changes that we see as transitory spokes. It is not yet clear how this magnetic tune is played. (Proco, C.C ., and Danielson, G.E .; "The Periodic Variation of Spokes in Saturn's Rings," Eos, 63:156, 1982.) Comment. Brightness changes have also been noted in the zodiacal light, which is light reflected from particles surrounding the sun. After reading about Saturn's variable spokes, one wonders whether solar-system magnetic fields might be the cause of these mysterious variations in the zodiacal light. From Science Frontiers #21, MAY-JUN 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Plane Weirdness Made Plain In SF#93, under the title: "Just Plane Weird," we questioned the long-term persistence of trailing vortices from aircraft wingtips. Could such vortices actually maintain their integrities for several minutes and thus produce the curious tubes of misty air and flapping sounds observed at the end of the Los Angeles airport runway? The answer seems to be YES, as confirmed below: "Wingtip vortices have a core diameter of 20 to 40 feet and, as they trail behind each wingtip, remain approximately two wingspans apart. Why don't they enlarge in radius and dissipate? The rapid acceleration at the outer edge of the vortex produces low pressure in the core, and this pressure differential creates enough centrifugal force to hold the system tightly together for three to seven minutes. After that, friction takes its course, breaking these stubborn twisters apart into mere turbulence." The rest of this article deals with how light aircraft can avoid these sometimes deadly horizontal "twisters." (Manningham, Micah D.; "Wake Turbulence," Private Pilot , p. 69, June 1994. Cr. W.A . Welch) From Science Frontiers #94, JUL-AUG 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... be the first and only intelligent civilization. Essentially Tipler was criticizing the prevailing notion that, from a statistical point of view, there must be many other civilizations among the numberless stars and galaxies. Tipler's thoughts evoked a richly provocative group of letters, some of which were published in the March 1982 issue of Physics Today along with a closely related article by Ornstein. Ornstein tackled the problem of estimating the probability that intelligent life would evolve on other planets from a biologist's perspective. Whereas some physical scientists have set this probability at about 1.0 , Ornstein inclines toward 10-9 , believing that intelligent life is probably unique to the earth. But concludes Ornstein, the 15 separate developments of eyes among disparate terrestrial organisms may infer some unrecognized directing factor in evolution that would force him to revise his estimate upwards drastically. On the other hand, those 15 eyes might indicate a common, but still undiscovered, eye-possessing ancestor far back along evolution's track. The fossil record might be mute on this matter because eyes are soft tissues that are rarely preserved or perhaps because many eyes were jettisoned because the organisms didn't need them, as cave dwellers are wont to do with surprising rapidity. Some of the letters responding to Tipler questioned whether an intelligent civilization would be stupid enough to build self-reproducing von Neumann machines for galactic exploration. Wouldn't it be far more fun to go in person rather than by proxy? And, some pointed out, von Neumann machines would be ravenous consumers of energy and materials and might turn on man ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 98: Mar-Apr 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Some Shaky Observations Back in SF#65, we offered an item on how wood turtles stomp the ground to force earthworms out of their burrows. (When humans do this -- and they do -- it is called "grunting for worms!) Other animals also use vibrations for communication and, rather surprisingly, for cutting leaves. Malaysian tree frogs. Zoologists already knew that Puerto Rican white-lipped frogs use vibrations to communicate amongst themselves. The Malaysian tree frog can now be added to the list of substrate vibrators. The female will sit on a reed or small sapling and tap out a "come-hither" message with her toes. The message goes forth in minute seismic waves. The males detect these vibrations and proceed, sometimes in great numbers, to the source of the vibrations, and the species is thereby perpetuated. (Mestel, Rosie; "Courting Tree Frogs Make the Earth Move," New Scientist, p. 8, December 10, 1994.) Leaf-cutting ants. Leaf-cutting ants neatly excise penny-size pieces of leaves and tote them back to their fungus gardens. J. Tautz and colleagues, University of Wurtzburg, noted that the ants chirped as they sliced at the leaves with their jaws. With a little instrumentation, they discovered that during each chirp both ant and leaf vibrated at about 1,000 hertz. The vibration apparently rigidizes soft leaf tissues and ...
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... be taken as evidence for non-Newtonian gravity, but can also be accounted for in terms of Newtonian physics if a suitable distribution of high densiity masses exist beneath the borehole." (Zumberge, Mark Al, et al; "Results from the 1987 Greenland G Experiment," Eos, 69:1046, 1988.) The paper on the Greenland experiment led to a short article in Science in which differing opinions among the re-search team members about the experiment's significance were aired. Some opted for an unusual density distribu-tion of the rock beneath the experiment to explain the results; others thought that the required density distribution was too unlikely and contrived and consequently favored a modification of Newton's inverse-square law. (Poole, Robert; "' Fifth Force' Update: More Tests Needed," Science, 242:1499, 1988.) Comment. Should we permit this tiny residue of anomalous observations to cast doubt upon a law verified in count-less experiments and astronomical observations? Those who believe in the "residue fallacy" will say, "No! Discard the wild points!" From Science Frontiers #62, MAR-APR 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 24: Nov-Dec 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Powerful Earth Current Enters North America From The Pacific An immense current of terrestrial electricity originating somewhere in the Pacific enters the North American continent along the Strait of Georgia (between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland) and shoots past Tacoma toward Oregon. The discoverers of the current, John R. Booker and Gerard Hensel, at the University of Washington, traced the flow of electricity through a narrow wedge of porous, water-bearing rock that parallels a fault line. Another branch of this terrestrial circuit enters along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. No estimates are given of the magnitude of the current; and there are no speculations as to the origin of the electromagnetic force driving the current. (Anonymous; "Nature's Hidden Power Line," Science Digest, 90:18, October 1982.) Reference. This and other earth currents are mentioned in EZC5 in our Catalog: Inner Earth. For ordering information, visit: here . Comment. In some areas, large artifi cial earth currents are created by high-power transmission lines. From Science Frontiers #24, NOV-DEC 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... cannot say where the very grim reaper came from. (Gibbons, Ann; "The Mystery of Humanity's Missing Mutations," Science, 267:35, 1995.) Comment. The hand that wiped the slate clean, or nearly so, might have been a meteor impact, a pandemic, the Ice Ages, a flood, volcanism, etc. Whatever it was, it seems to have largely spared Africa. The chimps and gorillas there apparently did not pass through the bottleneck. Even more interesting is the observation that the DNA of Subsaharan Africans does shows more variability and therefore seems older than that from humans elsewhere on the planet. (See BMG9 in our catalog volume: Biological Anomalies: Humans III.) Or perhaps Subsaharan DNA only seems older because it was not forced through that bottleneck. There are implications here for the African Eve theory. From Science Frontiers #100, JUL-AUG 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A FAR-WANDERING LOST TRIBE?Imagine hiking near Los Lunas, New Mexico, and coming upon a huge basalt boulder inscribed as shown in the illustration. This is obviously not an Indian petroglyph. Rather, it is the Ten Commandments set down in an old Hebrew script. The script and its translation seem unmysterious. What everyone wants to know is: Who chiseled it and when? It was apparently discovered in the 1880s. Harvard anthropologist Frank C. Hibben visited the site in 1930 and pronounced the inscription to be at least 100 years old. Who in New Mexico in 1830 knew ancient Hebrew? The inscription may be much older, for the whole boulder, weighing 60-80 tons, is tipped 20-30 , probably by geological forces, so that the lines of script are tilted. (Underwood, L. Lyle; "The Los Lunas Inscription," Epigraphic Society, Occasional Publications, vol. 10, no. 237, 1982.) Comment. Is it all a hoax? Some think so. It is easier to live with a hoax than with the thought of a Hebrew outpost in New Mexico a couple thousand years ago. It should be remarked that there are many purported Hebrew and Roman finds in the American Southwest; viz, the Tucson lead crosses with their Roman inscriptions. Reference. More anomalous epigraphy is to be found in our Handbook: Ancient Man. For more on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #25, JAN-FEB 1983 . 1983-2000 William R ...
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... three researchers, though, continued their labors at Steens Mountain and have now offered additional, even more impressive data. They now find that the geomagnetic field probably shifted as much as 6 in a single day. Their work has been carried forward so professionally and meticulously that other scientists are finding their conclusions harder and harder to dismiss. Instead, the search is on for explanations of the rapid field changes. Three possibilities have been advanced -- all of them unpalatable to geophysicists: The Steens Mountain rocks are not faithful recorders of the main geomagnetic field. Should this be actually so, the whole field of paleomagnetism, including plate tectonics, is undermined, for it depends upon similar measurements. The earth's molten core can change rapidly, at least in some regions, in response to forces still unrecognized. This, of course, is not really a satisfying "explanation." The dynamo theory of the origin of the geomagnetic field is incorrect. (Coe, R.S ., et al; "New Evidence for Extraordinarily Rapid Change of the Geomagnetic Field during a Reversal," Nature, 374:687, 1995. Merrill, Ronald T.; "Principle of Least Astonishment," Nature, 374:674, 1995.) Reference. More puzzles of the geomagnetic field are provided in: Inner Earth. For details, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #101 Sep-Oct 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... is supposed to be so thin that friction will bring the satellite only 1/250th of an inch closer to the earth each day. The trouble is that Lageos actually falls at ten times this rate. In 1979 it descended 60% faster than it does now. Lageos will stay in orbit several hundred thou-sand years, but space scientists are understandably concerned about their theories about the upper atmosphere. Many suggestions have been made to explain this anomaly. Some say the atmosphere is thicker than expected; others prefer to think there is more helium than predicted; but the "plasma drag" effect seems to fit the situation the best. Lageos may, in fact, be electrically charged and interacting with the surrounding cloud of electrically charged particles and is ever so slightly braked by the electrical forces. (Maran, Stephen P.; "Fall from Space," Natural History, 91:74, December 1982.) From Science Frontiers #25, JAN-FEB 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... ) Circa December 11, 1935. British Guiana (now Guyana). Only five years after the Brazilian event, a large bolide apparently smashed into the jungle of Guyana. Buried in the library stacks, we found a mostly forgotten trio of reports on the 1935 event in a 1939 issue of The Sky, predecessor of Sky & Telescope. The articles suggest that the devastated area "may equal or exceed that of the great Siberian meteor of 1908." The bolide and apparent impact area were observed by a gold prospector, a Dr. G. Davidson. Davidson testified: "About 10:30 in the morning we climbed to the top of the mountain in order to get a panorama of the surrounding country. We could see some areas that had been swept down by some great force, trees twisted off some 25 feet above the ground. We tried to enter one of these areas but the bush was in such a tangle that we had to give it up." (Ref. 3) Photographs accompanying the articles confirm some of the devastation. 1995. Northeastern Brazil. "Scientists in Brazil's northeastern state of Piaui are baffled by a crater that was punched into the tropical rain forest shortly after witnesses reported seeing a bright light streak across the sky. Researchers are uncertain whether the crater, 16 feet wide and 32 feet deep, was left by a meteorite or a piece of a comet. Physicist Paulo Frota of the University of Piaui believes it was caused by a block of ice from a comet because the surrounding vegetation is not burned and the crater ...
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... second brood, which matures after the catkins have disappeared, develop instead a twig-like appearance after consuming oak leaves. Thus, both broods acquire the proper protective camouflage for each season. Experiments show that plant chemicals control the appearance of the caterpillars. (Green, Erick; "A Diet-Induced Developmental Polymorphism in a Caterpillar," Science, 243:643, 1989. Also: Wickelgren, I.; "Caterpillar Disguise; You Are What You Eat," Science News, 135: 70, 1989.) Comment. Is it naive to wonder why the oaks contribute to their own destruction by providing the caterpillars with chemicals that help conceal them from predators? Plants are usually very clever about producing insect-discouraging chemicals in their leaves. One would expect that "evolutionary forces" would have produced chemicals that would have made the caterpillars more obvious to their predators instead of visa versa. From Science Frontiers #63, MAY-JUN 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 30: Nov-Dec 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Throbbing Earth The planet earth throbs regularly every 12 sidereal hours according to gravity-wave detectors located in Geneva and Frascati, Italy. The pulsations, presumably expansions and contractions of the earth-as-a -whole, have been re-corded at both places for over a year. Pulse amplitudes are about 100 times larger than those that are expected from gravity waves, so planetary pulsations are blamed. Since sidereal time is measured with respect to the fixed stars rather than the sun, an extraterrestrial origin is possible, although no one knows what sort of cosmic force could make our planet throb like this with such precise timing. (Anonymous; "Italians Discover Earth Throb," New Scientist, September 29, 1983.) From Science Frontiers #30, NOV-DEC 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... sheep circle (2 ) on a plateau opposite...In the sector between north and north-east, flocks of sheep were in other fields but in no case exhibited the circular formation, being in typically haphazard groups.' In a second letter Mr Belcher emphasized that the sheep of the two circles were 'variously standing, laying down, or grazing. All quietly occupied, but nevertheless forming this very regular circular formation." (Meaden, G.T .; "Sheep in Circular Flocks: Is There a Meteorological, or Some Other, Connection?" Journal of Meteorology, 14:54, 1989. Journal address: 54 Frome Road, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, ENGLAND BA15 1LD.) Comment. In his letter, Belcher wondered what mysterious force had arrayed the two flocks of sheep so neatly. Meaden, very timidly to be sure, ventured that the same sort of whirlwinds that he believes cuts the crop circles might cause sheep to drift outwards into a circle! In the interest of complete-ness, some grazing animals, such as the muskoxen, will form into a circle when threatened. But are there appropriate whirlwinds in the Arctic? So much for deprecating taxonomy-through-morphology! From Science Frontiers #64, JUL-AUG 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... declared that from statistical considerations life could not have arisen and evolved on earth. Rather, life had to come from outer space, probably in the form of bacteria and viruses. Evolution was and is dependent upon new information arriving from outer space on tiny bits of life. Hoyle now greatly extends his theory: "But where did a knowledge of amino acid chains of enzymes come from? To use a geological analogy, the knowledge came from the cosmological equivalent of a previous era, from a previously existing creature if you like, a creature that was not carbon-based, one that was permitted by an environment that existed long ago. So information is handed on in a Universe where the lower symmetries of physics -- and characteristics of particles and atoms -- are slowly changing, forcing the manner of storage of the information to change also in such a way as to match the physics. It is this process that is responsible for our present existence, and it is the one which our descendants would be fated to continue." To continue his search for the ultimate, Hoyle recognizes that, contrary to what transpires in the inorganic world, life as-a -whole is actually gaining order and information. He sees life leading the universe forward to a remarkable future: "That biological systems are able in some way to utilise the opposite time-sense in which radiation propagates from future to past. Biology works backwards in time. Living matter responds to quantum signals from the future, instead of the Universe being committed to increasing disorder and decay, the opposite could ...
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... turn is wrapped onionlike by the mantle and outer crust. Earthquakes are always sending seismic waves through these regions and jostling seismometers installed all over the globe. From this wealth of seismic signals, geophysicists have found that the inner core, lubricated by the fluid outer core, rotates about 1.1 per year faster than the mantle and crust. The inner core interacts with the geomagnetic field and is, in effect, like the rotor of a slow, ponderous induction motor. Expanding upon this vision of the earth as a colossal electrical machine, E. Stokstad writes: "Electric currents of about a billion amps flow across the boundary between the solid inner core and the fluid outer core that lies around it. In the presence of the Earth's magnetic field, these currents generate massive forces that tug on the inner core. And because the outer core has a relatively low viscosity, the inner core can spin freely." (Stokstad, Erik; "Earth's Heart Is in a Spin," New Scientist, p. 18, July 20, 1996. The basic paper is: Song, Xiadong, and Richards, Paul G.; "Seismological Evidence for Differential Rotation of the Earth"s Inner Core," Nature, 382:221, 1996) Comments. Awesome as this gigantic natural electric motor may be, it doesn't challenge any paradigms; in fact, it reinforces current notions concerning the origin of the geomagnetic field. The anomalist, however, inevitably asks questions and makes iconoclastic connections. Why couldn't this planet-size ...
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... his classic Synchronicity; An Acausal Connecting Principle . He noted, for example, that Herr Feist (Mr. Stout) was the food minister and Herr Rosstauscher (Mr. Horsetrader) was a lawyer. He mused: "Are these whimsicalities of chance, or the suggestive effects of the name, as Stekel seems to suggest, or are they 'meaningful coincidences'?" Jung never answered his own question. The British New Scientist, in its "Feedback" column, has since tackled this enigmatic phenomenon many times. Nominative determinism was introduced first in 1994, when it was remarked that a paper on incontinence in the British Journal of Urology was authored by J.W . Splatt and D. Weedon! New Scientist readers added many more examples, proving just how powerful this psychological force really is. "The head of planning for British Airways is Rod Muddle...Frances Crook is the director of the Howard League for Penal Reform...S .M . Breedlove writes on sexual dimorphism for the Journal of Neuroscience...The US Heritage Foundation's senior researcher on children in foster care is Patrick Fagan...etc. ad infinitum." (From New Scientist "Feedback" columns of April 20 and June 22, 1996) Tik-tok, was the most famous thinking machine in the Land of Oz. But is Tik-tok the only robot in the picture? Perhaps there are three! From Science Frontiers #108, NOV-DEC 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... deep" probings of the cosmos confirm this redshift clustering, we may need a new evolutionary scenario. Good bye Big Bang and expanding universe! (Vogel, Gretchen; "Goodness, Gracious, Great Walls Afar," Science, 274:343, 1996. Vergano, D.; "New Evidence of Cosmic Architecture," Science News, 150:239, 1996) In a related news item, Mexican scientists have proposed that most of the matter in the universe (that elusive "dark" matter) may exist in the form of particles they dub "dilatons." Dilatons might also explain the formation of the aforesaid galactic shells. "The Mexican researchers have explored a situation in which G [the gravitational constant], instead of becoming fixed after gravity separated from the other forces [after the Big Bang], has continued to oscillate by a few per cent. They have found that the mass of dilatons required to allow G to vary in this way could account for all the Universe's dark matter." A consequence of an oscillating G would be a varying rate of expansion for the universe -- a sort of ebb and flow of the whole cosmos. One can then visualize galaxies gradually clustering together into shells much as sand particles drift into ripples under the influence of waves along a beach. (Parsons, Paul; "Weird Matter Makes Gravity Wobble," New Scientist, p. 19, October 5, 1996) Clustering of distant galaxies From Science Frontiers #109, JAN-FEB 1997 . 1997-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... wind alone of moderate-sized (20 kg) rocks with cubic shape requires sustained winds close to the ground of about 80 m/s (about 180 mph). Larger flat-lying rocks require much higher winds." The authors of this paper, J.B . Reid, Jr., et al, precisely mapped a large number of the enigmatic tracks. Their maps revealed many "mated pairs" of rocks, whose curving tracks matched near their origins to within a few centimeters, even though the tracks were separated by up to 830 meters (over 0.5 mile!). Apparently these mated rocks were locked into a huge ice sheet resting -- almost floating -- on slippery mud. Sustained winds blowing over the large areas of ice generated enough horizontal force to propel the ice sheets with their cargos of rocks. Measurements showed that some of these ice sheets had to be at least 850 x 500 m (about 100 acres!) in extent. That's big, to be sure, but hardly anomalous. (Reid, John B., Jr., et al; "Sliding Rocks at the Racetrack, Death Valley: What Makes Them Move?" Geology , 23: 819, 1995) Comment. If scientists would spend as much effort on marine light wheels and UFOs as they do on sliding rocks, we anomalists wouldn't have so much to write about. It's all a question of what is "academically respectable." Reference. Sliding rocks at Racetrack Playa and other localities are cataloged at ESM11 ...
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... lengthy periods without magnetic reversals (' quiet periods'). My assembly of published work indicates a remote connection between quiet periods and anoxic events and suggests its form: Magnetic quiet periods coincide with fast seafloor spreading. During these periods, buoyant spreading ridges displace seawater into broad shelves, thus decreasing earth's albedo and causing global warming. Temperature gradients, and thus density gradients, from pole to equator decrease in surface waters, and the deep ocean currents of oxygenated polar waters wane. Oxygen minimum zones intensify and widen; anoxic conditions throughout entire basins are indicated by black shales deposited in the deep sea. These relations thus suggest that the earth's interior processes and its climates are related and their status recorded by both magnetic polarity and anoxic event chronologies of the earth." (Force, Eric R.; "A Relation among Geomagnetic Reversals, Seafloor Spreading Rate, Paleoclimate, and Black Shales," Eos, 65:18, 1984.) Comment. But what stopped and restarted the magnetic reversals and other concurrent processes? Strangely enough, the quiet, anoxic periods do not seem to coincide with biological extinctions! From Science Frontiers #32, MAR-APR 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Comet Puffs A Smoke Ring When the periodic comet Kopff was photographed on August 13, 1983, using the 4-meter Mayall reflector at Kitt Peak, the black-and-white photo showed nothing out-of-the-ordinary. But digitization and computer enhancement revealed a previously unnoticed cloud of matter -million miles long trailing the nucleus. Curiously, the cloud resembled a huge smoke ring -- a distinct departure from the long, flowing tails shown in the textbooks. (Anonymous; "The Unusual Dust Cloud of Comet Kopff," Sky and Telescope, 67:226, 1984.) Comment. Obviously forces other than the solar wind were at work here. From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... -bodied, shallow-water marine invertebrates, some with dimensions as large as 1 meter. This whole group of animals did not survive into Cambrian times, thus ending what has been termed The Ediacaran Experiment. Some paleontologists have tried to find similarities between the Ediacaran and Cambrian life forms to preserve the continuity of life. This has proved difficult, and some scientists now feel that The Edicaran approach to "largeness" was to increase surface area externally. The Ediacarans were therefore shaped like pancakes, tapes, fans, etc. This enabled them to present large areas to the environment for respiration, feeding, and other biological functions. In contrast, many present life forms achieve "largeness" by increasing internal areas, as in the lungs, folded intestines, etc., along with the forced circulation of air, blood, and other sub stances. This latter approach survived, while the two-dimensional Ediacaran Experiment did not. The demise or extintcion of the Ediacarans led Gould, the author of this far-ranging article, to the influence of extinctions on life in general -- a hot topic these days. Gould stated that with natural selection operating, one would expect continual "improvement" in life forms, but that this had not happened. "I regard the failure to find a clear 'vector of progress' in life's history as the most puzzling fact of the fossil record. But I also believe that we are now on the verge of a solution, thanks to a better understanding of evolution in both normal and catastrophic times. We need a ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Imaging Cancer Away "Anna had been given three months to live. The malignant tumor, growing rapidly at the back of her neck, had virtually crippled her. Her upper body was hunched over, her head was forced painfully to one side, and her right arm was contracted and paralyzed. The best thing she could do, said her doctor, was to go home and make arrangements for the future of her young son and daughter." Instead Anna learned how to "image." She conceived the tumor to be a dragon on her back and her white blood cells as knights attacking the dragon with swords. A year later, the tumor had shrunk. Later, it disappeared complete-ly. Can "imaging" work? Obviously, this is a very controversial question. Admittedly, little real scientific research has been done on imaging per se -- it is a bit too radical a concept. But a few scientists are beginning to chart the chemistry and information flow in the mind-body relationship. For example, the death of a spouse has long been associated with the increased mortality of the surviving spouse. Clinical studies of bereaved spouses reveal fewer circulating lymphocytes, which help the body fight disease, and significantly higher levels of cortisol, a substance that suppresses the immune system's response to disease. Although it is very early in the game, there are verifiable correlations between state-of-mind ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 114: Nov-Dec 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Standing Stones In North Carolina?A North Carolina reader recently submitted the accompanying photograph of very large, vertically oriented stones that, if found in western Europe, would be quickly assigned to the megalithic culture. Although similar upright stones are known in New England, we have not heard of any in North Carolina before. The stones in question are located in the Boone/Blowing Rock region of western North Carolina near Foscoe, very close to Grandfather Mountain (second highest peak east of the Mississippi). Although they could well be a product of natural forces, they stand out like the proverbial "sore thumb." (Davant, Charles, III; personal communications, July 2 and August 18, 1997.) Row of three, large, erect stones in western North Carolina. From Science Frontiers #114, NOV-DEC 1997 . 1997-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... this in his book The Cosmic Code . (Ref. 3) References Ref. 1. Watson, Andrew; "Quantum Spookiness Wins, Einstein Loses in Photon Test," Science, 277:481, 1997. Ref. 2. Buchanan, Mark; "Light's Spooky Connections Set Distance Record," New Scientist, p. 16, June 28, 1997. Ref. 3. Browne, Malcolm W.; "Far Apart, 2 Particles Respond Faster Than Light," New York Times, July 22, 1997. Cr. M. Colpitts.) Comments. "Spookiness" is in the mind of the percipient. We don't usually think of gravity as spooky, but just what does draw two masses together? All action-ata-distance forces are spooky. Everybody is into "codes" these days, as if Nature herself (or God) is not speaking out directly and plainly. We have, for example: The Message of the Sphinx (G . Hancock and R. Bauval); The Bible Code (M . Drosin); and The Biotic Message ( W.J . ReMine). From Science Frontiers #114, NOV-DEC 1997 . 1997-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... theory, have formed sheltered environments for the evolution of the more complicated parts of living cells. The microspheres absorb sunlight and, with the addition of this energy, display some of the electrical characteristics of biological neurons, like those in the brain. The implication is that some components of "mind" may have existed in the very earliest life forms. (Peterson, Ivars; "Microsphere Excitement," Science News, 125:408, 1984.) Comment. Two comments here: First, the word "spontaneous" is customarily employed when describing how atoms unite to form molecules and molecules combine into polymers, which then gather into microspheres. The word "spontaneous" seems to imply chance is operating rather than design. Actually, atoms and even subatomic particles must have innate properties which force them to combine into larger structures the way they do. Philosophically, one can ask whether the lowliest subatomic particles are "coded" to combine into molecules, microspheres, and living creatures. In other words, the design of life could be inherent in quarks. Second, if nonliving microspheres possess some of the properties of neurons, it is possible that natural, nonliving minds can form spontaneously -- a sort of "natural" artificial intelligence! Mind, then, could preced life, which is manifestly more complex than computers. The science-fiction possibilities are endless here. From Science Frontiers #35, SEP-OCT 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... that the resolution of the problem of lunar origin must await our return to the moon for more scientific exploration. (Rubin, Alan E.; "Whence Came the Moon?" Sky and Telescope, 68:389, 1984.) An article in Science also discusses the classical theories of lunar origin and quickly disposes of them for the above reasons. However, a fourth theory makes an appearance, which we might call the Big Splash Theory. The idea is that a Mars-sized object (1 /10 the earth's mass) made a grazing collision with the earth when the solar system was more heavily populated with debris. This collision vaporized the projectile's rocky mantle as well as a similar quantity from the earth. This material was flung into orbit by the force of the impact and the expanding hot gases. Beyond the Roche Limit, the expelled debris coalesced into the moon. This fourth theory is now seriously considered by planetary scientists who -- so far -- have found no serious defects. (Kerr, Richard A.; "Making the Moon from a Big Splash," Science, 226:1060, 1984.) From Science Frontiers #37, JAN-FEB 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... a mere flash in geological time. For this brief period, the Deep Sea Drilling Program has provided geologists with a detailed and continuous record of climate changes as they were recorded in deep-sea sediments. By contrast, the faunal history of the continents is rather fragmentary, making it rather difficult to match up pulsations of climate with pulsations of life. Even so, scientists have found rather strong correlations between climatary change and biological speciation and extinction at 15, 5, and 2.4 million years ago. (Lewin, Roger; "The Paleoclimatic Magic Numbers Game," Science, 226:154, 1984.) Comment. Note that this is just the period our ancestors seemed to be evolving rapidly. Also interesting is the general agreement between Vrba's statement about the driving forces behind evolution and McClintock's conclusion quoted earlier under BIOLOGY. From Science Frontiers #37, JAN-FEB 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 38: Mar-Apr 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Geophysics: the sick man of science "In order to be a famed geo-scientist and belong to the inclusive club of fully accepted geophysicists in their unknown thousands, one must kneel on the hassock and swear allegiance to the following tenets regardless of any scientific considerations: "Tenet 1. That the moment-of-inertia of the Earth has never changed. "Tenet 2. That the Earth contains a large central core composed of iron. "Tenet 3. That the continents are drifting as a result of unknown forces. "These must be held with religious fervour, dissenters are just not to be tolerated, the devotees feeling it their right, and indeed duty, to defend the creed against all criticism by any means of chicanery and of sharp-practice within their power, however crude and improper, so long as they judge they can get away with it, but all the time representing themselves to the world as acting with judicial calm in the best interests of their science. It will be shown that all three of these tenets are wrong, and how their (naive) acceptance has hamstrung the believers from making progress in the deep waters of terrestrial science, though not of course in the worldly world of 'modern science.' Shades of Sir Cyril Burt." So begins a long technical article by R.A . Lyttleton, author of many scientific books and papers. (He may lose his ...
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... second later or perhaps at the same time, I heard a loud swooshing or hissing noise and the phone seemed to come alive in my hand. Then my whole kitchen lit up like a floodlight. Lightning or electricity or whatever it was seemed to flow rapidly from the open kitchen door across the expanse of the far end of my kitchen at ceiling level as shown by the jagged line in my drawing. I'm not sure where the red ball came from but I have depicted it as coming from the jagged lightning on my ceiling. Anyhow, almost at the same time as the lightning zoomed across my kitchen and the phone started vibrating in my hand, a large red ball (with yellow and white somewhere) appeared in front of me and hit me on the chest with the force of a large man hitting me with his fist. I fell to the floor and I believe the phone was still in my hand. I'm still not sure if I was knocked unconscious or not. I couldn't swear I was and couldn't swear I wasn't . The ball hit me with the accompanying sounds of smacking and crackling, kind of like a string of firecrackers being set off." The telephone was dead and Mrs. Townsend suffered chest pains for several days. The ball seemed to be made of a soft burlap-type surface with a fuzzy texture. June 21, 1978. Same place, same kitchen. Same person. Thunderstorm out-side. Again a fireball entered the kitchen. It was about a foot across with jagged ...
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... achieved. Protzen's first-hand experience is impressive and convincing. Certainly he required no radical solutions. The problems that Protzen was not able to solve to his satisfaction involved the transportation and handling of the large stones. The fitting process necessitated the repeated lowering and raising of the stone being fitted, with trial-and-error pounding in between. He does not know just how 100-ton stones were manipulated during this stage. To transport the stones from the quarries, some as far as 35 kilometers distant, the Incas built special access roads and ramps. Many of the stones were dragged over gravel-covered roads, as evidenced by their polished surfaces. The largest stone at Ollantaytambo weighs about 140,000 kilograms. It could have been pulled up a ramp with a force of about 120,000 kilograms. Such a feat would have required some 2,400 men. Getting the men was no problem, but where did they all stand? The ramps were only 8 meters wide at most. A minor problem perhaps, but still unsolved. Further, the stones used at Saqsaywaman were fine-dressed at the Rumiqolqa quarry and show no signs of dragging. Protzen does not know how they were transported 35 kilometers. An intriguing observation by Protzen is that the cutting marks on some of the stone blocks are very similar to those found on the pyramidion of the unfinished obelisk from Aswan in Egypt. Is this a case of anomalous diffusion of Old World technology or simply independent invention? (Protzen, Jean-Pierre; "Inca Stonemasonry," Scientific American ...
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... cosmic rays can promote the synthesis of fairly large molecules. We have already detected molecules as complex as formaldehyde in the interstellar medium. But surely the immensely more complicated molecules of biology cannot be synthesized near absolute zero. This may not be true either because at extremely low temperatures the quantum mechanical phenomenon of "tunnelling" becomes important. To achieve molecular synthesis, repulsive barriers must be overcome. The warm temperatures in that terrestrial pond can provide the extra kinetic energy to climb over these barriers. In cold molecular clouds we must look elsewhere. The laws of quantum mechanics state that there is always a very low probability that atoms and molecules can tunnel through repulsive barriers -- no need to climb over them via thermal effects. "Specifically, entire atoms can tunnel through barriers represented by the repulsive forces of other atoms and form complex molecules even though the atoms do not have the energy required by classical chemistry to overcome the repulsion." Of course, the reaction rates are slow, but the size of the cosmic pond is vastly greater than any terrestrial puddle. The above quotation is from V.I . Goldanskii who, even before Hoyle, suggested a cold prehistory of life, during which complex organic molecules were synthesized at just a few degrees above absolute zero. His article dwells primarily on the physics of the tunnelling phenomenon, which is well verified in the laboratory, but he does not shrink from the biological implications. (Goldanskii, Vitalii I.; "Quantum Chemical Reactions in the Deep Cold," Scientific American, 254:46, February 1986.) Comment. ...
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... thinking, one of the most remarkable articles ever to appear in Science bears the above title. Most re markable of all is the use of the word "spontaneous" without philosophical comment. The stimuli for the research described are such observations as: (1 ) life exists; (2 ) life evolves; (3 ) the fossil record displays stasis, extinctions, and great gaps between phyla and lesser classifications; and (4 ) disordered molecules move smoothly and surely into the order manifest in the living cell. The question asked in the article is whether science has missed something in its description of the origin and development of life. Just what makes molecules coalesce into cells and humans? The answer given is: spontaneous self-organization ! In other words, there is no guiding external force. Molecules do this spontaneously. There are even computer models being developed, based on a branch of mathematics called "dynamical systems," that describe how this all happens - spontaneously, of course. (Waldrop, M. Mitchell; "Spontaneous Order, Evolution, and Life," Science, 247:1543, 1990.) Comment. When water molecules spontaneously cluster together to form a snowflake, with all its symmetry and order, science explains the process in terms of the properties of water molecules. The same must be true when molecules merge to form life forms. But why do atoms and molecules possess these properties that lead to bacteria, to humans, to who-knows-what's -next? "Spontaneous self-organization" is a cop out! ...
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... Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Krypton-cluster magic numbers Krypton atoms cluster together in stable clumps of 13, 55, 147, 309, 561,... atoms. Ordinarily, krypton, being a noble gas, does not enter into any combinations with other atoms - even other krypton atoms. However, P. Lethbridge and T. Stace, at the University of Sussex, have coaxed krypton atoms to cluster together in large, crystal-like clumps with icosohedral symmetry; that is each clump possesses 20 regular faces. The coaxing occurs when gaseous krypton trickles into a vacuum chamber through a hole only 200 micrometers in diameter. The expansion of the gas cools it so that when krypton atmos collide, relative velocities are low, and the weak Van de Waals forces between the atoms are sufficient to hold the clumps together. So far, clumps of 147 and 309 atoms have been detected with a mass spectrograph. One theory of atomic "pack ing" predicts clumps should have "magic numbers" of 13, 55, 147, 309, 561, 923 .. .. So far, the "magic" has been working! (Baggott, Jim; "Krypton Atoms Cling Together in 'Shells,'" New Scientist, p. 31, March 3, 1990.) Comment. One would anticipate that the smaller clumps of 13 and 55 atoms would be easier to assemble. From Science Frontiers #69, MAY-JUN 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... , plants and fungi (eukaryotic cells) are the descendants of simpler bacteria-like organisms (prokaryotic cells) that had at some stage entered into an intracellular existence, or endosymbiosis. The idea is not a new one, but only in the light of modern experimental evidence has it become acceptable to many biologists. If the hypothesis is correct, then virtually all the major groups of familiar organisms originated 'suddenly' through endosymbiotic associations." Following this lead paragraph, with its paradigm-shaking final sentence, are three pages summarizing the biological evidence favoring evolution by endosymbiosis. (Kite, Geoffrey; "Evolution by Symbiosis; The Inside Story," New Scientist, p. 50, July 3, 1986.) Comment. We cannot possibly do justice to this exciting idea of evolution forced by the uniting of different organisms in the limited format of Science Frontiers. Instead, we encourage readers to purchase a new book by L. Margulis and D. Sagan (son of Carl Sagan and L. Margulis) entitled Micro Cosmos. In passing, we must also remark on the obvious relationship of endosymbiosis to F. Hoyle's "evolution from outer space." Hoyle believes that microorganisms and other biological information are transported in cosmic debris. Finally, the story of Lynn Margulis' uphill fight against scientific skepticism is related in: (Keller, Evelyn Fox; "One Woman and Her Theory," New Scientist, p. 46, July 3, 1986.) Serial symbiosis; bacterium to alga to alga; may have led to chloroplasts. From Science Frontiers # ...
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... of Energy. This effort has found that life is abundant at least 850 feet below the surface -- a realm hardly suspected to harbor life. "' There is life down there, and it is very diverse,' says Carl Fliermans of Dupont's Savannah River Laboratory in Aiken, S.C . The numbers are high enough to affect the chemistry of the environment: Some of the samples contained as many as 10 million organisms per gram of soil. But even more surprising than the high concentrations is the diversity of the microorganisms, according to David Balkwill of Florida State University in Tallahassee. Many varieties of bacteria and fungi have been seen, and there have been indications of amoeba. And the diversity -- which doesn't appear to decrease with depth -- may force a reappraisal of the environment that lies between soil and bedrock." (Anonymous; "The Bugs beneath Us," Science News, 130:58, 1986.) Under the GEOLOGY heading in this issue, the subject of abiotic production of petroleum is explored. Where could abiotic petroleum be synthesized? Below the surface, in hydrothermal systems. From Science Frontiers #47, SEP-OCT 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... ) hill are perched giant blocks of sandstone. These blocks range up to 7.6 meters (25 feet) in size and weigh many tons. No native rocks in the area match them. The Ice Age glaciers never reached Arkansas, so they can't be glacial erratics. Where did they come from? One clue is the presence of glauconite in the sandstone. Glauconite is common in marine rocks, so suspicion points toward the Gulf of Mexico. Geologist G. Patterson, University of Memphis, thinks that the huge chunks of sandstone came from coastal Louisiana and were carried some 650 kilometers (400 miles) inland by the giant tsunami raised by the asteroid or comet that smashed into the Yucatan to close out the Cretaceous. That, of course, was when the dinosaurs were forced into oblivion. But could the tsunami really have transported such huge rocks 650 kilometers? (Falk, Dan; "Washed Up," New Scientist, p. 26, November 7, 1998.) Comments. Tsunami debris from the end-Cretaceous impact has been found along the Gulf Coast and on some Caribbean islands. In northeastern Mexico, geologists have found a debris layer 3-meters thick that is also of the right age. This layer contains tektites, glass spheres, plant material, and an iridium anomaly. (SF#85) However, these debris deposits can hardly compare to the far-inland Arkansas sandstone chunks. From Science Frontiers #121, JAN-FEB 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... everyone bandies about. To illustrate, humans have only 46 chromosomes, while the great apes all have 48. The 1.5 % figure doesn't hint at this significant difference. Next, take a look at chromosome #9 in humans and the great apes. Chromosome bandings are different enough to raise further suspicions about the 1.5 % figure. (Gibbons, Ann; "Which of Our Genes Make Us Human?" Science, 281:1432, 1998.) Comments. It is easy to see how gross comparisons of DNA might miss important details. The popular "DNA-hybridization" method simply mixes together strands of DNA from the two species being compared. These are allowed to combine, and then they are heated to see how much temperature is required to force them apart. Chromosome numbers and bandings have little if any effect on these crude comparisons of the bare DNA strands that have been stripped from their genes and chromosomes. The significance of all this transcends the comparisons of humans and chimps. Modern taxonomy of all life forms depends increasingly upon DNA comparisons rather than upon morphology. If DNA comparisons can be as misleading as they are in humans and chimps, those textbook family trees that are supposed to tell us how life evolved may also be giving us an erroneous history of life. To underscore the problem, sometimes DNA genetic differences do not result in big morphological changes. For example, Three-toed Woodpeckers hammer on trees all over the northern reaches of North America and Eurasia. These birds all look alike and interbreed freely. Yet, some ...
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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 Unpredictable Things Simple spherical pendulums are fixtures of physics labs, to say nothing of grandfather clocks. It is now widely recognized that pendulums can behave chaotically; that is, unpredictably. As the pendulum bob swings farther away from its rest position, the restoring force becomes nonlinear; i.e ., not proportional to the displacement. At some combination of displacement and driving frequency, a region of chaos may develop, in which theory is powerless to tell what is going to happen next. "It is not just the behavior of pendulums that has sprung this surprise. Systems as diverse as simple electrical circuits, dynamos, lasers, chemical reactions and heart cells behave in an analogous way and the implications extend far beyond these examples -- to matters such as weather forecasting, populations of biological species, physiological and psychiatric medicine, economic forecasting and perhaps the evolution of society." (Tritton, David; "Chaos in the Swing of a Pendulum," New Scientist, p. 37, July 24, 1986.) Comment. Some of the anomalies we record may be the consequence of simple systems gone wild. Chaotic motions of some asteroids and at least one solar system moon are already suspected. Imagine what might happen in much more complex systems, such as biological evolution (hopeful monsters?), brain development (idiot savants?), etc. From Science Frontiers #47, SEP-OCT 1986 . 1986 ...
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... soon as rain started to fall." (Smedley, R.; "Corposants," Marine Observer, 69:55, 1999.) Comments. The corposant's six-fold symmetry is like that of snowflakes. Strange as it may sound, they may be a connection. First, recall what J. Maddox once wrote about snowflakes in Nature. "But the symmetry of the whole crystal, represented by the exquisite six-fold symmetry of the standard snowflake, must be the consequence of some cooperative phenomenon involving the growing crystal as a whole. What can that be? What can tell one growing face of a crystal (in three dimensions this time) what the shape of the opposite face is like?" (SF#38) The speculation is that electrical forces may control the long-range symmetry of snowflakes as well as the unusual six-fold symmetry of the corposant described above. It's a thought anyway. The word "corposant" is said to be derived from the Latin for "bodies of the saints." It seems that the corpses of some of the saints have been luminous! (See BHA22 in Humans I .) From Science Frontiers #124, JUL-AUG 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 50: Mar-Apr 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The fossil record and the quantization of life!A recent article on the possible quantization of galaxies was placed immediately before an interview with S. Stanley, one of the proponents of punctuated evolution. Either fate or the mysterious forces of seriality seemed to be saying that it is now time to broach the subject of the quantization of life itself. The reader can blame Stanley only for the stimulus and his discussions of speciation and the discontinuous (quantized?) fossil record. (Campbell, Neil A.; "Resetting the Evolutionary Timetable," BioScience, 36:722, 1986.) Comments. When we suggest quantization in biology, two phenomena come to the fore: 1. The obvious splitting of life into well-defined states -- the species -- as defined morphologically and/or by the genetic code; and 2. The gaps in the fossil record, which imply a frequent lack of transitional forms from one species to another. As Stanley asserts repeatedly in his interview, the fossil record is actually quite good in many places, despite the long-voiced claims of the gradualists that transitional forms do not exist merely because of the deplorable state of the fossil record. In physics the analogous phenomena would be: (1 ) The chemical elements and their isotopes (or an atom's energy levels); and (2 ) The lack of transitional forms. Straining the analogy still further, the evolution ...
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... Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Hardball for Keeps Connecticut "Boat" Cairn "High"-tech Farming At Tiahuanaco Astronomy The Cosmological Atlantis Mysterious Bright Arcs May Be the Largest Objects in the Universe Too Many Short-period Comets Quantized Galaxy Redshifts The Fossil Record and the Quantization of Life! Biology Whales and Seafloor Pits Strange Patterns in Another Oceanic Habitat Lunar Magnetic Mollusc Monarchs Slighted -- sorry! Did We Learn to Swim Before We Learned to Walk? How Cancers Fight Chemotherapy The Melanic Moth Myth Chain of Crevicular Habitats? Feathered Flights of Fancy Geology Why Are Antarctic Meteorites Different? More on the Soviet Plume Events Geophysics Sympathetic Lightning Ball Lightning Burns A Rayed Circle on A Shed Wall Magnetic Precursors of Large Storms On the Trail of the Fifth Force Psychology Do You Hear What I Hear? Mind-bending the Velocity Vectors of Marine Algae ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 129: MAY-JUN 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Anomalous Antiquity of Some Landforms All over the planet, but particularly in Australia, there exist great expanses of land surface that fossils and radiometric dating tell us are tens of millions of years old. This doesn't seem very serious until we learn that, given today's erosion rates, these landforms should be deeply eroded or, more likely, completely erased by the forces of nature. This paradox has long been used by Creationists to challenge geological dating methods. Mainstream geologists do recognize the paradox but have had scant success in resolving it. For example, geologist C.H . Crickmay wrote: Again, one finds all over the world, even high above and far distant from existing waterways, smooth-surfaced and level ground -- including everything from small terraces to broad, flat plains -- much of it still bearing intact a carpet of stream alluvium. Such lands were carved and carpeted, evidently, by running water, even though they are now in places where no stream could possibly run... What is remarkable about them is the perfection with which they have out-lasted the attack of "denudation" for all the time that has passed since they lay at stream level. (The Work of the River, New York, 1974) This paradox of uneroded ancient landforms remains as obdurate as the landforms themselves. (Oard, Michael J.; "Antiquity of Landforms: Objective Evidence ...
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... an exposed snow slope at 13,000 feet, when his run was halted by a wet snow avalanche. Moving closer to the avalanche to assess the snow's stability, he again saw the strange tracks heading across the slope to a small bush. "Behind the bush stood an erect entity over 6 feet tall. The figure, of general human proportions and stance, remained immobile, seemingly looking down the slope. 'The head was large and squarish, and the whole body appeared to be covered with dark hair.'" Wooldridge quickly snapped several photographs. He then advanced to with-in 500 feet of the entity and took more pictures. After 45 minutes of observa tion, Wooldridge decided to continue his journey. When asked why he did not approach the figure to force it to move or react, he stated that he got as close as he felt it was safe, being concerned about snow stability, the creature itself, and his solitary situation. (Anonymous; "First Yeti Photos Spark Renewed Interest," ISC Newsletter, 5:1 , Winter 1986.) Comment. The photos and sketch drawn under Wooldridge's guidance certainly do show a human-like creature. The maddening aspect of this whole business is the near motionlessness of the entity. If only it had moved significantly during the picture-taking. Instead of a smoking gun, we have just smoke; that is, enticing but still unconvincing data. Perhaps the full report, soon to appear in the journal Cryptozoology, will bolster the case for the yeti. Reference. ...
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... been documented in the November 1986 issue of American Health by David Shannahoff-Khalsa of the Khalsa Foundation for Medical Science. Apparently the yogis of ancient India were the first to notice that breathing is dominated by either the right or left nostril for short cycle spans of one to three hours. (Cycles of this duration are known as ultradian rhythms, and are common to many biological functions.) By simply placing a mirror under your nostrils and watching for the larger amount of condensation, one can determine which nostril is in use. "What are the ramifications of this seemingly insignificant phenomenon? The yogis reportedly have said that improved sleeping, more satisfying sex, enhanced digestion, and appropriate thought patterns were controlled by the use of a certain nostril." It is further maintained that one can force a change in nostril breathing through meditation. In this way, it is possible to enhance sleeping, sex, digestion, and mental acuity! (LeBow, Howard A.; "Have You Heard about This One?" Cycles, 37:191, 1986.) Comment. All we know is what we read in the journals! The next time you feel down, think about your breathing, or try a little cotton. From Science Frontiers #52, JUL-AUG 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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