219 results found.
... All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Are parasites really the masters?All animals harbor parasites; and some parasites even have their own parasites. The usual effect of a parasite upon its host is debilitation, often to the point of death. But parasites have to reproduce, and some settle for the modification of their hosts in ways that improve their chances. Parasites can change the size, color, and even the behavior of their host. The object is usually to encourage a specific predator to eat the host so the parasite can continue its life cycle. A classic example is the lan-cet fluke which infests ants and then sheep. The problem is that sheep don't normally eat ants, giving the flukes a chance to switch vehicles. So, the innovative flukes somehow force the ants to crawl to the tops of plants and lock themselves there with their jaws. The next hungry sheep that comes along has his meal seasoned with ants. The bulk of the present article deals with thorny-headed worms, which are not as endearing as the lancet flukes. These parasites are merely bags of reproductive organs attached to a thorny probiscus, by which they attach themselves to the intestinal walls of vertebrates. Living in a sea of processed nutrients, the worms don't even have a digestive tract. Part of the life cycle of this parasite is spent in arthropods (insects, crustaceans). As with the lancet fluke, the thorny-headed worm's big challenge is getting the arthropod eaten by a vertebrate. In most instances, it alters the behavior ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 24: Nov-Dec 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Massive Freak Wave November 23, 1981. Off Fair Isle, Scotland. "The crew of the stern trawler Clarkwood were hauling the net aboard because of gale-force winds when the wave struck. A fisherman told the inquiry the wave was like 'a big green cliff.' .. .. Skipper Stewart Thomson told the inquiry: 'The ship was struck by a massive lump of water.'" No estimates were made of the wave height. Three men were swept to their deaths. (Anonymous; "Massive Freak Wave," Mariners Weather Log, 26:79, 1982.) From Science Frontiers #24, NOV-DEC 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 36: Nov-Dec 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Great Wall Of The Incas The Inca's ability to build with stone is well-known. But one of their most ambitious projects is rarely mentioned in the literature and is poorly investigated in the field. Probably no more than 150 miles in length, it cannot compare with China's Great Wall. Still, it is built at altitudes of 8,000-12,000 feet in extremely rugged terrain. It runs along high ridges and is studded with stone forts at strategic intervals. Even though the Inca Wall is only a few feet high, it would certainly slow down a force charging up precipitous terrain at two miles altitude. The true extent and condition of the Inca Wall is not accurately known. Only a few easily accessible sections have been checked out. The theory is that the Incas built it to discourage invasions by lowland Indians. Like all Great Walls, it seems to have met with only small success. (Paddock, Franklin K.; "The Great Wall of the Inca," Archaeology, 37:62, July/ August 1984.) Comment. The Great Wall of the Incas is located in Bolivia. There is another Great Wall in Peru that seems to have been built by the Chimu people, perhaps to defend themselves against the Incas! The Chimu Great Wall averages 7 feet in height and reaches 20-30 feet where it crosses gullies. Also incompletely explored, it ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 25: Jan-Feb 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Manifestations of earth energy at megalithic sites?Stories have long circulated that strange phenomena cluster about megalithic sites, such as Stonehenge. Those who claim psychic powers state that earth energies (whatever they are) seem to focus at these ancient constructions. The story goes that the builders of the stone circles could also detect these natural forces and intentionally chose these spots where the energies were most powerful. "Proper" siting and orientation were doubtless important to the builders of the megalithic structures, but can modern, no-nonsense science even begin to explore these mystical, psychic claims? Given today's scientific impatience with all psychic subjects, one would not expect a scientific journal, even a popular one, to touch the subject of "earth energies." Yet, here is an article describing the use of ultrasound detectors and Geiger counters in surveying megalithic monuments for foci of earth energies. Sure enough, curious enhancements of ultrasound intensity were discovered at the Rollright Stones. At another site, the natural radiation background level was anomalously depressed. It is all very mystifying. (Robins, Don; "The Dragon Project and the Talking Stones," New Scientist, 96: 166, 1982.) Comment. This appearance of this article would be comprehensible if it were in the April 1 issue of New Scientist, but it wasn't . In truth, of course, there could be something in the "earth energy" ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 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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... 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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... 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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... 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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... 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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... 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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... 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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... 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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... 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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... 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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... This being so, they must be incensed by the claims made two weeks later in New Scientist. There, stimulated by the earlier report on leys, a retired engineer presented his measurements of the magnetic fields around the Rollright Stones. He maintained that he was able to magnetically detect several converging leys and, in addition, a spiral pattern inside the stone circle. A psychic accompanying him independently perceived the leys and spiral. (Devereux, Paul, and Forrest, Robert; "Straight Lines on an Ancient Landscape," New Scientist, 96:822, 1982. Also: Brooker, Charles; "Magnetism and the Standing Stones," New Scientist, 97:105, 1983.) Comment. Psychics, especially dowsers, have long maintained that megalithic sites are the foci of mysterious forces, notably spirals. This is pretty wild stuff for a respected science journal to print. The editors would be well-advised to send someone with a magnetometer down to the Rollright Stones to straighten out this matter. Magnetically located leys and spiral at the Rollright Stones, England. From Science Frontiers #26, MAR-APR 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... cause for it. I wondered if we had heard some part of an aircraft or satellite, or even a small meteor, coming down and, with the local farmer, we investigated the circles, but found no debris at all -- just flattened barley. The farmer said that sometimes growing conditions made barley collapse at its base, though he could not understand the almost perfect circle." Further investigation turned up people who had seen a whirlwind in the area at the time. (Anonymous; "Mystery Spirals in Cerealfields," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 8:216, 1983.) Comment. UFO enthusiasts usually attribute such circles of flattened crops to flying saucers, but apparently whirlwinds are adequate explanations. However, the noise and action of the reputed whirlwind force us to categorize it with the explosive onset of other whirlwinds, as described in GWW1 of Tornados, Dark Days, Anomalous Pre cipitation. For more information on this Catalog, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #31, JAN-FEB 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 32: Mar-Apr 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Oklo Phenomenon And Evolution A decade ago, French scientists discovered the remains of a natural nuclear reactor at Oklo, Gabon, in Africa. Somehow nature had concentrated enough uranium-235 in one place to start a chain reaction, with the attendant production of heat and radiation. Now U-235 is radioactive, and there is now much less around than in past geological eras. This has led some scientists to speculate that many more Okla phenomena may have flamed momentarily in earlier times, especially Precambrian days. The mutagenic radiation from such natural reactors could have been a major driving force in evolution. (Anonymous; "Natural Reactors Helped Evolution," New Scientist, 100:737, 1983.) Reference. For details on the Oklo Phenomenon, see category ESP13 in our Anomalies in Geology. For a description of this Catalog, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #32, MAR-APR 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... , with eye and instrument, enough mass to keep the universe from expanding indefinitely. If the kinetic energy of cosmic expansion is to be balanced by gravitational potential energy (an apparent philosophical imperative), we have so far identified only 15% of the required mass. (2 ) On a smaller scale, galaxies in large galactic clusters are moving too fast. They should have flown apart long ago, but some unseen 'stuff' holds them together. Is it cosmic string? (Waldrop, M. Mitchell; "New Light on Dark Matter? Science, 224:971, 1984.) Comment. Since cosmic string weighs about 2 x 1015 tons per inch, the whole business is beginning to sound a bit silly. Actually, all action-at-a -distance forces, which we readily accept as real, are only artificial constructs of the human mind. Gluons, colored 'particles,' top quarks, cosmic string; where will it all end? From Science Frontiers #34, JUL-AUG 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... hardwired computer in which all the wires and components are all permanently soldered together. An equivalent situation would prevail in the brain if all sensory pathways and cells had fixed duties and memories to handle. If the portion of the brain dedicated to speech were damaged, as in a stroke, it could never repair itself. This dogma is now being challenged. A pertinent line of brain research is now underway at the Coleman Laboratory of the University of California in San Francisco, where Michael Merzenich and his associates are studying the brains of monkeys. "Merzenich's findings challenge a prevailing notion that most sensory pathways in the nervous system are 'fixed' or 'hardwired' by the maturation of anatomic connections, either just before or soon after birth. They also address the puzzling question of what forces may be at work when stroke victims partly recover. Do 'redundant copies' of skills exist outside the damaged regions, or is physical damage within the brain repaired over time? Or can old skills be newly established in different, undamaged brain regions." Apparently the brain should really be compared with a reprogrammable computer. Perhaps the brain even stores duplicates of critical "programs"; i.e ., skills. Merzenich's findings go even farther. He finds that the parts of the brain associated with certain skills or data processing move and change shape spontaneously. The brain, it seems, continually reorganizes itself. Fading fast is the idea that each data point is recorded in a specific cell or neuron interconnection. (Fox, Jeffrey L.; "The Brain' ...
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... planets (Venus and Jupiter, in this case) do affect the peak electron density in the earth's ionosphere. The effect is most noticeable when these planets are close to earth and dwindles as they swing around to the other side of the sun. The authors are at a loss to explain this effect in terms of gravitation, suggesting that perhaps Venus or Jupiter may instead affect solar activity, which in turn modifies the terrestrial ionosphere. (Harnischmacher, E., and Rawer, K.; "Lunar and Planetary Influences upon the Peak Electron Density of the Ionosphere," Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Electricity, 43:643, 1981.) Comment. Actually, no one has shown how the planets can possibly influence the sun with known action-at-a -distance forces. Electrical forces are taboo. There are no other "recognized" forces. From Science Frontiers #18, NOV-DEC 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 6: February 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Stacked Deck In Esp Experiment Balanovski and Taylor have assumed that the many purported extrasensory phenomena are very likely effected by electromagnetic forces -- the only known action-at-a -distance force they believe could be involved. Therefore, they assembled a wide variety of very sensitive electromagnetic instruments (antennas, EM probes, skin electrodes, magnetometers, etc.) and tried to find electromagnetic fields associated with people claiming paranormal abilities. Despite the high sensitivities of the apparatus, no ESP-connected electromagnetic fields were detected. (Balanovski, E., and Taylor, J.G .; "Can Electromagnetism Account for Extra-Sensory Phenomena?" Nature, 276:64, 1978.) Comment. J.G . Taylor is the author of Superminds, a rather unabashed proparanormal book. He has since recanted. His experiment (described briefly above) certainly has not disproved the existence of ESP, only that there are no accompanying electromagnetic fields. ESP, if it exists, may work through "unknown" fields or, perhaps, no fields at all, as we understand them. Although caveats appear in the article relative to the limited nature of the experiment, such an article in a key scientific journal just makes most doubting scientists say "I told you so." From Science Frontiers #6 , February 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 14: Winter 1981 Supplement Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Do lightning channels accelerate matter?E.W . Crew suggests in this paper that two rare classes of meteorological observations may be created by the intense electrostatic accelerating forces present in lightning 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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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 9: Winter 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Venus and earth: engaged or divorced?Proponents of astronomical catastrophism have made much of the supposed resonance between the earth and Venus, in which Venus rotates exactly four times between the times of its closest approach to earth (inferior conjunction). Astronomers have maintained that the gravitational forces are too slight to force a resonance lock. This has led to speculation that the two planets were once much closer. The most recent measurements of the rotational period of Venus show it to be 243.01 days rather than the 243.16 days for exact resonance. I.I . Shapiro (of MIT) and his colleagues, who made the measurements, wonder whether Venus may be just approaching or just escaping a resonance lock. Whichever the case, the near-resonance is not likely to be a coincidence. (Anonymous; "Venus and Earth: Engaged or Divorced?" Astronomy, 7:58, October 1979.) Comment. If Venus is just escaping resonance lock, how long ago was the lock exact? A few thousand years? And how close were the two planets? Reference. The solar system is full of curious resonances. See ABB4 in our Catalog: The Sun and Solar System Debris. This book is described here . From Science Frontiers #9 , Winter 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 6: February 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Earth, the magic top The Journal of Physics is a most respectable British scientific publication, but in a recent issue we find an article that would warm the heart of Ignatius Donnelly, to say nothing of Hapgood, Brown, Velikovsky, and more recent catastrophists. Employing a wide span of data from complex top theory to ancient legend, Warlow suggests that the earth has undergone many violent catastrophes, some of them within the time of man. Flood legends, geomagnetic reversals, tektites, paleoclimatology, salinity crises, and other familiar standbys of the catastrophists force P. Warlow to examine the stability of the earth in the presence of astronomical collisions and near-collisions. He shows that the earth rotates slowly and that, even with the stabilizing equatorial bulge, our planet is rather sensitive to outside forces. It is, he says, like a tippe top or magic top; a 8,000-mile-diameter top that turns over repeatedly in response to external influences. Did not the ancient Egyptians write that the sun once rose in the west? Are there not massive faunal extinctions? Have not stray solar-system bodies left scars on all the inner planets? (Warlow, P.; "Geomagnetic Reversals," Journal of Physics,11:2107, 1978.) From Science Frontiers #6 , February 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 22: Jul-Aug 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Old hannah's explosions December 10, 1899. Staffordshire, Eng land, near Old Hannah's Cave. Two men heard explosions like rifle shots. "Realizing that no one was shooting, they looked up the cliff and witnessed an explosion which emitted a flash from a hole or fissure in the upper part of the cliff. This had a bluish column 'not of steam or fire or smoke, but apparently of aqueous vapour,' which travelled with immense force across the valley (approximately 12 m wide). Within minutes another discharge from higher up the cliff and then 'several ones with crackling sounds producing semi-transparent wavy streaks in the air, not smokey in appearance.' Next came a very loud explosion which 'we had the good fortune to see plainly.' Wardle describes this as 'like a gun but with crackling, a series of continuous reports, cleaving the air in a zigzag or riverlike course in a narrow band about 15 cm to 20 cm broad, of bluish colour." Several other reliable descriptions exist of detonations and flame-like discharges around old Hannah's Cave. The supposition is that natural gases liberated by decaying organic material and, perhaps, geochemical reactions are ignited by static electricity. A recent landslip seems to have extinguished this curious phenomenon. (Pounder, Colin; "Speculations on Natural Explosions at Old Hannah's Cave, Staffordshire, England," National ...
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... Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Neanderthal Man May Still Survive In Asia All continents have their tales of wild men, abominable snowmen, sasquatch, etc. Most anthropologists give little credence to these stories. Shackley, however, has assembled considerable evidence for the reality of the so-called Almas (plural form: Almasti), primitive men who closely resemble Neanderthal Man, or at least what we think Neanderthal Man looked like. Abundant, internally consistent data come from an east-west band running from the Caucacus, across the Pamir Mountains, through the Altai Mountains, to Inner Mongolia. Even today, sightings of these creatures are rather common; and several scientists have seen them. One incident occurred in 1917, when the Reds were pursuing White Army forces through the Pamirs. The troops of Major General Mikail Stephanovitch Topilsky shot an Almas as he was emerging from a cave. "The eyes were dark and the teeth were large and even and shaped like human teeth. The forehead was slanting and the eyebrows were very powerful. The protruding jawbones made the face resemble the Mongol type of face. The nose was very flat .. .the lower jaws were very massive" In some instances the Almasti have even associated with modern man; and cases of successful interbreeding have been reported. After reviewing the mountains of evidence, Shackley feels that the Almasti are very likely surviving Neanderthals, because the physical characteristics of the Almasti and reconstructed Neanderthals are basically identical. This long review article also discusses the many Chuchunaa sightings from northern Russia -- perhaps ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 5: November 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Fire-walking: anyone can do it San Pedro Manrique, Spain, 1969, the annual fire-walking ceremony. Arriving too late for the official ceremony, the author and his friends find a bed of coals too hot to stand near. Two members of a French TV crew remaining behind walk across the coals with no adverse effects. A Spanish companion does, too. Thus encouraged, the American takes off his shoes. He is advised: Make sure your feet are brushed free of grass and twigs; Place your feet firmly and with force; and Never hesitate, keep moving. The author walked across the coals without the slightest hint of burning. It was, he states, a "spiritual experience!" (McElroy, John Harmon; "Fire-Walking," Folklore, 89:113, 1978.) From Science Frontiers #5 , November 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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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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... dug by ant lions to trap ants and the angles flatworms assume in swimming away from light. Many such lunar rhythms apparently have no adaptive value whatsoever. So, why do they exist? Even more disconcerting is the fact that lunar rhythms persist in the lab where the moon is not visible. Are internal clocks responsible here? If so, how do they work and how are they set? These questions are hard to answer if the rhythms have no value to the organism's success. (Palmer, John D., and Goodenough, Judith E.; "Mysterious Monthly Rhythms," Natural History, 87:64, December 1978.) Comment. It would, or course, be outright heresy to suggest that heavenly bodies may be the sources of unrecognized but biologically significant forces. Reference. Correlations of lunar phase and disturbed human behavior are cataloged at BHB4 in: Biological Anomalies: Humans I. Further information on this book is located at: here . From Science Frontiers #7 , June 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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 times different coincidences prevail that would permit life-as-we-do-not-know-it or something equally unimaginable! From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 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. 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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... 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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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 7: June 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The sun controls the earth's global electrical circuit Data collected from electrosondes (balloons measuring atmospheric electrical currents) over the Antarctic ice caps infer that solar flares stimulate large surges in the flow of electrical charge from the upper atmosphere to the earth's surface. Because this unidirectional flow of fair-weather electricity must ultimately be balanced by thunderstorms somewhere on the planet, it follows that the frequency and severity of terrestrial thunderstorms are dictated, at least on the average, by solar activity. Formerly, global circuit theory had it that the thunderstorms themselves were the driving force behind the fairweather current flow. Now it seems that the sun calls the tune and that thunderstorms do not arise at random. (Anonymous; "Solar Activity and Terrestrial Thunderstorms," New Scientist, 81:256, 1979.) From Science Frontiers #7 , June 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... . Years of experiments with released birds have proved that they use sun compasses on sunny days but have magnetic backups for cloudy days. But how do they sense the earth's magnetic field? Paired-coil tests suggested that the pigeon compass resided in the neck or back of the head. Narrowing the search with sensitive magnetometers and two dozen dissected pigeons, the authors discovered tiny bits of tissue containing magnetite crystals. The same tissues contained yellow crystals likely made by the iron-storage protein ferritin, which was probably used in the biological synthesis of the magnetite. (Walcott, Charles, et al; "Pigeons Have Magnets," Science, 205:1027, 1979) Comment. Many species of mud bacteria also synthesize magnetite for purposes of orientation, indicating that nature or some directive force used the same strategy in two widely separated species. From Science Frontiers #9 , Winter 1979 . 1979-2000 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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... Expanding Universe, some redshift measurements indicate a quadratic rather than linear relationship between redshift and distance. I.E . Segal's chronometric theory of the cosmos, however, does predict a quadratic relationship. In Segal's theory redshifts are due to the gravitational slowing of light rather than any gereral expansion of the universe. Even if most astrophysicists are finally persuaded that the quadratic relationship is real, they will be loath to abandon the philosophically appealing Expanding Universe. Not only is the Expanding Universe consistent with Relativity but it states unequivocally that the earth (and man) does not occupy a preferred place in the universe. (Hanes, David A.; "Is the Universe Expanding?" Nature, 289:745, 1981.) Comment. A geocentric theory would intimate a supernatural force favoring humanity. From Science Frontiers #15, Spring 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Princeton work is its "high technology" content. This long, highly technical article is replete with circuit diagrams, photos of shiny equipment, charts, and the complete panoply of modern scientific research. In the section on psychokinesis, we read about Fabry-Perot interferometers, dual thermistors, glow-discharge experiments, Gaussian analog devices, etc. (There is a companion section on remote viewing experimentation!) To round out this overview, the section on historical/philosophical background and the superb bibliography must be mentioned. Although Jahn regards his work as only beginning, he does feel that the early results clearly show the existence of non-chance factors in psychokinesis and remote-viewing experiments. For example, interferometer fringes and straingauge readings seem to be changed by the application of "mental forces." But the experiments cannot always be replicated and subjects' abilities are ephemeral. The flavor of the Princeton findings are well put in these sentences from the summary paragraphs: ". .. it appears that once the illegitimate research and invalid criticism have been set aside, the remaining accumulated evidence of psychic phenomena comprises an array of experimental observations, obtained under reasonable protocols in a variety of scholarly disciplines, which compound to a philosphical dilemma. On one hand, effects inexplicable in terms of established scientific theory, yet having numerous common characteristics, are frequently and widely observed; on the other hand, these effects have so far proven qualitatively and quantitatively irreplicable, in the strict scientific sense, and appear to be sensitive to a variety of psychological and environmental factors that are difficult to specify ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 19: Jan-Feb 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Rims Of Galaxies Spin Too Fast According to the physical laws governing orbital motion in a central force field, like that of our sun, distant objects should rotate more slowly than those closer to the central mass. Thus, the outer planets of the solar system swing around the sun more slowly than the earth and the other inner planets. Astronomers always expected that the stars rotating around the massive hubs of the galaxies would obey these laws in a like manner. No such luck! Doppler measurements of galaxy rotations made by Vera C. Rubin and her colleagues, at the Carnegie Institution, indicate that most stars out near the galactic rims rotate just as fast or faster than those closer to the hub. Astronomers suppose that this anomalous rotation may be due to halos of undetected burntout stars and/or gas fringing the galaxies. Such halos would dis-tort the inverse-square-law field, permitting the observed anomalous rotation. (Anonymous; "Fast-Spinning Galaxies," Science Digest, 89:18, November 1981.) Comment. No one has yet discovered these hypothetical halos of mass. The universe seems to be full of "missing mass." An unpopular alternative would be the admission that Newton's Law of Gravitation does not hold on the galactic scale. From Science Frontiers #19, JAN-FEB 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... . The notorious "missing mass" problem of cosmology disappears with the cyclic supermass assumption because the time-averaged mass of each galaxy will be much higher than that observed in its normal enervated state. Doesn't this sudden temporary appearance of mass violate the laws of physics? No, says the author, physicists habitually assume a superfluid, superconducting vacuum state, which is the ultimate source of all mass-energy, when they develop their theories of fundamental particles. If particle physicists can (and must) evoke such magic, so can astronomers. (Clube, Victor; "Do We Need a Revolution in Astronomy?" New Scientist, 80: 284, 1978.) Comment. The magic of supermassive injections is, of course, no more magical than the existence of gravitational force or God. From Science Frontiers #6 , February 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... meteor bombardment about 4 billion years ago created these nearly perfect circles. Unfortunately for this theory, little of the earth's surface is 4 billion years old! Now, a new population of circular structures 8-20 km across have been recognized in New Zealand, where the surface is dated at 100-320 million years. How could 4-billion-year-old meteor craters make themselves felt through all the layes of sediment? One possibility is that the rings are not meteoric but diapiric; that is, expressions of upwelling magma from inside the earth itself. (Hawkes, Donald D.; "More Strange Circles on Earth," Open Earth, no. 7, p. 19, February 1980.) Comment. The orphans in the preceding item may have been forced up from the interior, too. Could the lunar craters have originated in this fashion? Reference. To read more about these huge "mineral" rings, consult Section ETC2 in our Catalog: Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds, which is described here . From Science Frontiers #11, Summer 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 16: Summer 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Plants Manufacture Fake Insect Eggs Plants are usually considered rather passive to environmental forces, but careful observation show that they fight back against predators in subtle ways. Williams and Gilbert, for example, have found that a number of Passiflora species, which are heavily defoliated by the larvae of Heliconius butterflies, have developed tiny structures that closely resemble in size, shape, and color the eggs of these butterflies. Heliconius butterflies, when searching for likely plants on which to lay eggs, tend to avoid plants that already have eggs on them. The plants' fake eggs, then, help protect the plant from predation. (Williams, Kathy S., and Gilbert, Lawrence E.; "Insects as Selective Agents on Plant Vegetative Morphology....."; Science, 212:467, 1981.) Comment. We have heard over and over again about Nature's "marvelous adaptations," but it is still difficult to imagine chance-driven evolution of fake eggs of just the right size, shape, and color. How many shapes and colors were tried before the plants got it right? From Science Frontiers #16, Summer 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 3: April 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Extraterrestrial Influences On Chemical And Biological Systems Conventional science shows little interest in the subject indicated by the title, except for some work that is done on circadian rhythms. However, readers of the journals Cycles and the Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research are treated regularly to a wide variety of purported correlations of biological systems with solar and other extraterres-trial influences. The present paper suggests that extraterrestrial forces influence the earth's weather which, in turn controls physiological processes. The physiological processes studied include blood precipitation rate and blood hemoglobin values. Also mentioned are Piccardi's precipitation-rate experiments that seem to show a highly variable behavior of simple chemical systems that bear no obvious relationship to weather conditions. Tromp concludes from these data that unknown forces, probably extraterrestrial in nature, act upon the earth and its inhabitants. (Tromp, Solco W.; "Study of Possibly Extraterrestrial Influences on Colloidal Systems and Living Processes on Earth," Cycles, 28:34, 1977.) From Science Frontiers #3 , April 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... displays a heavily grooved surface. Enough high-resolution photos have been taken to prove that these grooves emanate from the large crater named Stickney and run around the satellite to its opposite side where they die out. This suggests that the origin of the crater and the grooves are related. Further, the widest and deepest grooves (700 meters wide and 90 meters deep) are located close to Stickney. On the other side of Phobos, grooves are consistently less than 100 meters wide. Despite these hints of impact origin, the grooves are not quite what one would expect from simple fracture by collision. Some show beaded or pitted structures. Other grooves are composed of irregularly bounded segments. Finally, some of the straight-walled sections seem to have slightly raised rims. Evidently, some internal forces, perhaps stimulated by the formation of Stickney, also played a part. (Thomas, P., et al; "Origin of the Grooves on Phobos," Nature, 273:282, 1978.) Reference. The grooves of Phobos and its other anomalies are catalogued at ALL2 and ALL3 in The Moon and the Planets. To order this book, go to: here . Map of the strange grooves on the Martian moon Phobos From Science Frontiers #4 , July 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... to 10-ton blocks surely look manmade, but are they really? E.A . Shinn describes several "beach-rock" formations in the area, some exposed and some submerged under a few feet of water. This beach rock, as his photos demonstrate, has a natural tendency to fracture into rectangular blocks, creating strips of pavement-like blocks essentially identical to the famous Bimini road. Proponents of Atlantis and other radical archeological theories do not deny the similarity of the formations or even that the natural and supposedly man-made blocks are of the same composition. The Atlanteans, they say, obviously made use of readily available materials, and beach rock was their choice. Shinn goes on to prove to his satisfaction that the Bimini block formations are still in place where geological forces left them about 2,200 years ago. Further, he notes, there are absolutely no traces of human workmanship and no human artifacts in the area. One mystery is admitted, however, in this debunking article; and that is the unanswered question of how the Bimini rocks came to be submerged in 15 feet of water, when considerable evidence indicates that no such sea-level changes occurred in the last 2,200 years. (Shinn, E.A .; "Atlantis: Bimini Hoax," Sea Frontiers, 24:130, 1978.) From Science Frontiers #4 , July 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... One theory has it that periodic comet showers have created this regular pulse beat in the history of life. A recent issue of Science presents the results of an analysis of the ups and downs of 20,000 marine genera -- that is, percent extinctions over a period of 600 million years, as revealed by the fossil record. The graph of ten groups of 1000 genera shows at least two things: (1 ) strong hints of periodicity; and (2 ) suggestions that extinctions, whatever they really are, "cut across functional, physiological, and ecological lines." The plotters of these graphs, D. Raup and G. Boyajian, claim that whatever the mechanism, "major pulses of extinction result from geographically pervasive environmental disturbances." What besides powerful, external physical forces (read "comets and asteroids") could affect such wide ranges of marine organisms? (Lewin, Roger; "Pattern and Process in Extinctions," Science, 241:26, 1988.) Comment . This all sounds so reasonable that one must wonder why it is given space in Science Frontier. The reason is that we have a suspicion that it is all too easy, too simplistic. Could something more subtle be at work? After all, we really know next to nothing about the real workings of life-as-a -whole, its ups and downs. It is so easy to say that a group of organisms was done in by a temperature change or the fall of acid rain brought on by the impact of an asteroid. We always look for ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 72: Nov-Dec 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects At last, a theory of everything!" A Soviet astrophysicist has made the startling claim that the Earth and other astronomical bodies may be riddled with mini black holes -- objects smaller than atoms but with masses which, in some cases, might be as great as a planet. Such objects, he claims, could account for volcanic hot spots, gravitational anomalies, concentrations of mass on the Moon (mascons), the existence of the rings of Saturn, and even the observations that gave rise to the notion of a 'fifth force.'" J. Gribbin, whose article begins with the above paragraph, is quick to proclaim that this "theory of everything" is not just silly-season kite flying. Rather, it was proposed by A.P . Trofimenko in the well-respected Astrophysics and Space Science (168:277) Restricting ourselves to speculations concerning the earth, Trofimenko sees our planet as a sphere of low-density material enclosing 126 mini black holes that account, first, for the many gravity anomalies we measure on the surface; and, second, the earth's high density. That's right, there's no iron core in this model! Some of the mini black holes near the surface create local hot spots (plumes, volcanos, etc.) through the emission of Hawking radiation. Trofimen-ko's scheme encompasses the planets, the stars, ...
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