161 results found.
... . A South American aquatic marsupial. The female possesses a watertight pouch. Strangely, the male also has a pouch !] View Cart Buy online via PayPal with MC/Visa/Amex 292 pages, hardcover, $21.95, 84 illus., 3 indexes, 1995. 546 references, LC 91-68541. ISBN 0-915554-30-5 , 7x10. Biological Anomalies: Mammals II: A Catalog of Biological Anomalies Sorry, Out of print Our fifth biology catalog completes out study of mammilian anomalies. This volume parallels Humans II and III with major sections on the fossil record and cryptozoology. In addition, there are shorter sections on genetics, organs, bodily functions, and interactions between mammals and other life forms. Typical subjects covered: Biochemical curiosities * Recent survivals of the mammoth, ground sloth, thylacine * Out-of-place mammals * Dearth of transistional fossils * Male lactation * Sleeplessness in mammals * Inheritance of rotational effects * Magnetite in mammals * Microbat data processing * The onza, nandi bear, Steller's sea ape, and others. Comments from reviews: Essential for all libraries, schools and serious Forteans. Fortean Times View Cart Buy online via PayPal with MC/Visa/Amex 324pp, hardcover, $21.95, 89 illus., 3 indexes, 1996. 527 references, LC 91-68541. ISBN 0-915554-31-3 . 7" x 10". Biological Anomalies: Birds: A Catalog of Enigmas and Curiosities Sorry, Out of print Birds are everywhere: some can fly high ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 6 - 10 Oct 2021 - URL: /sourcebk.htm
... t escape the rat race, even when they're sound asleep. Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say they have entered the dreams of rats and found them busily working their way through the same lab mazes they negotiate during the day. The MIT maze-running rats were hooked up to equipment that recorded the neuron-firing patterns in the rats' hippocampus where memories are processed. The patterns were the same when the rats were dreaming and when running the maze during waking hours. From the patterns, it was even possible to tell exactly where a rat dreamed it was in the mazes. Whether the rats worked out better maze solutions in their dreams and thereby made their dreaming worthwhile could not be determined from the article. Simple memory-review does not seem to have much survival value. (Anonymous; "Lab Rats Found to Dream of Mazes, Researchers Say," Baltimore Sun, January 25, 2001.) Humans conceptualize and create while dreaming. A few anecdotes suggest that human dreaming may be innovative. The following three oft-told tales are truthfully no more convincing to a scientist than many UFO anecdotes. When carbon atoms danced through the dreaming brain of A. Kekule, they led the waking Kekule to conceive the structure of the benzene molecule. I. Lowe awoke from a dream one night, jotted down a few notes, and fell back to sleep. On waking, he could not decipher his scrawl. Happily, the next night the dream recurred. Lowe raced to his lab, performed the experiment outlined in his dream, and thereby ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 36 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf134/sf134p11.htm
... The Russians Using Catapults! Protected By Body Shields Made Of Wood Covered With Rawhide, The Mummy People -- what Was Left Of Them -- were Formidable Warriors. But Who Were They? Actually, The Russians Were Not The First To Meet The Mummy People In Mortal Combat. The Eskimos Had Faced Them In Their Island-by-island Conquest Of The Aleutians Begun Several Centuries Earlier. Today'S Aleuts Carry A Mixture Of Eskimo And Mummy-people Genes. It Is The Uncertain Origin Of The Mummy People That Intrigues The Most. They Are Thought To Have Arrived In The Aleutians Some 7,000 Years Ago -- but From Where? Helping To Answer This Question Are Thousands Of Their Mummies Unearthed Over The Last 300 Years. Their Bones Resemble Those Of The Ainus Still Surviving In Northern Japan. Like The Ainus, The Mummy People Possessed Some Caucasian Features. In Fact, Some Had Reddish Hair. The Ancient American Article Adds That The Ancient Aleuts Used The Decimal System, Manufactured White Parchment, And Made Fires Using Combustible Sulphur And Sparks Struck From Pyrite. (Pettyjohn, F.s .; "Who Were The Caucasian 'Mummy People' Of Alaska?" Ancient American, No. 39, P. 26, 2001) Comment. For Earlier Speculations About Possible Ainu Incursions Into North America, See Sf#124. We Wonder How Kennewick Man And Those Caucasian Mummies Recently Dug Up In Asia Fit In. When the Russians first arrived in the Aleutian Islands in the mid-Eighteenth Century, they encountered the remnants of a mysterious ethnic group now ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 28 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf137/sf137p00.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 129: MAY-JUN 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Extremophilic Terraforming of Mars If we are to colonize Mars, we must make it more earthlike; and that is what terraforming does. Right now, the Martian atmosphere, surface temperatures, level of ionizing radiation, and noxious soil are inimical to delicate, complex life forms, such as us. But these hostile Martian conditions are easily endured by some bacteria, such as Deinococcus radiodurans . This bacterium, one of the extremophiles, lives in our sewage systems and other unpleasant places. It can survive desiccation, freeze-drying, and high radiation levels. D. radiodurans can do more than survive on Mars. It can begin to detoxify the soil and prepare the way for other pioneer microorganisms. And even more: What D. radiodurans can provide is a microscopic (and therefore easily portable) factory -- a kind of terra-forming toolkit -- from which any number of products potentially can be derived. Whether it is engineered to reduce metals, produce drugs for ailing astronauts or simply manufacture the polymers necessary for the production of thread, D. radiodurans , one of the world's oldest bacteria, may provide a means of expanding the limits of human imagination beyond the written sci-fi page. (Slotnick, Rebecca Sloan; "Extremophilic Terraforming," American Scientist, 88: 124, 2000.) Comment. Perhaps D. radiodurans is the oldest bacterium on earth. Having arrived eons ago on ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf129/sf129p03.htm
... experiments with babies demonstrate that, even before they can speak or do exact arithmetic, they can do "approximate arithmetic"; that is, they can distinguish between these two sequences of tones: beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-beep beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-beep-beep. This number sense is apparently hardwired in a specific part of the human brain and the brains of a few other animals that have been tested (monkeys and rats). (Baiter, Michael; "What Makes the Mind Dance and Count?" Science, 292:1635, 2001.) Comment. Superficially, distinguishing between strings of beeps would appear to be a trivial phenomenon. Not so! The general number sense defined by Dehaene would seem to have significant survival value, say, as in assessing threats or hunting opportunities. We can, therefore, conceive a neo-Darwinian evolutionary scenario here. But when it comes to the number sense at Einstein's level, we fail to detect any survival value in the ability to develop the abstruse equations of relativity until, say, the advent of tenured positions in universities. From Science Frontiers #138, NOV-DEC 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf138/sf138p10.htm
... long. It is a confusing canvas to say the least. This gigantic terrestrial easel covers 400 square miles. Upon it are drawn more than 1,000 biomorphs and geoglyphs, plus some 800 straight lines. It is one of the world's great archeological legacies from the deep past. Actually, at least two canvasses seem to be superimposed. The earliest canvas consists of the geoglyphs, which were incised beginning about 200 B.C . Peel away these, and we are left with the geometrical figures and straight lines. These seem to have been inscribed starting about 600 A.D . -- a time of severe drought, which may be a clue to their purpose. Next, strip off the geoglyphs (trapezoids and such), and a seeming mishmash of straight lines survives. But most are not random when analyzed. Most converge spoke-like upon 62 or more "ray centers." Thus, the Nazca Plain seems to be a 3-page book: biomorphs, geoglyphs, and spoked ray-centers. They all overlap. It's all a gigantic Rorschach test; and different observers see different things! A Nazca biomorph (monkey with spiral tail) overlain by an abstract, unexplained geoglyph. See Book Supplement for still another Nazca figure. Of course, there are doodles on this 400-square-mile canvas that don't fit on any of the three pages. We'll have to ignore them for now. The archeoastronomers first tried to read something meaningful into the Nazca lines, but they were disappointed. Computer analyses ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf134/sf134p00.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 106: Jul-Aug 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects It's a mole-rat, jim, but not as we know it Naked mole rats are the most social of all the mammals. They live in underground colonies with a social structure like that of ants and termites. There are castes of workers, and only the queen, an oversized female, breeds. Naked mole rats are also intensely xenophobic; they avoid or fight with other mole-rat colonies. But such tightly closed societies lead to inbreeding with all its deleterious effects. For naked mole rats to survive over the long term, a biological solution to the inbreeding problem had to be found. The response of the species to this threat is the occasional production of a "dispersive morph." The largest and most successful colonies produce -- somehow -- a larger-than-normal individual, almost always a male, that is fuelled with extra fat and possesses a yen to travel. He is disinclined to mate with the resident queen, preferring to leave the colony for amorous adventure elsewhere. Thus, intercolony gene flow is established. (Gee, Henry; "It's a Mole-Rat, Jim, But Not As We Know It," Nature, 380:584, 1996. O'Riain, M. Justin, et al; "A Dispersive Morph in the Naked Mole-Rat," Nature, 380:619, 1996) Comment. Of course, the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf106/sf106p05.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 137: SEP-OCT 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Unexpected Signals Within Life Forms Multicellular organisms are information networks. They have to be because life is conferred by the flow of information. We all learn how the nervous system carries a heavy traffic of electrical signals, but we hear less about chemical signals, and they are more important. Chemical signalling molecules help cells learn what is going on around them so that they can make decisions concerning metabolism, division, and even whether to die not not. This is mainstream biochemistry, although there is much here yet to be learned. A signalling medium that still survives well off the mainstream is the old idea that information is carried from cell to cell via electromagnetic radiation. Yes, we mean mitogenetic radiation--the infamous M-rays of the 1920s and 1930s. During this period about a thousand technical papers were published on mitogenetic radiation -- mostly in Russian. The champion of mitogenetic radiation was A.G . Gurwitsch. He claimed that fundamental biological functions, such as cell division, were communicated via ultraviolet light. Although a few other researchers said they detected mitogenetic radiation, most could not replicate Gurwitsch's work. Mitogenetic radiation was thereafter subjected to the "cold-fusion" treatment; it was one of those things that "wasn't so"! In a recent article in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, R. Van Wijk tries to reignite interest in "bio-photons" that carry "bio ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf137/sf137p06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 131: SEP-OCT 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Planetary Conjunctions that Changed the World On May 17, 2000, five solar-system planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) plus the moon slowly wheeled into a tight 19 arc. It was a notable heavenly conjunction. All manner of natural catastrophes were predicted but failed to materialize. It has been this way down recorded history. Universal deluges were anticipated during similar conjunctions on September 14, 1186, and February 19, 1524, but the weather refused to cooperate with the planets. Humanity survived nicely. This does not mean that historical upheavals are never correlated with planetary conjunctions. If a society believes strongly enough in the power of the stars and planets to shape human destiny, events may be correlated with the heavens. Such was the case in ancient China. In China, the "Mandate of Heaven" concept has been used since ancient times as both a framework for history and a guide to future actions. The basic idea is that Heaven awards ruling power to a sage-king because of his virtue. His descendants remain as Earthly deputies until they become corrupted, whereupon outraged Heaven gives signs in the sky that the Mandate has passed on to a different sage-king to continue the cycle. Three transfers of the Heavenly Man-date marked the beginnings of the Hsu, Shang, and Chou Dynasties. In fact, the tightest grouping of the five visible planets in the period from 3, ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf131/sf131p03.htm
... digs asserted to be older than 12,000 years), do not imagine that all archeologists embrace these claims. For example, a recent issue of Discovering Archeology debunked them at great length and rather testily to boot. This broadside was followed by a devastating review of T.D . Dillehay's The Settlement of the Americas: A New Prehistory in the magazine Natural History. The reviewer for Natural History, A.C . Roosevelt, a respected anthropologist at the University of Illinois, targets the Cactus Hill site, in Virginia (SF#130). This dig, she says, is characterized by "inconsistent dates, vague stratigraphy, and inadequate artifact samples that disqualify them from scientific acceptance." Even Dillehay's monumental work at Monte Verde, Chile, does not survive the review unscathed. In fact, the claimed pre-Clovis sites, according to Roosevelt, do not yield sound, consistent radiocarbon dates earlier than 11,500 B.P . She will, however, entertain Bering Strait crossings as early as 12,000 B.P ., but not a microsecond earlier. (Roosevelt, Anna Curtenius; "Who's on First?" Natural History, 109:76, July-August 2000.) Continuing the assault on pre-Clovis thought is L.G . Strauss, an anthropologist from the University of New Mexico. His target is the theory that the Solutrean people of southern France and the Iberian Peninsula reached eastern North America before the Clovis culture took hold on the continent. (SF#127) His ammunition ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf131/sf131p00.htm
... people. These hapless individuals, for better of worse, develop amnesia during or right after sex. They recover in six hours or so but have no recollection of what happened during that period. This type of amnesia, Transient Global Amnesia (TGA), is more frequent among people in their 50s and 60s. Men are slightly more susceptible than women. (Anonymous; "Who Was That Lady I Saw You With Last Night?" Chicago Sun-Times, June 29, 2001. Source cited: the British medical journal Lancet. Cr. J. Cieciel.) Comment. How could we avoid commenting on this one? But we'll take the high road! Since sexual amnesia has not been eliminated by natural selection, it very likely has (or had) some survival value. We wonder what that might be (or have been)? Could sex have been extremely unpleasant in the past---so much so that memories of the act had to be suppressed in order for the species to continue? From Science Frontiers #137, SEP-OCT 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf137/sf137p15.htm
... . 137: SEP-OCT 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mysterious Losses And Acquisitions of Color Vision The eyes of most mammals incorporate two types of color-sensitive cones; one for seeing blue light, the other for green light. Such mammals have bichromatic vision and discern colors rather well. Humans and the other primates are blessed with trichromatic vision, for their eyes have cones that register red light. Does this indicate evolution superiority? Hardly, birds possess five types of color-sensitive cones that sense two additional parts of the spectrum. How and why these enhancements in color vision occurred are not well-understood. Nor do we know why they were restricted to mammals and birds; although it is easy to fabricate several survival-of-the-fittest scenarios. The "how" part of the mystery is particularly hard to grasp in neo-Darwinian terms because the complex pigments that confer spectral sensitivity upon the cones represent remarkable, complex chemical syntheses. Also mysterious is the apparent loss of color vision in 14 species of toothed whales and seals. (Only 14 species were examined; there may be more.) These particular whales and seals lack the blue-sensitive cones, even though they are descended from mammals with bichromatic vision (hippos and otters, respectively). This deficiency is doubly perplexing: Sensitivity to blue light is highly desirable in the ocean environment because it is blue light that penetrates seawater well. The loss occurred in two mammalian lineages not particularly closely related on the evolution charts. In ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf137/sf137p07.htm
... half of it, then rising again. [See Craig's sketch.] Then, suddenly, when all seemed lost, the wind dropped from a full gale to an eerie calm. The "wave" passed -- gently -- and then the storm resumed. The Cape Horn was drenched, but there had been no shattering of glass nor rending of wood. There was some flooding but no more than usual in very heavy seas. Some of the lumber lashed to the deck had been lost, but, overall, damage was minimal. The seemingly catastropic "wave," topped by the peculiar geysers turned out to be only a hollow threat, and the "wave's " hollowness may be a clue to its true nature. (Craig, Gavin; "Surviving a Giant Sea--Did the Ship Strike a Waterspout?" Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 25:241, 2000.) Comment. Indeed, hollowness is characteristic of a waterspout. They are fierce on the outside but calm inside. A trip through a genuine waterspout, as described in SF#49, yielded a similar account of impending catastrophe but in the end only a gentle passage. The Cape Horn had apparently been hit dead on by a waterspout. But the strange geysers atop the 'wave' or spout deserve an explanation that we cannot provide. G. Craig's sketch of the ominous "wave" topped by "geysers." It was not as catastrophic as it seemed. From Science Frontiers #134, MAR-APR 2001 ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf134/sf134p10.htm
... say, the multiplication table, can be recorded on a protein "hard drive." Are the bits representing the multiplication table encoded in a line of proteins of different types or in their sequence or, perhaps, their three-dimensional configurations? Does anyone really know what our brain's hard drive looks like? Maybe memory is hologrammic. And when a memory is pulled off the mind's hard drive, how is the information conveyed to the central processing unit, assuming there is one? Is it all done through nervous impulses, or are proteins transferred bodily. This computer analogy is probably incorrect. Nature is probably cleverer than PC makers! The demonstrable fact is that human memory is malleable, and this seems anomalous in terms of the evolution paradigm. Wouldn't the survival of an organism be better served by permanent, accurate memories of past events? From Science Frontiers #133, JAN-FEB 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf133/sf133p14.htm
... correlation prove that South America received settlers from Japan in the distant past? Such a biological linkage would augment pottery evidence from Peru and, especially, Ecuador where Jomon-style pottery 4,000-5 ,000 years old has been found on the coast. However, the HTLV-1 virus also could have been introduced to South America by more recent visitors. Is there any way to fix the timing of HTLV-1 's introduction to South America? Actually, there is. The DNA in viruses is not as durable as pottery shards, but it does hang around for a while, as seen is recent efforts to ex-tract DNA from from frozen mammoths for possible "revival" of the species. A team of Japanese and Chilean scientists has been searching for DNA surviving in 104 mummies deposited in South America's arid Atacama Desert 1,200-1 ,500 years ago. Two of the mummies still retained DNA; and one of them included shards of DNA from HTLV-1 . This certainly doesn't prove trans-Pacific diffusion, but it helps. (Holden, Constance; "Backtracking a Mummy Virus," Science, 286:2071, 1999.) From Science Frontiers #128, MAR-APR 2000 . 1997 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf128/sf128p01.htm
... ever evolve? Conscious actions take milliseconds longer to calculate and activate. Consciousness would, therefore, seem to be a bad evolutionary gambit. But, C. Koch and F. Crick may have an answer. They speculate that: It may be because consciousness allows the system to plan future actions, opening up a potentially infinite behavioural repertoire and making explicit memory possible. (Koch, Christof, and Crick, Francis; "The Zombie Within," Nature, 411:893, 2001.) Questions. Could our zombie agents, primitive though they may be, be the source of those flashes of genius that appear out of nowhere, or perhaps that "dreamwork" from which solutions to problems appear fully formed upon wakening? The quotation from the Nature article presumes that consciousness does have survival value, else it would not have evolved. What sort of highly innovative genetic changes would lead to such a remarkable brain function? Did consciousness evolve in small Darwinian steps or in some grand, lucky mutation? Did any nonhuman animals progress beyond their inheritance of zombie agents? From Science Frontiers #138, NOV-DEC 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf138/sf138p11.htm
... ONLINE No. 137: SEP-OCT 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bird's Eggs As Information Carriers Bird communication may be more subtle than trills and squawks. Take, for example, the observation that the last egg laid by several species is distinctly lighter in color than the others in the clutch. This late-egg phenomenon is seen in the sparrows especially (House, Tree, Dead Sea, Grey-Head, and others). Common Terns, Fieldfares, Herring Gulls, and Moorhens also lay pale last eggs. Since the changes in the egg production line exact a cost in the females, there might be an adaptive explanation for the phenomenon; that is, the final paler egg may lead to increased survival of the participating species. To illustrate, in 1980, Yom-Tov suggested that: .. .this last odd egg might have evolved as a signal to potential brood parasites that the female has finished laying the clutch and has begun incubation. If a parasite lays its egg after incubation has commenced, then it would be unlikely to hatch, hence the potential parasite would benefit from heeding such a warning signal, if it could then find an alternative host nest where incubation had yet to commence. The signaling host would also benefit from avoiding the costs of warming an extra egg [the parasite's ] for some of the incubation period, costs that can be considerable, as well as the possible cost of having to rear an extra chick. G.D . Ruxton et ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf137/sf137p05.htm
... kinds" plus minor adaptations (" microevolution"). J.A . Shapiro, a professor at the University of Chicago, is searching for a "third way," a scientific, non-Darwinian way. Shapiro maintains that five decades of genetic and molecular-biology research have transformed our vision of life. Ile compares the conceptual changes to those accompanying the transition from classical physics to relativity and quantum mechanics. This new theory of evolution -- his "third" way -- will emerge from the convergence of biology and information science. Genomes, asserts Shapiro, are not really the static "beads on a string" envisioned by the Darwinians. Rather, they are fluid and complex. Genes are now seen as multipurpose elements that turn on and off as required for the survival and well-being of the organism they belong to. In this paradigm-eroding paper (referenced below), Shapiro describes four categories of molecular discoveries that have revised our thinking about how evolution works: (1 ) Genome Organization; (2 ) Cellular-Repair Capabilities; (3 ) Mobile Genetic Elements and Natural Genetic Engineering; and (4 ) Cellular Information Processing. He then writes: The point of this discussion is that our current knowledge of genetic change is fundamentally at variance with neo-Darwinist postulates. We have progressed from the Constant Genome, subject only to random, localized changes at a more or less constant mutation rate, to the Fluid Genome, subject to episodic, massive and non-random reorganizations capable of producing new functional architectures. Inevitably, such a ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf129/sf129p07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 128: MAR-APR 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Heart-Stoppers Galapagos marine iguana The marine iguanas of the Galapagos are remarkable in their unlizard-like ability to forage for vegetation and other tidbits underwater. These iguanas make good eating, and they are at risk along the rocky shores of the Galapagos. But the marine iguanas have special card to play when approached by sharks armed with their supersensitive hearing. The iguanas voluntarily stop their hearts from beating. Otherwise, sharks as far away as 3-4 meters can home in on their heartbeats. Amazingly, marine iguanas can survive up to 45 minutes without functioning hearts. This represents a remarkable evolutionary adaptation in the perpetual warfare between prey and predators. But, to the west across the Pacific, in Indonesia, another reptile, the fear-some Komodo dragon, can also voluntarily stop its heart. Komodo dragons have no sharks to fear. In fact, they are the top predators on the islands they inhabit, dining on deer and, rarely, a human or two. Was this a purposeful adaptation? If so, to what threat? (Knight. Jonathan; "King of Hearts," New Scientist, p. 51, November 20, 1999.) From Science Frontiers #128, MAR-APR 2000 . 1997 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf128/sf128p06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 128: MAR-APR 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Consciousness Gene We humans assume that our consciousness is something more than just the sum total of all our senses, as integrated by our brains. In other words, consciousness is something "special" that makes us more than automatons. Other animals may be automatons, but not us! D. Jones speculates in Nature that if consciousness is a definite, inheritable characteristic, it must have had survival value for it to have evolved. It then follows that consciousness must be en-coded somewhere in our genes. Only a single gene may be enough, for consciousness seems to be an uncomplicated phenomenon. Why? Because just a few simple molecules, such as those found in anesthetics, can disable it completely without affecting other bodily functions. Eventually, Jones continues, the gene (or small number of genes) responsible for consciousness will be identified. Then, we can determine for certain if any of the lower animals are also conscious. We think chimps and dolphins might be, but we're not really sure until we see if they have the necessary genes. In fact, the old-time behaviorists could be right, and all the other animals really are merely automatons. That would definitely make us "special"! Once we have the consciousness genes in our labs, we can introduce them into those other species, such as Rover and Kitty, upon whom we would like to confer the boon of consciousness ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf128/sf128p14.htm
... out-of-body dreams were also deemed anomalous but were not defined in the abstract. In fact, lucid dreams were the most common type of anomalous dream. Out-of-body dreams came next. Precognitive dreams were third in frequency. (Krippner, Stanley, and Faith, Laura; "Anomalous Dreams: A Cross-Cultural Study," Society for Scientific Exploration paper, 2000.) Comments. Lucid dreams are especially vivid and, in addition, under the direct control of the dreamer. Actually, all dreams are anomalous in the sense that it is difficult to understand how dreaming evolved. How can a series of small, random mutations introduce these often bizarre images that drift through the not-so-quiescent, sleeping brain? How could dreaming have had enough survival value to our distant ancestors to lock it permanently into the human genome? From Science Frontiers #131, SEP-OCT 2000 . 2000 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf131/sf131p12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 136: JUL-AUG 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Eclipsing Of Innate Talents The age effect. An idea going the rounds holds that everyone is really a genius but that his or her innate talents have been eclipsed or suppressed. Age is one factor that is blamed. As a child develops, so goes the theory, its brain is bit by bit swamped by the high-level conceptual thinking required for survival in the modern adult world. The child's innate mathematical genius, musical capabilities, and other "low-level" talents are placed on the brain's back burner by the demands of adulthood. It is a common observation that the young assimilate foreign languages more readily than adults. A less-well-known talent, eidetic imagery (the ability to recall images with photographic precision), is found in some children, but it also usually fades with age. Now, we learn that 8-month-old babies are apparently blessed with perfect pitch, a capability they, too, generally lose as they age. (Hall, Carl T.; "Learning by Infants Isn't Just Baby Talk," The Brain, February 28, 2001. Cr. J. Cieciel.) Removal of mental blocks. Sometimes the barriers that eclipse our innate talents are removed by mental disease. The surprising enhancing effect of dementia on some "low-level" talents was mentioned in SF#133. The same mental barriers also seem to ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf136/sf136p13.htm
... its quarry at Baalbek, Lebanon. This latter stone is routinely claimed to be the largest dressed monolith in the world. It isn't ! While the Siberian monolith is probably more recent than the Baalbek stone and not as finely finished, it is an unparalleled example of stone quarrying, transportation, and erection. The stones of the Great Pyramid and those Easter Island statues are puny in comparison. Who erected these giant megaliths and how did they wrestle them into place? (Howard, John Eliot; "The Early Dawn of Civilization...," Victoria Institute, Journal of the Transactions, 9:239, 1876. Cr. E. von Fange) The Tombs of the Genii, Siberia. Note the tiny horse! Did these monstrous monoliths really exist? Do they survive today? From Science Frontiers #131, SEP-OCT 2000 . 2000 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf131/sf131p02.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 87: May-Jun 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Late Survival Of Mammoths Many a sensational article has been written about how the Siberian mammoth population was deep-frozen by a sudden climate change due to a shift in the earth's poles or some other catastrophic event circa 10,000 years ago. But now, Russian scientist A. Sher and two colleagues claim that a dwarf version of the wooly mammoth survived on Wrangel Island, 120 miles off the Siberian coast until about 3,700 years ago. The Wrangel Island dwarf mammoths stood only about 2 meters high and weighed 2 tons. The British mammoth expert, A. Lister, said he was not really surprised at this discovery, because many islands supported dwarf versions of mainland animals during the Ice Ages. (Crenson, Matt; "A Mammoth Discovery," Dallas Morning News, p. 22A, March 25, 1993. Cr. L. Anderson. Also: Bower, B.; "' Dwarf' Mammoths Outlived Last Ice Age," Science News, 143:197, 1993.) Comment 1. If the full-size Siberian mammoths really met their demise because of a catastrophic climate change, how did the dwarf mammoths occupying the same region escape? Comment 2. Lister's remark about other dwarf island inhabitants brings to mind the dwarf elephants of Santa Rosa, off the Californian coast, which apparently were the main course in early human feasts. But, curiously, island isolation also ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 83 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf087/sf087b18.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 81: May-Jun 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mutant Molecules Fight For For Survival Under ASTRONOMY, we saw how universes might mutate and evolve. Shifting dimensions by just a few-score orders of magnitude, from the cosmological to the molecular, we find that molecules, too, may mutate and evolve. A group of scientists at MIT, led by J, Rebek, believes that it has discovered the chemical equivalent of biological evolution. This is the same team that claimed the synthesis of the first self-replicating molecule in 1990. "Now the same chemists have carried out experiments with two more selfreplicating molecules, and discovered that they can cooperate, catalysing each other's formation. Furthermore, when one of the molecules is exposed to ultraviolet light and is 'mutated', it becomes 'aggressive' and takes over the system. According to Rebek and his colleagues, this is evidence that evolution can be modelled at the molecular level." (Emsley, John; "How 'Mutant' Molecules Fight for Survival," New Scientist, p. 22, February 29, 1992.) Comment. We wonder if the "passive" molecules are "uphappy" about being bullied in this way! From Science Frontiers #81, MAY-JUN 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 72 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf081/sf081c17.htm
... Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Uniqueness Of Human Adolescence What major biological characteristics separate humans from other animals? The usual list begins with our large brain and bipedality, but these features are shared with dolphins and birds, respectively. Even our peculiar reproductive biology (permanent breasts, continuous sexual receptivity of both sexes, etc.) no longer seem so unique, particularly after reading about the antics of the bonobos (pygmy chimps)! But wait! No other animal, even the other primates, go through adolescence. That time period between puberty and the attainment of adult stature turns out to be something uniquely human. The great puzzle of adolescence, according to B. Bogin, is its evolutionary origin. What possible advantage does adolescence confer on humans in the battle for survival? To the contrary, skipping the teens would appear to be an advantage in the survivability of parents! One guess is that adolescence -- all 8 or so years of it -- is required for the development of the complex social skills needed by adults. (Bogin, Barry; "Why Must I Be a Teenager at All?" New Scientist, p. 34, March 6, 1993.) From Science Frontiers #87, MAY-JUN 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 25 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf087/sf087b09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 80: Mar-Apr 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Thousands Of Grebes Fall From The Skies December 10, 1991. Minersville, Utah. About 9:30 PM, the skies of Minersville were filled with the cries of birds. According to V. Hollingshead "They were just falling out of the sky, hitting the church, cars, the ball parks. Hundreds of them fell all over the streets. You could hear them hitting each other in the air, and hitting the ground." Minersville Elementary School Secretary S. Taylor reported that the birds landed everywhere, including the roofs of houses; they even broke some automobile windshields. Hundreds were killed, but many survived their fall and were taken to bodies of water where they could rest and take off. (Grebes cannot take off from land.) The birds were identified as eared grebes, which were migrating from Great Salt Lake to Baja California. It was theorized that a snowstorm and fog had exhausted and disoriented them. (Christensen, Kathleen; "Thousands of Grebes Fall from the Skies," Spectrum , December 12, 1991. Cr. D.H . Palmer.) From Science Frontiers #80, MAR-APR 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf080/sf080b07.htm
... Falling from 32 storeys, a cat had more time to work out a plan of action, because once it reached terminal velocity and stopped accelerating, it started to relax, he said in Sydney yesterday. "Once the moggie reached top speed of 100 kmh and realised it was not speeding up any more, it spreadeagled its limbs in the perfect position for maximum wind resistance. "' Once it reaches the ground, the cat just kisses the ground on all four paws simultaneously and the shock is absorbed,' Dr. Kruszelnicki told his bemused audience at the University of New South Wales during a talk organized by the Alumni Association. "Of the 150 cats that fell from highrise buildings in New York over a five-month period, 10 per cent died, with the chances of survival rising with the distance of the fall." It seems that at least one cat per day takes the plunge in New York City, but do they jump...or are they pushed? Dr. Kruszelnicki supposed that some may have leaped at passing birds! (Anonymous; "High-Flying Cats Have the Big Drop Licked," Wellington, New Zealand, The Dominion , September 17, 1992. Cr. P. Hassall) From Science Frontiers #84, NOV-DEC 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf084/sf084b07.htm
... to New Scientist, J. Margolis commences with the observation that calculating prodigies (idiot savants), who are often also mentally retarded, can easily and almost instantaneously recognize 20-digit prime numbers! Gifted mathematicians with so-called photographic memories cannot perform such mental feats using known methods for identifying primes. What do the calculating prodigies know that the rest of us do not? Better algorithms; that is, calculating methods? Margolis expands on this: "All this suggests some relatively simple, subconscious algorithms which have not, as yet, been explicitly formulated. Research in this direction might well result in new mathematical insights. "It need not be surprising that mathematical insight is more fundamental than language. Even a primitive animal brain is 'wired" to perform exceedingly complex computations essential for survival in an unpredictable environment. The latest 'smart' weapons are rudimentary compared with a humble gnat. Mathematics could be a by-product of these functions. Language is a comparatively recent evolutionary innovation and it is quite possible that conscious manipulation of abstract symbols has not caught up with an innate ability to perceive quantitative relationships." (Margolis, Joel; "What Gnats Know," New Scientist, p. 58, January 30, 1993.) From Science Frontiers #87, MAY-JUN 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf087/sf087p17.htm
... on the properties of the early earth and atmosphere, including the frequency and size of bolide impacts, have strongly implicated submarine hydrothermal vent systems as the likely habitat for the earliest organisms and ecosystems, while stimulating considerable discussion, hypotheses and experiments related to chemical and biochemical evolution. Some of the key questions regarding the origins of life at submarine hydrothermal vent environments are focussed on the effects of temperature on synthesis and stability of organic compounds and the characteristics of the earliest organisms on earth. There is strong molecular and physiological evidence from present-day mircoorganisms that the earliest organisms on earth were capable of growing at high temperatures (about 90 C) and under conditions found in volcanic environments. These 'Archaea', the living ancestors of all life forms, display a variety of strategies for growth and survival at high temperatures, including thermostable enzymes active at temperatures about 140 C. Further molecular and biochemical characterization of the presently cultured thermophiles, as well as future work with the many species, particularly from subsurface crustal environments, not yet isolated in culture, may help resolve some of the important questions regarding the nature of the first organisms that evolved on earth." (Baross, J.A .; "Hyperthermophilic Archaea: Implications for the Origin and Early Evolution of Life at Submarine Hydrothermal Vents," Eos, 72:59, 1991.) From Science Frontiers #80, MAR-APR 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf080/sf080b09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 105: May-Jun 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mixed-up people Mother-child chimeras. Investigators have discovered cells carrying male DNA among a mother's blood cells 27 years after the birth a male child. Evidently, descendents of fetal cells escape during pregnancy and persist in the mother for years after birth. The mother thus becomes a blend of herself and her child (or, possibly, children) - a kind of chimera. The question is: Why doesn't the mother's immune system destroy these foreign cells? Some scientists speculate that these escaped and still-surviving cells may help explain why women are more susceptible than men to autoimmune diseases. (Travis, J.; "Kids: Getting under Mom's Skin for Decades," Science News, 149:85, 1996) Fatherless blood. In Britain, a male child has been found with normal skin, with each cell carrying the expected X and Y chromosomes, but "his" blood is all female. Its cells contain the mother's two X chromosomes with no paternal contribution. What happened? One theory is that the mother's unfertilized egg spontaneously divided. Then, fertilization occurred, but it was only partial. The sperm got to just one of the two or more cells derived from the egg. The embryo continued to develop but it was part all-mother and part mother-father! "Partial parthenogenesis" seems to be the proper term here ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf105/sf105p06.htm
... The situation, in fact, recalls what happened when biologists first released clouds of insecticides in rain forest canopies, thus precipitating a deluge of uncataloged insects into collecting nets waiting below. Now, instead of a mere million species of insects worldwide, entomologists are thinking perhaps 10 million or more. Will the same diversity prevail in the deepsea muck? C.L . Van Dover believes so: "Away from the vents, in the great ocean plains, life is much less dramatic and often scaled down to minute proportions -- threadlike worms, tiny snails, delicate, transparent clams. Yet, the diversity of animals in the cold abyssal muds, it now appears, may rival the celebrated biodiversity of the tropical rain forests." We now know virtually nothing about this fauna, how it survives, and how it evolved. Millions of undescribed species may be awaiting discovery by research submersibles and deep dredging. (Van Dover, Cindy Lee; "Depths of Ignorance," Discover, 14:37, September 1993.) Comment. Preconceptions about life and its talents have often blinded science as to the extent of life's domains. More revelations are sure to come when biologists begin looking at crevicular life -- those multitudinous species prospering in the earth's deep pores and crevices, where they draw energy from the earth's heat and chemicals. From Science Frontiers #90, NOV-DEC 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf090/sf090b98.htm
... . Crickets usually sing at frequencies above 3 kilohertz, and their ears are attuned to these high frequencies. The usual fly, on the other hand, hums and buzzes at only 100-500 hertz (cycles per second). Their ears are duly optimized at these frequencies. The cricket-hunting flies (genus Ormia ), however, would starve to death if they couldn't hear the highpitched cricket songs. Their response was to "evolve" a cricket-type ear so they could home in on their prey. This is a remarkable example of evolutionary convergence. (Robert, Daniel, et al; "The Evolutionary Convergence of Hearing in a Parasitoid Fly and Its Cricket Host," Science, 258:1135, 1992.) Comment. How did the parasitic flies survive until they evolved, through small random mutations, just the right sort of ear to tune in on the crickets? From Science Frontiers #86, MAR-APR 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf086/sf086b06.htm
... . They theorize: "A model is proposed in which paranormal experiences are conceptualized as an aspect of normal dissociation. Like dissociation in general, paranormal experiences can be triggered by trauma, especially childhood physical or sexual abuse. Such experiences discriminate individuals with childhood trauma histories from those without at high levels of significance." (Ross, Colin A., and Joshi, Shaun; Paranormal Experiences in the General Population," Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 180:357, 1992.) Comment. Perhaps psychiatrists Ross and Joshi hold that those experiencing paranormal phenomena are "treatable." Clearly, they think that the whole of the paranormal is subjective. On a different tack, one must ask why humans are subject to paranormal experiences at all, seeing as they seem to have no survival value and should have been weeded out by natural selection long ago! Wouldn't humans be "fitter" without a proclivity for paranormal experiences? The same question can be asked about motion sickness and other human "weaknesses." From Science Frontiers #83, SEP-OCT 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf083/sf083p14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 82: Jul-Aug 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects For some, sex = death It has long been known that the males of some species of marsupial mice mate in their first year and then die off completely, leaving the perpetuation of their species to their male progeny. Females of these species usually survive to breed a second and even third year. The poor males, however, succumb due to "elevated levels of free corticosteroids in the blood and associated disease such as hemorrhagic ulceration of the gastric mucosa, anemia, and parasite infestation." In short, they seem programmed to die after mating, like the male octopus. And one wonders why evolution has wrought this mass die-off. In their studies of marsupial mice, C.R . Dickman and R.W . Braithwaite have extended the phenomenon to two new genera: Dasyurus and Parantechinus . They have also found that the phenomenon is a bit more complex. First, in P . apicalis, the male die-off occurs in some populations and not others. In D. hallucatus , the die-off may occur in the same population in some years and not others. Furthermore, the females of this species may on occasion all die off, too -- but after giving birth, of course. (Dickman, C.R ., and Braithwaite, R.W .; "Postmating Mortality of Males in the Dasyurid Marsupials, Dasyurus and Parantechinus ," Journal of Mammalogy , 73: ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf082/sf082b08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 68: Mar-Apr 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Recent Survival Of The Elephant In The Americas Mayan "elephant motif". Elephants were supposed to have disappeared from the America about 10,000 years ago as the Ice Ages waned. This date is another of those "consensus" scientific facts that no one dares challenge if he or she wishes to get published or win research grants. Although this subject remains "closed off" in normal scientific intercourse, there remain tantalizing hints that elephants roamed the Americas until very recently - perhaps even a few hundred years ago! The following snippets are culled from two articles written by G. Carter, Texas A&M , now emeritus, but always heretical: Numerous folk memories of the elephamt were retained by American Indians. A mastadon was killed, cooked, and eaten by humans in Ecuador circa 1500 BC. Indians told Thomas Jefferson that elephants could still be seen in the region of the Great Lakes. In Florida, a cache of extinct animals, including elephants, was carbon-dated at 2000 BP. Elephant heads are prominent in art and sculpture from Mexico, Central American, and northern South America. (Carter, George F.; "A Note on the Elephant in America," and "The Mammoth in American Epigraphy," Epigraphic Society, Occasional Publications, 18:90 and 18:213, 1989.) Reference. The evidence for the recent survival of the mammoth is presented in BMD10 in our catalog ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 63 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf068/sf068b07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 66: Nov-Dec 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Down With The Big Bang We might have concocted the above title, but we didn't ! Rather, J. Maddox, the Editor of Nature, raised that red flag. To make things even worse, he subtitled his editorial: "Apart from being philosophically unacceptable, the Big Bang is an oversimple view of how the Universe began, and it is unlikely to survive the decade ahead." His philosophical objcections to the Big Bang are powerful: "For one thing, the implication is that there was an instant at which time literally began and, so, by extension, an instant before which there was no time. That in turn implies that even if the origin of the Universe may be successfully supposed to lie in the Big Bang, the origin of the Big Bang itself is not susceptible to discussion." The Big Bang, Maddox says, is no more scientific than Biblical creation! The scientific objections involve space, time, the curvature of space. The Big Bang further fails at explaining quasars and the hidden mass of the Universe. Maddox doubts that the Big Bang will survive the new data to be provided by the Hubble telescope. (Maddox, John; "Down with the Big Bang," Nature, 340: 425, 1989.) From Science Frontiers #66, NOV-DEC 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf066/sf066a04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 75: May-Jun 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Dinosaurs Of Winter And The Polar Forests It seems appropriate after suggesting above that the dinosaurs might have been frozen to death in a cosmic winter to remind the reader that some of the dinosaurs were pretty tough animals. Many dinosaur fossils have been dug up in Alaska, northern Canada, Siberia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. Not only were some dinosaurs cold-resistant but, seeing many were herbivorous, they were also able to migrate to more temperate climes as the long days of the polar summers waned. The point here is that the dinosaurs as a clan were very adaptable and should have survived severe environmental stress. (Vickers-Rich Patricia, and Rich, Thomas H.; "The Dinosaurs of Winter," Natural History, 100:33, April 1991.) That the polar regions were once covered by lush forests has been underscored by recent discoveries in both polar regions. Stumps of huge trees 45 million years old dot the now-bleak landscape of Axel Heiberg Island far north of the Arctic Circle. In Antarctica, heaps of 3- million-year-old fossil leaves have been found within 400 kilometers of the South Pole. (Francis, Jane E.; "Arctic Eden," Natural History, 100:57, January 1991. Also: Peterson, Christian; "Leafing through Antarctica's Balmy Past," New Scientist, p. 20, February 9, 1991.) ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 28 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf075/sf075g10.htm
... carpet of seeds. Until the next flowering, it will extend its domain via vegetative reproduction only. Ten years will pass before the bamboos have grown enough to be a viable pan-da food source. The pandas' only hope is to find a species of bamboo that did not flower. It is hard to think of a plant as malevolent, but here is how P. Shipman describes the situation: "Green and slender, deceptively innocent-looking, it spreads out slowly, year by year, until it has its victims surrounded. Meanwhile the pandas, poor patsies, are eating out of the bamboo's hand. Only when the pandas are well and truly dependent on it does the bamboo deal its coup de grace. It flowers and seeds, thus ensuring its own survival as a species. And then, in an act of sweet self-sacrifice, it dies, taking its archenemy with it." If the pandas manage to survive after the 15-year bamboos have had a try at death-by-death, a time will come when 15- and 30-year bamboos will flow er simultaneously. In the mid-1970s, several species, with different periodicities, all flowered simultaneously in China. The panda population was decimated. (Shipman, Pat; "Killer Bamboo," Discover, 12:22, February 1990. Cr. R. Dorion.) The pandas may be saved by the human-conceived strategem of feeding plant hormones to bamboo shoots. Researchers in the lab have been able to break the lockstep bamboo cycle ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf070/sf070b05.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 74: Mar-Apr 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Searching For Monster Sharks Tantalizing reports surface now and then lending crediblility to the claim that there exists a very rare, deepwater shark that rivals the blue whale in size. We are talking 50-foot sharks and larger here; sizes that make the hero (or heroine) of the Jaws series seem minnow-like. All of these hints come from the Pacific and focus on the possible survival of the shark Carcharodon megalodon , a monster relative of the great white shark. Megalodon is thought to have met its demise a million or so years ago. The word megalodon means "big tooth," and indeed the fossil teeth of this monster approach 6 inches in length. Sharks sporting teeth of this size could be as long as 50 feet. Measurements of the manganese dioxide layers accumulated on megalodon teeth dredged up from the seafloor suggest that it might actually have survived the Ice Ages and terrorized the Pacific as late as 10,000 years ago. Actually, some unfossilized teeth 5 inches long have been brought up by dredges, implying an even more recent existence. Do scuba divers have anything to fear today? There are rare reports of huge versions of a shark resembling the great white but without the high dorsal fin. So, if the shark of Jaws scared you, think what a 50-foot version with 5-inch, serrated teeth could do to you and your boat. (Shuker, Karl P.N ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf074/sf074b08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 75: May-Jun 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Of iron whiskers and particles that increase mass with age!Two pillars of the Big Bang hypothesis are: (1 ) Redshifts of galaxies support the notion of an expanding universe; and (2 ) The background microwave radiation can be interpreted as the dying embers of the Big Bang itself. Proponents of the Big Bang feel secure atop these pillars. But should they? A few Big-Bang skeptics, who have survived considerable establishment pressure, see growing cracks in those pillars. J. Narlikar identified two such cracks and, best of all, offered exciting remedies: (1 ) The redshift relationship, which works well with galaxies, falls apart when applied to quasars (see graphs); and (2 ) The background microwave radiation is much too smooth to come from the lumpy universe we observe. Narlikar opines as follows: Plot of red shift versus galaxy faintness supports the proposition that red shift is proportional to distance The same plot for quasars produces a scatter of points, suggesting that here red shifts have nothing to do with distance. "Given these problems, it is not a sound strategy to put all of our cosmic eggs in one big-bang basket. Rather, we should explore other possibilities. Thirty years ago, there was a more open debate on alternative theories, which made valuable contributions to our undersanding of cosmology. For a healthy growth of the subject, the big bang hypothesis needs competition from other ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf075/sf075a05.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 71: Sep-Oct 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Those Amazing Insects Scientific creationists often point out marvels of biological engineering as proofs that evolution by small chancedirected steps is, to say the least, improbable. A sharp arrow for their qui ver has just appeared in Science. Caterpillar-ant vibrational communication. Some species of caterpillars cannot survive predation unless they are protected by ants. To attract the ants, who just happen to dote on special secretions of the caterpillars, the caterpillars send out vibrational signals across leaves and twigs. In addition to their secretory structures, the caterpillars have also evolved novel vibrators to send out their calls for protection. A few butterfly species from all continents (except Antarctica) have evolved these devices. Looking at this geographical spread, P. J. DeVries thinks that the two sets of organs must have developed independently at least three times . (DeVries, P.J .; "Enhancement of Symbioses between Butterfly Caterpillars and Ants by Vibrational Communication," Science, 248:1104, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #71, SEP-OCT 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf071/sf071b09.htm
... as a precaution, Stuart Finlay, the seasoned 42-year-old American captain of the ship, shortened the sails. The Marques was carrying a crew of 28 - half of whom were under 25. At the helm, Philip Sefton, 22, fought the angry waves that now confronted them. "Suddenly a heavy gust of wind pushed the Marques down on its starboard side. At the same instant 'a freakish wave of incredible force and size,' as Sefton later described it, slammed the ship broadside, pushing its masts farther beneath the surging water. A second wave pounded the ship as it went down. The Marques filled with water and sank in less than one minute. Most of the crew were trapped as they slept below deck. Only Sefton and eight shipmates survive." Accounts such as that above are part of sea lore. Waves 50-100 feet high have been frequently reported over the years. Most often, they are encountered in rough seas, but some walls of water have smashed ships in relatively calm waters. A tanker encountering a steep-sided giant wave in the Aguhlas Current of the African coast. Until recently, oceanographers were confident that any unusually large wave was just the chance addition of two smaller waves. Now, a consensus is emerging that at least two other factors are important: seabed topography and ocean currents. To illustrate, perhaps the most dangerous stretch of water in the world lies off southeast Africa, where the fast (8 feet/second) Agulhas Current often runs into storm waves surging up from Antarctica. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf066/sf066g14.htm
... University of Adelaide, Australia, described a newly discovered frog species that broods its young in its stomach. The frog was once so commo 'an agile collector could have picked up 100 in a single night,' Tyler says. By 1980 it had completely disappeared from its habitat (a 100-square-kilometer area in the Conondale Ranges, 100 miles north of Brisbane). It has not been seen since." Similar stories emanate from Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Norway, and elsewhere. Many environmental causes have been proposed, but it is significant that the frogs are also disappearing from nature preserves where environmental pressures are small. D. Wake, a biologist at Berkeley, has remarked: "[ Amphibians] were here when the dinosaurs were here, and [they] survived the age of mammals. If they're checking out now, I think it is significant." In this context, Wake believes that there is a single, global, still-unidentified cause operating. (Barinaga, Marcia; "Where Have All the Froggies Gone?" Science, 247:1033, 1990. Also: Cowen, Ron; "Tales from the Froglog and Others," Science News, 137:158, 1990.) In the same issue of Science, S.A . Temple reviewed the book: Where Have All the Birds Gone? The situation for North American forest-dwelling song birds is not as critical as that for frogs and toads, but it is still very serious. The populations of warblers, vireos, and thrushes are declining ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf069/sf069b05.htm
... into gene structure is anyone's guess. (In fact, since the DNA in the genes seems to cody only for protein synthesis, the locations and characters of inheritable maps and other biological instructions are not immediately obvious.) The problem has been exacerbated by recent experiments with German and Austrian blackcaps. These two common European warbler species take different routes to Africa in the winter. The Ger-man blackcaps fly southwest and the Austrian southeast--routes 50 apart. A. Helbig has crossed the German and Austrian blackcaps to see what route(s ) their hybrid offspring would take. Curiously, they favored a route intermediate between those of their parents. The hybrids' route -- bisecting those of the parents' -- would take the hybrids right into the Alps, where survival would be unlikely. (Day, Stephen; "Migrating Birds Use Genetic Maps to Navigate," New Scientist, p. 21, April 21, 1991.) Comment. The puzzle at hand concerns those purported genetic maps. Presumably, the hybridization of the two blackcaps involves the melding to two different, highly specific, maps and sets of migration instructions; possibly including compass directions (astronomically or magnetically determined), landmark locations, and even characteristic pathway odors. How can such instructions be combined (perhaps averaged) to draw up entirely new navigation instructions for a route the parents have never taken? From Science Frontiers #77, SEP-OCT 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf077/sf077b07.htm
... work and refuted some of the objections that had been leveled. Working with a special strain of Escherichia coli , Hall starved the bacteria of a certain amino acid, (tryptophan) that they usually got from the environment and could not synthesize. In the days that followed, many of the bacteria mutated so that they could synthesize their own tryptophan. Hall concluded: "Mutations that occur more when they're useful than when they're not: That I can document any day, every day, in the laboratory." Rather than assign any "conscious" goal-seeking attributes to the bacteria, Hall prefers to think that the environmental stress induced a state of "hypermutation." In this state all sorts of mu-tations occurred in abundance. Only those that synthesized tryptophan survived the starvation program; even potentially favorable mutations died quickly. (Stolzenburg, W.; "Hypermutation: Evolutionary Fast Track," Science News, 137:391, 1990.) Comment. Besides the implication that environmental stresses have initiated the mutations that gave us today's fauna and flora, we see that the idea of hypermutation is merely an acceleration of standard evolutionary processes. But how do environmental stresses turn on the biological switch that starts the mutation machine going? What sort of environmental stresses would cause humans to mutate? What would we turn into if, say, global temperatures rose 5 ? From Science Frontiers #72, NOV-DEC 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf072/sf072b06.htm
... ." K.B . Sandved, a nature photographer, has also found remarkable renditions of all the letters in the English alphabet (one at a time, of course) on the wings of these insects. In fact, he has accomplished this several times over using different species. He has found all the Arabic numerals, too, as well as ampersands, question marks -- you name it! Although Greek pi and capital omega have turned up, butterflies and maths are clearly trying to impress people who utilize the Roman alphabet. After all, it is difficult enough to evolve an ampersand; generating Chinese characters would strain credulity too much. (Amato, Ivan; "Insect Inscriptions," Science News, 137: 376, 1990.) Comments. Incidentally, of what survival value are these wing symbols? Obviously, the butterflies and moths have not got their act completely together as yet. Words and phrases will come soon, we are certain. Look at the eggplants for example. They have specialized in Arabic. It has recently been reported in British newspapers and on BBC Radio 4 that when the Kassam family sliced up an eggplant, the patterns of seeds spelled out "Ya-Allah" (God is everywhere.). (Donnelly, Steve; "Egregarious Eggplants," The Skeptic, 4:4 , May/June 1990. The Skeptic is a British publication resembling The Skeptical Inquirer .) From Science Frontiers #71, SEP-OCT 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf071/sf071b08.htm
... to the pulse jet propulsion mechanism of the German V-1 'buzz' bomb of World War II." What the beetle has "evolved" is an intermittent explosive process that fires about 500 pulses per second. The explosive energy comes from the mixing of two separate fluids (hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide with oxidative enzymes). (Dean, Jeffrey, et al; "Defensive Spray of the Bombardier Beetle: A Biological Pulse Jet," Science, 248:1219, 1990.) Comment. The fundamental question is, of course, how can many, small, random mutations contribute to the development of the mechanisms of the pulse jet, its two fuels, the pumps, the fuel reservoirs, the control system, etc., when only the complete, perfected system has survival value. Although creationists argue that the theories of evolution and natural section are unconvincing here; it is still possible that atheistic factors still beyond our ken are operating, and that what we really need is a better theory of evolution. From Science Frontiers #71, SEP-OCT 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf071/sf071b99.htm
... boundary layer contain two amino acids, alpha-aminoisobutyric acid and isovaline, that are relatively uncommon in biological materials but abundant in the organicrich meteorites. They suggest that the body which collided with Earth 65 million years ago and left the telltale iridium residue may have been organic-rich, perhaps like a C-type asteroid or a comet. Such a possibility has interesting implications for the extinction and related atmospheric effects, and supports the idea that impact events could have supplied the Earth during a much earlier period with the raw materials for organic chemical evolution." Actually, the above quotation is pretty much in line with present mainstream thinking. Perhaps so, but Bada and Zhao identified two troubling anomalies. First, the amounts of amino acids found were surprisingly high. How could these complex molecules survive the searing temperatures engendered by high-velocity impact? Second, the amino acids may be abundant tens of centimeters above and below the K-T boundary clay containing the iridium, but they are virtually absent in the clay itself! (Cronin, John R.; "Amino Acids and Bolide Impacts," Nature, 339:423, 1989, Also: Monastersky, R.; "Rare Amino Acids Support Impact Theory," Science News, 135:356, 1989.) Reference. Chemical anomalies at stratigraphic boundaries are cataloged in ESC1 in Anomalies in Geology. To order this volume, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #65, SEP-OCT 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf065/sf065g10.htm
... memory in an idiot-savant was found to be confined to compositions based on familiar tonal structure, and did not extend to atonal music." In their study O'Connor and Hermelin showed that the verbal memory factor in mnemonists was independent of IQ; also, data of special interest to the subjects were stored in their memories in categorized form. (O 'Connor, N., and Hermelin, B.; "The Memory Structure of Idiot-Savant Mnemonists," British Journal of Psychology, 80:97, 1989.) Comment. Psychological studies like the one reported above often do not emphasize the fantastic mental capabilities of idiot-savants. It is apparent that at least some human brains have mental capabilities far beyond and/or radically different from what is needed for survival. What is evolution's purpose here? From Science Frontiers #66, NOV-DEC 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf066/sf066p15.htm
