122 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 30: Nov-Dec 1983 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The Rock Lake Pyramids What Happened in 2345 B.c .? Astronomy Cosmic Rays Not Random Biology Cancer: the Price for Higher Life? The Problem of the Precocious Parr Hot Plants The Aortic Arch and Evolution A Weak Missing Link Geology The Arctic Womb Non-lethal Tektites Geophysics The Throbbing Earth Soil Temperatures Forecast Rainfall Patterns Giant Ice Block Falls in China Psychology Apathy and Cancer A Delusion of Doubles ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf030/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 18: Nov-Dec 1981 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The Senegambian Megalithic Monument Complex A Celtic Frontier Site in Colorado? Astronomy A Bump in the Cosmic Background Phoebe Not Locked to Saturn Biology Descent of Man -- or Ascent of Ape? Life's Origin Within the Earth? Or Did it Drift in From Without? Geology The Burgess Shale Puzzle Iridium-rich Layers and Catastrophism Geophysics The Long Arms of Venus and Jupiter Giant Thunderstorm Clusters Offshore Booms Are Still with Us Psychology Dreams More Real Than Reality Warts on Demand? ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf018/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 4: July 1978 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Stone Alignments in Subsaharan Africa Good-bye to the Bimini Wall and Road? Astronomy What Caused the Grooves on Phobos? A New Cosmic Heresy Biology The Four-eyed Fish Sees All A Sinuous Line of Sea Snakes Geology Echo Sounder Outlines Strange Patches Over Underwater Peaks Is the Earth A Giant Methane Reservoir? Geophysics Bioluminescence and Spurious Radar Echoes Curious Patches of Light on the Horizon Meteoric Night-glow Psychology Out-of-the-body Traveller Exerts No Influence Category X South of the Bermuda Triangle ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf004/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 2: January 1978 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The Stone Enigmas of New England Astronomy Sun-Earth-Moon System May Not Be Stable Changes in Solar Rotation Biology Hopeful Monsters Rather Than Gradual Evolution? Hedgehogs Use Toad Venom for Defense Blind Man Runs on Lunar Time Infections From Comets Geology Will Radiohalos in Coalified Wood Upset Geological Clocks? How Real Are Biological Extinctions in the Fossil Record? Geophysics Another Indian Ocean Light Wheel Ghostly White Disk and Light Beam in Sky Fast-moving Dark Bands Cross Halo The Morning Glory Giant Ball Lightning Psychology Does Man Survive Death? ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf002/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 139: Jan-Feb 2002 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Surf's Up On California'S Shores: Really Up At Cortes Bank The biggest waves swashing against southern California's beaches have grown by 2 meters or 35% since 1948. (Anonymous; "Surf's Up and Up and Up," New Scientist, p. 29, October 27, 2001.) Comment. The Atlantic's waves, too, have been getting larger. (SF#113) But if you want to surf some true Pacific giants, you must leave the shoreline and head for Cortes Bank 160 miles offshore. There, far out of sight of land, lurks a shallow rock shelf that amplifies wind-driven waves---but only the largest of them. The elliptical swirls of the smaller waves do not reach down to the rock shelf and are unaffected. But when bigger swells encounter the shelf they are amplified into giants. So challenging are these waves that. when conditions are right, expert surfers boat out to Cortes Bank and wait for the really big ones. Mike Parsons caught the first wave at dawn. It was 18 metres tall and moving at around 40 knots. You can't paddle fast enough to get onto a wave like that---you have to be towed by a jet ski. Evan Slater, editor of Swell.com, did try paddling onto a wave, but had to abandon his board and dive deep underwater ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf139/sf139p11.htm
... most powerful explosion ever ever observed -- a deep space eruption detected in January -- released in just seconds a burst of energy equal to billions of years of light from thousands of suns. Researchers say in studies to be published today that the explosion, called a gamma-ray burst, occurred 9 billion light years from earth. What caused the explosion is a mystery." (Anonymous; "Blast's Light May Have Been Greater Than Rest of Universe," Baltimore Sun, March 26, 1999.) "Every day, the sun blows billions of tons of ionized gas, electrons and protons into space -- the "solar wind." Sometimes, especially near the solar maximum, this wind is punctuated by squalls and storms of dangerous highenergy particles." Two giant solar storms erupted in 1972. Luckily, they were sandwiched between Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 missions to the moon. If the astronauts had been caught on the lunar surface during one of these storms, they would probably have died. (Roylance, Frank D.; "Sun Puts Chill on Space Missions," Baltimore Sun, Apil 1, 1999.) From Science Frontiers #123, MAY-JUN 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf123/sf123p06.htm
... 32 seconds before the second contact and a little fainter for 27 seconds after totality. They moved rapidly across the screen from E to W before totality and from NNE to SSW after 3rd contact. Slow motion studies of the video show occasional merging of the bands and at times they seem to move in opposite directions -- probably a stroboscopic effect." The widths of the bands varied from 2.36 to 6.63 centimeters. (Strach, Eric; "Shadow Bands Recorded at February 26 Eclipse," British Astro nomical Association, Journal, vol. 108, 1998. Comment. Theorists have long been challenged by these ghostly, fleeting shadows. Their widths change; their directions and speeds vary; they come in different colors; sometimes more than one set of bands appear; giant bands have been seen. All of these characteristics are difficult to account for in a single theory. Shadow bands sketch during the February 26, 1998, total solar eclipse. (Top) before totality (Bottom) After totality From Science Frontiers #123, MAY-JUN 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf123/sf123p04.htm
... with big teeth." These data agree with the old descriptions of the mangarsahoc (1661), the tsy-aomby-aomby (1882), and the Ombyrano (1912). One animal fits all of these accounts: the dwarf hippopotamus ( Hippo potamus lemerlie , supposedly extinct for over 1,000 years. The Kidoky "This animal's description is decidedly lemur-like. It was compared to the sifaka by all the interviewees who described it, although all insisted that it was not the same animal... It is much larger...perhaps 25 kg. It is usually encountered on the ground and may flee on the ground rather than taking to the trees...Its whooping call is suggestive of an indri." The Kidoky is probably the giant aboreal lemur ( Palaeopropithecus ), known only from subfossils 1,000 or more years old. (Burney, David A., and Ramilisonia; "The Kilopilopitsofy , Kidoky , and Bokyboky : Accounts of Strange Animals from Belo-sur-mer, Madagascar, and the Megafaunal 'Extinction Window'," American Anthropologist, 100:957, 1999.) Comment. The Bokyboky mentioned in the article's title definitely does survive under the name: Malagsay Narrow-Striped Mongoose. Reference: Walker's Mammals of the World . What the kilopilopitsofy probably looks like. From Science Frontiers #124, JUL-AUG 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf124/sf124p07.htm
... do not. No house-size snowballs. Back in 1985, L. Frank saw dark spots on satellite images of the earth's atmosphere. He interpreted them as huge splotches of water created by incoming cometary snowballs. (SF#112, 114, 118, and earlier) Although some other data supported Frank's theory, many scientists scoffed. After some mildly acrimonious debate, a consensus decided that the spots on the satellite photos were merely instrument artifacts. Any lingering doubts as to Frank's house-size snowballs or "icy minicomets" impacting our atmosphere have been dispelled by a radar search by S. Knowles and his colleagues at the Naval Research Laboratory. Using the Naval Space Surveillance System's powerful radar, their scans of the upper atmosphere detected nothing resembling giant snowballs. According to Frank's estimates of the flux of incoming minicomets, the radar should have seen 800-5 ,000 of them. If Frank responds, we'll let you know. This may be the end of this decade-long debate. (Anonymous; "No Snow Show," New Scientist, p. 25, June 12, 1999.) Where water and vehicles run uphill. "Chinese scientists are baffled by a slope in north-western Gansu province where water runs up the incline rather than down, the official Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. "The 60-m -long slope at an angle of 15 degrees was discovered by Army officer Zhao Guobiao in a desert region of Yugur autonomous county, it said." Unpowered vehicles, ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf125/sf125p10.htm
... and Poison Dart Frogs: Convergent Evolution? BBC5 Are Ratites More Primitive Than Flying Birds? BBC6 Did Australian Songbirds Evolve Earlier than European Songbirds? BBC7 Are Birds More Closely Related to Mammals Than to Reptiles? BBC8 The Inability of Some Birds to Synthesize Ascorbic Acid BBD DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS IN SPACE AND TIME BBD1 Discontinuous Populations of Birds BBD2 Uncolonized Areas: Unfilled Niches BBD3 Land Birds Observed Far at Sea BBD4 Late Survival of Moas and Passenger Pigeons BBD5 Distribution Curiosities BBE THE FOSSIL RECORD OF BIRDS BBE1 The Fossil Record of Birds and Associated Paradigms BBE2 Evidence against the Dinosaur Origin of Birds BBE3 Protoavis: A Pre-Archaeopteryx Bird? BBE4 Unresolved Nature of Archaeopteryx BBE5 The Apparent Absence of Transitional Forms of Feathers BBE6 Fossils of Ostrich Ancestors in the Northern Hemisphere BBE7 Controversial Feathers of the London Archaeopteryx Fossil BBE8 Giant Fossil Eggs BBF BODILY FUNCTIONS BBF1 The Avian Respiratory System: Unique, Complex, Sophisticated BBF2 Avian Bodily Functions: Some Oddities BBG GENETICS BBG1 Species mtDNA More Diverse Than Morphology BBG2 Discordance in the Date of Divergence of Modern Birds BBG3 Discordances between Phylogenies Established from Morphology and DNA Analysis BBG4 Dearth of Introns in Birds BBI INTERNAL STRUCTURES AND SYSTEMS BBI1 Avian Magnetoreceptors: Hard to Find BBI2 Curious Internal Structures BBO ORGANS BBO1 Complexity and Sophistication of Some Owl Ear-Brain, Sound-Localization Systems BBO2 Regeneration of Brain Neurons BBO3 Curiosities of Avian Brains BBO4 The Pecten: A Unique Structure in the Avian Eye BBO5 Curiosities of Avian Eyes BBO6 High Complexity and Sophistication of the Avian Eye BBO7 Remarkable Tongue Adaptations BBO8 The Loss and Reduction of Reproductive Organs BBT UNUSUAL TALENTS AND FACULTIES BBT1 Infrasound and Atmospheric Pressure- ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 67 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /cat-biol.htm
... the Fossil Record ESB13 "Special" Nature of Fossils ESC ANOMALOUS CHEMICAL PHENOMENA IN GEOLOGY ESC1 Chemical Anomalies in the Stratigraphic Record ESC2 Chemical Anomalies in Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks ESC3 Surface Films on Rocks ESC4 Spontaneous, Rapid, Exothermic Reactions in Nature ESC5 Death Gulches ESC6 Violent Lake Turnovers ESC7 Petrifactions and Lignifications ESC8 Geological Effects of Natural Combustion ESC9 Rocks and Sediments of Controverted Origins ESC10 Unusual Growth Structures ESC11 Possible Extraterrestrial Origin of Ocean Water ESC12 Chemical Anomalies of Lakes and Ground Water ESC13 Petroleum Anomalies ESC14 Coal Anomalies ESC15 Outgassing of Radon-222 ESC16 Methane Anomalies ESD DEPOSITS OF REMARKABLE SIZE ESD1 Bone Caves, Bone Caches,... ESD2 Bone Beds, Fish Beds,... ESD3 Sedimentary Deposits of Exceptional Volume ESD4 Historical Evidence for Large Scale Flooding ESD5 Recent Large Reductions of Polar Ice Cover ESD6 Giant Basalt Flows and Traps ESD7 Giant Accumulations of Oil ESD8 Giant Erratics and Megabreccias ESD9 Deposits of Great Areal Extent ESI INCLUSIONS ESI1 Inclusions in Crystals ESI2 Microdebris ESI3 Erratic Boulders, Stones, and Mineral Patches ESI4 Anomalous Amber Inclusions ESI5 Microfossil-Like Inclusions ESI6 Oil in Fossil Cavities ESI7 Carbon Dust on Fossil Plants ESI8 Great Rarity of Fossil Meteorites and Tektites ESI9 Stretched Pebbles ESM ANOMALOUS SUPERFICIAL GEOLOGICAL MATERIALS ESM1 Unusual Superficial Aggregations of Rocks ESM2 Strewn Fields of Natural Glasses ESM3 Tektite and Microtektite Paradoxes and Anomalies ESM4 Boulder Trains and Belts ESM5 Rock Glaciers, Block Fields,... ESM6 Elevated Erratics... ESM7 Anomalous Glacial Drift ESM8 Fluidized Debris Slides ESM9 Surging Glaciers ESM10 Driftless Enclaves within Glaciated Regions ESM11 Anomalous Rock Motion ESM12 Superficial Rocky Debris of Doubtful Provenance ESP ANOMALOUS PHYSICAL PHENOMENA IN GEOLOGY ESP1 Anomalous ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 48 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /cat-geol.htm
... Fossils: Pliocene, Holocene, Miocene, etc. [BHE] Mummy Anomalies Teeth and Implications for the Settlement of Americas Calaveras Skull Controversy Minnesota Man/Loess Man/ Nebraska Man/Los Angeles Man/Vero Beach Man, etc. Caucasian Mummies in China Vast Ancient Cemeteries Light-Skinned Mummies in New Guinea Ice Man Tattoos Humerus (Olecranon) Perforation Neanderthal Fossils in the New World? Wyoming Mystery Mummy Evidence of Ancient Cannibalism Kennewick Man and Similar Recent Discoveries Rats in New Zealand That Suggest Pre-Maori Occupants Teeth and Ainu Origin Controversial Guadeloupe Skeleton Fossils Supporting the Multiregional Theory Ancient Horse-Cribbing Polynesian Fossils in the New World South American Fossils in New Zealand Babirusa Bones in Canada Humans and Domesticated Ground Sloths Trepanation Yuha Burial Problem Human Hair at the Orogrande Site Pygmy Skeletons Chinese Fossils in Australia Giant Skeletons [BHE] Neanderthal Fossils and Speech Santa Barbara Fossils Taber Skeleton (Canada) Eskimo Fossils in France Blond Mummies in Peru Red-Haired Mummies in Nevada [MAA] Santa Rosa Mammoths and Hearths MAK CULTURE Precocious Number Systems and Mathematics Agriculture and Culture Decline Navigational Techniques Ancient Cosmologies and Astronomy Music, Arts, Literature Measurement Systems Paper-Making Diffusion Olmec Origin (Cultural Evidence) Origin of Culture Human Migration Phenomena Polynesian Origins Early Caucasians in New World Extinctions and Rapid Declines (Mohenjo-Daro, Maya, Minoans, Moundbuilders, etc.) Chinese in the New World Polynesians in New World and Australia Eruption of Thera and the Minoans Ancient Warfare Human Degeneracy [BHA] Cyberculture Red Paint People Ideologies In Ancient Times Egyptians in Oceania South Americans in Oceania Norse in New World Anasazi Culture and ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 36 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /cat-arch.htm
... Surface GLA21 Auroras and Surface Fogs GLA22 Black Auroras GLA23 Banded Skies GLA24 Millisecond Brightness Pulsations of the Night Sky GLA25 False Dawn GLA26 Auroras Following Coastlines GLA27 Challenges to the Theory of Aurora Origin GLA28 Flash Auroras GLA29 Possible Atmospheric-Laser Emission Accompanying Auroras GLA30 Mysterious Bright Streaks in the Sky GLA31 Short-Lived, Bright, Cloud-Like Patches High in the Sky Aurora-Frequency Correlated with Climate Coastlines Auroral Streamers Aligned with Wind Direction Expanding Ball-of-Light Phenomenon Infrared Banded Sky Auroral Streamers Aligned with Wind Direction Bright Lines in the Sky Auroras Associated with the Tunguska Event Luminous-Tube Phenomenon Phantom Volcanos GLB BALL LIGHTNING GLB1 "Ordinary" Ball Lightning GLB2 Ball Lightning with Spikes GLB3 Ball Lightning with Rays GLB4 Rod-Shaped Ball Lightning GLB5 Double and Triple Ball Lightning GLB6 Miniature Ball Lightning GLB7 Giant Ball Lightning GLB8 Transparent Ball Lightning GLB9 Fragmenting Ball Lightning GLB10 Materialization of Ball Lightning in Enclosures GLB11 Black Ball Lightning GLB12 Ball Lightning's Electromagnetic Effects GLB13 Ball Lightning with Apparent Internal Structure GLB14 Unusual Physiological Effects of Ball Lightning GLB15 Artificial Ball Lightning GLB16 Ball Lightning with Long Tails GLB17 Correlation of Ball Lightning Incidence with Solar Activity GLB18 Ball Lightning External to Aircraft (Foo Fighters) GLB19 Repeating Ball Lightning GLB20 Penetration of Physical Barriers by Ball Lightning GLB21 Miscellaneous Observations of Bizarre Ball Lightning Ball Lightning Contacting People Ball Lightning Penetrating Window Panes Illusory Ball Lightning Flowing Ball Lightning GLD DIFFUSE ELECTRICAL DISCHARGE PHENOMENA GLD1 Mountain-Top Glows GLD2 Intermountain Electric Discharges GLD3 Large-Scale St. Elmo's Fire GLD4 Moving, Surface-Level, Electrified Light Patches GLD5 Discharge Phenomena during Duststorms and Snowstorms GLD6 Unusual Forms ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 16 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /cat-geop.htm
... -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 Core of Our Galaxy AOF4 Anomalies of Wolf-Rayet Stars AOF5 Nova and Supernova Anomalies AOF6 Cepheid Anomalies AOF7 Apparent Absence of Bright Carbon Stars AOF8 The "Missing" Solar Neutrinos and, by Extension, Stellar Neutrino Deficits AOF9 Pulsar Anomalies AOF10 Unidentified Infrared Objects in Our Galaxy AOF11 Optical Bursters and Flare Stars AOF12 Flicker Stars AOF13 Supermassive Stars AOF14 Discordant Binaries AOF15 Stars Emitting Excess Infrared Radiation AOF16 Spinning-Up Stars AOF17 Physical Barriers in the Evolutionary Path between Red Giants and White Dwarfs AOF18 Discrete Redshifts in Stellar Spectra AOF19 Gamma-Ray Sources Correlated with Solar Oscillations AOF20 Rapid Variation of Celestial Radio Sources AOF21 Gamma-Ray Objects AOF22 Galactic Sources of Unidentified Radiation AOF23 White-Dwarf Anomalies AOF24 Globular-Cluster "Age' Anomalies AOF25 Infrared Bursters AOF26 Stellar "Age" Anomalies AOF27 Higher Masses of Smaller White Dwarfs AOF28 Historical Disappearance of Stars AOF29 Gamma-Ray Bursters AOF30 X-Ray Bursters AOO EXTENDED GALACTIC OBJECTS AOO1 X-Ray Rings AOO2 Nebular Jets AOO3 The North Polar Radio Spur AOO4 Triangular Appearance of Stars in Telescopes AOO5 Puzzling Nature of Bok Globules AOO6 Jets from Young Stars AOO7 The Red Rectangle AOO8 Herbig-Haro Objects AOO9 Molecular-Cloud Rings AOO10 Infrared Cirrus Clouds AOO11 Diffuse Cartwheel-Like Structures AOX STELLAR-ECLIPSE PHENOMENA AOX1 Anomalous Precession of ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 5 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /cat-astr.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 126: Nov-Dec 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Flotsam On The Great Sand Sea One of the strangest mysteries nestled among the giant dunes of the Egyptian Sahara was not recognized by modern scientists until 1932. In December of that year, P. Clayton, a surveyor for the Egyptian Geological Survey, was driving among the dunes near the Saad Plateau when he heard his tires crunch on something that wasn't sand. It turned out to be large pieces of marvelously clear yellow-green glass -- not just any glass but ultra-pure glass, 98% silica. As often the case, Clayton was not the first to come across the now-famous Libyan Desert Glass or LDG. Prehistoric humans had made knives and other sharp-edged tools from it; the ancient Egyptians had carved a scarab from LDG and deposited it in Tutankhamen's tomb. But Clayton and the ancients did not recognize the scientific implications of their discovery. LDG is the purest natural silica glass ever found. Over a thousand tons of it are strewn across hundreds of kilometers of bleak desert. Some of the chunks weigh 26 kilograms, but most LDG exists in smaller, angular pieces looking like shards left when a giant green bottle was smashed by colossal forces. Pure as it is, LDG does contain tiny bubbles, white wisps, and inky black swirls. The whitish inclusions consist of refractory minerals, such as cristobalite. The ink-like swirls, though, are rich in iridium ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 40 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf126/sf126p06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 123: May-Jun 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Heads Down!S. Breiner wields a magnetometer when he searches for Olmec artifacts. This instrument allows him to detect buried objects, and he has made some surprising discoveries. The Olmecs flourished circa 1,500-400 B.C . in Mexican states of Vera Cruz, Oaxaca, and surrounding areas. This enigmatic culture is probably best known for the giant stone heads they carved out of hard rock. These massive heads, 8-15 feet high, seem to display African features. Breiner has found two of the 17 known heads. The most interesting one weighed 10 tons and was buried 18 feet deep! Why would a thriving culture bury the product of so much intensive labor? (Robinson, Dave; NEARA Transit, 11:12, Spring equinox 1999. Item attributed to New York Times, May 26, 1998.) Comment. The burial of the Olmec head might have had ritual significance, like the ritual smashing of pottery or the sacrificing of animals. Be this as it may, we wish to connect the Olmec heads with the large stone spheres found in Costa Rica, just a few hundred miles down the Pacific Coast. The Costa Rican spheres are also beautifully and laboriously crafted from hard rock. Many are several feet in diameter. The curious part is that many of them were also buried in the jungle soil like the Olmec heads. They were exhumed only when banana plantations were established. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf123/sf123p02.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 122: Mar-Apr 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Our Lucky Star About every 5 years our sun spits a giant blob of ionized gases in the earth's direction. These "coronal mass ejections" or flares interfere with terrestrial communications and knock out power grids. But we are lucky it isn't worse. Studies of stars in our galaxy similar to the sun find that they emit super-flares about once every century. If our sun sent such a super-flare our way, the atmosphere would glow like a neon tube, our fleet of satellites would be fried, and half the protective ozone layer would disappear in a flash. Earth life would survive -- at least for a while. Our sun, it seems, is favored with anomalous stability, but no one knows why. We are simply lucky! (Seife, Charles; "Thank Our Lucky Star," New Scientist, p. 15, January 9, 1999.) Comment. We also live in a "lucky" galaxy. (See NOW WE KNOW WHY...later in this issue.) The universe is anthropic (i .e ., favoring humans) at all levels! From Science Frontiers #122, MAR-APR 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf122/sf122p03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 124: Jul-Aug 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The 21-micron mystery The following phenomenon is rather technical and is observable only to those astronomers lucky enough to have an infrared spectrometer aboard a satellite. These privileged scientists "see" strange infrared shrouds centered at 21 microns draped around certain red giant stars. The feature of these infrared shrouds that makes the phenomenon worthy of our attention in SF is the width of the spectrum. It is so wide that it cannot be produced by single atoms or molecules. The shrouds must consist of complex molecules, possibly even solids. The infrared glows are so strong that the elements involved must be common in the universe, in all likelihood carbon and hydrogen. Speculators have fingered polymers, ball-shaped fullerenes, and "nanodiamonds"; i.e ., very tiny diamonds! The debate has scientists repairing to their laboratories where they are trying to find some substance with a spectrum that matches that of the mystery shrouds. (Hellemans, Alexander; "Labs Hold the Key to the 21-Micron Mystery," Science, 284:1113, 1999.) Comment. Are not biological materials rich in carbon and hydrogen? This reminds us of F. Hoyle's books: Lifecloud and Diseases from Space , wherein outer space is characterized as teeming with prebiotic molecules, bacteria, and even-more-bizarre life forms. From Science Frontiers #124, JUL-AUG 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf124/sf124p04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 123: May-Jun 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Out-Henging Stonehenge Stonehenge may be more sophisticated in terms of astronomical alignments, but it is dwarfed by the newly discovered henge surrounding Ireland's hill of Tara. (A "henge" is simply a circular ditch and embankment.) The henge's ditch at Tara is 3 meters wide with a curious series of pits on either side. Its diameter is about 1 kilometer (5 /8 mile) compared to Stonehenge's diminutive 100 meters. Tara had long been considered an Iron Age site, but the presence of the giant henge pushes its use as a ceremonial site back to Neolithic times -- say, to 2,500 B.C . (Anonymous; NEARA Transit, 11:14, Spring equinox 1999.) Question. Are those pits analogous to the mysterious Aubrey holes at Stonehenge? From Science Frontiers #123, MAY-JUN 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf123/sf123p03.htm
... faces so that echos, as from a handclap, would not only be unusually loud but have some relation to the painting, as in the clatter of hooves. (SF#86) In a similar vein, some manmade chambers, such as New Grange (3 ,500 B.C .) were configured to enhance the subjective effects of ritual chanting. (SF#102) A fascinating article in Pour la Science , has described how ancient paintings in some of Europe's famous decorated caves were placed where sound resonated. To illustrate, examine the accompanying illustration of the north wall of the Jeannel Gallery of Portel Cave, in Arlege. The long, looping dotted line indicates the amplitude of resonating sound at a frequency of 95 Hertz, as the long gallery behaves like a giant wind instrument. The peak occurs smack in the center of the decorated area. At the peak, in the dotted circle, there is a rocky projection in the shape of a (hard-to-see) feline head. On the opposite wall (not shown), the same peak coincides with an ocher circle that dominates a meter-long decorated panel. (Dauvois, Michael, et al; "Son et Musique au Paleolithique," Pour la Science , p. 52, no. 253, November 1998. Cr. C. Mauge.) Comment. Modern humans are also cognizant of acoustical effects, as in the design of auditoriums, churches, whispering galleries, etc. North Wall of La Galerie Jeannel. The dotted curve indicates standing wave amplitude at 95 ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf123/sf123p15.htm
... Subjects Another Sucker Female beaked whales are usually toothless, and the males only have a couple of teeth that are used for fighting rivals. Yet, these whales have no problem catching and consuming their swift, fishy prey. Apparently, they first stun their dinners acoustically and then suck them in with the pump-like action of their muscular tongues. (AR#2 and BMA25 in Mammals I) Occasionally, whalers have caught sperm whales with congenital, grossly twisted jaws that are completely useless in hunting, yet these animals thrive on a rich diet of fast, elusive squid. A. Werth of Hampden-Sydney College theorizes that these much larger cetaceans also suck in their prey just like the beaked whales. Sperm whales also generate sound pulses so strong that they can very likely stun the giant squid, their preferred food, as they pursue them with their sonar in miledeep blackness. (BMO10 in Mammals II) (Pennisi, Elizabeth; "Coming to Grips with Whale Anatomy," Science, 283:475, 1999.) Comment. Sperm whales and beaked whales are only distantly related, so that we have an interesting example of the triple parallel evolution of hunting strategy, acoustic-stunning capability, and large, piston-like tongues. Sperm whales may stun their prey with high intensity sound From Science Frontiers #122, MAR-APR 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf122/sf122p09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 139: Jan-Feb 2002 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Really High Oysters At 12,300 feet of altitude among the cold rarefied peaks of the Andes, one would not expect giant fossilized oysters. But there they are---over 500 of them in one location. Some are 3.5 meters in circumference (about 3.8 feet across). When alive, they probably weighed 300 kilograms (660 pounds). About 200 million years ago, according to the geologists, these oysters were thriving under Pacific waters. One must conclude that the Andes rose to their snowy magnificence in a very short period of geological time. (Mayo, Raul; "Descubren Fosiles de Ostras Gigantes en Plena Cordillera," El Comercio, February 28, 2001. Cr. R. Gabbert) Comment. The article calls the fossils "oysters" (" ostras"), but they look more like giant clams. The high Andes boast some curious marine innuendoes. Lake Titicaca is freshened by melting snows but is said to support a species of seahorse and many fish with marine affinities. It drains into lakes that are highly saline. From Science Frontiers #139, Jan-Feb 2002 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf139/sf139p10.htm
