415 results found.
... -Feb 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Things that ain't so Back in 1953. Irving Langmuir, the famous American physicist, gave a talk at General Electric on the subject of "pathological science." He discussed several things that could not be so . Of course, UFOs were on the list, but so was mitogenetic radiation -- radiation supposedly emitted by cells when they divide. In the context of Langmuir's talk, despite his emphatic interment of the subject, mitogenetic radiation was resurrected recently in the pages of Physics Today. A letter from V.B . Shirley included several recent scientific references that suggest that Langmuir was premature. "The gist of these articles is that many cell systems emit ultraviolet light during or immediately before cell division and that the total effect of this emission on neighboring cells is unknown." (Shirley, Vestel B.; "Mitogenetic Radiation: Pathology or Biology?" Physics Today, 43:130, October 1990.) From Science Frontiers #73, JAN-FEB 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf073/sf073b07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 79: Jan-Feb 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A LUMINOUS-TUBE PHENOMENON Night of July 11-12, 1991, near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire, England. Three individuals were monitoring nearby fields for crop-circle phenomena. Instead, they observed a strange, but possibly related, luminous mass. R.L Goold described it in the following words: "Suddenly, at 2.55 a.m ., birds began singing which heightened our alertness and made us check wrist watches. It was soon quiet again, but at 3.00 a.m ., almost exactly, I spotted a tube of light to the northeast descending vertically beneath a cloud in that part of the sky. Most of the remainder of the sky was clear and starry. The tube extended steadily in length as we watched, and its milky-white colour seemed to be due to a self-luminoscity like one might expect from the electrical effect known as plasma. As it came down against the black sky and neared the ground, the tube began to broaden, and branched out to give two opposed arms, as indicated in the drawing, forming a design in the air with rounded ends. Then the tube dissipated from the top downwards, and disappeared into the horizontal arms which themselves proceeded towards the ground out of sight beyond the hill peaks. No noise was heard. The whole phenomenon lasted about six seconds." The trio of observers used their fingers held at arm ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf079/sf079g16.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 60: Nov-Dec 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Airborne Observations Of The Marfa Lights The Marfa lights are elusive, and most people lucky enough to see them observe them from the ground. Neverthe-less, a few pilots and aircraft passengers have encountered them. In February 1988, R. Weidig was flying at about 8000 feet, some 20 miles from Alpine, Texas, when he noticed white lights in motion around the Alamito Tower's red beacon light. "We noticed white lights coming up... I don't know how high, but it seemed like several hundred feet. Then the lights would just dissipate .. . They moved around that tower for some reason. They'd get on the right hand side of it, the left hand side of it, and go just straight up." In June 1988, a stranger case was reported by E. Halsell, who was a passenger on a plane flying toward the Chianti Mountains. "' Suddenly a bright light came toward them rapidly, seemingly from a great distance. "It came straight at us til it got to the hood of the plane....It was engulfing us, larger than the plane.' It seemed as though they were inside the light. 'We couldn't see to fly. It scared us.' According to Halsell, as they tried to turn away from it, it moved in front of them. 'Always it moved ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 298 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf060/sf060p15.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 58: Jul-Aug 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Has the speed of light decayed?In a recent technical report, The Atomic Constants, Light, and Time , T. Norman and B. Setterfield answer this question affirmatively. Scientific creationists have in the main welcomed this report, because its findings are consistent with their desire to prove the earth very young. However, G.E . Aardsma, at the Institute for Creation Research, in California, urges caution: "Measurements of the speed of light have been made for the past three hundred years which could potentially provide the required empirical basis. Norman and Setterfield tabulate the results of 163 speed of light determinations in The Atomic Constants, Light, and Time , and claim clear support for the decay-of-c hypothesis from this data set. [c = velocity of light] My inability to verify this claim when this data set was subjected to appropriate, objective analyses is the motivation for this article which is intended to caution creationists against a wholesale, uncritical acceptance of the Norman and Setterfield hypothesis. At the present time, it appears that general decay of the speed of light hypothesis is not warranted by the data upon which the hypothesis rests." (Aardsma, Gerald E.; "Has the Speed of Light Decayed?" ICR Impact Series no. 179, May 1988. Comment. Thus, American creationists concur with what Australian scientists have already concluded. (Bridgstock, Martin; "Creation Physics ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 205 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf058/sf058g17.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 51: May-Jun 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Remarkable Photograph Of The Marfa Light The century-old fame of the Marfa, Texas, nocturnal light was greatly enhanced some months ago, when it was written up in the Wall Street Journal, of all places! We now have at hand a time-exposure photograph showing the typical erratic motion and flickering nature of this "spook" light. The photo was taken by James Crocker in September 1986. The location was 10 miles deep in Mitchell Flats, southbound from Highway 90. A single-lens reflex camera mounted on a tripod was used. Exposure was less than 3 minutes, at f/1 .8 , 50 mm lens, EL 400 color film. Three additional observers were present. It is interesting that the light's motion resembles that of some observations and photos of ball lightning. The lights in the upper right, just above the right loop of the Marfa light, are thought to be car lights on Route 67, about 10 miles distant. Unfortnately, the photo is too difficult to reproduce here. See our book: Science Frontiers: Some Anomalies and Curiosities of Nature for a good reproduction. Ordering information here . Time-exposure photograph of the famed Marfa Light in Texas. See text for details (c ) James Crocker. From Science Frontiers #51, MAY-JUN 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 171 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf051/sf051g13.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 55: Jan-Feb 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Wheels of light: sea of fire It has always been perplexing that scientists have made no concerted effort to find the cause of the many forms of the geometrical luminescent displays seen in the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, and other warm waters. True, a few individual researchers have looked at literature and done some theorizing; but no expeditions have been launched that we know of. Here is a well-verified, richly complex, eerily beautiful, natural phenomenon that is almost completely neglected by science. Happily, P. Huyghe has now brought the problem to the fore in a comprehensive article in Oceans, He reviews several types of luminescent displays and some of the theories-of-origin that have been proposed. We have space here for only one of the observations he records. P. Newton was the Chief Officer on the M.V . Mahsuri, which was passing through the Gulf of Oman bound for Australia. It was a dark, moonless night in May. "Then it happened. What first caught Newton's attention was a pale green glow on the horizon just ahead of the ship, but he said nothing to the cadet standing watch with him. Moments later, parallel bands of bluegreen light began to sweep silently over the water toward the ship from the southeast. Still, Newton said not a word, but he felt as if he should duck. Each light band was about 10 to ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 129 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf055/sf055p14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 61: Jan-Feb 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Expanding ball of light (ebl) phenomenon X8. June 22, 1976. North Atlantic. "At 2113 GMT a pale orange glow was seen to be coming from behind a bank of towering cumulus to the west. At 2115 a ghostly white disc (see sketches) was observed at an approximate altitude of 10-degrees and bearing 290-degrees. The glow from behind the cloud persisted." The glowing region developed as indicated in the figure. Stars could be seen throught the disc at all times. By 2140 the disc had disappeared. In the latest number of the Journal of Scientific Exploration, R.F . Haines presents a summary table of 15 cases of a luminous phenomenon he has dubbed the Expanding Ball of Light or EBL. EBLs are very large, sometimes occupying much of the sky. They seem to occur everywhere, though rarely. Haines elaborates: "According to several pilot witnesses, the center of the EBL is at relatively high altitude while it is forming. Its color is evenly whitish or yellowish and becomes increasingly transparent to background stars as it expands. As it enlarges it appears to maintain a sharply defined edge. At some point it fades completely from sight. The rate of boundary interface expansion is impossible to determine without knowing its distance from the observer. It is also of interest to note that most EBL events have taken place after dark. If EBL phenomena are associated with an advanced ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 127 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf061/sf061g12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 61: Jan-Feb 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Synchronous Rhythmic Flashing Of Fireflies We humans are pretty smug about our ability to communicate complex messages via sound waves. Of course, we recognize that whales and other cetaceans also seem to "talk" to one another, and that other animals employ their sense of smell for relaying messages. But most of us do not realize that lowly fireflies congregate to communicate en masse, with untold thousands of individuals cooperating in huge synchronized light displays. In reading some of the descriptions of these great natural phenomena, one recalls the light displays used to communicate with the aliens in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind . J. Buck has been studying flashing fireflies for over half a century. In fact, his first review paper was published in 1938. Buck has now brought that paper up to date in the current Quarterly Review of Biology with a 24page contribution. It is difficult to do justice to this impressive work in a newsletter. Our readers will have to be satisfied with a mere two paragraphs, in which Buck summarizes some of the incredible synchronies. "More than three centuries later Porter observed a very different behavior in far southwestern Indiana in which, from the ends of a long row of tall riverbank trees, synchronized flashes '. .. began moving toward each other, met at the middle, crossed and traveled to the ends, as when two pebbles are dropped simultaneously into the ends of a long narrow tank of water ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 59 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf061/sf061b08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 56: Mar-Apr 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Celestial mirages?Those mysterious giant blue arcs mentioned above have at least two explanations. The less-favored states that the arcs are formed when a spherical light pulse from a briefly flaring quasar encounters a plane of gas and dust. This matter scatters the light, making it visible to us as a huge arc. The preferred model employs gravitational lensing. Here, the arcs are simply distorted images -- mirages, if you want -- of distant galaxies. (Two of the many reports on this subject are: Waldrop, M. Mitchell; "The Giant Arcs Are Gravitational Mirages," Science, 238:1351, 1987; and Anonymous; "Giant Arcs: Light Echoes or Lensed Galaxies?" Sky and Telescope, 75:7 , 1988.) Comment. A bit of background: according to Einstein, the presence of matter can bend light rays, just as our atmosphere does when mirages are created by refraction. Gravitational mirages of celestial objects are thus predicted by Relativity. From Science Frontiers #56, MAR-APR 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 53 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf056/sf056a03.htm
... the area was large enough to go supernova. But now it seems there was a mistake, and it was Sanduleak -69 202 all along that detonated. (Waldrop, M. Mitchell; "Supernova 1987A: Notes from All Over," Science, 236:522, 1987.) Comment. Naturally all of astronomy heaved a sigh of relief over this. Unfortunately, the relief was short-lived, and a second dose of antacid now seems required! Just a few days after the above, researchers reported in the New York Times some discomforting news: "According to Dr. Robert W. Noyes of Harvard-Smithsonian (Center for Astrophysics), the observations gathered by an extraordinarily sensitive camera show that the bright exploding star, or supernova, is actually two points of light, very close together, one about 10 times brighter than its companion. Since neither was present before the explosion, astronomers assume both arose from the same blast, but how this could happen is a mystery. .. .. . "The supernova and its apparent companion lie in the Greater Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way, at a distance of 150,000 light years from earth. The instrument used by the Harvard-Smithsonian group measured the distance between the two supernova elements as about one-twentieth of an arc second. This is about the separation a human eye would see between the headlights of a car some 6,000 miles away "Dr. Noyes said this distance was equivalent to an actual distance between the two bright objects of only about ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 48 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf052/sf052a06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 60: Nov-Dec 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mystery Glow On The Sea Floor "Marine scientists have discovered two thermal vents on the seabed that glow in the dark. A group of researchers, led by oceanographers from the University of Washington, detected faint light during an expedition to the Juan de Fuca Ridge. The ridge and the vents, 300 km off the coast of British Columbia, follow an underwater fault formed by the junction of the Juan de Fuca and the Pacific tectonic plates...John Delaney, leader of the expedition, described the glow as a 'flame-like light' that seems to emanate from the super-heated water emerging from the thermal vents, 2200 meters below the surface...'The source of the light is still unclear,' said Joe Cann, a geologist from the University of Newcastle in Britain. The scientists suspect that the water itself is glowing." The water temperature is so high -- 350 C -- that bioluminescence is unlikely. The presence of the glow does, however, imply that photosynthesis is still possible in these sunless depths. Life forms do congregate around these vents. A curious shrimp found in the area where the glow was noted is eyeless but does possess photoreceptors on its back! (Dayton, Sylvia; "The Underwater Light Fantastic," New Scientist, p. 32, August 25, 1988. Also: Anonymous; "Mystery Glow Emanates from Ocean Bottom," Albuquerque Tribune ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 44 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf060/sf060p14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 52: Jul-Aug 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Inside A Texas Tornado May 3, 1943. McKinney, Texas. People rarely get the chance to look up into the funnel of a tornado and live to tell about it. R.S . Hall did; and what he saw is very strange. "The bottom of the rim was about 20 feet off the ground, and had doubtless a few moments before destroyed our house as it passed. The interior of the funnel was hollow; the rim itself appearing to be not over 10 feet in thickness and, owing possibly to the light within the funnel, appeared perfectly opaque. Its inside was so slick and even that it resembled the interior of a glazed standpipe. The rim had another motion which I was, for a moment, too dazzled to grasp. Presently I did. The whole thing was rotating, shooting past from right to left with incredible velocity. "I lay back on my left elbow, to afford the baby better protection, and looked up. It is possible that in that upward glance my stricken eyes beheld something few have ever seen before and lived to tell about it. I was looking far up the interior of a great tornado funnel! It extended upward for over a thousand feet, and was swaying gently, and bending slowly toward the southeast. Down at the bottom, judging from the circle in front of me, the funnel was about 150 yards across. Higher up it ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 44 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf052/sf052g18.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 53: Sep-Oct 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Magnetic Fields And The Imagination "12 male and 12 female volunteers were evaluated for their suggestibility before and after an approximately 15-min. exposure to either sham, 1-Hz or 4-Hz magnetic fields that were applied across their mid-superior temporal lobes. During the field application, subjects were instructed to view a green light that was pulsating at the same frequency as the field and to imagine encountering an alien situation. Results were commensurate with the hypothesis that weak brain-frequency fields may influence certain aspects of imaginings and alter suggestibility." (De Sano, Christine F., and Persinger, M.A .; "Geophysical Variables and Behavior: XXXIX. Alterations in Imaginings and Suggestibility during Brief Magnetic Field Exposures," Perceptual and Motor Skills , 64:968, 1987.) Comment. The import of this paper is written between the lines of the Summary . One of the authors (M .A .P .) has long been investigating the possibility that UFOs, earthquake lights, and nocturnal lights are basically hallucinatory and are stimulated by natural variations in the magnetic field. From Science Frontiers #53, SEP-OCT 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 42 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf053/sf053p15.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 54: Nov-Dec 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Plants are not color blind!" Scientists have long known from laboratory experiments that various colors of light can affect stem size, root structure and other aspects of plant growth. But they have remained largely in the dark about the potential practical benefits of the phenomenon. "Using colored mulch to bathe plants in reflected light of certain hues, the South Carolina group (Clemson University) has begun to explore what colors plants prefer in agricultural growing conditions. Last year, for example, the group found that tomatoes grown with red mulch -- made with plastic sheets painted red -- had 20% higher yields than those with black mulch. Preliminary results this year show that potatoes and bell peppers grow best with white mulch...." (Anonymous; "Plants' Colors," Wall Street Journal, September 16, 1987. Cr. J. Covey.) Comment. Many questions arise here, but we'll take only three: (1 ) How do plants sense colors? (2 ) How do different colors mediate growth differently? (3 ) Is all this explicable in terms of evolution? From Science Frontiers #54, NOV-DEC 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf054/sf054b07.htm
... Applied Optics, presents the results of his analysis of the photos of this engimatic "face." "The image enhancement results indicate that a second eye socket may be present on the right, shadowed side of the face; fine structure in the mouth suggests teeth are apparent." "Teeth?" This Martian face is becoming too human-like to be an accident of nature! Carlotto also tersely summarizes his impression of the face's features. ". .. results to date suggest that they may not be natural." (Hecht, Jeff; "Computer Does a Double-Take on the Face of Mars," New Scientist, p. 39, July 7, 1988. Also see: Applied Optics, 27:1926, 1988.) In a more light-hearted manner, P. Jones asserts that a second Martian face exists, and that somehow scientists have managed to keep it under wraps. A photo of the second face appears in the August 25, 1988, issue of New Scientist. Jones remarks on the second face as follows: "If faces are what you are looking for, it's reasonably convincing, perhaps more convincing than its better-known sibling. It has symmetry, two eyes, a nose, a mouth, a chin; it even has a comical shadow to provide a beard, if you happen to like beards." (Jones, Pat; "Mars Reveals Its Second Face," New Scientist, p. 62, August 25, 1988.) Comment. What can one make of ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 26 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf060/sf060p05.htm
... witness who reported the event was nine years of age at the time of the observation, and was indoors with her uncle on the first floor of a building during a severe morning thunderstorm with heavy rainfall. There was a lull in the storm and the ball lightning appeared on the left side of the window sill about 4-5 m from the observers. The window had been left open because there was a balcony above it which prevented the rain from entering the room. "The ball fell to the floor where it jumped up and down once or twice. It then started to roll slowly towards the observers across the floor, at about the speed of a dropped ball of wool. Its diameter was about 20 cm, it was translucent, and the rapidly changing colours showed spots of light green, crimson, light blue and pale yellow. It was bright enough to be clearly visible in daylight, and it was uniformly bright over its entire surface. It had protrusions 'like the Andromeda nebula.' "When it came near the table, where my uncle and I were sitting, I tried to get up to have a closer look. My uncle (fortunately) held me back. It then rolled towards the tiled stove on the right side of the room, crept up the iron parts of the stove leaving (in its path) a deep groove about the width and depth of a thumb, then it exploded in the (airvent) higher up, the sound was like that of a blown up paper bag when (burst) leaving a smell of ozone ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 25 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf054/sf054g16.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 64: Jul-Aug 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Zeitoun Apparitions The luminous phenomena observed at Zeitoun, Egypt, have attracted the attentions of a wide spectrum of believers and nonbelievers. Each group seems to interpret the phenomena according to its own particular mind-set! To set the stage for the study reviewed here, we quote first the two lead paragraphs of the paper. "Between April 1968 and May 1971 hundreds of thousands of people reported seeing apparitions of the Virgin Mary over a Coptic Orthodox Church in Zeitoun, near Cairo, Egypt. When photographed, these phenomena appeared as irregular blobs of light. Primarily there were two types of events: small shortlived, highly kinetic lights (' doves') and more persistent coronal type displays that were situated primarily over the apical structures of the church. More detailed descriptions of the phenomena, such as visions often occurred as 'flashes'; their details usually reflected the religious background of the experient. "The characteristics of these luminous phenomena strongly suggested the existence of tectonic strain within the area. According to the hypothesis of tectonic strain, anomalous luminous phenomena are generated by brief, local changes in strain that precede earthquakes within the region. Psychological factors determine more elaborate details of the experiences because there are both direct stimulations of the observer's brain as well as indirect contributions from reinforcement history." The authors of the study at hand, J.S . Derr and M.A . Persinger, are well known for ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf064/sf064g10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 63: May-Jun 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Comets And Life A comet impact: Cross-sectional view 0.637s after impact of a comet into a 3km-deep ocean (light dots) underlain by basaltic crust (darker grid) in the smoothed particle hydrodynamic model of Thomas et al. Small vertical ticks are 1 km apart, small horizontal ticks 1.25 km apart. The comet in this figure has a radius of 1 kilometer and an impact velocity of 15 km/s and is shown by dark dots in the ocean. The initial spherical comet has become flattened, and parts of it have separated from the main body. The back side of the comet and most of the separated particles are much lower in temperature than the impacting side, and in an impact of a smaller comet (which would look much the same), organic material at the rear of the comet would survive intact. Figure provided by Paul Thomas. "New simulations suggest that large amounts of the organic molecules needed to form the first life on Earth could have been brought by comets that bombarded the planet early in its history. The models show that comets of moderate size would have slowed down enough during entry into the Earth's atmosphere for their organic component to survive the impact intact. .. .. . "The idea that comets supplied the Earth with the organic material needed to create life has been around for more than 20 years, but as often as some ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf063/sf063a06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 61: Jan-Feb 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Sodium Surges Over Illinois An advanced lidar device, located at Urbana, Illinois, has been sending pulses of light up into the atmosphere and measuring the reflections from atmospheric atoms and molecules. To the researchers' surprise, this instrument detected sudden appearances of clouds of sodium atoms at about 85 kilometers altitude. The clouds quickly dissipate, but where do they come from? The best guess is that their source is meteors vaporizing in the upper atmosphere. (Raloff, Janet: "Sudden Sodium Surges Seen over Illinois," Science News, 134: 238, 1988.) Comment. Could these sodium clouds have any connection with the controversial icy comets? From Science Frontiers #61, JAN-FEB 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf061/sf061g14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 56: Mar-Apr 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Not The Normal Type Of Fire December 5, 1987. Greensboro, Maryland. A man was attempting to light a propane stove, when his clothes caught fire. He died in a curious manner. "The Dec. 5 was unusual because it burned half of the man's body and the floor directly beneath him but nothing else in the house." Bob Thomas, the deputy state fire marshal, stated: "This is not the normal type of fire we see when someone's clothes catch on fire." Thomas thought that it was not spontaneous human combustion (SHC) because the entire body was not consumed. (Anonymous; "Spontaneous Combustion Debunked in Man's Death." Baltimore Sun, p. 2B. January 10, 1988,) Comment. Actually, in some cases of supposed SHC, a portion of the body, a good perhaps, may survive. The very localized burning is also typical of "classical" SHC. Reference. Spontaneous human combustion is cataloged in BHC7 in: Biological Anomalies: Humans II. For a description of this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #56, MAR-APR 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf056/sf056b07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 50: Mar-Apr 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mind-bending the velocity vectors of marine algae From the referenced paper's abstract: "A consciousness experiment in which the Doppler shift of He/Ne laser light was used to describe changes in the velocity and vector of a marine alga, Dunaliella, was reported by Pleass and Dey in 1985. Because the subject of the consciousness experiment is living, we expect strings of baseline velocity and vector data which are, at some level, inextricably time-variant. This complicates the statistical procedures which must be used to analyze the data. "This paper examines the variation in baseline data strings, and describes two alternative statistical procedures which have been used to determine the probability of consciousness effects. Two levels of control are applied, allowing global comparison of frequency distributions of experimental scores with similar distributions derived artificially from baseline data. In both cases the null hypothesis is that there is no psi effect. The data quite strongly suggest the rejection of the null hypothesis, although the distributions of run scores contain several values beyond 3 sigma and are nonnormal. This limits the definition of probabilities." (Pleass, C.M ., and Dey, N. Dean; "Finding the Rabbit in the Bush: Statistical Analysis of Consciousness Research Data from the Motile Alga Dunaliella," The Explorer, 3:6 , no. 2, 1986. The Explorer is a publication of the Society for Scientific Exploration.) Comment. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf050/sf050p25.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 57: May-Jun 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mysterious Bird Deaths "An eight-year study by Indian zoologists has failed to establish why birds commit suicide year after year at the small village of Jatinga in the northeastern state of Assam. "Attracted by the lights, birds converge on Jatinga at night and on landing become immobile, stop feeding and starve. They neither resist capture nor try to fly away." The mysterious phenomenon dates back to 1905. It peaks in September and October, as the monsoon season wanes, with as many as 500 birds, from some 36 species, dying each night. The birds alight at the same spot each year -- a one-kilometer stretch in the town. No one can account for the selection of this precise spot or for the dazed condition of the birds. (Jayaraman, K.S .; "Mystery of Bird Deaths in Assam," Nature, 331:556, 1988.) From Science Frontiers #57, MAY-JUN 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf057/sf057b07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 53: Sep-Oct 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The perseus flasher: mystery solved!So goes the title of an item in Sky and Telescope. Instead of ending with an exclamation point, a question mark would have been more appropriate. The Perseus Flasher, a recurring flash of light in Perseus described in SF#39 and #49, is a topic upon which astronomers also wish to "close the book." So, we must ask ourselves how accurate the above title is. Photographic records of the Perseus Flasher site show no flashes at all in 3,288 hours of monitoring. In fact, a Harvard plate, which was being exposed at the same time that a 0-magnitude flash was reported by naked-eye observers, revealed nothing! The passages of some artificial satellites through the Perseus site have been correlated with naked-eye-observed flashes, suggesting that the flashes are only sun glints. One meteor observer, N. McLeod, claims that there is a background level of flashes from other parts of the sky which can also be attributed to satellite glints. The Sky and Telescope item concludes: "So the mystery is solved!" (Anonymous; "The Perseus Flasher: Mystery Solved!" Sky and Telescope, 73:604, 1987.) Comment. So, science in its relentless, inerrant progress has positively solved still another mystery. (Triumphal background music here!) In case you haven't noticed, the three ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf053/sf053a05.htm
... of a jet landing at Edinburgh. Now he interprets a Russian ball lightning report as a mirage of Venus on the horizon. See what you think: "Dr. Aleksandr Mitrofanov of the Institute of Physical Problems (sic) of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S .S .R . and two friends were camping on the left bank of the River Oka near Ryazan (at a point where the river makes a sharp bend to the east) on the 23rd July 1974. It had been a clear day, very hot in the afternoon. Together with Muscovites from another encampment they sat up talking and drinking tea (sic) until late in the evening (in fact until early the next morning). At 2:10 a.m . they all saw a light which at first they thought was a torch. It appeared to be 70 metres away in the undergrowth along the bank. As they all stood up the 'ball lightning' (which iswhat Mitrofanov thought it was) seemed to 'float up' from behind the bushes and move straight towards them, increasing in size. But it did not reach them; it slowly 'swam' horizontally before disappearing after 4 minutes. When it seemed to be at its nearest a ring detached itself, like the ripple of water when a stone is thrown into water. The ring vanished as it expanded, but was followed by a second ring, less bright than the first. Before it vanished the ball took on a pear shape. Just after it vanished the sky in that direction, for ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf058/sf058g15.htm
... Frontiers ONLINE No. 55: Jan-Feb 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects An Astronomical Paradox Just a few years ago, most astronomers would have predicted that, as they examined larger and larger volumes of the universe, they would find more and more homogeneity. The Big Bang Theory predicts this; and it is seconded by the isotropy of the microwave background radiation. The mapping of the universe, however, has actually turned up all manner of galactic clusters, superclusters, and great skeins of superclusters strung across the heavens. Instead of a puree of matter, there is more and more structure the farther we peer into space. R.B . Tully, at the University of Ha waii, now charts a billion-light-year structure that he calls the Pisces-Cetus complex. This aggregation of galaxies includes us (the Milky Way), our Local Supercluster, and many neighboring superclusters. In actuality, the PiscesCetus complex is not a continuous structure. Rather, it is defined by a plane -- one containing a host of superclusters as well as voids. The problem posed for theorists is that they can suggest no way in which such a far flung manifestation of order could have evolved in the time available since the Big Bang. (Waldrop, M. Mitchell; "The Large-Scale Structure of the Universe Gets Larger-- Maybe," Science, 238:804, 1987.) From Science Frontiers #55, JAN-FEB 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf055/sf055p06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 52: Jul-Aug 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Concentrated Source Of Lightning In Cloud July 21, 1985. Strait of Malacca. m.v . Staffordshire . "Between 2000 GMT and 2200 GMT whilst the vessel was transiting the Strait of Malacca in a southeasterly direction, the following phenomenon was observed. "For several hours lightning had been seen ahead of the vessel. As we approached, it appeared to take on several forms, the most interesting of which is shown in the sketch. It had the appearance of a central point of light with ragged streaks radiating from the centre in a mainly horizontal direction. At no time did this lightning reach the sea surface. This type was observed about ten times during the period of observation..." (Thomas, C.O .; "Lightning," Marine Observer, 56:116, 1986.) From Science Frontiers #52, JUL-AUG 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf052/sf052g15.htm
... , of miles in extent. The main argument has been over whether the actual impact craters giving rise to the tektites might actually be on the moon instead of the earth. Looking over the literature, one sees that this debate has been characterized by much invective and scientific infighting. Today, most scientists concur that some tektite strewn fields are definitely associated with specific, although distant, meteor craters on the earth's surface. Unfortunately, the large separations of craters and strewn fields add a circumstantial flavor to the evidence. However, some tektite-like objects are to be found in the immediate vicinities of terrestrial craters, but not in far-flung strewn fields; viz., the Aouelloul Crater in Mauritania, and the Zhamashin Crater in the USSR. Another example has now come to light: the Lonar Lake Crater, a 50,000-year-old impact crater, in the Deccan flood basalts in India. From the paper's abstract: "Homogenous, dense glass bodies (both irregular and splash form) with high silica contents ( 67% SiO2) occur in the vicinity of Lonar Crater, India. Their lack of microlites and mineral remnants and their uniform chemical composition virtually preclude a volcanic origin. They are similar to tektites reported in the literature....Our geochemical data are consistent with these high silica glass bodies being impact melt products of two-thirds basalt and onethird local intertrappean sediment (chert). The tektite-like bodies of the impact craters Lonar, Zhamanshin, and Aouelloul are generally similar. Strong terrestrial geochemical signatures reflect the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf053/sf053g12.htm
... cosmic imbalance is the driving force in producing an environment conducive to the formation of structure and complexity." This sweeping statement seems to apply to the entire universe. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, however, insists that, on the average, for the entire universe, the above paragraph cannot be true. The article introduced by this unqualified assertion about the evolution of the universe is really about self-organizing chemical reactions. We classify it under biology because the authors imply that some biological phenomena are self-organizing. The famous Belousov-Zhabotinskii reaction is used as the prime example of chemical self-organization. First, one takes a shallow dish filled with a solution of bromate ions in a highly acidic medium. Here's what happens: "A dish, thinly spread with a lightly colored liquid, sits quietly for a moment after its preparation. The liquid is then suddenly swept by a spontaneous burst of colored centers of chemical activity. Each newly formed region creates expanding patterns of concentric, circular rings. These collide with neighboring waves but never penetrate. In some rare cases rotating one-, two-, or three-armed spirals may emerge. Each pattern grows, impinging on its neighboring patterns, winning on some fronts and losing on others, organizing the entire surface into a unique pattern. Finally, the patterns decay and the system dies, as secondary reactions drain the flow of the primary reaction." From this starting point, the implication is made that all manner of biological "reactions" are analogous and therefore reducible to nought but physics and chemistry. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf053/sf053b07.htm
... to a close with an almost poetic manifesto that we now quote in part. The context of the quotation is their assertion that plant and animal evolution would never have taken place unless one life form attacked another and the latter defended itself, all this followed by accomodation and the development of a symbiotic relationship. "Uneasy alliances are at the core of our very many different beings. Individuality, independence -- these are illusions. We live on a flowing pointillist landscape where each dot of paint is also alive. Earth itself is a living habitat, a merger of organisms that have come together, forming new emergent organisms, entirely new kinds of 'individuals' such as green hydras and luminous fish. Without a a life-support system none of us can survive. It is in this light that we are beginning to see the biosphere not only as a continual struggle favoring the most vicious organism but also as an endliess dance of diversifying life forms, where partners triumph." (Sagan, Dorion, and Margulis, Lynn; "Bacterial Bedfellows," Natural History, 96:26, March 1987.) Comment. One should observe that there is a strong connection between the Gaia concept of a living planet and the theory of symbiotic evolution. Strong philosophical statements are also inherent in this outlook on life and its development. For example, individuality and free will would seem to be denied. Also, can life forms be "vicious" and yet "cooperative" at the same time? From Science Frontiers #51, MAY-JUN 1987 . 1987-2000 William ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf051/sf051b09.htm
... .) Comment. What has all this to do with "cosmic Gaia"? By "cosmic Gaia" we mean the cosmic version of the conventional Gaia concept; i.e ., earth-as-an-organism. The answer is that small icy comets can in principle transport throughout all of space: Immense quantities of water needed for life-as-we-know-it. The carbonaceous material basic to that same kind of life. (See SF#48.) The seeds of life, a la Hoyle and Wickramasinghe. Energy, as discussed above by Frank et al. Observe that Frank et al are saying that the kinetic energy in the flux of small comets is sufficient to raise a planet's temperature as well as supply water. In this light, exobiologists need not confine their search for extraterrestrial life to planets surrounding warm suns. Somewhere, far from stars, there may be places where comets may raise atmospheric temperatures to where life can prosper! Sunlight, of course, is not needed absolutely, as demonstrated by the profusion of life around deep-sea vents. From Science Frontiers #52, JUL-AUG 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf052/sf052a03.htm
... vortices in regions where crop circles are common. While no one has yet seen these vortices gouging out circles, these visual manifestations betoken strong circular winds in the proper locations. Here follows a recent account: "Looking across the field of winter wheat to the east..., he suddenly noticed at a distance of 80 metres... what he took to be a large puff of white 'bonfire smoke' rising to 15 feet (5m) maximum height. The outer part of this 'smoke' column was scarcely rotating but the middle part, which was too thick to see through, was spinning rapidly. In a couple of seconds the effect had ended; the spinning central column had gone and the residual 'smoke' or cloud of fog drifted gently in the prevailing light north-east wind towards the southwest and dissolved after going several yards. He used the word smoke out of convenience but said that the effect was more likely caused by water vapour, cloud droplets or fog. He further emphasized the swiftness of the appearance and disappearance of the phenomenon. It had arrived suddenly like 'smoke from a distant cannon' or just as if 'a smoke-filled or fog-filled balloon had suddenly burst.' That is to say, it emerged as if from nowhere. He made the further point that the spinning column might have been very much longer than he could judge, for he realized that the only part he could see was the part rendered visible by the smoke or fog. The diameter of the cloud was about the same as its ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf062/sf062g10.htm
... is retrograde and highly elliptical (1 .4 x 9.7 million kilometers) Its brightness changes by a factor of four as it rotates Its diameter, according to M.W . and B.E . Schaefer (Nature, 333:436, 1988) is thought to be at least 660 kilometers. None of these facts taken alone is anomalous, but (2 ) and (3 ) taken together seem incompatible. If the large brightness changes are due to a highly irregular shape, Nereid's 660-kilometer size is too large, because astronomers agree that gravitational forces will sphericize all objects larger than 400 kilometers. On the other hand, if Nereid is two-faced, like Saturn's moon Iapetus (it's carbon-black on one side, light-colored on the other), astronomers are again faced with trying to explain how such a large solar-system object can acquire so much carbonaceous material on one side only. Also, Nereid's eccentric, retrograde orbit surely hints at a history of capture or orbit disruption. (Weisburd, S.; "Neptune's Nereid: Another Mysterious Moon," Science News, 133:374, 1988. Also: Veverka, J.; "Taking a Dim View of Nereid," Nature, 333:391, 1988.) From Science Frontiers #59, SEP-OCT 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf059/sf059p05.htm
... if so whether they might contain spores or some sort of viable microorganisms that would have the opportunity to colonize Mars." After some computations Melosh concludes: "It seems likely that the impacts that produced craters on Earth that are greater than 100 km in diameter would each have ejected millions of tons of near-surface rocks carrying viable microorganisms into interplanetary space, much in the form of boulders large enough to shield those organisms from ultraviolet radiation, low-energy cosmic rays, and even galactic cosmic rays. Under such circumstances spores might remain viable for long periods of time." (Melosh, H.J .; "The Rocky Road to Panspermia," Nature, 332:687, 1988.) Comment. Next we need a reasonable mechanism that spreads life through interstellar space. Light pressure, that's it; and the idea is over a century old! Incidentally, SNC is short for Shergottites, Nakhalites, Chassignites; all rare classes of meteorites. From Science Frontiers #58, JUL-AUG 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf058/sf058a03.htm
... , as their name implies, curious whistling noises heard on radio receivers. They are caused naturally by lightning, which sends radio noise travelling through natural "ducts" in the earth's magnetosphere. It has recently been discovered that some of the whistlers are synchronized in a way that strongly suggests that some event high up in the magnetosphere triggers some lightning discharges far below near the surface. In other words, lightning is not always a product of activity in the lower atmosphere. (Armstrong, W.C .; "Lightning Triggered from the Earth's Magnetosphere as the Source of Synchronized Whistlers," Nature, 327:405, 1987.) Comment. Ball lightning has been correlated with solar activity and other extraterrestrial influences. See GLB17 in our Catalog Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights. This book is described here . From Science Frontiers #53, SEP-OCT 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf053/sf053g14.htm
... ": WHAT NEXT?We know that immense molecular clouds drift through interstellar space, but a new denizen has now made itself known through its ability to diffract quasar radio signals. Although constituted only of ionized gases, these new objects are called "compact structures." "' Compact means that these objects are about as big as the earth's orbit around the sun, and therefore larger than all but the biggest stars. They are, however, much smaller than the clouds that previous observations have detected in interstellar space. They reveal their presence by diffracting the radio waves coming from distant quasars. .. .. . "The objects move too fast to be near the quasar -- to be that far away, they would have to go at 500 times the speed of light -- so the observers conclude that they are in our own galaxy. Previous observers didn't see them, [R .L .] Fiedler says, because they didn't observe the same quasar at close enough intervals." If these ionized clouds are spherical. they have masses comparable to the asteroids; but, if they are elongated, their mass is anyone's guess. No one knows how they are formed, how long they last, or where the energy comes from to maintain them in an ionized state. Extrapolating from the five instances recorded so far, the observers speculate that these compact structures may be 500-1000 times more numerous than stars! (Thomsen, D.E .; "Oodles of 'Noodles' Found in Galaxy," ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf052/sf052a07.htm
... . "We present photographic evidence of a very short duration, strong flash from the surface of the Moon (near an irregularly shaped crater in Palus Somni). The flash covered a region roughly 22 by 18 km wide with a total energy of the order of 1017 erg. The event is established to be slightly above the surface of the Moon. An explanation is proposed involving outgassing and a subsequent electrical discharge caused by a piezoelectric effect." (Kolovos, G., et al; "Photographic Evidence of a Short Duration, Strong Flash from the Surface of the Moon," Icarus, 76:525, 1988.) Comments. Of special interest above is the suggestion that the flash was generated by the electrical ignition of expelled gases. It has been proposed that terrestrial earthquake lights are kindled in the same way (See GLD8 in our catalog: Lightning, Auroras .) Further, the presence of methane on the moon is compatible with T. Gold's theory that the earth retains huge amounts of primordial methane beneath its crust. (See ESC16 in our catalog: Anomalies in Geology.) All of our catalogs are described here . From Science Frontiers #64, JUL-AUG 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf064/sf064a04.htm
... ) Is the immense network of known caves (some as long as 500 kilometers) the consequence only of chemical actions? It turns out that the earth beneath our feet is not so solid after all. Some 40,000 caves are known in the United States alone. There are thought to be ten times that number that have no surface openings and therefore escape spelunking census takers. And besides caves big enough for humans to crawl into, there exists an immensely greater continuum of cracks, crevices, channels, and pores which circulate air, water, and chemicals in solution. This "crevicular structure" may be continuous for thousands of miles, possibly around the world. Furthermore, it is filled with life forms of great variety, usually blind, and usually related to creatures of the light. A recent article in American Scientist focuses on the evolution of the larger forms of subterranean life, especially the amphipods. Interestingly enough, it doesn't even mention micro-organisms. (Holsinger, John R.; "Troglogbites: The Evolution of Cave-Dwelling Organisms," (American Scientist, 76:147, 1988.) Comment. We have juxtaposed these two articles because together they underscore the great extent of the crevicular domain, the "kingdom of the darkness" of the French article, and also the fact that this crevicular realm teems with life forms, some of which are involved in its construction. From Science Frontiers #57, MAY-JUN 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf057/sf057b11.htm
... very red; the most elite of our scientific institutions were caught with blinders on! Beyond these amusements, the practical import for energy production is enormous, and who know what else will eventuate? But what about science itself? First, cold fusion will doubtless generate a brand new crop of anomalies which we are only able to guess at now. Pertinent to our effort to catalog anomalies, it is possible that cold fusion may be occurring deep in the earth giving rise not only to heat but the upwelling flux of helium-3 , now called "primordial" perhaps in error. The icy planets Jupiter and Saturn generate heat, too, and may also be cold fusion reactors! Even the sun, which is undeniably hot (at least on the surface!), may be fusing light elements in ways we have yet to grasp in our stellar models. After all, no one has yet explained that deficit in solar neutrinos! There will be egg on a lot of faces if our notions of stellar energy generation are widly in error. We may be overreacting here; but we predict with confidence that the future will bring a good many scientific papers that begin with those all-toofamiliar words, "We now know that..." If physicists must now develop a new appreciation of electrochemistry, should not the biologists, too? At the risk of going too far, we recall that L.C . Kervran talks at length about his findings that the human body converts one element into another. See his book Biological Transmutations . Could he possibly have something? ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf063/sf063p15.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 50: Mar-Apr 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball Lightning Burns A Rayed Circle On A Shed Wall B. Evans sent the following account to the Editor of the Journal of Meteorology: "Your report of 26th August (1986) about the mysterious five circles which appeared in cornfields near Devil's Punchbowl, near Winchester -- the largest being 42 feet across -- reminded me of an incident during the night shift in 1980 at Shotton steelworks. "A high wind was followed by a bright light which lit up the whole area. When we looked down on the yard from our vantage point we could see that a great ball of lightning had struck. As it bounced from spot to spot, we had to duck to get out of its way, but as soon as it has passed we ran out and saw it strike the side of a scrap shed. When the sun came up, it picked out the shape of a dartboard on the scrap shed. The pattern was clear, with all the segments in place, and it was about 37 feet across." (Meaden, G.T .; "Rayed Circle Made by Ball Lightning on the Wall of a Shed," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 11:27l, 1986. Journal address: 54 Frome Road, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, BA15 1LD, UNITED KINGDOM.) Reference. Other examples of ball lightning with rays are cataloged in GLB3 in ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf050/sf050p21.htm
... of Keith L. Partain saw a lightning strike near an oil refinery storage tank. Immediately after the strike they saw a bluish sphere with red and yellow highlights, not more than 9 feet in diameter, some 100 yards away, near the tank. The sphere lasted in that form some five seconds before fragmenting in a loud detonation. During the act of detonation the sphere became an irregular spheroid before fragmentation. Mr. Partain reported that he could feel the heat from the detonation. Both individuals, seated in a truck, were quite astounded by the apparition. The weather was quite stormy and violent in its gales, rain and lightning." (Partain, Keith; personal communication, November 24, 1987.) Comment. K. Partain checked the Catalog Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights and classified the phenomenon as GLB1 or Ordinary Ball Lightning. The above book is described here . The ball lightning figured left was seen near an Albany, NY, factory in 1975. The event closely resembles that reported by the Partains. From Science Frontiers #55, JAN-FEB 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf055/sf055p17.htm
... . "The bones were so old that they could not be dated by carbon-14, which can measure about 40,000 years. The Weak Radiation Laboratory in France tested them by a more sensitive uraniumthorium method, and came back with a staggering date of 300,000 years. .. .. . "A cave called Grotto of the Cosmos at nearby Xique-Xique contained paintings of suns, stars and comets, and this is what archaeologists believe is the oldest astronomical observatory in the Americas. "' There probably were at least two cultures here,' said (J .) Labeyrie. 'One, about 10,000 years ago, made the pain tings. Another, much older, was responsible for the artifacts.' "In the grotto's dim light, a red comet 4.5 feet long stretches across the low ceiling, against a painted backdrop of stars. Red suns rise and set amid figures of lizards, a creature traditionally associated with the sun. .. .. . "Near the entrance of the cave is a notch where every year, precisely on the winter solstice (June 21 in the Southern Hemisphere), the sunlight enters and illuminates a red sun painted on the slanted ceiling." (Muello, Peter; "Find Puts Man in America at Least 300,000 Years Ago," Dallas Times Herald , June 16, 1987.) Reference. In our handbook Ancient Man you will find many additional archeological anomalies disputing current theories about the peopling of the New World. Further information here . From Science ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf054/sf054a01.htm
... of iron in Frame #4 will collapse into a sphere, while the silicates will escape Mercury's gravitational pull. They think Mercury's original, lighter, silicate outer layers were stripped off during the impact of one of the small protoplanets that are thought to have swirled around the inner solar system shortly after its formation. Computations on a supercomputer revealed to these three researchers that, if the protoplanet had hit Mercury at between 20 and 30 kilometers/second, then its dense iron core would have survived pretty much intact. A lower velocity would not have stripped off the lighter outer layers; anything higher would have blasted the whole planet into smithereens. Calculations of this type also suggest that if a protoplanet the size of Mars had hit protoearth, it likewise would have stripped off its light silicate mantle. After this material that had been torn off gravitationally sphericized itself in orbit around the earth, it became--you guessed it - our moon. (Stewart, Glen R.; "A Violent Birth for Mercury," Nature, 335:496, 1988. Also: Anonymous; "Mercury Stripped by Blow from Meteorite," New Scientist, November 5, 1988.) Comment. It seems that our early solar system was somewhat Velikovskian in character, with many celestial missiles flying about. But that was long ago - or was it? Reference. Mercury's idosyncracies are cataloged in Chapter AH in our catalog: The Moon and the Planets . For information about this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #61, JAN-FEB 1989 ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf061/sf061a03.htm
... the earth pin was still intact. A hole some 8 cm by 10 cm across and 4 cm deep was found in the wall by the side of the socket. Several components of the television were damaged and fuses in the main fuse box were blown. Also, at 6.45 pm, Mr and Mrs Foster's daughters, Rachel and Rosemary, were with a friend in the kitchen at the other side of the house. Rachel was standing with her hand on the cooker when, without warning she felt 'a sort of thump' in her back. The other two girls saw an orange, spherical object - about the size of a table tennis ball - moving very quickly. It had no smell, made no noise and seemed to be rotating. The ball of light did not harm Rachel's clothes but made a red, five-pointed star mark on her left shoulder blade which subsequently cleared the following day. The ball then fell onto the wet floor where it exploded 'with the noise of a shotgun' and 'like a firecracker' into many white stars. There were no burn marks on the floor although there was a smell of burning in the air - but this may have been the television." (Sunderland, P.G .; "Ball Lightning in Yorkshire, May 1985," Weather, 43:343, 1988.) Reference. Chapter GLB, in our catalog: Lightning, Auroras, describes several different kinds of ball lightning. For ordering information, see: here . From Science Frontiers #64, ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf064/sf064g11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 47: Sep-Oct 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects 1986: "TIRED LIGHT" REVIVED AGAIN Back in 1929, F. Zwicky proposed that the redshifts astronomers observed in the spectra of celestial objects might not be due to universal expansion but rather to "tired light." In other words, the wavelengths of the photons entering our telescopes are redshifted because they have lost energy through interactions with matter en route to earth. The "tired light" theory was eclipsed by the esthetically appealing concepts of the Big Bang and Expanding Universe. But not everyone has forgotten Zwicky's tired light. P. LaViolette has: ". .. compared the tired light cosmology to the standard model of an expanding universe on four different observational tests and has found that on each one the tired-light hypothesis was superior. The differences between the rival cosmologies are most apparent at large redshifts, however, and it is in this region that observations are most difficult to make." (Anonymous; "New Study Questions Expanding Universe," Astronomy, 14:64, August 1986.) Gratuitous comment. In all three of the foregoing items, observations are challenging fundamental astronomical hypotheses: the Big Bang, the Expanding Universe, redshifts as cosmological yardstocks, etc. With more and more such data accumulating all the time, the strains in the key girders of astronomical thought are beginning to show. Of course, most astronomers will vehemently deny this assertion. Those who care to read the biological ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 159 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf047/sf047p05.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 44: Mar-Apr 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Unidentified Flashing Object May 6, 1984. Equatorial Eastern Atlantic. "Whilst the vessel was approaching the equator, on a course of 023 and at a speed of 10.3 knots, flashing white lights were observed. The sea was rippled, with a low NW'ly swell and the wind light airs. The visibility was good, with the moon in its first quarter. At first it was thought that there were three lights, one being bright and the other two relatively dim, but as the vessel approached it it was decided that there were only two, one bright and one dim. "The radar, a 10-cm S-band Decca, was switched on and a single echo was detected initially at a range of 5 n. mile. By this time the lights had already been observed for halfan-hour, so it was estimated that they had first been observed when they were 10 n. mile distant. The time of the first sighting was 2220 GMT. The target, once detected, gave a very strong echo and gave the impression of being a large target. It was plotted and found to be stationary. The initial course of 023 was altered to 028 in order to enable the vessel to close the passing distance. "Throughout the observations neither light followed any set characteristic. Instead they just flashed at random, but never together. The intensity of the bright light would have ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 149 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf044/sf044p15.htm
... 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 GREEN CLOUD WITH LIGHT RAYS "An account of a mysterious 'green cloud' sending out powerful shafts of light and flying in tandem with an airliner appeared in a Soviet newspaper today. The strange cloud was seen over Byelorussia by passengers and crew of a flight from Georgia to Tallinn, and by the crew of an airliner from Leningrad, passing 10 miles away according to Trud. Nikolai Zheltukhin, a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences, said the object was certainly very big. He rejected the idea that the green cloud was an image caused by far-off atmospheric changes because the airman had fixed its location from the shafts of light it sent to the ground." (Anonymous; "Mysterious 'Green Cloud' Appears near Airliner," Baltimore Sun, January 31, 1985, p. 4A.) From Science Frontiers #38, MAR-APR 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 89 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf038/sf038p15.htm
... 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 Expanding Phosphorescent Rings May 9, 1983. Gulf of Oman. Aboard the m.v . Mahsuri. "At 1650 GMT, a pale green glow was seen to emanate from the horizon ahead. This gave the appearance of strong moonlight upon the surface of the water. The moon, however, was not in evidence. At 1700 GMT, rapid flashes of light were observed sweeping across the sea directly ahead of the vessel, giving the initial impression of a sudden increase of wind speed causing excessive spray. By 1715 GMT, the vessel was totally surrounded by completely random movements of light as far as the eye could see. The onset of this phenomenon was so rapid, not to say eerie, that the Master was called to the bridge to witness the event. For the next 15 minutes the sea was at a height of activity, displaying several systems of the most unusual bioluminescence. The most significant of these were what appeared to be Phosphorescent Wheels, which, although they did not seem to rotate, originated from a central hub and spread out rings in rapid succession, forming concentric circles. This was pointed out by many of those who observed them as being similar to the instance of a stone being dropped into a quiet pond and causing waves to spread out. In this case each wave crest was a band of fantastic light. Each wheel would last for a couple of minutes, continually flashing out bands of ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 79 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf038/sf038p18.htm
... 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 Phosphorescent Bars And Wheels May 29, 1955. The Java Sea. "At 0210 LMT I witnessed the start of a bioluminescent display. My first impression was that the ship was being 'attacked' on all sides from different directions by pulsing light-bands. A dull 'strobe-light' effect flashed through a mist, giving the bands a dirty white to gray colouration which was not a 'smooth' colour, but rather grainy in appearance. The bands were about 2 m wide and about 2 m apart and moving at speed. At first it was difficult to discern whether or not the bands were in the water or just above the surface, as no form of reflection or distortion was visible off the hull. In the end, I decided that the effect must be waterbourne if only because nothing was visible in the vessel's wake. "The most intense activity was observed on the starboard side of the ship where the phenomenon appeared to stretch as far as the horizon. At this stage, it did not appear localized, just a mass of high-speed interacting bands of light. The effect is shown in the first sketch. As is usual on an 'all aft' ship, you become 'deaf' to the constant background noises, but I gradually became aware that the pulses of light seemed to match those of the main engine's throb, that is, about two per ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 57 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf048/sf048p16.htm
... 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 The Deflationary Universe One of our major astronomical targets in Science Frontiers has been the cosmological redshift; that is, the assumption that an object's redshift is entirely a Doppler effect and, when coupled to the expanding universe concept, is proportional to distance. Well, we don't have any more contradicting data (of which there is plenty), but we do have: (1 ) A new theory which shows how noncosmological redshifts can occur; and (2 ) Laboratory demonstrations of "spectral noninvariance" that show how a non-Doppler component can be added to light's redshift. The physicist behind this new research is E. Wolf, at the University of Rochester. His theoretical work was re-ported in the March 3l, 1986, issue of Physical Review Letters. There he showed how quasars and so-called "superluminary" astronomical sources might emit light with a spectrum that evolves as it travels through space. Scientists have always assumed that once light left its source its spectrum remained unchanged. But Wolf shows how spectral changes are "sort of coded into the light due to correlations in the source." Meanwhile, two of Wolf's colleagues have backed up his theory in the lab. The consequences of Wolf's work would in effect shrink the universe, because objects would not be as far away as we now calculate from their redshifts. The size of the universe might contract ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 56 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf048/sf048p06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 45: May-Jun 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Polar Bear Coats Are Thermal Diodes "A polar bear's hairs are completely transparent. The bear appears white because visible light reflects from the rough inner surface of each hollow hair. However, the hairs are designed to trap ultraviolet light. Like light within an optical fiber, the radiation is conducted along the hairs to the skin. This summertime energy supplement provides up to a quarter of the bear's needs. Thus, even while actively pursuing prey, the bear can still concentrate on building up its blubber layers in preparation for winter." In other words, the bear's fur lets heat in but not out -- in effect a thermal diode. (Anonymous; "Solar Bear Technology," Science News, 129:153, 1986.) Comment. How come polar bears are favored with this "marvelous adaptation" while the arctic foxes and other mammals shiver? From Science Frontiers #45, MAY-JUN 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 39 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf045/sf045p12.htm
