91 results found.
... Bali, but some 900,000 years ago they somehow reached Flores, the next Indonesian island in the chain trending toward Australia. Sea levels were lower 900,000 years ago, but Flores was still 19 kilometers away. How did our ancestors cross this water barrier? There is no evidence whatsoever that these hominids built boats. How about simple rafts? Possibly, but there is another way. They swam the 19 kilometers (12 miles)! Many modern humans can paddle this far and it seems reasonable that ancient peoples could, too. Another water barrier may have been crossed by African swimmers a million or so years ago. Their artifacts are found in southern Spain. Did they swim across the Strait of Gibraltar rather than trek the long land route through the Middle East and across mountainous southern Europe? These possible aquatic feats of our ancestors are not in themselves enough to strongly interest an anomalist but when they are coupled to another recent discovery they add weight to a much more fascinating speculation that early hominids were once marine mammals -- or at least nearly so. More important to this radical thesis than human swimming prowess is the recent scuttling of of the vaunted paradigm that modern humans began evolving only when they split from the forest-dwelling primates and invaded the African savannahs. It now seems that the regions once thought to have been savannahs were actually heavily forested when the human Great Leap Forward occurred. Anthropologist P. Tobias now ventures that modern man really began evolving when he escaped the heavy competition from other primates in the dense forests and took to the seacoast , which ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf139/sf139p00.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 123: May-Jun 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mysterious Mountain Deaths Occasionally, young, healthy hikers are discovered lying dead in the mountains without a mark on them. The answer to this mystery may be in the magnetic pulses created by close lightning strikes. Most deaths from lightning are from direct strikes, side flashes, or ground currents. The ground currents kill by passing up one leg and down the other. Cows sheltering under trees are even more susceptible than humans because they contact the ground in four places! People and animals electrocuted by these phenomena bear burn marks and other clues pointing to the cause of death. As for those "mysterious mountain deaths," M. Cherington and colleagues at the Lightning Data Center, Denver, suggest that these unlucky individuals may have been zapped magnetically. Lightning strikes can create electrical currents as high as 100,000 amperes in rocks and soil. These, in turn, create intense magnetic pulses that induce small electrical currents in nearby objects, such as hikers. Although small, these internal currents are sufficient to stop heart action -- without leaving tell-tale signs. (Anonymous; "Mystery Mountain Deaths and Lightning," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 23:230, 1998.) From Science Frontiers #123, MAY-JUN 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 93 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf123/sf123p12.htm
... 3 to 8 minutes, which puts them in the range of infrasound. Recently, N. Suda of Nagoya University has found a clue suggesting that thunderstorms may excite these very-lowfrequency vibrations. Suda and his colleagues analyzed the seismic records at four seismically quiet locations around the globe and discovered that the hum is loudest between noon and 8 PM local time. The quietest period is from midnight to 6 AM. These are the same time frames when thunderstorms are most active and quiet. It's circumstantial evidence, but it makes sense. (Kerr, Richard A.; "Earth Seems to Hum along with the Wind," Science, 283:321, 1999.) Comment. Infrasound in the atmosphere may originate from storms thousands of miles away and from strong winds blowing across mountain crests. It appears that the earth is an immense, spherical aeolian harp! From Science Frontiers #122, MAR-APR 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf122/sf122p10.htm
... Dry Quicksand ESP18 Glacieres/Natural Refrigerators ESP19 Radioactive Fossils ESP20 Clustering of Mineralogical Dates in Time and Space ESP21 Random Cracking around Radioactive Inclusions ESR PHENOMENA OF THE OUTER CRUST ESR1 Incompleteness of the Stratigraphic Record ESR2 Lateral Variations in Strata ESR3 Apparently-Inverted Strata ESR4 Near-Global Unconformities ESR5 Rythmites and Cyclothems ESR6 Undisturbed and Unconsolidated Ancient Sediments ESR7 Vertical Stacking of Deposits ESR8 Continent-Type Rocks in the Ocean Depths ESR9 Exotic Terranes ESR10 Long Belts of Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks ESX PIERCEMENT STRUCTURES, INTRUSIVES, EXTERNAL IMPRESSIONS ESX1 Polystrate Fossils ESX2 Diapir Anomalies ESX3 Anomalies of Stigmaria ESX4 Perplexing Intrusives ESX5 Unusual Striations Attributed to Ice-Sheet Action ESX6 Anomalous Superficial Markings ET TOPOGRAPHIC ANOMALIES ETB BAYS, LAKES, SMALL DEPRESSIONS ETB1 Oriented Lakes and Depressions ETB2 Anomalous Features of Potholes ETB3 Fluid-Vent Craters ETB4 Gilgai Topography ETB5 Mountain-Top Depressions ETB6 Horseshoe-Shaped Depressions ETB7 Cookie-Cutter Holes ETB8 "Bottomless" Pits ETB9 Large Assemblages of Glacial Kettles ETB10 Depressions in Chalk Country ETC CRATERS, ASTROBLEMES, LARGE CIRCULAR STRUCTURES ETC1 Astroblemes (Starwounds) ETC2 Very Large Depressions of Probable Meteoric Origin ETC3 Hypothetical (and Still Undiscovered) Craters ETC4 Periodicity of Crater Ages ETE RAISED BEACHES, FOSSIL CORAL REEFS, TERRACES ETE1 Raised and Submerged Beaches ETE2 Fossil Coral Reefs ETE3 Terraces along Rivers, Submarine Canyons, Sea-Floor Channels ETE4 Inland, High-Level Terraces and Erosion Surfaces ETE5 Periodically Created Beach Terraces ETH GUYOTS, PLATEAUS, UNUSUAL MOUNTAINS ETH1 Flat-Topped Seamounts ETH2 Anomalous Oceanic Plateaus ETH3 Mountain Curiosities ETL PLANET-SCALE TOPOGRAPHIC ANOMALIES ETL1 Land-Water Distribution ETL2 Anomalies of Island Arcs ETL3 Patterns of Lineaments ETL4 Relative ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 35 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /cat-geol.htm
... Humming Earth GER7 Polar Radio Blackouts GER8 Around-th e-World Transmission of High-Frequency Signals GER9 Periodic Fading of Satellite Radio Transmissions GER10 Sudden Disappearance of High Frequency Radio Transmissions GER11 Correlation of Radio Propagation Quality with Planetary Positions GER12 Earthquake-Induced Ionospheric Disturbances GER13 Easier Radio Transmission in One Direction than Its Reverse GER14 Radar Dot Angels GER15 Radar Ring and Line Angels GER16 Radar Ghosts Mexico's Zone of Silence Infrared Angels Extremely-Low-Frequency (ELF) Phenomena Effect of Low-Pressure Areas upon Shortwave Propagation Unidentified Atmospheric Radio Bursts Detected by Satellites GES SHADOW PHENOMENA GES1 Eclipse Shadow Bands GES2 Moving Shadow Bands in the Atmosphere GES3 Colored Shadows GES4 Shadow Bands Seen through the Telescope GES5 Unusual Shadows Observed during Eclipses GES6 Non-Eclipse Shadow Bands GES7 Persistent or "Living" Shadows GES8 Curious Mountain Shadows Curious Shadows of Condensation Trails GEZ ANOMALOUS MAGNETIC AND ELECTRIC-FIELD DISTURBANCES GEZ1 Unexplained Magnetic Disturbances GEZ2 Effect of the Moon on the Geomagnetic Field GEZ3 Effects of Solar Eclipses on Geomagnetism GEZ4 Effects of the Planets on the Geomagnetic Field GEZ5 Meteor Activity Correlated with Geomagnetic Activity GEZ6 Terrestrial Electrical Effects Correlated with Meteors GEZ7 Geomagnetic Disturbances Correlated with Stellar Activity GEZ8 Gravity Waves Correlated with Geomagnetic Storms Effects of Comets upon Geomagnetic Activity Effects of Lunar Eclipses upon Geomagnetic Activity Effect of Solar Flares upon the Potential Gradient Effect of Geological Features upon Geomagnetic Activity Effects of Earthquakes upon the Potential Gradient Effect of Volcanism upon Geomagnetic Activity GG GRAVITATIONAL PHENOMENA GGF VARIATIONS IN GRAVITY Nontidal Variations of the Gravitational Field Periodic Changes in Gravity GGH MAGNETIC HILLS Spook Hill and Kin GH PHENOMENA OF THE HYDROSPHERE GHC UNUSUAL PHENOMENA OF WATER SURFACES GHC1 Foam ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 17 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /cat-geop.htm
... -CONTROL STRUCTURES MSC1 Remarkable Ancient Aqueducts and Water-Delivery Systems MSC2 La Cumbre: Peru's Intervalley Canal MSC3 Subterranean Tunnel-Well Systems MSC4 Water-Condensing Structures MSC5 Three Notable Ancient Irrigation Systems MSC6 Curious Old Dams MSC7 Unusual Water-Containment Structures MSC8 Notable Ancient Ship Canals MSC9 Artificial Harbors MSD MENHIRS, DOLMENS, ROCKING STONES MSD1 Some Minor Enigmas Concerning Menhirs MSD2 Menhirs in Unexpected Places MSD3 Er Grah as a Foresight in an Eclipse Predictor MSD4 Dolmen-Like Structures Located Outside of Western Europe MSD5 Rocking Stones MSE EXCAVATED STRUCTURES MSE1 Lines of Pits MSE2 Puzzling Pits: A Survey MSE3 Unusual Ancient Shafts and Tunnels: A Survey MSE4 The Oak Island Shaft and Tunnels MSE5 Remarkable Ancient Mines and Quarries: A Survey MSE6 Production-Consumption Discrepancy in Prehistoric Lake Superior Copper Mining MSE7 Sculpted Hills and Mountains MSE8 Terrestrial Zodiacs and Star Maps MSF FORTS MSF1 Earthen Hilltop Forts: A survey MSF2 Notable Ancient Stone Forts: A survey MSF3 The Vitrified Stone Forts of Scotland MSH STONE ROWS, CIRCLES, AND OTHER SIMPLE STONE CONFIGURATIONS MSH1 Short Stone Rows MSH2 Long Stone Rows MSH3 Double Stone Rows and Avenues MSH4 Multiple Lines of STones in Western Europe MSH5 Stone Arrays and Mazes MSH6 Stone Meanders MSH7 Stone Circles: General Characteristics MSH8 Recumbent Stone Circles MSH9 The Megalithic Yard; A Megalithic Standard of Length? MSH10 Geometrical Sophistication of Stone Circles MSH11 Occult Influences on the Design of Stonehenge MSH12 Physical Phenomena Associated with Stone Circles MSH13 Psychical Phenomena Concentration at Stone Circles MSH14 Integration of Stone Circles and the Environment MSH15 Large-Scale Organization of Stone Circles MSH16 Stone Circles Outside Britain and Ireland MSH17 Stone Circles as Eclipse Predictors ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 5 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /cat-arch.htm
... situation has now been reversed as some scientists plead that data contradicting plate tectonics should no longer be accepted for publication! Happily, at least one publication is still open to heretics. In a 1997 number of New Concepts in Global Tectonics , we find S. Keshav, at Bombay's Indian Institute of Technology, asserting that plate tectonics is a "myth that has paralyzed our thinking." And he gives some reasons for his view: Plate tectonics incorporates many physically impossible processes, such as sediment subduction; i.e ., soft sediments should be scraped off plates as they dive beneath the continents. Plate tectonics does not completely explain the ophiolites (rocks resembling bits of ocean crust that are sometimes found in embarrassing places (far inland). Plate tectonics has difficulty accounting for some mountain belts; i.e ., those far from collisional sites, like Tibet's Kunlun mountains. Finally, Keshav observes: "On the continents this theory assumes mysterious character as many of the features go unexplained (as exemplified by inability to find a trace of the Asthenosphere/Moho) and truly depicts an act of escapism." (Keshav, Shantanu; "A Myth Called Plate Tectonics," New Concepts in Global Tectonics , p. 23, no. 3, June 1997.) Comment. Keshav's objections may be a bit technical, but they reveal cracks in the foundation of a major paradigm. From Science Frontiers #125, SEP-OCT 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf125/sf125p08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 124: Jul-Aug 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The mystery of eugene island 330 Eugene Island is a submerged mountain in the Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles off the Louisiana coast. The landscape of Eugene Island is riven with deep fissures and faults from which spew spontaneous belches of gas and oil. Up on the surface, a platform designated Eugene Island 330 began producing about 15,000 barrels of oil per day in the early 1970s. By 1989, the flow had dwindled to 4,000 barrels per day. Then, suddenly, production zoomed to 13,000 barrels. In addition, estimated reserves rocketed from 60 to 400 million barrels. Even more anomalous is the discovery that the geological age of today's oil is quite different from that recovered 10 years ago. What's going on under the Gulf of Mexico? It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the oil reservoir at Eugene Island is rapidly refilling itself from "some continuous source miles below the earth's surface." In support of this surmise, analysis of seismic records revealed a deep fault which "was gushing oil like a garden hose." The deep-seated oil source at Eugene Island strongly supports T. Gold's theory about The Deep Hot Biosphere . Gold holds: "that oil is actually a renewable, primordial syrup continually manufactured by the earth under ultrahot conditions and tremendous pressures. As this substance migrates toward the surface, it is attacked by bacteria, making it ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 17 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf124/sf124p10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The Inca's Use of Bismuth An Ordovician Hammer? The Azilian Pebbles Astronomy A Real Death Star The Moon's Moonlets Comet Puffs A Smoke Ring Bad Spin Split Biology The Failure of Two-dimensional Life Rubberneckia Killer Fungi Cast Sticky Nets Prisoners of the Boundary Layer California Sea Serpent Flap Mokele-mbembe Geology Horsing Around with Evolution Mima Mounds in the Kenya Highlands A Russian Paluxy Geophysics Experiments on Brown Mountain Light Flashes Overhead Mystery Cloud of AD 536 Wormy Ball Lightning Crab Fall At Brighton Psychology Imaging Cancer Away Chemistry & Physics High G-values in Mines Falling Masses Swerve South ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf033/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 80: Mar-Apr 1992 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Ancient greek pyramids? The great wooden well of kuckhoven Astronomy What fluid cut the styx? More evidence for galactic "shells" or "something else" The nullarbor lode Biology Cricket coordination Thousands of grebes fall from the skies Spider swordplay Archaea: the living ancestors of all life forms Life-creation from a different perspective Geology Possible chain of meteorite scars in argentina Dinosaur flatulence and climate changes The steens mountain conundrum Aerial bioluminescence Dead water Concentric, rotating luminous rings seen in sweden Anomalous optical events in the upper atmosphere Unidentified light Unclassified First cold-fusion bomb? When the chips are down ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf080/index.htm
... have chuckled over the near-simultaneous mentions of intergalactic pizzas in two diverse publications. A second report underscores the mystery presented by the unexpected diversity of life in the deep-sea ooze. J.D . Gage and R.M . May ponder in Nature : "Why there should be such exuberant biological diversity in an environment apparently lacking in the habitat complexity of, say, tropical rain forest -- whose species richness it might rival -- remains an enigma." In fact, the enigma becomes more profound when one finds there exists a "depth effect" paralleling the terrestrial "altitude effect." "This phenomenon is associated with an increase in species richness with depth, and is essentially like the pattern of increasing numbers of plant and animal species as one moves down from mountain tops to sea level." This "depth effect" is just the opposite of what one would expect as one descends into the ever blacker, ever colder, higher-ambient-pressure environment. The cause(s ) of this increasing biological diversity eludes us. (Gage, John D., and May, Robert M.; "A Dip into the Deep Seas," Nature, 365:609, 1993.) From Science Frontiers #91, JAN-FEB 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf091/sf091b10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 84: Nov-Dec 1992 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology THE "AMERICA BEFORE COLUMBUS" American pygmies Astronomy Galactic shell game Quasar redshift clusters and (even worse) multiple redshifts Biology It came from within Odd growths found on satellite Cat**cats The hunt for the magnetoreceptor Geology A PERMIAN POLAR FOREST The orbiting mountains below Geophysics Mysterious smoke in sri lanka ROCKET LIGHTNING PHOTOGRAPHED FROM SPACE The florida rogue wave Current treads in the north pacific Solitary waves Atlantic waves getting bigger Psychology Psichotomy THE WOMAN WHO COULDN'T DESCRIBE ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf084/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 101: Sep-Oct 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The metal-frosted mountains of venus! Venus is a very hot planet with a mean surface temperature of 740 K. It is so hot there that some metal compounds of chlorine, fluorine, and sulfur are vaporized in some locales. Such metallic "mists" could well coat out as "frost" on the cooler, higher elevations. Actually, two outstanding Venusian anomalies can be explained by such metallic "frosts." Radar signals from earth are strongly reflected from the planet's mountains and high plateaus. These regions may owe their unusually high reflectance to metallic "frosts" consisting of such radarbright minerals as pyrite, which is probably present in vapor form at lower, hotter elevations. During the 1978 Pioneer Venus mission, four instrumented probes plunged into the Venusian atmosphere. All instruments with external sensors on all four probes failed mysteriously 12.5 kilometers above the planet's surface. Thinking is that the probes pierced a cloud deck of metallic vapor that condensed on the cold sensor surfaces. (Anonymous; "Metal 'Frost' on Venus?" Sky and Telescope, 90:13, August 1995.) From Science Frontiers #101 Sep-Oct 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 69 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf101/sf101a02.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 101: Sep-Oct 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects "ALMOST INCONCEIVABLE" CHANGES IN THE GEOMAGNETIC FIELD A decade ago, a trio of geophysicists published a group of papers based on their measurements of the remnant magnetism of the 16-million-year-old layered lava flows at Steens Mountain, Oregon. (SF#45) At that time, they claimed that these finely bedded lava flows testified that, during a field reversal, the earth's field swung around at the astonishing rate of 3 per day! This rate is about one thousand times the current rate of polar drift. Mainstream geophysicists could not believe the 3 /day figure because it implied incredibly rapid changes in the flow of those molten materials within the earth that supposedly generate the geomagnetic field. The Steens Mountain data were "tabled"; that is, dismissed. The three researchers, though, continued their labors at Steens Mountain and have now offered additional, even more impressive data. They now find that the geomagnetic field probably shifted as much as 6 in a single day. Their work has been carried forward so professionally and meticulously that other scientists are finding their conclusions harder and harder to dismiss. Instead, the search is on for explanations of the rapid field changes. Three possibilities have been advanced -- all of them unpalatable to geophysicists: The Steens Mountain rocks are not faithful recorders of the main geomagnetic field. Should this be actually so, the whole field of paleomagnetism, including plate tectonics ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 53 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf101/sf101g11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 103: Jan-Feb 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Subterranean Trombone In 1992, while making seismic recordings near Java's Mount Semeru, a German scientific team noticed that the seismic waves were much more regular than one would expect from deep volcanic activity. Their recordings revealed a series of evenly spaced harmonic frequencies. They likened it to a musical instrument emitting a fundamental note accompanied by overtones. Sometimes, the fundamental tone would rise and fall, as if the mountain were playing a tune for them. The Germans, V. Schlindwein et al, postulated that the vibrations originated in a gas-filled cavity, presumably cylindrical -- something like an organ pipe -- capped at the top, with a pool of molten magma at the bottom. Volcanic vibrations resonated in this chamber and, as the magma pool rose and fell, so did the fundamental tone. Rather than a fixed organ pipe, it was a natural trombone! Unfortunately, the "earth music" was always in the infrasound range, 8 Hertz and less, and could not be heard by the researchers directly -- only their instruments could "listen." (Schneider, David; "Country Music," Scientific American, 273:28, November 1995.) Comments. There is no physical reason why such a subterranean trombone cannot play in the audible range. Such a mechanism might explain some of the mysterious hums heard in various localities, such as the Taos hum. (SF#88 ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 28 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf103/sf103g11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 99: May-Jun 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Luminous precursors of the 1995 kobe earthquake In the same collection of clippings from Japan that yielded the biological precursors were several accounts of earthquake lights (EQLs). Some residents of Kobe and nearby cities saw aurora-like phenomena in the sky just before and after the quake. A Kobe firefighter observed a bluish-orange light above a shaking road that lasted about 4 seconds. A hotel employee on his way to work on Rokko mountain: "saw a flash running from east to west about two to three meters above the ground shortly after the quake. The orange flash was framed in white." Flashes of light were widely observed. (Shimbun, Yomiuri; "' Aurora' Flashes Observed before, after, Quake," The Daily Yomiuri , February 9, 1995. Cr. N. Masuya) From Science Frontiers #99, MAY-JUN 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf099/sf099g13.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 102: Nov-Dec 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects King crab congregations King crabs, besides being delicious and big (often 6 feet across), can be very elusive. They come and go on schedules erratic enough to drive Alaskan crabbers crazy. However, sometimes a crabber will get rich fast when he comes upon a strange habit of this crustacean: "After a night of roaming, crabs often pile themselves into huge heaps, called pods. Some pods stretch hundreds of feet and contain thousands of crabs -- "a mountain of crab," says C. Braxton Dew, a National Marine Fisheries diver and researcher. Mr. Dew was one of the first scientists to document the pod phenomenon, snapping underwater photos near Kodiak in 1993. The pod contained as many as 30,000 king crabs." No one knows why the crabs congregate in such huge numbers. (Richards, Bill; "Crabs Come and Go, Leaving Fishermen of Bering Sea at a Loss," Wall Street Journal, June 26, 1995. Cr. J. Covey) From Science Frontiers #102 Nov-Dec 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf102/sf102b08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 104: Mar-Apr 1996 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Reinventing the neandertals The pit-zodiacs Astronomy Men like gods The petrozavodsk phenomenon Biology It's "smothers" not "pods" Search-and-destroy sperm The magnetic mountain Geology A HOLLOW, TRIANGULAR ICICLE A METEORITIC EVENT LAYER IN ANTARCTIC ICE The whale-on-its-tail fossil An antarctic bone bed Geophysics Puzzling winds Ball lightning materializes in a sitting room Bright sparks erupt from beach Psychology An invisible information superhighway? ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf104/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 93: May-Jun 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A REALLY ERRANT SEAL Deep in the frozen wastes of Antarctica, at an altitude of 1,300 meters [about 4,000 feet], B. Lytskjold came across a dead seal. The nearest coastline was 250 kilometers away. (Anonymous; "Seal That Went Walkabout," New Scientist, p. 11, January 15, 1994.) Comment. Actually, many such "mummified" seals have been found high in the Antarctic mountains far, far from water. They are usually crabeater seals. No one knows why they head inland to certain death. Reference. Additional observations of wayward Antarctic seals may be found in BMD5 in the catalog volume: Biological Anomalies: Mammals II. To order, see here . From Science Frontiers #93, MAY-JUN 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf093/sf093b07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 101: Sep-Oct 1995 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology FROM THE SUNSWEPT LAGOON Astronomy THE METAL-FROSTED MOUNTAINS OF VENUS! ALH 84001: A MESSAGE FROM MARS OR PERHAPS SOME OTHER PLANET IRONCLAD PROOF OF THE MOON'S ORIGIN? Biology THE ALGORITHMIC BEAUTY OF SEASHELLS MORE HEAR EARS DRAGON FISH SEE RED MALE DOLPHIN KILLS MAN Geology POLAR-BEAR BONES CONFOUND ICE-AGE PROPONENTS A TRIPLE ANOMALY IN A DIAMOND THE GIANT LANDSLIDES OF HAWAII "ALMOST INCONCEIVABLE" CHANGES IN THE GEOMAGNETIC FIELD CHINA'S BERMUDA TRIANGLE Geophysics DEATH WAVES AND SEEBARS STRANGE PHENOMENON DETECTED BY RADARS AND SATELLITES AN ASTONISHING MEDLEY OF BIO LUMINESCENT DISPLAYS Unclassified THE GREAT EXODUS ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf101/index.htm
... from the tops of thunderstorms, were recorded on B/W and color video cameras for the first time during the Sprites94 aircraft campaign, June-July 1994. The jets appear to propagate upward at speeds of about 100 km/s and reach terminal altitudes of 40-50 km. Fifty-six examples were recorded during a 22-minute interval during a storm over Arkansas. We examine some possible mechanisms. but have no satisfactory theory of this phenomenon." (Wescott, E.M ., et al; "Preliminary Results from the Sprites94 Aircraft Campaign: 2. Blue Jets," Geophysical Research Letters, 22:1209, 1995.) Comment. The blue jets may be related to other controversial phenomena that suggest surface-to-ionosphere electrical discharges, such as mountain-top glows and low-level auroras, as presented in our catalog Lightning, Auroras. A description of this book is located here . From Science Frontiers #103, JAN-FEB 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf103/sf103g13.htm
... Osservatore Romano account does not say anything about extensive forest fires. (Ref. 1; see Ref. 2 for a synopsis.) Circa December 11, 1935. British Guiana (now Guyana). Only five years after the Brazilian event, a large bolide apparently smashed into the jungle of Guyana. Buried in the library stacks, we found a mostly forgotten trio of reports on the 1935 event in a 1939 issue of The Sky, predecessor of Sky & Telescope. The articles suggest that the devastated area "may equal or exceed that of the great Siberian meteor of 1908." The bolide and apparent impact area were observed by a gold prospector, a Dr. G. Davidson. Davidson testified: "About 10:30 in the morning we climbed to the top of the mountain in order to get a panorama of the surrounding country. We could see some areas that had been swept down by some great force, trees twisted off some 25 feet above the ground. We tried to enter one of these areas but the bush was in such a tangle that we had to give it up." (Ref. 3) Photographs accompanying the articles confirm some of the devastation. 1995. Northeastern Brazil. "Scientists in Brazil's northeastern state of Piaui are baffled by a crater that was punched into the tropical rain forest shortly after witnesses reported seeing a bright light streak across the sky. Researchers are uncertain whether the crater, 16 feet wide and 32 feet deep, was left by a meteorite or a piece of a comet. Physicist Paulo Frota of the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf103/sf103g08.htm
... It is therefore strange that air-craft are routinely blamed for all falls. A Reuter's dispatch from Beijing has described a recent triplet of possible hydrometeors: "Chinese experts have recovered what they believe to be chunks of meteoric ice that fell to Earth in Zhejiang Province, Xinhua news agency said. Amateur geologist Zhong Gongpei was nearby March 23, when farmers saw three large chunks of ice crash with a whoosh into paddy fields at Yaodou village, Xinhua said late Saturday. .. .. . "' According to witnesses, it fell with a 'whoo-ing' sound, with a cloudy streak, then came crashing down into three fields about one kilometre apart," Xinhua said." "Zhong rushed to the scene, recovered two pieces and sent both to Purple Mountain [Observatory] on March 29 with the aid of a frozen-food company, which kept them from melting." "The largest chunk, now about the size of a fist, left a crater about one metre in diameter." .. .. . "' They are white, semi-transparent, with an irregular shape and what are apparently air bubbles on both the surface and inside the ice. Unlike manmade ice, the ice has air bubbles, is relatively light and doesn't have the layered structure of hailstones,' he said." (Anonymous; "Ice Meteorites Hit Rice Field," Toronto Sun, April 3, 1995. Cr. G. Duplantier and the UFO Newsclipping Bureau, Rt. 1, Box 220, Plumerville, AR ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf102/sf102g15.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 99: May-Jun 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Traces Of The Southern Flotilla Decades ago, G. Carter reminisces, he found in the Johns Hopkins library a book entitled: Deutsches Verein fur Wissenschaft zu Santiago Chile. In it was an article by a German who had taken refuge from a storm in a Chilean cave. There, he had found a mysterious inscription which he duly copied with German meticulousness. Carter later sent the inscription to B. Fell who translated it as follows: "This is the southern boundary of the long dry mountainous land that the admiral claims for the Pharaoh, his gracious queen and noble son -- , signed Maury, the navigator, in charge of the southern flotilla." (Carter, George F.; "An Eclectic View," NEARA Journal, 28:83, Winter/Spring 1994. NEARA = New England Antiquities Research Association.) Comment. In the preceding two items, we see Precolumbian America being influenced from both east and west. We say "west" because many clues are strewn across the Pacific indicating an ancient Egyptian-sponsored expedition, manned by Libyans, probing the New World long before the Comalcalco bricks (described in this issue) were fired. From Science Frontiers #99, MAY-JUN 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf099/sf099a02.htm
... Anthropic Principle, Darwinism, and science's insistence that the universe must be purposeless. He notes first that most proponents of the Anthropic Principle postulate that, in the beginning (whatever that was!), many different universes may have been created. The only one we observe is the one offering just the right combination of properties for evolving life and, especially, humankind. If this or that physical constant had been a tad different, humans would not have evolved. Even though humans obviously did evolve, it was all purposeless -- just the way atoms and molecules happened to combine. This outlook fits right in with Darwinism, for almost all Darwinists also see evolution as purposeless. It was blind chance that gave us the capabilities to build aircraft and tunnel into opposite sides of a mountain and meet in the middle. Moliner is highly skeptical that such amazing, "cooperative, adaptive" talents could have come about in an unbiased, purposeless universe. Suppose, he asks, vipers were philosophically minded. They might look at their marvelously complex fangs with the canals inside, a nearby poison gland, a poison storage reservoir with special ducts leading to the fangs, a fang-erection mechanism, a set of muscles to squeeze the poison reservoir, and a nervous system to control the whole system, and conclude that there must be an Ophidian Principle at work in the universe for vipers to end up with all these neatly interconnected biological components! Using the foregoing musings for a launch pad, Moliner assails Darwinism head on, employing the "what-good-is half- ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf103/sf103b07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 92: Mar-Apr 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Back to siberia: the biggest flood?14,000 BP. Deep in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia. About this date, a wall of water 1,500 feet high surged down the Chuja River valley at 90 miles per hour. How does one deduce such a hydrological cataclysm? A. Rudoy, a geologist at Tomsky State Pedagogical Institute, points to giant gravel bars along the Chuja River valley. These are not the inch-sized ripples we seen on the floors of today's rivers; these are giants measuring tens of yards from crest to crest. Only a catastrophic flood could have piled up these ridges of debris. Rudoy postulates that, during the Ice Ages, a huge ice dam upstream held back a lake 3,000 feet deep, containing 200 cubic miles of water. When the ice dam suddenly ruptured, all life and land downstream was devastated. (Folger, Tim; "The Biggest Flood," Discover, 15:36, January 1994.) Comment. The breaking of Pleistocene ice dams also carved up parts of North America. There was the famous Cincinnati ice dam and, of course, the Spokane Flood that gouged out the Channelled Scablands of the Pacific Northwest, when Lake Missoula catastrophically emptied into the Pacific. See ETM5 in our catalog: Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds. It is described here . But other thoughts intrude: Were the heaps of mammoth carcasses, the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf092/sf092g08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 110: Mar-Apr 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A METEOR IMPACT OR EARTH SLUMP?November 22, 1996. The Honduras-Guate mala border. About 10:10 PM, the residents of this area observed a red-andyellow fireball moving east-to-west. The bolide's passing was marked by a loud detonation. From this information, one would bet heavily that this was simply a routine meteor detonation caused by the heat generated during entry into the atmosphere. The next morning, however, people discovered a landslide covering several acres on the slopes of Cerro Negro, a mountain 14 kilometers from San Luis. Did the meteor slam into the mountain overnight? So far, investigators have not been able to decide whether the landslide is just gravity-slumping on the slope or a disturbance created by the night's meteor. One observer believes he can see traces of a crater some 50 meters wide. Experts from the U.S . and Canada plan to examine the site in detail. (Anonymous; "A Hit in Honduras?" Sky and Telescope, 93:12, March 1997.) From Science Frontiers #110, MAR-APR 1997 . 1997-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf110/sf110p10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 114: Nov-Dec 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Standing Stones In North Carolina?A North Carolina reader recently submitted the accompanying photograph of very large, vertically oriented stones that, if found in western Europe, would be quickly assigned to the megalithic culture. Although similar upright stones are known in New England, we have not heard of any in North Carolina before. The stones in question are located in the Boone/Blowing Rock region of western North Carolina near Foscoe, very close to Grandfather Mountain (second highest peak east of the Mississippi). Although they could well be a product of natural forces, they stand out like the proverbial "sore thumb." (Davant, Charles, III; personal communications, July 2 and August 18, 1997.) Row of three, large, erect stones in western North Carolina. From Science Frontiers #114, NOV-DEC 1997 . 1997-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf114/sf114p13.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 120: Nov-Dec 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bouncing Ball Lightning Autumn 1940, Berwyn Mountains, North Wales. The percipient in this unusual ball lightning sighting was a Mr. H, who was schoolmaster at Sandyhurst College. "While out walking he was caught in a violent thunderstorm on the side of a hill with a scooped valley below. Ahead of him perhaps 300 feet distant, a bolt of lightning struck a tree with a sharp explosion of noise. Almost immediately a sphere six inches in diameter appeared from the direction of the strike and began to bounce across the ground towards him like a rubber ball. Climbing the hill under its own energy, the object rolled in a parabolic path and hit the ground every ten or twenty feet, climbing up to about three feet in height with each 'rebound'. Every time it hit the ground there was no sound, but a puff of greyish smoke or vapor was emitted. The object got to within about 50 feet of Mr. H before it suddenly vanished. This allowed him to have a good look at it at close proximity. He says that it was completely round and was a smokey-grey colour." (Anonymous; "Ball Lightning in Lancashire and North Wales," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 23:139, 1998.) From Science Frontiers #120, NOV-DEC 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf120/sf120p11.htm
... hundreds of kilometers. C. Clark, a Cornell scientist, believes these notes are really sonar pulses used for fixing a whale's location. Echoes returned from distant seamounts, continental shelves, and other undersea topography enable the whales to map their positions within the wide ocean basins as they wander far and wide. (Hecht, Jeff; "Rhythm of Blues Charts the Ocean Depths," New Scientist, p. 19, June 20, 1998.) Comment. Short -range sonar is widely used by bats, Oilbirds, Edible-nest Swifts, and, of course, dolphins. As far as we know, the blue whale is the only animal employing sonar for longrange mapping. However, some birds seem to use distant infrasound sources (ocean surf, wind flowing over mountain ranges, etc.) as crude beacons during migration. From Science Frontiers #119, SEP-OCT 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf119/sf119p06.htm
... ) dating was used in estimating these dates, but TL-dating is in its infancy and full of pitfalls. Geochronologist R. Roberts has looked at the Jinmium data and ventures that the artifacts may be only 10,000 years old. However, he approves of TL dates of 50,000-60,000 years for two rock shelters elsewhere in the Northern Territory. (Gibbons, Ann; "Doubts over Spectacular Dates," Science, 278:219, 1997.) Triangular holes in boulders (SF#113). These puzzling holes may actually be left behind when tourmaline crystals are weathered out of the boulders. (Saul, J.M .; personal communication. November 1, 1997.) Standing stones in North Carolina? SF#114). Grandfather Mountain (5964 feet) is surpassed in height by over a dozen other peaks east of the Mississippi: Mount Washington (6288 feet); Clingmans Dome (6642 feet); etc. Oh well, at least some people are reading this newsletter carefully! (Rice, Charles M.; personal communication, November 1997.) About as anomalous as mounds can get. (SF#114). Watson Break or Watson Brake . We don't know. We have three references for each spelling! Sections through a multi-colored tourmaline crystral . From Science Frontiers #115, JAN-FEB 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf115/sf115p02.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 111: May-Jun 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Why Some Sands Sing, Squeak, and Boom Singing sands and booming dunes have aroused the curiosity of explorers and beachgoers for over a century. Sand Mountain, in Nevada, is noted for its energetic thunderings. (SF#47/214) Manchester, Massachusetts, has its "singing beach." (ESP14 in Anomalies in Geology) But, common as these "sonorous" sands are, the exact mechanism of sound production remains a mystery. D.E Goldsack and colleagues, at Laurentian University, Canada, have reported some advances in our understanding of this classical anomaly. The group discovered that they could make ordinary sand musical by repeated grinding, polishing, and removal of fines. Given sufficient processing, ordinary sand that is merely "noisy" when shaken can be made to "sing." Singing sand has a unique infrared signature: a broad band stretching from 3,700 to 2,800 cm-1 . This is probably due to clusters of water molecules in an amorphous silica layer on the surfaces of the sand grains. Taking a clue from the infrared spectrum, Goldsack et al shook commercially available silica gel in a bottle and heard the familiar tones of singing sand! Their conclusion is that for sand to sing the particles must be coated with naturally (or artificially) created silica gel. (Goldsack, Douglas E., et al; "Natural and Artificial 'Singing' Sands," ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf111/sf111p10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 123: May-Jun 1999 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Caves as musical instruments Sophisticated chemistry in ancient egypt Heads down! Out-henging stonehenge Astronomy Eclipse shadow bands Moonstone in orbit? The storm-swept cosmos Biology Nanobes Strange appetites Flash fish Throwing sand in the gears of molecular clocks Geology Copper pseudomorphs Geophysics Mysterious mountain deaths Puzzling shadows Psychology Phantoms of the brain Focused group energy (fge) Megamemories Unclassified They went a byte too far! ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf123/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 143: Sep-Oct 2002 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Ancient stone road leads to mountain laced with jade The Planet of the Apes: It's archaeology Ice-age faces on cave floors Astronomy From amusing little volcanoes to giant red devils Strange and Stranger astronomy Biology Dark Life A plague on theories Too close to be so far People who are not entirely themselves Geology Three inner-Earth heresies Geophysics Train, whistle, slowdown, bloop A bad assumption may obscure dark matter Psychology Contagious, collective laughter Physics Wordless memeories Chemistry Mechanical chemistry ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf143/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 148: Jul-Aug 2003 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Who or What Exterminates the Pleistocene Megafauna? Illinois's Ancient Maginot Line A Cold Barrier to Internal Parasites Astronomy Are there no other Earths out there? Where's the Fuzz? Biology Snakes Aloft Woman's Barr Bodies The Eyes have it A Major Problem for Darwinism Geology Why are old Mountains High? Subterranean Ecosystems Geophysics Milky-sea Phenomenon Is the Min Min Light a Fata Morgana (mirage)? Pre-Quake Anomalies Psychology Correlations of Brain Activity Physics A Revolution in Electrostatics Mathematics Ordering a Piece of Pi Prime Squares ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf148/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 1: September 1977 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects New England Seamounts Once Near Surface Exploration of the New England Seamount chain by the research submarine Alvin confirmed that some of these peaks, now all a kilometer or more below the surface, were once at or above the surface of the ocean. This undersea mountain chain contains more than 30 major peaks and stretches 1,600 miles southeast from the New England coast. Deep-sea dredging has previously brought up Eocene limestone of shallow-water origin from the submerged mountain tops, but the Alvin explorations resulted in the first eye-witness accounts of dead coral (which grows only near the surface) and rock samples containing strands of dead algae that grows only within 100 meters of the surface. The New England Seamounts have therefore either subsided on the order of a kilometer since Eocene times or sealevel has altered drastically. The Alvin dives also discovered a series of very striking and perplexing buttes obviously the results of erosion (see drawing on cover). The buttes are apparently composed of volcanic rock and are only a few meters high. Some unexplained, extremely vesicular (holefilled) rocks seen on the sea floor during the dives seem to be identical to samples occasionally dredged up and formerly classified as cinders jettisoned from old steamships. The underwater surveys suggested that these "cinders" have a natural (still mysterious) origin. (Heirtzler, J.R ., et al; "A Visit to the New England Seamounts," American Scientist, ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 25 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf001/sf001p03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 22: Jul-Aug 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Neanderthal Man May Still Survive In Asia All continents have their tales of wild men, abominable snowmen, sasquatch, etc. Most anthropologists give little credence to these stories. Shackley, however, has assembled considerable evidence for the reality of the so-called Almas (plural form: Almasti), primitive men who closely resemble Neanderthal Man, or at least what we think Neanderthal Man looked like. Abundant, internally consistent data come from an east-west band running from the Caucacus, across the Pamir Mountains, through the Altai Mountains, to Inner Mongolia. Even today, sightings of these creatures are rather common; and several scientists have seen them. One incident occurred in 1917, when the Reds were pursuing White Army forces through the Pamirs. The troops of Major General Mikail Stephanovitch Topilsky shot an Almas as he was emerging from a cave. "The eyes were dark and the teeth were large and even and shaped like human teeth. The forehead was slanting and the eyebrows were very powerful. The protruding jawbones made the face resemble the Mongol type of face. The nose was very flat .. .the lower jaws were very massive" In some instances the Almasti have even associated with modern man; and cases of successful interbreeding have been reported. After reviewing the mountains of evidence, Shackley feels that the Almasti are very likely surviving Neanderthals, because the physical characteristics of the Almasti and reconstructed Neanderthals are basically identical. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 42 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf022/sf022p01.htm
... 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 ANCIENT MUD STRUCTURES IN COLORADO "The remains of 16 hardened mud structures recently discovered in the mountains northwest of Denver may prove to be the oldest-known buildings in North America. Found during construction of a pipeline, the remains are 4,000 to 7,000 years old, compared with 4,700 years for the oldest Egyptian pyramid." Mud structures such as these usually disintegrate in a few hundred years, but these were fire-hardened. Because they appear to be permanent buildings, the current belief that the American Indians of this period were simple, nomadic hunter-gatherers may have to be reexamined. (Anonymous; Science Digest, 90:22, August 1982. Attributed to the Christian Science Monitor.) Comment. The Rocky Mountain area also boasts enigmatic stone structures and graphic material attributed by some to ancient European, Asian, and African voyagers. See our Handbook: Ancient Man. For a description of this book, go to: here . From Science Frontiers #23, SEP-OCT 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 26 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf023/sf023p01.htm
... 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 Innate Knowledge In the early 1800s, the mathematician Gauss dispatched observers to the tops of three mountains to determine whether the sum of the angles in a real triangle was truly 180 . Gauss was not certain that mathematics really matched reality perfectly. (His experiment was inconclusive.) Today, in most scientific edu-cation and practice, it is customary to assume that mathematics is not only a faithful mirror of the real world but that it can actually lead us to new insights into reality. Unfortunately, two facts mar this idealistic picture. Mathematics itself contains contradictions and does not have a solid foundation; that is, it is "impure." Some portions of reality seem to confound mathematics; for example, Einstein found Riemannian geometry and tensor analysis imperfect for formulating the Theory of Relativity. Despite this disappointment, Einstein maintained his belief that God does not play dice with the universe. Some more recent scientists suggest that God not only plays dice but throws them where they cannot be seen! Despite the acknowledged deficiencies, it is clearly more than a stroke of luck that mathematics describes so much of reality so accurately. And here is the spooky part of the whole business. In formulating their web of logic, mathematicians make many more or less "artistic" decisions that are colored by reality and their expectations of reality. To illustrate, "symmetry" is a human passion that reality may disdain. In other words, because mathematicians ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf014/sf014p13.htm
... marvelously intricate petroglyphs here; but be assured that they are not haphazard doodlings of unaccomplished primitives. We quote from the author's abstract: "A recently discovered sheltered rock scar with red pictographs, in Jalisco, west Mexico, is a major addition to the rather meager data on pictographs in Mesoamerica. It appears to contain a complex set of data pertaining to the cosmology of the relatively unknown Indians who inhabited the Jalisco coast during the last Pre-Hispanic period. Analysis of the scar has incorporated both the artistic symbolism of the nearby Huichol Indians, and concepts developed through archaeoastronomy. This analysis suggests that the ceiling pictographs record the use of sky transits of the sun, Venus, or the constellation Orion as wet season/dry season calendric markers. Wall pictographs show the sun on the mountainous horizon, below which is the earth filled with symbols of plants and animals, among these stand shamans calling down the life-giving rain from the god(s ) of the sky. I also explore the possibility that one of the ceiling pictographs is a record of the appearance of the Crab supernova in the sky in A.D . 1054." (Mountjoy, Joseph B.; "An Interpretation of the Pictographs at La Pena Pintada, Jalisco, Mexico," American Antiquity, 47:110, 1982.) Reference. Petroglyphs and other forms of ancient writing are covered in our Handbook: Ancient Man. Ordering data at: here . From Science Frontiers #20, MAR-APR 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf020/sf020p01.htm
... disturbances may be 125 miles long. Often several can be seen criss-crossing an ocean simultaneously from different directions. Some have a 12.5 -hour period. linking them to lunar tidal action. The surface manifestations, like the tip of the iceberg, only hint at what transpires beneath the surface. The long corridors of disturbance, moving at about 5 mph, mark where "internal waves" intersect the surface. Down be-low, submarines and other objects may suddenly rise or fall as much as 600 feet. Internal waves may in fact have caused several submarine disasters. How are internal waves created? Tid-al waters may spill over an undersea sill or ledge, creating a travelling disturbance. Some oceanographers liken the internal waves to the lee waves formed parallel to large mountain ranges. Manifestly, there is much to learn about undersea weather. (Anonymous; "Underwater Waves Held a Possible Clue to Disappearances of U.S . Submarines," Baltimore Sun, October 5, 1980.) Reference. We collect observations of periodic bands of waves under GHW2 in our Catalog: Earthquakes, Tides. To order, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #13, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf013/sf013p11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Experiments On Brown Mountain Brown Mountain, in North Carolina at the end of the Blue Ridge Mountain chain, is famous for its enigmatic nocturnal lights. In this article M.A . Frizzell summarizes the most important attempts to come to grips with this phenomenon during the past 70 years. He concludes by describing recent experiments conducted by The Enigma Project and the Oak Ridge Isochronous Observation Network (ORION). Rather than repeat once again the older published observations, let us concentrate on the Enigma/ORION work. In May 1977, ORION placed a 500,000 candlepower arc light in Lenoir, 22 miles east of Brown Mountain. Simultaneously, a group of observers gathered on an overlook on Route 181, 3.5 miles west of Brown Mountain, a favorite spot for watching for the Brown Mountain lights. Brown Mountain itself was inter-posed between the arc light and obser-vers. When the arc light was switched on, the observers saw an orange-red orb hovering several degrees above the crest of Brown Mountain. Conclusion: the majority of the so-called Brown Mountain lights, particularly those seen above the crest, are refractions of artificial lights. The real Brown Mountain lights, the mysterious ones, are those that flit through the trees well below the crest. These lights are extremely rare. Typically, they commence as a brilliant blue-white or yellow light, which tapers off to dull red before disappearing ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 255 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf033/sf033p17.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 34: Jul-Aug 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Aggressive Ball Lightning August 17, 1978. Caucasian Mountains, Russia. Victor Kavunenko and four other mountaineers were camped for the night at an altitude of 3900 meters. He reported as follows: "I woke up with the strange feeling that a stranger had made his way into our tent. Thrusting my head out of the sleeping bag, I froze. A bright yellow blob was floating about one metre from the floor. It disappeared into Korovin's sleeping bag. The man screamed in pain. The ball jumped out and proceeded to circle over the other bags now hiding in one, now in another. When it burned a hole in mine I felt an unbearable pain, as if I were being burned by a welding machine, and blacked out. Regaining consciousness after a while, I saw the same yellow ball which, methodically observing a pattern that was known to it alone, kept diving into the bags, evoking desperate, heart-rendering (sic) howls from the victims. This indescribable horror repeated itself several times. When I came back to my senses for the fifth or sixth time, the ball was gone. I could not move my arms or legs and my body was burning as if it had turned into a ball of fire itself. In the hospital, where we were flown by helicopter, seven wounds were discovered on my body. They were worse than burns. Pieces of muscle were found ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 35 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf034/sf034p16.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 31: Jan-Feb 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Thin-skinned tectonics In many regions of the world, older rocks are superimposed on top of younger rocks, just the opposite from what is expected. The usual explanation is that the layers of older rocks were thrust parallel to the bedding planes over the top of the layers of younger rock, sometimes for hundreds of miles. So numerous are these instances of inverted strata that a new branch of geology called Thin-Skinned Tectonics is arising to handle them. The present article deals with the complex stratigraphy in the Western Arbuckle Mountains in southern Oklahoma. Here are located many examples of old-on-young rock as well as completely inverted stratigraphic members. Much at-tention is paid to the evidence of sliding between beds (breccia, small overfolds, etc.). Some excellent photos of these contact planes are presented. (Phillips, Eric H.; "Gravity Slide Thrusting and Folded Faults in Western Arbuckle Mountains and Vicinity, Southern Oklahoma," American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin, 67:1363, 1983.) Comment. Some extensive thrust faults do not show as much evidence of horizontal sliding as those in the Western Arbuckles. Scientific creationists use such examples as evidence that the geological time scale, as determined by the fossil contents of the rocks, is all mixed up. From Science Frontiers #31, JAN-FEB 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf031/sf031p13.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 35: Sep-Oct 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Chinese Wild Man The Chinese Wild Man seems to have much in common with the North American Sasquatch or Bigfoot, if we are to believe all the reports coming out of China these days. From western Yunnan and northwestern Hubei provinces come hundreds of recent sightings. Since 1976, four Chinese scientific expeditions have concentrated their attentions in the mountainous, thickly forested Shennongjia region of Hubei Province. So far, though, there are no specimens or even good photos. The major evidence for the existence of the Wild Man consists of anecdotal reports, many casts of footprints (18 inches long), hair (reddish), and samples of feces. The same situation prevails in North America as far as Sasquatch evidence is concerned. Summarizing recent sightings, the Wild Man is a bipedal creature, seven-feet-plus in height, usually covered with reddish hair, possessing human features, with no tail, having the ability to laugh and cry, capable of weaving bamboo sleeping couches, and with no fear of fire. The Wild Man eats fruit and small animals, but has also been known to steal small pigs and corn from farmers. An anecdote from the 1940s: a band of hunters killed a Wild Man with a machine gun and cooked it in a pot. The taste was so foul that no one would eat it! (Wren, Christopher S.; "On the Trail of the 'Wild Man' of ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf035/sf035p15.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 27: May-Jun 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The solar-system dust bin For hundreds of thousands of years, miscellaneous rocky debris swirling around the sun has been falling upon the icy wastes of Antarctica. The motion of Antarctica's ice sheet carries these meteorites conveyor-belt fashion out towards the encircling seas. But where Antarctic mountains get in the way, the rocky cargo tends to get concentrated. Several thousand meteorites have already been picked up at these favored spots. In just a few brief summers of searching, these massive finds have posed unexpected questions. Here is a sampling. The terrestrial ages (times since arrival on earth) measure between 1,000 and 700,000 years, implying that the Antarctic ice sheet may be at least 700,000 years old. This is unfortunate for several proposed scenarios of recent catastrophism, which envision an iceless Antarctica. At least 20 amino acids appear in the more than 40 carbonaceous chondrites picked up with sterile equipment. These meteorites are dated as 4.5 billion years old, or 1 billion years older than the earliest terrestrial life found in the rocks. These finds highlight the old question: Did meteorites seed life on earth? The much-publicized "lunar" meteorite, supposedly blasted out of the moon's crust by asteroid impact, thence falling to earth, shows little evidence of mechanical shock. If this meteorite, with a composition so similar to the Apollo samples is not from the moon, where ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf027/sf027p08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A RUSSIAN PALUXY "This spring, an expedition from the Institute of Geology of the Turkmen SSR Academy of Sciences found over 1,500 tracks left by dinosaurs in the mountains in the southeast of the Republic. Impressions resembling in shape a human footprint were discovered next to the tracks of the prehistoric animals." Professor Kurban Amanniyazov, leader of the expedition, elaborated: "We've discovered imprints resembling human footprints, but to date have failed to determine, with any scientific veracity, whom they belong to, after all. Of course, if we could prove that they do belong to a humanoid, it would create a revolution in the science of man. Humanity would 'grow older' thirty-fold and its history would be at least 150 million years long." (Anonymous; "Tracking Dinosaurs," Moscow News, no. 24, p. 10, 1983. Cr. V. Rubtsov.) Comment. Strata along the Paluxy River, Texas, contain a similar mixture of dinosaur and human-like tracks. From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf033/sf033p16.htm
... Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Phoenix vs. the hohokam Rapidly expanding Phoenix is gobbling up the vestiges of the Hohokam. Archeologists are striving to save as much information as possible before the bulldozers destroy the best artifacts left by this remarkable Indian civilization. This beautifully illustrated article touches on several of the precocious and puzzling features of the Hohokam Period, circa 0-1 ,400 AD. (1 ) The Hohokam apparently employed acid-etching to produce designs on shells. Acetic acid from fermented cactus juice was use to eat away portions of the shell not protected by tar. (2 ) Four-story Casa Grande, which seems to have been an astronomical observatory, required at least 600 big wooden beams, all of which had to be transported over 50 miles from sources in the mountains. (3 ) The Hohokam built an elaborate, well-engineered system of irrigation canals. (4 ) Unexplained are many flat-bottomed oval pits up to 182 feet long, 55 feet wide, and 13-18 feet deep. Some surmise they were ball courts. (5 ) Also puzzling are rectangular earthen mounds, 75 x 95 feet at the base and 12 feet high, with flat adobe-covered tops. (Adams, Daniel B.; "Last Ditch Archeology," Science 83, 4:28, December 1983.) Reference. The Hohokam canals and those built by other ancient peoples are presented in our Handbook Ancient Man. For details on this book, visit: here . Section through two Hohokum canals, showing original canal profile (bottom) ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf031/sf031p01.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 42: Nov-Dec 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Immense Complex Of Structures Found In Peru The well-known explorer, Gene Savoy, has discovered a "lost" city some 120 square miles in area in the jungle-covered mountains of Peru. This citadel, called Gran Vilaya, is located about 400 miles northeast of Lima on a 9,000-foot mountain ridge. Savoy said: ". .. the city's buildings ran along the ridge for at least 25 miles. He said the expedition calculated that there were 10,350 stone structures in the defensive network along the ridge and 13,000 other stone buildings in three major city layouts. The stone structures, some measuring 140 feet in length, were built atop terraces that go up the mountain slopes like stairs, he said. He described them as 'complex units of circular buildings with doorways, windows, and niched walls.' The walls, he said, 'soar up as high as a 15-story building." The city was built by the Chachapoyas Indians about 1,000 years ago. The Chacahpoyas empire is dated at 800-1480 AD. The Incas, who finally conquered them, told Spanish explorers that the Chachapoyas were tall, fair-skinned people! (Anonymous; "Ruined City Found in Jungle in Peru," New York Times, July 7, 1985. Cr. M. Hall via L. Farish.) From Science Frontiers #42, ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 42 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf042/sf042p01.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 46: Jul-Aug 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Tree-toting extraordinaire We quote first an abstract from an article appearing in American Antiquity. "Identification of spruce (Picea) and fir (Abies) construction timbers at Chetro Ketl in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, implies that between A.D . 1031 and 1120 the Anasazi transported thousands of logs more than 75 km. These timbers came from high elevations, probably in mountains to the south (Mt. Taylor) and west (Chuska Mountains) where Chacoan interaction was well established. Survey in these mountains might disclose material evidence of these prehistoric logging activities." The article proper contains even more startling statistics. The ten major pueblos in Chaco Canyon alone consumed an estimated 200,000 trees. The average primary beam was 22 cm in diameter, 5 m in length, and weighed about 275 kg (600 pounds). Since these logs show no transportation scars, they were probably carried rather than dragged or rolled. Such labor required a large, complex sociocultural system. (Betancourt, Julio L., et al; "Prehistoric Long-Distance Transport of Construction Beams, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico," American Antiquity, 51:370, 1986.) From Science Frontiers #46, JUL-AUG 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 34 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf046/sf046p01.htm
