... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 48: Nov-Dec 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Life As A Cosmic Phenomenon "The arguments in support of life as a cosmic phenomenon are not readily accepted by a culture in which a geocentric theory of biology is seen as the norm." The quotation above heads a revealing discussion by F. Hoyle and N.C . Wickramasinghe as to why their conclusions about cosmic life have not been accepted by the scientific community. Stimulating this article was a statement by J. Maddox, Editor of Nature, to the effect that the labors of Hoyle and Wickramasinghe were not convincing very many scientists because they ". .. had become caught up in the eccentric doctrine of panspermiology, a doctrine for which there was said to be little or no evidence." Hoyle and Wickramasinghe deny their eccentricity and affirm that their ideas have been acquired through observation and the generally accepted methods of deductive science. Basically, Hoyle and Wickramasinghe maintain that evidence supports the concept of life originating, evolving, and being transported from place to place in outer space. We have published many of their results in past issues of SF and see no need to cover the same ground again. Rather, we wish to dwell on the scientific reception of their work. We do this with two quotations from their Nature article. These quotations are embedded in their review of the infrared evidence for biological material in outer space: "Still persuing the infrared problem, we eventually found that among organic materials polysaccharides gave the best ...

... thinking demands), one gets the clumping effect seen in the accompanying illustration. (Henbest, Nigel; "Galaxies Form 'Megawalls' across Space," New Scientist, p. 37, March 19, 1990.) Comment. Not mentioned in the above article are the papers by W.G . Tifft on quantized redshifts. (See SF#50, for example.) It will be interesting to learn if "boreholes" pointed in other directions will encounter the same megawalls. If they do, the earth will be enclosed by shells of galaxies, much as some elliptical galaxies are surrounded by shells of stars. Wouldn't it be hilarious if the earth were at the center of these concentric shells? Some measurements of the universe's rotation also seem to imply geocentrism! It is more likely, however, that redshifts are just poor cosmological yardsticks. See our Catalog volume Stars, Galaxies, Cosmos for more on these subjects. Ordering information here . From Science Frontiers #69, MAY-JUN 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... The Springtime Wave of Darkness AMO4 Transitory Dark Spots AMW ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA ON MARS AMW1 Bright Spots during Planet Wide Dust Storms AMW2 Moving Dark Lines AMW3 Vertical Cloud Columns AMW4 Planet-Wide Dust Storms AMW5 Isotopic Anomalies in the Martian Atmosphere AMW6 The Blue Clearings AN NEPTUNE ANB PROBLEMS WITH NEPTUNE'S ORBIT ANB1 The Large Residual in Neptune's Orbit ANF NEPTUNE'S INTRINSIC RADIATION ANF1 Measurements of Intrinsic Energy from Neptune ANL RING AND SATELLITE IRREGULARITIES ANL1 Disarray among Neptune's Moons ANL2 Neptune's Elusive Ring and Its Possible Incompleteness ANO TELESCOPIC ANOMALIES ANO1 Neptune's Variable Brightness AO STARS AND EXTENDED OBJECTS AOB STELLAR DYNAMICS AND DISTRIBUTION AOB1 Star Rings AOB2 Star Streams AOB3 Expansion of Our Galaxy's Globular-Cluster Population AOB4 Spherical Distribution of Globular Clusters and Their Apparent Nonparticipation in Galactic Rotation AOB5 Geocentrically Oriented Spectroscopic Binaries AOB6 Anomalously Slow Rotation of Stars AOB7 The Possible Existence of a Minimum Distance between Stars AOB8 Existence of a Lower Limit to the Number of Stars in Globular Clusters AOB9 Non-collapsing Globular Clusters AOB10 Sub-dwarfs Move Counter to Galactic Rotation AOB11 High Pulsar Velocities AOB12 Ubiquity of Binary and Multiple-Star Systems AOB13 Pulsar Formation Rate Exceeds Supernova Frequency AOB14 Dearth of Population-III Stars AOB15 Curious Distribution of Anomalous Cepheids AOB16 Family of Population-I Stars in Galactic Halo AOB17 The Existence of Globular Clusters AOB18 The Existence of Stars AOB19 Absence of Binaries in Globular Clusters AOB20 Alignment of Axes of Young Stars AOB21 Young Stars with Anomalous Velocities AOF ANOMALIES DETECTED THROUGH STELLAR RADIATION AOF1 Star Color Changes in Historical Times AOF2 Anomalous Variable Objects: A Few Extreme Cases AOF3 Unidentified Objects at the ...