278 results found.
... Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The birds Remember the Hitchcock thriller with the above title? In it, a small seaside town was invaded by birds intent upon homicide. Well, something a little bit like that really happened. The real-life event actually helped Hitchcock plan his movie -- of course, D. Du Maurier's short story with the same title helped even more! Here is what really happened on the California coast: "In 1961, a small seaside town near Santa Cruz was bombarded by hordes of sooty shearwaters. The crazed birds pecked people, smashed into houses and cars, broke windows and staggered around vomiting pieces of anchovy over local lawns." This attack was initially blamed on foggy weather which might have disoriented the shearwaters, which normally stay far out at sea. The latest theory is based on the erratic behavior of the birds. They may have ingested fish that carried a marine neurotoxin called domoic acid. Domoic acid is produced by marine alga that bloom frequently along the California coast. (Mestel, Rosie; "Hitch's Birds Deranged by Dodgy Anchovies," New Scientist, p. 6, July 22, 1995.) From Science Frontiers #102 Nov-Dec 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... anomalous. Three of these are located at A, B, and D in the accompanying drawing, which is based on an aerial photo taken at 6,000 feet. A is a 90 bend in the renowned "road." This bend is decidedly anomalous for a beachrock formation. B consists of a parallel row of stones. D is made up of regularly spaced piles of stones and extends over 1 miles, cutting diagonally across ancient beach lines. Richards also employed a satellite image of the area to locate other "regular" features, such as a triangle, a pentagon, and a sharp, right-angle corner with mile-long sides. Inspecting these regularities from a small boat, Richards found no obvious structures of any kind. Rather, the patterns were caused by sea grass and white sand. Even so, these superficial patterns may reflect the presence of artificial structures under the sediments. Certainly, if these regularities were observed in a photo taken over land, archeologists would rush to dig away the overburden. But this was Bimini, and everyone knows that no "high cultures" ever lived there! (Richards, Douglas G.; "Archaeological Anomalies in the Bahamas," Journal of Scientific Exploration, 2:181, 1988.) From Science Frontiers #64, JUL-AUG 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 105: May-Jun 1996 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology A PICTURE SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS Darwinism in archeology! Hidden messages in genesis? Astronomy Wrong-way stars in spiral galaxies It Biology Arboreal internets Mixed-up people Oxygen deprivation at high altitudes and the enhancement of reproduction ecstas in advanced mammalian species The nether universe of life Geology Eight little craters all in a row The karoo: the greatest vertebrate graveard Geophysics Possible nocturnal tornado lit up b electrical discharges Another milk sea Psychology English muddles the brain Learning under anaesthesia If it doesn't work, kick it! Physics Real perpetual motion? Is matter infinitel divisible? Unclassified American anomalophobia ...
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... imagery, that vivid, near-total recall of images, which is almost exclusively a talent of childhood, can be recovered by mature subjects under hypnosis. There do not seem to be any theories that explain all these effects of hypnosis on memory. (Relinger, Helmut; "Hypnotic Hypernesia," American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 26:212, 1984.) Comment. Of course, memory shorn of hypnotic effects cannot really be explained either. The results of Relinger's survey make one wonder whether the human brain is specially "wired" or built to efficiently handle visual imagery that is "meaningful" in the context of human experience and theoretical expectations. This kind of construction is quite different from computer memories which process meaningless data as easily as meaningful data. UFOs, sea monsters, N-rays, etc. might just be eidetic images from human memories evoked by certain stimuli and encouraged by suggestion. From Science Frontiers #38, MAR-APR 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... be the only ones of their kind on the planet. The Wiltshire mud springs are cold. They are not hot and steaming like those seen where geothermal heat is close to the surface, as in New Zealand, Java, and Yellowstone. They are also unique in their entrainment of subterranean fossils and bringing them to the surface. "There is no explanation of the way the springs ooze a pale, cold, grey mud to the surface, forming blisters that spurt high into the air. "Neville Hollingworth of the Natural Environment Research Council said: 'They are like a fossil conveyor belt bringing up finds from the clay layers below and then washing them out in a nearby stream.'" The fossil conveyor belt yields bones of marine reptiles, oyster shells, and the remains of sea creatures that lived during the Jurassic, about 165 million years ago. Some of the bivalves still retain their organic ligaments. Geologists wonder what forces squeeze the mud to the surface like toothpaste from a tube. (Nuttall, Nick; "Mud Springs a Surprise after 165 Million Years," London Times, May 2, 1996. Cr. A.C .A . Silk) From Science Frontiers #106, JUL-AUG 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... an apparent reaction to the stampede to climb aboard the extinction-by-asteroid bandwagon, dissenting papers have begun to appear in the scientific literature. For example, Van Valen's list of objections to the hypothesis of asteroid impact at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary was reproduced in the last issue of Science Frontiers. Now, in a recent issue of New Scientist, T. Hallam raises still more objections: Tropical plants, mammals, crocodiles, birds, and benthic invertebrates were little affected by whatever happened at the Cretaceous-Tertiary interface. Furthermore, many groups that were extinguished were already well into a decline. Some geologists insist that some of the supposedly synchronous extinctions were probably separated by several hundred thousand years; viz., plankton and dinosaurs. The vaunted iridium anomaly in deep-sea cores is spread through a considerable thickness of sediment. Even after allowing for the mixing of sediments, the iridium-rich layer is thousands of years thick. According to the asteroid scenario, the clay layer separating the Cretaceous from the Tertiary should represent the fallout from impact-raised dust, which would include asteroidal material and a mixed sample of earth rocks. However, in Denmark, the boundary is marked by the so-called Fish Clay, which is almost pure smectite -- a single mineral and not a mixture of terrestrial rock flour. If it wasn't an asteroid impact, why the iridium concentration? At least three hypotheses have been proposed to circumvent the asteroid debacle: (1 ) volcanic activity; (2 ) a concentration of micrometeorites, thousands of tons of ...
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... 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 Malleable Memories The ease with which psychologists can plant false memories in the minds of their subjects -- even savvy college students -- casts clouds over several anomalous phenomena, such as UFO abductions, ball lightning, and sea-monster sightings. Even scientists can be deluded into believing they have seen things in their laboratories. (Remember Blondlot's experiments with N-rays and the several physicists who confirmed his results?) Not that psychologists go around intentionally implanting memories of dubious phenomena. All it takes are suggestion, expectation, and/or paradigm-passion. At a 1997 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, several psychologists told of their "malleable-memory" experiments. H.L . Roediger III, Washington University, asked students: ". .. to look at a list of 15 words that included 'bed,' 'dream,' 'blanket,' 'doze,' and 'pillow.' Just over half said afterward that the word 'sleep' had been on the list, even though it wasn't ." E. Loftus, University of Washington, first asked a group of parents to describe some events that their children -- all now adults -- had experienced. Then, she went to the children and: ". .. walked them through a series of real incidents [mentioned by their parents] and then threw in a fake ...
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... 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 Miles Of Floating Forest February 13, 1905. San Francisco. "The Pacific Mail steamer City of Panama , which sailed from this port on Jan. 21 for ports on the Central American coast, had a strange experience, news of which has just been received here by mail from Acapulco. "Through miles of sea covered thickly with masses of vegetation, tree trunks, and the carcasses of dead animals the steamer sailed, the debris at times being so thick that her progress was impeded. Some of the trees were five and six feet in diameter, and the dead animals were of all descriptions. The debris was encountered on Jan. 28 in latitude 16.58 north and longitude 100.29 west. "The officers of the vessel were unable to explain the strange condition, and when they arrived at Acapulco no light was thrown on the subject. It is supposed that the floating mass was cast up by some gigantic volcanic eruption on the Central American coast." (Anonymous; New York Times, February 14, 1905. Cr. M. Piechota.) Comment. We have found no record of such a volcanic cataclysm for that time period. From Science Frontiers #120, NOV-DEC 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Wiltshire enroute from Aqaba to Fujayrah. "At 1745 UTC the glow of bioluminescence was first noted around the hull of the vessel, illuminating the hull above the waterline. The passage of an area of phosphorescent wheels was recorded as follows: 1750: First large wheel of diameter approximately 15 m passed by vessel. Smell of fish in the air. 1806: Continuous wheels passing ves sel 6-8 at a time down either side. The larger wheels were of 15 m diameter and the smaller ones were about 6 m in diameter. 1811: Wheels stopped but bioluminescence still visible around vessel. 1950: Bioluminescence diminished. "The Aldis lamp was shone upon the water but gave no change, then the echo sounder was switched on and off but made no difference either. Several samples of sea water were taken which when shaken contained glowing, luminous, yellow-green specks 1 mm in size. "The wheels were turning in slow clockwise motion and the closest that any came to the ship was about 12 m. There was intense milky-white colouring in the centres which faded to pale white towards the outer limits." None of the radial spokes so common in phosphorescent-wheel reports were remarked in the Wiltshire report. Wheel rotation was also much slower than normal. One scientist supposed that the wheels were caused by fish swimming in tight circles! (Marsh, C.H .; "Bioluminescence," Marine Observer, 62:177, 1992.) Reference. Wheels and a variety of other enigmatic bioluminescent phenomena can be found in Chapter GLW in our catalog ...
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... matter". Astronomers are sure it exists because its presence, though unseen, explains two anomalies: The high circular velocity of the stars and gas in the outer reaches of galaxies. Circular velocities should decrease with distance from the galactic center, just as planet velocities do in the solar system. They don't , so some gravitational force from some unseen mass must counterbalancing centrifugal force (mark that this is presumptious! The "force" need not be gravity.) Observations suggesting that galaxies formed when the universe was less than a billion years old. The gravitational pull of the visible mass is inadequate to cause this clumping so quickly in the history of the universe. Many candidates have been proposed to play the dark-matter role. One of the more popular possibilities is that vast sea of neutrinos pervading the cosmos -- if they really do display just a hint of mass. Two other candidates now on the table are so bizarre that we marvel at the ingenuity of the theorists. One involves exceedingly large particles, the other unbelievably tiny clumps of particles. At the "giant" end of the size spectrum are galaxy-size particles weighing only 10-24 as much as an electron, which is itself by no means large. It would be hard to experimentally distinguish such ethereal particles from a hard vacuum. A Princeton team, led by W. Hu, asserts that such particles would coalesce into giant globs of "fuzzy", cold, dark matter. Now if only Hu et al would tell us how to detect them! (Pease, Roland: ...
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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 Violent Undersea Weather Long lines of frothing, turbulent water and transitory packets of large waves occasionally sweep across an otherwise placid sea. Usually dismissed as "rips," satellite photos reveal that these 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 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 134: MAR-APR 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Toppling-Penguin Theory Overturned In SF#133, we related how Antarctic penguins are reputed to become disoriented by watching overflying aircraft. These tales insist that the birds get so dizzy that they topple over backwards. This makes penguins appear rather stupid, when in truth they are being very smart. Penguins, like most animals, are counter-shaded, dark on the back, light below. When the penguins are swimming, avian predators have difficulty seeing them against the dark sea. Marine predators below tend to lose their white bellies when seen against the bright sky. But when the penguins waddle across the white snow, the avian predators can spot them easily. Unless, of course, the penguins are clever enough to flop over on their backs exposing only their white tummies. Since they perceive aircraft as threats, they topple backwards intentionally. Pretty smart of them! (Browyer, Adrian; "White Out," New Scientist, p. 54, December 16, 2000.) Comment. More seriously, an outstanding exception to the countershading rule is Africa's ratel or honey-badger. It is white on top, dark on its belly. But like its cousin, North America's wolverine, the ratel is so strong and fierce that even lions avoid it. It doesn't need camouflage. From Science Frontiers #134, MAR-APR 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of ...
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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 Florida Rogue Wave Very little has appeared in the scien-tific literature about the huge wave that crashed ashore at Daytona Beach, Florida, on July 3, 1992. Apparently, the scientific community is happy with the landslide explanation, but there may have been a different sort of disturbance. First, the basic data: "A wall of water as much as 18 feet high rose out of a calm sea and crashed ashore, smashing hundreds of vehicles parked on the beach and causing 75 minor injuries, officials and witnesses said. "An undersea landslide apparently caused the 27-mile-long rogue wave late Friday night, a federal seismologist said yesterday." The seismologist cited, F. Baldwin from the U.S . Geological Survey, estimated that the wave was 18 feet high and 250 feet wide. (Anonymous; "Rogue Wave Smashes into Beach," Hawaii Tribune-Herald , July 5, 1992. Cr. H. DeKalb.) Rumors of a falling object. The landslide theory sounds good, but there have been rumors that another phenomenon was involved. B. Stein, of Orlando, has reported the testimony of a boater, who was far offshore at the time: ". .. the boater came forward with the information that, shortly before the time of the wave, he was in his boat about eight miles offshore. He watched as a distant object approached across the sky ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 115: Jan-Feb 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The hilina slump a.k .a . "the big crack"Huge chunks of the Hawaiian Islands have been sliding into the Pacific Ocean for hundreds of thousands of years. (SF#101) Geologists classify these slides as either "slumps" or "debris avalanches." Slumps move just a few inches a year but are prone to bigger, jerky adjustments. Debris avalanches are fast cascades of rocks and soil. In Hawaii, both varieties of movement can involve massive blocks of real estate. In the huge Nu'uanu debris slide, stone blocks 6 miles across tumbled 30 miles out to sea. Both slumps and debris slides may create colossal tsunamis. (Tsunamis are miscalled "tidal waves," but they have nothing to do with tides and do not behave like tides or wind-driven waves.) When large pieces of the Hawaiian Islands slip into the ocean, the entire Pacific Rim is smashed by the resulting tsunamis. In New South Wales, Australia, there is geological evidence that part of this coast was scoured by a Hawaiigenerated tsunami 100,000 years ago. The postulated wave started out about 375-meters ( -mile) high in Hawaii. By the time is reached Australia, it was about 40 meters high. (SF#85) Worse waves may be on tap. A 4,760 cubic mile chunk of the Big Island (Hawaii) is breaking away at the rate ...
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... "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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... be concentrated in seismically active areas, whereas pocket gophers and their kindred rodent excavators have a more general distribution. This observation has led Berg to theorize that earthquake vibrations rather than gophers raised the Mima Mounds. Indeed, if you sprinkle sand on a vibrating surface in the lab, you do see tiny mounds of sand rising mysteriously. (SF#69, SF#91, SF#108) Working against Berg's theory is the rather poor geographical match between the fields of Mima Mounds and areas of high seismicity. (Geiger, Beth; "Heaps of Confusion," Earth , 7:35, August 1998.) Comments. Some thirty theories have been advanced to explain the Mima Mounds from ancient fish nests to the flooding due to giant tsunamis raised by asteroid impacts at sea. Distribution of mima mounds and pimpled plains in the United States. The Mima Prairie is situated in Area #1 . From Science Frontiers #119, SEP-OCT 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... , confirming the reality of mass synchrony and uncovering a variety of types. Contemporaneously, Otto and Smiley photographed group wave synchrony of flying fireflies in central Texas, Ohba recorded two frequencies of synchrony in a Japanese species and Cicero described spectacular and enigmatic bouts of chain-flashing, tightening into synchronized strings, by fireflies on the ground in, of all places, the Arizona desert. Thus, work of the past 20 years has shown that 'synchrony' is a complex of behaviors." (Buck, John; "Synchronous Rhythmic Flashing of Fireflies. II," Quarterly Review of Biology, 63:265, 1988.) Comment. Most theorists take the simplistic view that firefly displays are connected with mating and reproduction. Perhaps related are the complex, geometrical, luminous displays seen at sea, and attributed to bioluminescent organisms in the water. See GLW in the Catalog, Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights. This book is described here . From Science Frontiers #61, JAN-FEB 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... "Two residents of nearby Canning Town also reported between 30 and 40 fish scattered over their gardens. Could a flight of herons returning from the Thames have dropped their catch? The Natural History Museum identified the fish as just what you would expect to find in the lower Thames. Could a waterspout on the Thames have lifted the fish up to cloud level, carried them a few kilometres north, and dropped them on Canning Town and East Ham? .. .. . "On 16 June 1984, a month after the fish falls in London, the owner of a service station near Thirsk in north Yorkshire found winkles and starfish covering the forecourt of his garage and the top of its high canopy. The winkles were salty and many were still alive. Thirsk is 45 kilometres from the sea, and the garage owner thought that this collection of marine life arrived with the torrential thunderstorms during the night. Though proof remains elusive, the winkles and starfish were probably lifted by a waterspout along the east coast and carried aloft for an hour or more within the powerful updrafts of the thunderstorms." Several more anecdotes of a similar nature can be found in this article. (Elsom, Derek; "Catch a Falling Frog," New Scientist, 1988.) Reference. Falls of fish and other anomalous material are cataloged in GWF10 in Tornados, Dark Days. For information on this catalog, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #59, SEP-OCT 1988 . 1988-2000 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 Bioluminescent Patch Detected By Radar June 20, 1977. m.v . Gambada. The Gambada was sailing from Santos to Buenos Aires. Unusual echoes were observed on the radar screen. What was thought to be a patch of rain on the radarscope moved toward the vessel against the wind. The radar echo of the patch had a distinct edge to it unlike those of the other rain areas. Yet, when the ship was at the center of the patch there was no precipitation. Throughout the watch, however, the sea was strongly luminescent. (Turney, R.J .; "Bioluminescence," Marine Observer, 48:69, 1978.) Reference. Several other radar observations of bioluminescent areas are catalogued in Section GLW in our Catalog: Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights. For more information on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #5 , November 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 121: Jan-Feb 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Imprison Willy!Killer whales get good press and complimentary movies, too. They are usually portrayed as gentle, intelligent, human-friendly marine mammals that dine only on fish. Lately, though, we have been reading that Alaskan killer whales have been snacking on those cute little sea otters. Much more devastating to the killerwhale image is an article in Natural History describing the vicious attack of a pack of killer whales on a pod of much larger sperm whales 70 miles off the California coast. To ward off the attack, nine sperm whales had formed a rosette, heads together, with their powerful tails splayed outwards towards the enemy. The killer whales circled the sperm whales ominously. Every so often, one would dash in and tear off a huge chunk of blubber. Eventually, all nine sperm whales floated dead or dying in an ocean of blood. The "gentle-giant" portrait of the killer whale is tarnished further in the Antarctic where they habitually dine on the lips and tongues of minke whales, then leave them to die. (Pitman, Robert L., and Chivers, Susan J.; "Terror in Black and White," Natural History, 107:26, December 1998/January 1999.) Comment. How will the media spin-doctor stories like these? Killer whales didn't get their name because they ate fish alone. From Science Frontiers #121, JAN-FEB ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 118: Jul-Aug 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Mysterious Terras Pretas Most of the lush jungles of tropical South America grow on a very thin layer of soil that is continuously regenerated by decaying vegetation. Deforest the jungle and the agricultural potential is about that of a your nearest Interstate highway. But the so-called "terras pretas" are curious exceptions. Spotted along Brazil's Aripuana River are small areas of deep, black earth that are from 7 to 17 feet deep. These are the "terras pretas" or "black earths." Scientists believe that these fabulously productive "islands" in the sea of otherwise poor soil were developed by native peoples about 10,000 years ago. No one knows how these ancient farmers made the terras pretas. The slash-and-burn farming of the present inhabitants is primitive in comparison. (Anonymous; "Fertile Soil of Ancient Tribes Poses Puzzle," Columbus Dispatch , January 11, 1998. (Cr. J. Fry via COUD-I ) From Science Frontiers #118, JUL-AUG 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... the enigmas of the idiot savant, we can do no better than quote the first two paragraphs of a review article by D.A . Treffert: "At the 1964 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, a discussant concluded, 'The importance, then, of the Idiot-Savant lies in our inability to explain him; he stands as a landmark of our own ignorance and the phenomenon of the Idiot-Savant exists as a challenge to our capabilities.' In the years that have followed, the inability to explain the idiot savant has not lessened, and the challenge to our capabilities remains undiminished. However, no model of brain function, particularly memory, will be complete until it can account for this rare but spectacular condition, with its islands of mental ability in a sea of mental handicap and disability. "Through the past century, since Down's description of this disorder, the several hundred idiot savants reported in the world literature have shown remarkable similarities within an exceedingly narrow range of abilities, given the many possible skills in the human repertoire. Why do so many idiot savants have the obscure skill of calendar calculating? Why does the triad of retardation, blindness, and musical genius appear with such regularity among them? Why is there a 6:1 male-to-female ratio in this disorder? What accounts for the more common occurrence of the idiot savant among patients with infantile autism than among those with other developmental disabilities?" Other questions that can be framed based on the rest of the paper are: How do some talents arise from ...
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... Sourcebook Subjects Unusual Wave January 14, 1998. Indian Ocean. Aboard the m.v . Oriental Bay , enroute Port Klang to Suez. "At 2230 UTC the vessel was on a course of 269 at 23 knots when a line was observed on the radar at a range of 3 n mile, travelling from northwest to southeast at an estimated speed of 15 knots, as indicated on the sketch. The line was observed to be a wave. "It was about 10 minutes after the first sighting that the vessel passed over the wave, which was approximately 4 m [13 feet] high, and she heeled 5 to port while the autopilot deviated 3 off course. At the time of the event, there was a low swell of 1.0 m from 320 and the sea was 0.5 m from 360 . The current was estimated to be 2.5 knots running to the west." (Talbot, A.P .; "Unusual Wave," Marine Observer, 69:10, 1999.) Comment. The wave could not have been a tsunami because it was travelling too slowly. Tsunamis travel at jet speed and are rarely visible on the deep ocean. Since the wave was solitary and four times the height of the gentle swells, it is unlikely that it was a chance combination of the swells. Most likely it was a surface manifestation of an internal wave that had been reflected from an undersea obstacle like the continental shelf. From Science Frontiers #122, MAR-APR 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Un Oggetto Misterioso April 22, 1966. Genova and Novi di Modena, Italy. We have just learned of this "mysterious object." Translation provided by P. Cortesi. "Near the star Alfa Hydrae (see illustration) appeared a perfect bright sphere, about 5 apparent diameter; it became largest in a few seconds, then it grew thinner and appeared like a line. In 45 minutes, its brilliance diminished progressively, and it disappeared at the western horizon. "From astronomical observations by some amateur astronomers were calculated the following data: The object's altitude was between 600 and 650 kilometers above the earth's surface; at its biggest dimension, the object was 95 kilometers wide; it was over the Mediterranean Sea, in a place between Algiers and the Balearic Islands. "No astronomer was able to explain the phenomenon, and the university astronomical review Coelum denominated it 'un oggetto misterioso' (a mysterious object)." (Anonymous; Coelum , 34:36, May-June 1966. Cr. P. Cortesi.) From Science Frontiers #88, JUL-AUG 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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 Does ri = mermaid?The astounding item that follows is taken from the new journal Cryptozoology, which is the official journal of the International Society of Cryptozoology. The Society was founded by a group of scientists interested in unrecognized species of animals. "An aquatic creature roughly resembling the traditional 'mermaid,' and sometimes identified with it, is reportedly known through a variety of encounters with natives of Central New Ireland. The ri, as they are called, are frequently sighted by fishermen, occasionally netted or found dead on beaches, and sometimes eaten. Males, females and juveniles are reported, subsisting on fish in the shallow seas around the Bismarck and Solomon archipelagos. It is unlikely that the animals are dugongs or porpoises, both of which are known to, and readily identified by, the natives." New Ireland is northeast of Papua-New Guinea. The article proper goes on to describe the ri as an air-breathing mammal with human-like head, arms, genitalia, and upper trunk. The lower trunk is legless and terminates in a pair of lateral fins. (Wagner, Roy; "The Ri -- Unidentified Aquatic Animals of New Ireland," Cryptozoology, 1:33, 1982.) Reference. Unrecognized mammals are cataloged in Chapter BMU in Biological Anomalies: Mammals II. Ordering information can be found here . From Science Frontiers #27, MAY-JUN 1983 . 1983-2000 ...
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... yet rotted away, that cannot be linked to any pits associated with their origin. These stumps were apparently blown out of the ground and hurled dozens of meters from where they stood prior to the Event. Next to be considered were the unappreciated similarities between the Tunguska Event and the 1883 explosion of Krakatoa. The four bright nights in Europe and western Asia, straddling 30 June 1908, are remimiscent of the 1883 Krakatoa outburst, they ask for transient scatterers in the upper atmosphere, above 500 km, at heights which only methane and hydrogen are light enough to reach in sufficient quantity. Fast-rising natural gas has been repeatedly detected in recent years, in the form of "mystery clouds"---by airplane pilots---and indirectly as pockmarks on 6% of the sea floor. In other words, Tunguska might well have been---not an extraterrestrial impact---but a simultaneous outburst and detonation of natural gas from five closely spaced vents. The report continues with pro-andcon discussions, concluding that this outrageous hypothesis cannot be dismissed! (Kundt, Wolfgang; "Tunguska 2001," Meteorite, 7:25, November 2001.) Mirror matter is another new candidate as Tunguska's cause. This and other radical hypotheses, like the methane blowouts mentioned above, cannot be rejected perfunctorily because, even after 75 years and 35 expeditions to the mosquito-dominated Tunguska site, scientists have not uncovered any convincing evidence that a comet, meteorite, or asteroid was the culprit. R. Foot, University of Melbourne, has pointed ...
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... similar to those of Pedomicrobium occur as three-dimensional facsimiles in highpurity gold in and on placer gold particles from Lillian Creek, Alaska." In short, bacteria help create placer gold deposits. The author believes that bacterioform gold is widespread. (Watterson, John R.; "Preliminary Evidence for the Involvement of Budding Bacteria in the Origin of Alaskan Placer Gold," Geology , 20:315, 1992.) Microorganisms and iron deposits. At least 500 million years ago, filamentous bacteria and/or fungi were already playing vital roles in the deposition of iron from hydrothermal fluids. Abundant microbial filaments indicative of biological activity are found in the Cambrian ironstones in Australia's Thalanga deposit. (Duhig, Nathan C., et al; "Microbial Involvement in the Formation of Cambrian Sea-Floor Silica-Iron Oxide Deposits," Geology , 20:511, 1992.) Deeper implications. The formation of placer gold and ironstone are only part of the repertoire of deep-living microorganisms. A five-year survey of microbial life conducted by the U.S . Department of Energy (DOE) found that bacteria were everywhere -- even 3 kilo meters deep in a Virginia borehole. F. Wobber, the DOE manager of the project underscored the mystery and probable importance of "biogeology": "Besides asking how subsurface bacteria affect geology, he wonders how geologic processes could have carried living things so deep into the planet. 'When you find these organisms at great depths,' he says, 'you have to ask: Where did they come from ...
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... the surface as Florida and the Bahamas, thrives a diverse community of animals that does not depend upon the sun for energy. Instead, they feast on carbohydrates provided by symbiotic bacteria. Since there are no ocean-floor vents spewing mutrients and hot water in the area, scientists have wondered where these bacteria obtain the methane and sulfides that nourish them. C.S . Martens and C.K . Paull, of the University of North Carolina, propose that bacteria living miles down within the carbonate platform generate the methane and sulfides as they consume organic matter buried long ago in the limestone. These excreted, energy rich gases and fluids seep upward and outward, sustaining biological communities along the edge of the platform. (Monastersky, R.; "Buried Rock, Bacteria Yield Deep-Sea Feast," Science News, 140:103, 1991.) Comment. (1 ) Looking far back in time, the sun was, of course, the energy source, because it helped create the buried organic matter. (2 ) However, there is always the possibility that the methane seeping out of the earth is abiogenic. See BLACK GOLD -- AGAIN under Geology . (3 ) How deeply into the crust has life penetrated? The Soviets reported bacteria at 12 kilometers in their drill hole on the Kola Peninsula. From Science Frontiers #79, JAN-FEB 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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