549 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 16: Summer 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Earth-moon fission: a slight hint Although the Sm/Nd isotope ratios of the earth and the chondrites (a type of meteorite) seem pretty close in value, the possibility of a slight but significant discrepancy remains. If this small difference is confirmed, it would strongly imply that the earth's Sm/Nd ratio was shifted after the planet's formation. The most reasonable event that could shift this ratio is an long-debated earth-moon fission, wherein the earth's lighter surface material was somehow torn off to form the moon. (DePaolo, Donald J.; "Nd Isotopic Studies: Some New Perspectives on Earth Structure and Evolution," Eos, 62:139, 1981.) Comment. The moon's density is markedly less than the earth's , so the idea is not as wild as it seems. The hypothetical fission of Earth-Moon could have shifted the Nd isotope ratio in relation to that of the chondrites. From Science Frontiers #16, Summer 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 16: Summer 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects How Do Cancers Attract A Supporting Cast The ability of a cancer cell to grow depends upon getting a good supply of blood from its host's capillary system. Cancer cells, always insidious, seem to be able to con its host's body into constructing a special system of capillaries just to support tumor growth. First, the cancer sends out a chemical signal that attracts the host's mast cells. As the mast cells work their ways to the cancer, they apparently leave a heparinlined tunnel for the capillary cells to follow. Before long, the body has provided the blood supply the cancer needs to grow and possibly, eventually kill the host. (Gunby, Phil; "How Do Cancers Attract a Supporting Cast?" American Medical Association, Journal, 245:1994, 1981.) Comment. In view of all of Nature's marvelous adaptations, why hasn't the body evolved a counter strategy to foil cancer sabotage? Reference. Many more anomalous features of cancer can be found at BHH23-35 in our Catalog: Biological Anomalies: Humans II. Details on this book here . From Science Frontiers #16, Summer 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 16: Summer 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Paradox Of The Drowned Carbonate Platforms The biological processes that build carbonate reefs and platforms are so efficient that platform growth potential is easily several times the rate of average geological subsidence or sea-level rise. Therein lies the paradox: the geological record is full of drowned carbonate platforms, inferring that the sea has frequently engulfed them in episodes that must be termed catastrophic. Since the usual long-term geologic processes are clearly inadequate, Schlager proposes several more violent schemes; including massive submarine volcanism (Middle Cretaceous) and extraterrestrial deterioration of the oceanic biological environment (Lake Devonian). (Schlager, Wolfgang; "The Paradox of Drowned Reefs and Carbonate Platforms," Geological Society of America, Bulletin, 92:197, 1981.) Reference. See Category ETE2 in our Catalog: Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds, for more on drowned sections of crust. More on this book can be found here . From Science Frontiers #16, Summer 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 18: Nov-Dec 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A CELTIC FRONTIER SITE IN COLORADO?In 1980, P.M . Leonard and J.L . Glenn, from the Hogle Zoological Gardens, Salt Lake City, visited a rock outcropping in Colorado that was reputed to be inscribed with 'peculiar markings.' The markings were peculiar all right, for Leonard and Glenn believe they are excellent examples of Consainne Ogam writing, a type ascribed to ancient Celts. Translation by B. Fell suggests that the Colorado site was a shelter for Celtic travelers long before Columbus! One of the many inscriptions was translated as: "Route Guide: To the west is the frontier town with standing stones as boundary markers." (Leonard, Phillip M., and Glenn, James L.; "A Celtic Frontier Site in Colorado," Epigraphic Society, Occasional Papers, vol. 9, no. 223, 1981.) Comment. Although the Colorado Ogam cannot be written off as plow scratches, as it is in the eastern states, one should be aware of the highly controversial nature of these claims for Ogam writing in North America. From Science Frontiers #18, NOV-DEC 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Challenger was drilling into the oceanic sediments north of Barbados. Here, oceanic sediments are apparently being scraped off the oceanic plate as it thrusts under the North American plate. As a result, older Miocene deposits now overlie younger Pliocene deposits. Direct observations of the pressure in the zone where the shearing occurs showed it to be some 20 bars higher than the equilibrium pressure of 550 bars. This higher pressure may support the theory that low-angle thrust faults many kilometers wide are physically possible because high pressure fluids lubricate the shear zone, allowing massive thicknesses of sediments to slide over one another without resulting in wholesale fracturing and obvious damage. (Anderson, Roger, N.; "Surprises from the Glomar Challenger," Nature, 293:261, 1981.) Comment. Scientific creationists have long thought that the many low-angle thrust faults, where many miles of older rock are superimposed on younger rock, contradict geological dating schemes and therefore the theory of evolution. Establishment geologists, although somewhat amazed at the sizes of some of the overthrusts, especially one in Wyoming, have never despaired of finding a reasonable physical mechanism that would preserve the Law of Superposition and the idea of dating rocks by their included fossils. The Glomar Challenger results should buoy their spirits. Nev-ertheless, we must wonder how widespread stratum shuffling really is. What stratigraphic sequence is now immune from claims that some of its members were inserted in the wrong order timewise? Reference. For more on "stratum shuffling" see ESR3 in our Catalog: Inner Earth. To order, visit: here . ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 21: May-Jun 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects What's ok in the mediterranean is verboten in the atlantic and the pacific Geologists and geophysicists have now satisfied themselves that a few million years ago the Mediterranean dried up nearly completely. The Deep Sea Drilling Project discovered in 1970 and 1975 that layers of evaporites existed beneath the Mediterranean's floor. In addition, over 80 years ago, the bed of the Rhone River was found to consist of river sands and gravels superimposed upon hundreds of feet of oceanic sediments. Beneath these deposits -- some 3000 feet down -- was a gorge cut in granitic rock. Other rivers emptying into the Mediterranean had cut similar gorges into solid rock long ago. No one could provide an acceptable explanation for the deep-cut gorges until the evaporites proved that the water level had been low enough for the rivers to cut the gorges subaerially. In other words, the Mediterranean's level fell several thousand feet, allowing the rivers to erode gorges much as the Colorado does today in the Grand Canyon. (Smith, E.G . Walton; "When the Mediterranean Went Dry," Sea Frontiers, 28:66, 1982.) Comment. The Med's buried gorges are obviously close cousins of the many submarine canyons found around the world's continental shelves. Most geologists strongly resist any explanation of the submarine canyons involving subaerial erosion, because no one believes the oceans ever dropped thousands of feet. True, the ...
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... them. One incident occurred in 1917, when the Reds were pursuing White Army forces through the Pamirs. The troops of Major General Mikail Stephanovitch Topilsky shot an Almas as he was emerging from a cave. "The eyes were dark and the teeth were large and even and shaped like human teeth. The forehead was slanting and the eyebrows were very powerful. The protruding jawbones made the face resemble the Mongol type of face. The nose was very flat .. .the lower jaws were very massive" In some instances the Almasti have even associated with modern man; and cases of successful interbreeding have been reported. After reviewing the mountains of evidence, Shackley feels that the Almasti are very likely surviving Neanderthals, because the physical characteristics of the Almasti and reconstructed Neanderthals are basically identical. This long review article also discusses the many Chuchunaa sightings from northern Russia -- perhaps another relict population of Neanderthals. (Shackley, Myra; "The Case for Neanderthal Survival: Fact, Fiction or Faction?" Antiquity, 56:31, 1982.) From Science Frontiers #22, JUL-AUG 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 7: June 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Deadly Sun Sunspottery, or the linking of seemingly unrelated phenomena to solar activity, has been a popular pastime for as long as sunspot records have been kept. Usually pooh-poohed by scientists because the link between cause and effect seems absent, some impressive statistical evidence now associates heart attacks with geomagnetic and solar activity. Malin and Srivastava have shown that the number of cardiac emergencies in their area of India is very closely tied to geomagnetic activity, which in turn is controlled by the sun. Standard statistical tests confirm an especially strong correlation. But why should the two observables be associated at all? The authors' concluding sentence reads: "The possibility that there is some other cause (or solar origin?) responsible for both the magnetic and medical phenomena should not be ignored." (Malin, S.R .C ., and Srivastava, B.J .; "Correlation between Heart Attacks and Magnetic Activity," Nature, 277:646, 1979.) Top Curve: Magnetic activity index. Bottom Curve: Daily admissions of cardiac emergiencies From Science Frontiers #7 , June 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 7: June 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Post-eclipse brightening of io confirmed For about 15 minutes after Jupiter's satellite Io emerges from the planet's shadow after an eclipse, it unaccountably brightens far beyond its normal level. Observing Io with a spectrophotometer in 1978, F.C . Witteborn et al measured a brightness increase in the 4.7 -5 .4 micron range that was three to five times the brightness at other phase angles. Long a controversial phenomenon, this confirmation of Io's post-eclipse brightening has led to a search for possible explanations. Witteborn et al suggest that the transient flare-up is a complex thermoluminescent effect excited by interaction with Jupiter's magnetosphere, followed by solar heating as Io emerges from the shadow. (Witteborn, F.C . et al; "Io: An Intense Brightening near 5 Micrometers," Science, 203:643, 1979.) Comment. Io also modulates Jupiter's microwave emissions. From Science Frontiers #7 , June 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... ' formations were brightest at the centre with a halo effect surrounding the outer edges. As the vessel passed over 2 such formations the 'spokes' were estimated to be 2-2 metres in width and the entire concentration, which was more than the width of the vessel (approximately 27 metres), was observed on both sides of the bridgewing simultaneously. The 'whirlpool' formations, with a distinct central hub, varied from l to 2 metres in width and from 14 to 15 metres in length. The phenomenon was observed for 40 minutes." (Messinger, P.A .; "Bioluminescence," Marine Observer, 51:13, 1981.) Comment. This is the first report uncovered that described "whirlpool" formations. The variety of phosphorescent formations and their long durations cast doubt on the usual seismic explanation. Reference. The many strange types of marine biolouminescence are detailed in Section GLW in our catalog: Lightning, Auroras. Details here . From Science Frontiers #17, Fall 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... prokaryotic organisms, such as bacteria. It is now well accepted that genes flow between different species of bacteria in physical contact, thus stirring the evolutionary pot. Until recently, scientists believed that the higher organisms, the eukaryotic species, including you and me, did not indulge in such "horizontal" traffic between species. But a few cases have now been found, one involving humans and a microorganism associated with tumors. And the search is just beginning, as biologists look for something they never thought of looking for before. (Lewin, Roger; "Can Genes Jump between Eukaryotic Species?" Science, 217:42, 1982.) Comment. This apparent short-circuiting of classical heredity channels supports the radical notion that evolutionary blueprints may be transmitted between divergent species. In the long view, may-be we should not malign viruses, germs, and biting insects! From Science Frontiers #23, SEP-OCT 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Project Sourcebook Subjects Orphans Of The Wild West North of San Francisco, all along the Oregon and Washington coasts, the geologically oriented traveller will discover many huge boulders, mostly 10-20 m across, but some 100 m in size. Their constitution varies, but many are coarse-grained basalts that appear to have spent much of their lives at least 30-40 km underground. These boulders are "erratics" in the sense that no one has found surface outcrops that might have given them birth. So, where did they come from? But origin is only part of the problem. The presumable non-glacial erratics occur in a geologically confused area that seems to be upsidedown time-wise according to the few fossils that have been found. One theory is that the erratics were long ago carried to great depths by the conveyor-belt layers that slide eastward and downward under the U.S . Pacific Coast. Later, geological pressures squeezed the rock containing the erratics back to the surface like toothpaste. In the last phase, the matrix rock was eroded away leaving the erratics orphans. (Wood, Robert Muir; "Orphans of the Wild West," New Scientist, 85:466, 1980.) Comment. Note that this complex scenario is dictated by the dogmas of continental drift and the geological time scale. From Science Frontiers #11, Summer 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 11: Summer 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Numismatic Ufos Jeremiah Epstein has assembled an absolutely fascinating analysis of some 40 "discoveries" of Pre-columbian coins in the United States. The lengthy table detailing the finds and the long list of references are alone enough to make this article a classic. Epstein carefully scrutinizes each find with admirable dispassion. His conclusions: frauds, counterfeits, and recent losses of imported ancient coins suffice to explain all of the data. Supporting and disagreeing comments from researchers active in the field follow Epstein's article. The advocates of Pre-columbian diffusion naturally take issue with Epstein, claiming that there is a residue of cases not adequately explained. (Epstein, Jeremiah, F. et al; "Pre-Columbian Old World Coins in America: An Examination of the Evidence," Current Anthropology, 21:1 , 1980.) Comment. Shades of UFOs, sea serpents, the Kensington Stone and of course ancient humans in America. It is all so familiar. From Science Frontiers #11, Summer 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 10: Spring 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The nuclear threat: bad dates Woodmorappe has assembled an impressive and disconcerting collection of anomalous radiometric dates. Over 300 serious discrepancies are tabulated and backed by some 445 references from the scientific literature. To remove triviali-ties, only dates that were "wrong" by 20% or more were included. This criterion insured that the anomalous dates were off by one or more geological periods. To enhance his case, Woodmorappe excluded data for such troublesome minerals as K-feldspar, which have unreliable records. The surviving discordances will certainly disturb anyone who has long accepted radioactive dating as the near-final word in geochronology. The lengthy text accompanying the table delves into the geological problems posed by the tabulated anomalies, primarily the severe distortions implied in the supposedly well-established geological time scale. Many attempts have been made to explain away these discrepancies, usually by asserting that the system must have been "open"; that is, contamination and/or removal of materials occurred. But a far more serious situation exists: the reluctance of researchers to publish radiometric dates that fly in the face of expectations. Data selection and rejection are epidemic. Some authors admit tossing out wild points; others say nothing. (Woodmorappe, John; "Radiometric Geochronology Reappraised," Creation Research Society Quarterly, 16:102, 1979.) From Science Frontiers #10, Spring 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 10: Spring 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Io's electrical volcanos Thomas Gold, of Cornell, long known for his provocative theories, has not disappointed us in this paper. Jupiter's moon, Io, exhibits an anomaly that seems to call for a radical explanation. Io's volcanos erupt with such violence that molten material is flung to heights of 250 kilometers. These outbursts proceed from caldera, and one is led to assume that normal volcanic action is to blame. Unfortunately for this simplistic idea, Io does not seem to possess low-molecular-weight substances, such as water, that could serve as a good propellant at reasonable temperatures. Sulphur is common, but its atomic weight is so high that temperatures exceeding 6000 K would be required to shoot matter out to 250 kilometers. Gold suggests that Io's volcanos get their firepower from electrical sources. He points out that Io short-circuits Jupiter's ring current periodically. Gold estimates that 5 million amperes flow through Io when it passes through the ring current. The energetic eruptions and caldera might therefore be electric-arc phenomena. The electrical energies available are sufficient to account for the observed outbursts. (Gold, Thomas; "Electrical Origin of the Outbursts on Io," Science, 206:1071, 1979.) Comment. Several scientists and non-scientists have proposed in the past that the sunspots and even some planetary craters result from large-scale electrical arcing within the solar system ...
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... stars into two groups: Population I, made up of young stars enriched by the products of their ancestors; and Population II, those relatively older ancestor stars containing more hydrogen and fewer heavier elements. Population I, according to present thinking, was formed out of the "ashes" of Population-II stars. What is missing from the picture are PopulationIII stars -- stars almost devoid of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, and formed while the Big Bang was still echoing throughout the cosmos. Current astrophysical theory requires "ashes" from Population III to create Population II. Do the astronomers find any primordial Population-III stars kicking around? Hardly a handful; not nearly enough to satisfy the prevailing model of stellar evolution. One explanation is that Population-III stars have been around long enough to collect a camouflaging veneer of metallic debris. Some astronomers surmise that Population-III stars are truly extinct for some unknown reason. (Anonymous; "Where Is Population III?" Sky and Telescope, 64:19, 1982.) From Science Frontiers #23, SEP-OCT 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Columbia and the Caspian Sea, something turns off the high voltage power to two of its experiments, leaving a third power supply unaffected. Even more eerie is the discovery that the sun must be shining on the ground for the phenomenon to occur. The radio commands controlling the switching are coded on a 5 kHz subcarrier superimposed on a l48.25 MHz carrier. The frequencies and coding are so highly specific that it is hard to imagine how the spurious commands arise. Also peculiar is the finding that the undesired switching can be prevented by simply beaming the pure carrier at the satellite just before it enters the two mystery zones. (Schwartz, Joe; "Mystery Beams Affect UK Satellite," Nature, 280:25, 1979.) Comment. This is only the latest in a long series of mysterious spacecraft electronic problems. From Science Frontiers #9 , Winter 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 6: February 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Humps Of Particles In The Gulf Stream Peculiar humps or hills of particulate material, thousands of feet long and hundreds high, have been observed in the Florida Current with ultrasensitive, 20-kilohertz sonar. The humps extend from the bottom of the oceanic mixed layer to near the surface. Sediment and plankton probably make up the humps, but the actual constitution and cause of the concentrations are unknown. Conceivably, currents could concentrate the particulate matter; so could some sort of coordinated, collective biological activity. (Proni, John R., et al; "Vertical Particulate Spires or Walls within the Florida Current and near the Antilles Current," Nature, 276:360, 1978.) From Science Frontiers #6 , February 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... : Winter 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Hazards Of Sewer Exploration A modern bit of folklore tells of dis-carded pet baby alligators flushed down toilets into the sewers of New York. There they grew fat on rats and confronted startled sanitation workers. Is there factual basis for such wild tales? Coleman states that he has compiled a list of 77 encounters with erratic or out-of-place alligators for the period 18431973, including one 5.5 -foot specimen found frozen to death in Wisconsin in 1892. Only one in the 77 is a sewer specimen, but it is from New York City. The New York Times of February 10, 1935, reported a 125-pound alligator, almost 8-feet long, pulled out of a snow clogged sewer on East 123rd Street. Obviously half-frozen from the cold, the animal snapped weakly at its captors. "Let 'im have it!" the cry went up. The only known sewer alligator perished un der flailing snow shovels. No one could explain how the alligator got into or survived in a New York sewer. (Coleman, Loren; "Alligators-in-the-Sewers: A Journalistic Origin," Journal of American Forlkore, 92:335, 1979.) From Science Frontiers #9 , Winter 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... closest approach to earth (inferior conjunction). Astronomers have maintained that the gravitational forces are too slight to force a resonance lock. This has led to speculation that the two planets were once much closer. The most recent measurements of the rotational period of Venus show it to be 243.01 days rather than the 243.16 days for exact resonance. I.I . Shapiro (of MIT) and his colleagues, who made the measurements, wonder whether Venus may be just approaching or just escaping a resonance lock. Whichever the case, the near-resonance is not likely to be a coincidence. (Anonymous; "Venus and Earth: Engaged or Divorced?" Astronomy, 7:58, October 1979.) Comment. If Venus is just escaping resonance lock, how long ago was the lock exact? A few thousand years? And how close were the two planets? Reference. The solar system is full of curious resonances. See ABB4 in our Catalog: The Sun and Solar System Debris. This book is described here . From Science Frontiers #9 , Winter 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... George F. Carter, a noted geographer, summarizes the botanical evidence for early transoceanic voyages. Domestic cotton. Thousands of years old in the Americas; believed to be a hybrid between New World wild cotton and species from southwest Africa. Bottle gourds. Of African origin but known in Peru about 11,000 years ago; dispersible by ocean currents but appeared in Peru only after humans learned how to navigate on the oceans. Sweet potatoes. A New World plant that has been known in Polynesia for at least 500 years; but the South American name for the sweet potato (kumara) turns out to be a Sanskrit word from India, which is most perplexing. Coconuts. Arrived in the Americas from the Indian Ocean region via Polynesia; can be dispersed by ocean currents, but this long eastward voyage would have been counter to many currents. Peanuts. Well-established on the Peruvian coast thousands of years ago, but the same variety was known in preShang China before 1500 BC. (Carter, George F.; "Kilmer's Law: Plant Evidence of Early Voyages," Oceans, 12:8 , 1979.) Reference. Our Handbook Ancient Man contains much more evidence for Precolumbian contacts with the New World. Information on this large volume is located at: here . From Science Frontiers #9 , Winter 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... river beds. But Martian models that assume water to have been the eroding agent encounter difficulties, because Martian gravity is too weak to hold the hydrogen when water is dissociated by solar radiation. A better bet, say Y.L . Yung and J.P . Pinto, is liquid hydrocarbons; i.e ., petrol. Starting with a methane atmosphere, at 0.1 earth's atmospheric pressure, the natural loss of hydrogen would lead to the polymerization of hydrocarbons and eventual condensation. "Petrofalls" from this atmosphere could cover the Martian surface to a depth of one meter and lead to heavy erosion. (Anonymous; "Martian Surface in Good Spirits," New Scientist, 79:19, 1978.) Comment. There is an obvious connection here to the long-debated origin of terrestrial petroleum and, to be complete, Velikovsky's ridiculed claim of ancient terrestrial "petrofalls"! From Science Frontiers #5 , November 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 5: November 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A 6,000-YEAR-OLD STRUCTURE IN SCOTLAND Timber fragments from a building 78 feet long, 39 feet wide, and 30 feet high, have been radiocarbon-dated at 4,000 B.C . The size and method of construction of this ancient building on the edge of the Scottish river Dee indicate a high level of civilization 1,000 years before Stonehenge. At the same time civilization was supposed to be getting its start in the Middle East, the precocious Scots were evidently constructing large wooden structures, cultivating barley, and probably tending domesticated farm animals. (Anonymous; "An Epic Find," Time, p. 64. June 26, 1978.) From Science Frontiers #5 , November 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... of man is the geometric mean of the mass of a planet and the mass of the proton. Less hilarious is the observation that the age of the universe is of the order of the quotient of the electron time scale and the gravitational fine structure constant; and that only at the present time are physical conditions in the universe favorable to the existence of life-as-we-know-it! The surprising number of coincidences that have been identified suggests that we exist and are aware of the universe around us only when certain coincidences prevail among physical constants. Is "now" a magic moment in the history of the universe during which we have "happened" as a natural coincidence of blindly drifting physical constants, or did some metaphysical force tune the universe specially for us? This long, rather mathematical article is redolent with metaphysics and mystery. (Carr, B.J ., and Rees, M.J .; "The Anthropic Principle and the Structure of the Physical World," Nature, 278:605, 1979.) Comment. One might speculate that at other times different coincidences prevail that would permit life-as-we-do-not-know-it or something equally unimaginable! From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 7: June 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects What drummer do periodical cicadas hear?Periodical cicadas have the longest life cycles of the insects. Every 13 or 17 years they emerge in vast numbers. How did such long life cycles evolve? How is such precise periodicity maintained. Evolutionists answer the second question with ease. Periodical cicadas are successful in life because their overwhelming numbers, at such widely separated times, completely saturate the appetites of predators, whose populations are not synchronized with the cicada's . Any deviant cicadas emerging a year or so early or late are quickly snapped up, thus promoting synchronicity. So far, so good; but how did such a novel method of coping with predators evolve? There seems to be no way that the cicada's "adaptive peak" of evolutionary success could have been attained from an initial nonperiodic origin. In other words, the cicada cyclic prison is so strong that evolutionists cannot imagine how the prison was made in the first place. (May, Robert M.; "Periodical Cicadas," Nature, 277:347, 1979.) Comment. Was it a giant, blind evolutionary step that just happened to succeed? From Science Frontiers #7 , June 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Winter 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Human Compass In recent years, scientists have found magnetic material (magnetite) in birds, snails, porpoises, bacteria, and other animals. The utility of these biologically manufactured compasses is obvious. Humans, too, seem to have a magnetic sense, although no one has yet dissected the human head to search for magnetite crystals. Rather, the proof of a magnetic sense comes from direction-finding experiments by Robin R. Baker, in England. In a series of tests involving many subjects, blindfolded humans have been taken far afield and then asked, while still blindfolded, to point "home" and north. The results were surprising. Sense of direction was not lost despite long journeys. Furthermore, tests after removal of the blindfolds showed a marked deterioration of the directionfinding ability. The attachment of magnets and simulated magnets to the subjects proved that the magnets upset di-rection-finding capabilities. The controls with brass "magnets" retained their magnetic sense. (Baker, Robin R.; "A Sense of Magnetism," New Scientist, 87:844, 1980.) Reference. To read more about the human navigation sense, see BHT18 in our Catalog: Biological Anomalies: Humans I. This book is described here . From Science Frontiers #13, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... mapmakers knew perfectly well that Fusan was actually an island just off the northeast Asian coast. Next, Frost tells how a recent attempt to duplicate the voyage from China to America in a Chinese junk riding the Kuroshio Current was a dismal failure. If so, then, how about those stone anchors found in shallow waters off Palos Verdes, California? They are legitimate Chinese anchors all right, but they are modern, having been lost by local California fishermen of Chinese extraction. History tells how Chinese immigrants quickly applied the techniques of their native land to the California Coast. Finally, Frost does identify some genuine unsolved mysteries off Palos Verdes. It seems that some of the stones found underwater are most curious indeed. Near where the stone anchors were found are two grooved columnar stones over a meter long with drilled holes. There is also a ton-sized stone sphere with a groove around its circumference. (Frost, Frank J.; "The Palos Verdes Chinese Anchor Mystery," Archaeology, 35:23, January/February 1982.) From Science Frontiers #21, MAY-JUN 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Solar Cosmic Rays Stimulate Thunderstorms Not so long ago the idea of short-term solar influences on terrestrial weather was treated with contempt. However, meteorologists are now being converted in droves because believable physical links have been found linking sun and earth. A prime example is the bombard-ment of the terrestrial atmosphere by solar cosmic rays. The cosmic rays and the secondary particles they create ion-ize enough of the atmosphere to disturb the entire planetary electrical circuit. The details of the circuit changes are still under study, but there seems no question about cosmic rays initiating thunderstorm activity. Plots of global thunderstorm activity peak strongly about three days after any maximum in solar cosmic rays. (Lethbridge, M.D . "Cosmic Rays and Thunderstorm Frequency," Geophysical Research Letters, 8:521, 1981.) Comment. At its present rate of decline the earth's magnetic field will reach zero in 1200 years. With this protective magnetic bottle gone, we see a good future for lightning rod manufacturers. hunderstorm frequency index shows a maximum 3 days after cosmic-ray maximum. From Science Frontiers #17, Fall 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 19: Jan-Feb 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects African Fossil Sequences Support Punctuated Evolution East of Lake Turkana, in northern Kenya, the geologist finds exceptionally fine sequences of fossil molluscs in old lake deposits. Williamson has scrutinized the distribution of some 190 faunas with high stratigraphic resolution; that is, he believes he has been able to sketch for the first evolutionary events on a fine time scale. Williamson underlines three important observations: (1 ) Species seemed to arise suddenly, as predicted by the "punctuated evolution" model; (2 ) The formation of new species was accompanied by marked developmental instability in the transitional forms; and (3 ) All lineages were morphologically stable for long periods -- they did not change form! The biological implications of this important study are summarized in the preceding item. (Williamson, P.G .; "Palaeontological Documentation in Cenozoic Molluscs from Turkana Basin," Nature, 293:437, 1981.) Comment. Evolutionists have often bewailed the obvious lack of transitional forms (missing links) in the stratigraphic record. According to Williamson's results, transitional forms would be few in number and display considerable morphological instability. In essence, this means that missing links may not exist in a practical sense. If this is true, one wonders whether those famous evolutionary family trees in all the textbooks, such as that of the horse, are really misleading. From Science Frontiers #19, JAN-FEB 1982 . 1982-2000 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 14: Winter 1981 Supplement Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Worms with inside-out stomachs The recently discovered tube worms, living near the hot water vents on the ocean bottom off the Galapagos, have no mouths or guts. Their bodies are covered with thousands of feathery tentacles, each packed with blood vessels. Apparently, the tube worms extract nutrients directly from the sea water and expel wastes the same way -- having in effect external stomachs. These worms, which may be many feet long, contain enzymes that permit them to extract carbon dioxide from the seawater and fix it much like plants do during photosynthesis. George Somero, at Scripps, estimates that the enzyme levels in the worms are similar to those in a spinach leaf. (Anonymous; "15-Foot Sea Worm Has Plant Qualities," San Diego Evening Tribune, May 22, 1980. UPI dispatch) Comment. This curious biological anomaly developed in an ecological niche where the primary energy source for sustaining life is geothermal rather than solar. How did this remarkable situation arise? Do the tube worms have relatives in the fossil record showing a step-by-step development of inside-out stomachs? From Science Frontiers #14, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 13: Winter 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Funny Thing Happened Along The Mean Free Path A little anomaly may go a long way. Accelerator experiments at Berkeley have again focussed attention on those few fragments from nuclear reactions that have unexpectedly short trajectories. About 6% of these fragments travel only about one tenth as far as prevailing physical laws say they should. These anomalously short mean free paths are not new, having first cropped up in 1954, but they have gone unexplained for 26 years. Current speculation is that the anomalous fragments somehow change their identities, making them more susceptible to collision (i .e ., their collision cross sections spontaneously increase by ten times). But no known transformations of matter can do this! Consequently, we are left with the possiblity that some entirely new form of matter exists. (Robinson, Arthur L.; "A Nuclear Puzzle Emerges at Berkeley," Science, 210:174, 1980.) Comment. Just a few weeks ago, some nuclear physicists were saying that the advent of quark theory explained everything in their field. From Science Frontiers #13, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 9: Winter 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Tarnished halos?Pleochroic halos are dark rings of various radii seen in mica and other minerals. There is general agreement that alpha particles emitted by radioactive isotopes create the halos. The radii of the rings are proportional to the alpha particle energy, and can thus identify the isotopes in the mineral. Some halos, however, are apparently formed by very short-lived polonium isotopes without any trace of parent uranium isotopes. How can polonium isotopes with half-lives only seconds long get into geologically old mica sans parents? York argues the case for selective local chemical concentration of polonium from fluids in the surrounding rocks. The captured polonium atoms decay almost immediately while the fluid containing the parent atoms passes on. R.V . Gentry objects that mica is almost im permeable and that we must consider the possibility that our concepts of geological time are grotesquely wrong. York energetically defends established Geology using radioactive dating and paleontological arguments. His contempt of Gentry's position is scarcely veiled. This paper is an excellent review of the piechroic halo problem as well as a classic defense of the scientific status quo. (York, Derek; "Polonium Halos and Geochronology," EOS, 60:617, 1979.) Comment. York does not mention Gentry's years of careful work that led him to his heresy, nor are the many objections to radioactive dating discussed. It reminds one of the confident assertions of the permanency of the ocean basins ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Deathbed Experiences Laid To Rest Over the years, doctors and psychiatrists have accumulated a large lode of deathbed or near-death experiences. Typically, one about to pass through the veil feels exhaltation, meets long-dead relatives, reviews his past life, encounters luminous beings, departs his body to view friends clustering around, and so on. What to make of it all? Is heaven or some sort of after life just beyond death's door? Alcock's analysis is very revealing. He first describes several well-known psychological states: out-of-the-body experiences, hypnogogic sleep, hallucinations, and the so-called mystical experience. He concludes that the full spectrum of deathbed experiences can occur any time, not merely during the final moments of life. Nothing unique happens at death's door, merely the altered states of consciousness expected at such a crucial moment. Thus, death-bed experiences reveal nothing of the territory beyond the grave. Alcock does maintain, however, that these various altered states of consciousness are very curious and well worth further study. (Alcock, James E.; "Psychology and Near-Death Experiences," The Skeptical Inquirer, 3:25, Spring 1979.) From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Project Sourcebook Subjects Old tektites in young sediments?A curious little geological debate now going on concerns the Australian tektites. The age of formation for these tektites, as determined by both fissiontrack and potassium-argon dating lies between 700,000 and 860,000 years. Geological evidence, however, suggests that the tektites fell only 7,000 to 20,000 years ago -- a substantial discrepancy. Surely, say some, these old tektites were washed out of some equally old deposits and transported to the young strata where they now reside. Not so, say Australian geologists, because most of these tektites are found in areas devoid of outcroppings 700,000 years old. Furthermore, the rather fragile tektites show little signs of wear, as they should if transported by flood waters for long distances. These and other geological facts militate against the 700,000-year date. Geologists have questioned the two dating techniques, while geophysicists think the geological evidence is shaky. (Chalmers, R.O ., et al; "Australian Microtektites and the Stratigraphic Age of the Australites," Geological Society of America, Bulletin, 90:508, 1979.) Comment. It is important to resolve this issue because the dating methods employed are crucial to the now-dominant theory of plate tectonics. In particular, the 700,000-year figure seems to represent a major crisis in biological and geological history. Reference. We expand on the tektite "age paradox" in ESM3 in our Catalog: Neglected Geological_Anomalies. For a description of this volume, visit ...
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... . Anomalists will be most interested in Shepard's insistence that the evidence shows that subaerial erosion has played a major part in carving out the submarine canyons. This explanation is definitely frowned upon by most geologists because the Pleistocene sea levels dropped only about 100 meters according to current thinking. How could subaerial erosion account for canyons several thousand feet below present sea level? Shepard persists; the evidence is there. The continental margins must have risen and then sank back! He also points out that the Mediterranean seems to have dried up in recent geological times. Could the major oceans have dropped thousands of feet in a similar fashion? Shepard doesn't intimate this, saying only that the submarine canyons still present puzzles. (Shepard, Francis P.; "Submarine Canyons: Multiple Causes and Long-Time Persistence," American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin, 65:1062, 1981.) Reference. We catalog submarine-canyon anomalies under ETV1 in Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds. For more information on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #17, Fall 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... may have expressed concern about its incompleteness, but, especially in the context of the creation-evolution tempest, evolutionists seem to infer that a lot of missing links have been found. Some scientists, however, are facing up to the fact that many gaps in the fossil record still exist after a century of Darwinism. One has even dispaired that "the stratigraphic record, as a whole, is so incomplete that fossil patterns are meaningless artefacts of episodic sedimentation." D.E . Schindel, Curator of Invertebrate Fossils in the Peabody Museum, has scrutinized seven recent microstratigraphical studies, evaluating them for temporal scope, microstratigraphical acuity, and stratigraphical completeness. His first and most important conclusion is that a sort of Uncertainty Principle prevails such that "a study can provide fine sampling resolution, encompass long spans of geological time, or contain a complete record of the time span, but not all three." After further analysis he concludes with a warning that the fossil record is full of habitat shifts, local extinctions, and general lack of permanence in physical conditions. (Schindel, David E.; "The Gaps in the Fossil Record," Nature, 297:282, 1982.) Comment. This candor makes one wonder how much of our scientific philosophy should be based upon such a shaky foundation. From Science Frontiers #23, SEP-OCT 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Enigmatic Stone Forts Of The American Midwest From diverse sources, J.D . Singer has drawn together a fascinating compendium of large stone forts and walled structures west of the Alleghenys. From Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and all across the Midwest come descriptions of stone structures of almost heroic proportions: A wall 5 to 12 feet high and almost a mile long at Fort Hill, Ohio; Two big walls at Fourteen Mile Creek, Indiana; Two massive stone walls or pyramids under Rock Lake, Wisconsin; and many more. Ignorance surrounds these structures. Who built them and when? Some are likely forts, for they are paralleled by ditches. Others seem to have no defensive value. The Moundbuilders may have hand a hand in some. Madoc and his wandering Welshmen are blamed for at least one wall! (Singer, Jon Douglas; "Stone Forts of the Midwest," NEARA Journal, 13:63 and 13:91, 1979. NEARA = New England Antiquities Research Association.) Comment. Concerted field work and searches of local archives would doubtless multiply the number of unexplained stone structures in the Midwest, just as it has in New England. For more on these forts see: Ancient Man. This Handbook is described here . From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 23: Sep-Oct 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects High Technology Experiments In Parapsychology R.G . Jahn, who is Dean of the School of Engineering/Applied Science at Princeton, has written one of the most important papers on parapsychology in recent years. Not the least significant factor is its publication in a top technical journal. This alone will insure wide discussion and debate within the scientific establishment. Probably the key feature of the Princeton work is its "high technology" content. This long, highly technical article is replete with circuit diagrams, photos of shiny equipment, charts, and the complete panoply of modern scientific research. In the section on psychokinesis, we read about Fabry-Perot interferometers, dual thermistors, glow-discharge experiments, Gaussian analog devices, etc. (There is a companion section on remote viewing experimentation!) To round out this overview, the section on historical/philosophical background and the superb bibliography must be mentioned. Although Jahn regards his work as only beginning, he does feel that the early results clearly show the existence of non-chance factors in psychokinesis and remote-viewing experiments. For example, interferometer fringes and straingauge readings seem to be changed by the application of "mental forces." But the experiments cannot always be replicated and subjects' abilities are ephemeral. The flavor of the Princeton findings are well put in these sentences from the summary paragraphs: ". .. it appears that once the illegitimate research and invalid criticism have ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 4: July 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Sinuous Line Of Sea Snakes In the Malacca Straits, on May 4, 1932, a surface congregation of sea snakes 10 feet wide and 60 miles long was observed. Helicopter pilots off Viet Nam and Pakistan have reported similar but much smaller concentrations. Groups of several thousand have also been noted in Panama Bay. This tendency to gather in great numbers at the surface is an enigmatic aspect of sea snakes. One possible answer may lie in the surface feeding habits of some species, such as the yellow-bellied sea snake. These creatures seem to float passively on the sea surface, feeding and reproducing, letting the winds and currents accumulate them in long drift lines. (Minton, Sherman A., and Heatwole, Harold; "Snakes and the Sea," Oceans, 11:53, April 1978.) From Science Frontiers #4 , July 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 1: September 1977 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Lightning Superbolts Detected By Satellites The Vela satellites carry optical sensors for the detection of terrestrial nuclear explosions. Four Vela satellites keep the entire earth under constant surveillance. In addition to nuclear explosions, these satellites register many intense lightning flashes. Some of the flashes are over 100 times more brilliant than average. Only about five of these "superbolts" occur for every 10 million flashes registered. Superbolt flashes have relatively long durations (about one thousandth of a second) and do not appear to be confined to the upper levels of the clouds. A large fraction of the superbolts are recorded over Japan and the northeast Pacific during intense winter storms. Ground observations during these storms reveal occasional very powerful discharges of long duration from positively charged regions near the cloud tops to the ground. In contrast, typical lightning arises from negatively charged regions of clouds. (Turman, B.N .; "Detection of Lightning Superbolts," Journal of Geophysical Research, 82:2566, 1977.) Reference. Many of lightning's anomalies are described in Chapter GLL in our Catalog: Lightning, Auroras. For ordering information, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #1 , September 1977 . 1977-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Sun-earth-moon system may not be stable The application of zero-velocity surfaces (a mathematical technique) to the sunearth-moon, three-body system indicates that the eccentricity of the earth's orbit renders the system unstable. The conclusion is that the moon may one day escape the earth and become a planet and, turning the situation around, that the origin of the moon by capture is a strong possibility. (Szebehely, V., and McKenzie, R.; "Stability of the Sun-Earth-Moon System," Astronomical Journal, 82:303, 1977.) Comment. This paper is typical of several recent ones in celestial mechanics that throw doubt on long-held dogmas about the long-term stability of the solar system. For more on this subject, consult ABB1 in our Catalog: The Sun and Solar System Debris. To order this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #2 , January 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 4: July 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A New Cosmic Heresy Often the simplest of observations will have the most profound consequences. It has long been a cornerstone of modern science, to say nothing of man's cosmic outlook, that the earth attends a modest star that shines in an undistinguished part of a run-of-the-mill galaxy. Life arose spontaneously and man evolved on this miscellaneous clump of matter and now directs his own destiny without outside help. This cosmic model is supported by the Big-Bang and Expanding Universe concepts, which in turn are buttressed by the simple observation that astronomers see redshifts wherever they look. These redshifts are due, of course, to matter flying away from us under the impetus of the Big Bang. But redshifts can also arise from the gravitational attraction of mass. If the earth were at the center of the universe, the attraction of the surrounding mass of stars would also produce redshifts wherever we looked! The argument advanced by George Ellis in this article is more complex than this, but his basic thrust is to put man back into a favored position in the cosmos. His new theory seems quite consistent with our astronomical observations, even though it clashes with the thought that we are godless and making it on our own. (Davies, P.C .W .; "Cosmic Heresy?" Nature, 273:336, 1978.) From Science Frontiers #4 , July 1978 . 1978-2000 William ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 3: April 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Cosmic Rays May Trigger Lightning Flashes Science has long claimed to have the explanation of lightning discharges well under control. But the discharge paths followed by lightning strokes often seem unnecessarily tortuous when more direct routes are readily available. The mechanism by which large reservoirs of unlike charges are built up is also obscure. Cosmic rays have now been pro-posed as both a source of charged particles and a provider of low-resistance ionized conduits for lightning to follow. Primary cosmic rays carry considerable energy, most of which appears near the earth's surface in the form of cascades of secondary particles that create complex ionized tracks as they penetrate the dense lower atmosphere. Lightning bolts would tend to follow these precursors along their crooked trails. (Anonymous; "Do Cosmic Rays Trigger Lightning Discharges?" New Scientist, 77:88, 1978.) Comment. Thunderstorm frequency has often been linked to solar activity, and cosmic rays could provide the connection. Could meteorites or "thunderbolts" do likewise? From Science Frontiers #3 , April 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 1: September 1977 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects First writing may have been three-dimensional Archeologists have long been puzzled by large numbers of small, fired-clay objects found in the Middle East. Denise Schmandt-Besserat, University of Texas at Austin, believes that these small geometrical shapes (cones, spheres, disks, etc.) were actually symbols used in commerce to indicate numbers and types of commodities (sheep, oil, etc.). Generally less than an inch in size, the clay objects were apparently sealed in hollow clay spheres to make bills of lading as early as 8,500 B.C . This is 5,000 years before two-dimensional clay tablets were introduced for writing. (Anonymous; "From Reckoning to Writing," Scientific American, p. 58, August 1977.) Comment. These clay symbols might be related to the painted pebbles and small carved stone balls found in Europe. From Science Frontiers #1 , September 1977 . 1977-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 2: January 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Morning Glory The Morning Glory is a spectacular roll cloud that frequently sweeps in low over Australia's Gulf of Carpenteria, often around sunrise in clear, calm weather. The cloud is only 100-200 m thick but very long and straight, extending from one horizon to the other. (One pilot followed if for 120 km without finding its end.) Sometimes as low as 50 m, the Morning Glory brings squall-like winds but rarely more than a fine mist. Double Morning Glories are not uncommon. Sev-en were once reported. Oriented NNW to SSE in the main, they advance east-towest low and fast (30-50 mph). Convincing explanations are wanting. One meteorologist has proposed that the Morning Glory is a "propagating undular hydraulic jump." (Neal, A.B ., et al; "The Morning Glory," Weather, 32:176, 1977.) From Science Frontiers #2 , January 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 1: September 1977 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Four Extragalactic Sources Expand Faster Than Light Three quasars and one galaxy possess structures that apparently expand faster than light. The sizes of the three qua sars were measured over periods of time by Very Long Baseline Interferometers (VLBIs). In the case of quasar 3C279, the apparent velocity of expansion was ten times that of light. The quasars all have rather large redshifts, indicating great distances from earth, but the lone galaxy displaying "superluminal" expansion has a redshift of only 0.032. This fact suggests that superluminal velocities cannot be employed as arguments against redshifts being cosmological; that is, measures of distances from earth. Therefore, if the redshift is truly a measure of distance (as it seems to be), some astronomical structures (perhaps not matter itself) seem to grow faster than the velocity of light. (Cohen, M.H ., et al; "Radio Sources with Superluminal Velocities," Nature, 268:405, 1977.) From Science Frontiers #1 , September 1977 . 1977-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 3: April 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Yeti or wild man in siberia?Reports from Russia tell of a creature known locally as the "Chuchunaa" which is over 2 m tall, clad in deerskin, and unable to talk, although it does utter a piercing whistle. A man-eater, the Chuchunaa often steals food from settlements. Observers say that the creature has a protruding brow, long matted hair, a full beard, and walks with its hands hanging below its knees. Soviet scientists speculate that the Chuchunaa represents the last surviving remnant of the Siberian paleoasiatic aborigines that retreated to the upper reaches of the Yana and Indigirka rivers. The last reliable sightings were in the 1950s, and this animal may now be extinct. (Anonymous; "Yeti or Wild Man in Siberia?" Nature, 271:603, 1978.) From Science Frontiers #3 , April 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... of research into the survival of bodily death. He identifies three historical periods that mirror the scientific thinking of their times. At one point, research waned as many investigators believed that living individuals with paranormal powers were responsible for all the evidence. Now, however, research again proceeds on a broad front; even though hampered by most scientists' outspoken disbelief in the whole business. The important types of evidence reviewed include the speaking of languages not normally learned, out-of-the-body experiences, and reincarnation memories. [Subjects that 99% of the scientific community would dismiss without examination. Ed.] The author, a professor of psychiatry, feels that this contempt is unwarranted and that most scientists are simply not aware of the vast amount of high quality data available. The long, well-documented paper concludes with the assertion that the data acquired so far do not actually compel the conclusion that life exists after death but that it certainly infers it strongly. (Stevenson, Ian; "Research into the Evidence of Man's Survival after Death," Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 185:152, 1977.) From Science Frontiers #2 , January 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 84: Nov-Dec 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects THE "AMERICA BEFORE COLUMBUS" CONFERENCE Tennessee Bat Creek stone with supposed Hebrew characters Last summer, the New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA) organized a meeting of off-mainstream archeologists at Brown University. As readers of Science Frontiers have long been aware, the New World was not new to many ancient voyagers. A review of the Conference in the New York Times gave wide exposure to some of these controverted pre-Columbian contacts: 5000-year-old pottery found in coastal Peru bears an uncanny resemblance to pottery made in Japan during the same period. How could the Japanese have reached Peru circa 3000 BC? Easy! Storms could have blown fishermen into the trans-Pacific current. (See "Current Treads" item under GEOPHYSICS.) The Zuni Indians of New Mexico may have been influenced by Japanese voyagers in the Thirteenth Century, as suggested by their distinctive blood chemistry, language, and culture. 700-year-old temple art from India reveals detailed depictions of ears of corn, which was supposedly unknown outside the Americas until after Columbus. Jewish refugees from the Roman Empire may have somehow reached eastern Tennessee, if the famous Bat Creek Stone really bears an ancient Hebrew inscription. The grave in which the stone was found has been carbon-dated between 32 and 769 AD. (Wilford, John Noble; "Case for Other Pre-Columbian Voyagers," New York Times , July 7, 1992 ...
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... time during the space shuttle STS-32 mission, and later during the STS-31 mission and other missions using the shuttle's payload-bay TV cameras. .. .. . "Figure 1 [impossible to reproduce] shows the upward luminous discharge that was seen to move out of the top of a single thunderstorm during the flight of STS-31. This video image was taken at 0335:59 UTC 28 April 1990 while the shuttle was on its 55th orbit and passing over Mauritania, northwest Africa. .. .. . "The storm that had the luminous discharge was located at approximately 7.5 N, 4.0 E, and was about 2000 km from the shuttle's position. The lightning discharge was determined to be at least 31 km long. .. .. . "We are now trying to understand the significance in relationship to the earth's atmosphere and the global electric circuit." (Vaughan, Otha H., Jr., et al; "A Cloud-to-Space Lightning as Recorded by the Space Shuttle Payload-Bay TV Cameras," Monthly Weather Review , 120: 1459, 1992.) Comment. Somewhere 31 kilometers above the thundercloud, there must have been a concentration of electrical charge that acted as a "terminal" for the bolt. How did it get there? Reference. A more recent term for "rocket lightning" is "sprite" or "elf." These phenomena are cataloged under GLL1 in the catalog: Lightning, Auroras . For a description of this ...
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