161 results found.
... either volcanism or impacts. The evidence of the traps. Traps, like India's famous Deccan Traps, are extensive flood basalts. In this paper, basalt flooding has been correlated with mass extinctions of marine life during the past 250 million years. The Deccan Traps were formed right at the K-T boundary. Traps could, however, be initiated by asteroid impact, which could stimulate eruptions. (Rampino, Michael; "Dinosaurs, Comets and Volcanoes," New Scientist, p. 54, February 18, 1989.) The dinosaur angle. If dinosaurs were truly susceptible to extinction by either asteroid impact, widespread volcanism, or some combination of both, one would expect to find their numbers and diversity drastically curtailed during Mesozoic impact events. Instead, the dinosaurs not only survived these impacts but prospered. Their demise, which began before the K-T event, was probably not due to either impact or vol canism. (Paul, Gregory S.; "Giant Meteor Impacts and Great Eruptions: Dinosaur Killers?" BioScience, 39:162, 1989.) Reference. Impact craters and stratigraphic evidence of catastrophism are cataloged in: Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds and Anomalies in Geology, respectively. For information on these catalogs, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #63, MAY-JUN 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf063/sf063g13.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 44: Mar-Apr 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Evolving on half a wing (and a prayer?)Just about everyone agrees that half a wing is of little use to an animal "straining" to develop the capability of flight. So, how did the marvelously crafted wings of birds, insects, and mammals evolve in infinitesimal steps? Biologists, including Darwin himself, have long puzzled over this. Stephen Jay Gould in a recent article explores a currently favored way of circumventing the negligible additional survival value of half a wing, or even 90% of a wing. This solution (? ) maintains that protowings were not "intended" for flight at all but were developed initially as aerodynamic stabilizers, thermoregulatory systems, sexual attractors or other functions requiring large areas. Gould describes the experiments of Kingsolver and Koehl in which protowings were modelled and tested for their thermoregulatory and flight values. Surprisingly, there was a sharp transition, as the size of the protowing increased, from good thermoregulation but poor flight capability to the reverse -- good flight capability and poor thermoregulation. In other words, a structure developed for one purpose, if enlarged, might be useful for something else! (Gould, Stephen Jay; "Not Necessarily a Wing," Natural History, 94:14, October 1985. See also: Lewin, Roger, "How Does Half a Bird Fly?" Science, 230:530, 1985.) Comment. The work of Kingsolver and Koehl ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf044/sf044p07.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
... as the ship fell into the 'hole' behind the first one. The second wave of 28-29 m (period 13 seconds), whilst breaking, crashed over the foredeck, carrying away the forward whistle mast. .. .. . "Captain Warwick admits that sometimes it can be difficult to gauge the height of a wave, but in this case the crest was more or less level with the line of sight for those on the bridge, about 29 m above the surface; additionally, the officers on the bridge confirmed that it was definitely not a swell wave. The presence of extreme waves was also recorded by Canadian weather buoys moored in the area, and the maximum measured height from buoy 44141 was 30 m (98 feet.)" The Queen Elizabeth II survived the onslaught with minor damage; no passengers or crew members were injured. (Warwick, R.W ., et al; "Hurricane 'Luis', the Queen Elizabeth 2 and a Rogue Wave," Marine Observer, 66:134, 1996) Comments. Even though these so-called "rogue waves" sometimes appear under calm conditions, the stock explanation for them involves the chance addition of two smaller waves from intersecting wave trains. Recently, B. Fornberg and B.S . White have taken a different tack: "Using a mathematical model, they demonstrate that ocean currents or large fields of random eddies and vortices can sporadically concentrate a steady ocean swell to create unusually large waves. The current or eddy field acts like an optical lens to focus the wave ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf109/sf109p11.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
... : "The Burgess (fortunately for us) occupies a crucial time in life's history. It represents our only 'window' upon the first great radiation of complex life on earth. All but one or two modern phyla originated in a burst of evolutionary activity associated with the so-called Cambrian explosion some 570 million years ago. The Burgess provides our only peek at the soft-bodied forms of this first flowering. All other soft-bodied fossil assemblages are much younger; they represent faunas well past the initial burst and sorting out of Cambrian times." The morphological diversity of the Burgess Shale, incorporating many bizarre forms of life, represents a true biological revolution. Here are found a dozen genera that do not fit into any modern phylum. Most of the novelties never survived into modern times. (Gould, Stephen Jay; "Treasures in a Taxonomic Wastebasket," Natural History, 94:24, December 1985.) Comment. Somewhere on today's earth, there must be mudbanks washed by nutrient-rich waters and bathed in tropical sunlight. Is some ingredient missing, or perhaps present, in today's mudbands that suppresses the wild speciation seen in the Burgess Shale? Tow of the many mysterous fossils found in Burgess shale. At the right is Opabina regalis, with five eyes at the base of a nose-like structure ending in teeth. On the left is Amiskwia sagittoformis. Although these creatures are named, nobody really knows what they are! From Science Frontiers #43, JAN-FEB 1986 . 1986-2000 William R ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf043/sf043p11.htm
... three problems. Four frames from a computer simulation of proto-Mercury being stripped of its lighter, outer crust by a collision. Frame times are -1 , + 2.3 , + 7.7 , and + 41.7 minutes after impact. The dark molten sheet of iron in Frame #4 will collapse into a sphere, while the silicates will escape Mercury's gravitational pull. They think Mercury's original, lighter, silicate outer layers were stripped off during the impact of one of the small protoplanets that are thought to have swirled around the inner solar system shortly after its formation. Computations on a supercomputer revealed to these three researchers that, if the protoplanet had hit Mercury at between 20 and 30 kilometers/second, then its dense iron core would have survived pretty much intact. A lower velocity would not have stripped off the lighter outer layers; anything higher would have blasted the whole planet into smithereens. Calculations of this type also suggest that if a protoplanet the size of Mars had hit protoearth, it likewise would have stripped off its light silicate mantle. After this material that had been torn off gravitationally sphericized itself in orbit around the earth, it became--you guessed it - our moon. (Stewart, Glen R.; "A Violent Birth for Mercury," Nature, 335:496, 1988. Also: Anonymous; "Mercury Stripped by Blow from Meteorite," New Scientist, November 5, 1988.) Comment. It seems that our early solar system was somewhat Velikovskian in character, with many celestial missiles ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf061/sf061a03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 43: Jan-Feb 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Waiting for saturn's rings to collapse The more we learn about Saturn's rings, the stranger they seem. One of the latest theoretical models of the rings has them composed of balls of hard ice, which interact through mutual collision and are herded by the gravitational caresses of small moons. The successes of this model have been tempered by the fact that it also implies that Saturn's rings are very young. "Theorists would have no problem with a broad, featureless disk surviving the 4.5 billion years since the early days of the solar system, but features such as spiral density waves are clear evidence that satellites, including the profusion of small ones found near the rings, are draining angular momentum from the rings. The satellites should be spiraling outward into ever larger orbits as they gain angular momentum, and the A-ring should collapse inward into the B-ring in just 100 million years as its particles lose angular momentum." (Kerr, Richard A.; "Making Better Planetary Rings," Science, 229:1376, 1985.) Reference. For other indications of youth in Saturn's rings, see ARL16 in our catalog: The Moon and the Planets. For information on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #43, JAN-FEB 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf043/sf043p04.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
... broad band stretching from 3,700 to 2,800 cm-1 . This is probably due to clusters of water molecules in an amorphous silica layer on the surfaces of the sand grains. Taking a clue from the infrared spectrum, Goldsack et al shook commercially available silica gel in a bottle and heard the familiar tones of singing sand! Their conclusion is that for sand to sing the particles must be coated with naturally (or artificially) created silica gel. (Goldsack, Douglas E., et al; "Natural and Artificial 'Singing' Sands," Nature, 386:29, 1997. Also: Cohen, Philip; "Desert Dunes Sing Silica's Song," New Scientist, p. 17, March 8, 1997.) Comment. The fundamental mystery survives. Goldsack admits no insights as to exactly how muscial sands find their "voices." The subject of musical sand is explored in considerable depth at ESP14 in Anomalies in Geology. Ordering information here . Locations of the more prominent musical sands and booming dunes. (Adapted from: Geological Society of America, Bulletin, 87:483, 1976). From Science Frontiers #111, MAY-JUN 1997 . 1997-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... . 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
