44 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 39: May-Jun 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Shrimp trains are a'coming In March's "Gallery" pages of Discover, several incredibly colored and patterned shrimp stun the eyes of the reader. Some of these shrimp put the gaudiest butterflies and birds to shame. We won't stop here to dwell on why some shrimp are so colorful while others are so tasty. The anomaly at hand is buried in the caption describing the red-andwhite striped peppermint shrimp, which decorates the Great Barrier Reef. It turns out that this shrimp, like the Atlantic spiny lobster, sometimes joins up with others of its species to form long moving trains or chains of animals. This behavior remains very puzzling to biologists. (Anonymous; "Shrimp You Won't Find in Your Cocktail," Discover, 6:55, March 1985.) Comment. Do shrimp belong with the insects? Yes, they are all arthropods. From Science Frontiers #39, MAY-JUN 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... presented." (Anonymous; "Coughing Tree Attracts Hundreds," World Explorer , 1:6 , no. 8, 1996) Synchronicity and death. In category BHF35 in Humans II , we cataloged several cases where identical twins died almost simultaneously. We can add the following to that collection: "Identical twins John and William Bloomfield lived their entire 61 years together in Australia and died only minutes apart, on Sunday. Both John and William suffered heart attacks." (Anonymous; "Twins Die," Saginaw News, May 22, 1996. Cr. B. Kingsley via COUD-I .) Reference. For more on the book: Biological Anomalies: Humans II, visit here . Crow woes. "YOKOHAMA -- Crows are being blamed for placing small stones on train tracks, which obstructed JR East train service on at least five occasions this month in Kanagawa Prefecture, prefectural police said. "The evidence was provided by an office worker who took a photograph of a crow placing small stones on a train track in Yokohama early Saturday morning." .. .. . "When police learned about the stone-toting crow, they aimed a video camera at the tracks, Sunday and Monday, and discovered several crows carrying small stones between 3 to 10 centimeters in diameter in their beaks and laying them on the rails. "On June 8 and 19, police found crow prints in the area. "Kanagawa police said that recently there have been 21 incidents in which stones were found on train tracks." These crows (actually Jungle Crows) ...
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... symptomatic of psychopathology. "The available empirical data fail to support either of these hypotheses. For example, both ethnographic observations and experimental findings indicate that glossolalia can occur in the absence of kinetic activity, disorientation, and other purported indexes of trance, and that experienced glossolalics do not differ from nonglossolalic controls on measures of absorption in subjective experience and hypnotic susceptibility. Relatedly, the available empirical data fail to support the hypothesis that glossolalics suffer higher levels of psychopathology than nonglossolalics." Spanos et al then go on to detail their own research, in which they tried to teach glossolalia as a learnable skill. First, 60 subjects listened to a 60-second sample of genuine glossolalia. All subjects then tried to speak in tongues for 30 seconds. Some 20% spoke in tongues immediately without further training. The subjects were then divided into a control group and a group that received various kinds of training. Tests then showed that 70% of the trained subjects were now fluent (? ) in glossolalia. Glossolalia, therefore, seems likely to be a type of learned behavior rather than a special altered state of mind. (Spanos, Nicholas P., et al; "Glossolalia as Learned Behavior: An Experimental Demonstration," Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95:21, 1986.) From Science Frontiers #51, MAY-JUN 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 25: Jan-Feb 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Learning By Injection The following abstract is taken from the Psychological Record. "In an attempt to replicate previous findings that learned information could be transferred from trained donor animals to untrained recipient animals by means of brain extracts, two groups of rats were trained to approach a food cup in response to a discriminative stimulus (click or light). RNA extracted from the brains of these animals was injected intraperitoneally into untrained rats. The two untrained groups showed a significant tendency to respond specifically to the stimulus employed during the training. The results support the conclusion that acquired behaviors can be transferred between animals by transferring brain DNA, and further suggest that the transfer effect is dependent upon and specific to the learning of the donors." (Oden, Brett B., et al; "Interanimal Transfer of Learned Behavior through Injection of Brain RNA," Psychological Record, 32:281, 1982.) Comment. Of course, morphogenic fields, as described in R. Sheldrake's A New Science of Life, could also explain this effect. From Science Frontiers #25, JAN-FEB 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bird Brain Alex can name 80 things, tell colors, and even seems to be able to handle a few abstract ideas. Alex is not a chimp or porpoise. Alex is an African grey parrot, who has been living in an avian Sesame Street for 13 years. Parrots are wonderful mimics and pretty bright as birds go. Nevertheless, skeptics scoff at Alex's accomplishments as only the product of long, intense training. Alex can't be too dumb. Once when he couldn't lift a cup covering a tasty nut, he turned to the nearest human assistant and demanded, "Go pick up cup." Who's training whom? (Stipp, David; "Einstein Bird Has Scientists Atwitter over Mental Feats," Wall Street Journal, May 9, 1990. Cr. J. Covey.) From Science Frontiers #70, JUL-AUG 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 26: Mar-Apr 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Everyone A Memory Prodigy Our handbook Unfathomed Mind presents many cases of exceptional memory. Without question, some people can reproduce incredible blocks of words and numbers as well as drawings, music, etc. The question is: Is such exceptional memory the consequence of an exceptional brain or just long training? Those who hold the first position believe an anomaly exists because: (1 ) The difference between normal memory and exceptional memory is so large; and (2 ) People with exceptional memory seem to employ different mental processes in transferring information into long-term memory, notably visual techniques like 'photographic' memory. The authors of this article present several cases where subjects with normal memory have been trained to where they perform nearly as well as memory experts. The key seems to be the use of mnemonic devices and other methods of imposing some sort of order or meaning on the information involved. To illustrate, a chess master can usually recall the positions of all the pieces on a chessboard after a quick glance. But if the chessmen are arranged randomly and meaninglessly, his memory is reduced to near-normal. The gist is that long prac-tice and the application of mnemonic devices can vastly improve anyone's memory and, in consequence, memory prodigies are not really so anomalous. (Ericsson, K. Anders, and Chase, William G.; "Exceptional Memory," American Scientist, 70:607, 1982 ...
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... The playing and composition of music has always been considered the near-exclusive province of the brain's right hemisphere. This turns out to be far from the truth. For example, non-musicians use both hemispheres in musical matters; the right side for recognizing melody and intonation, the left for such analytical matters as rhythm and notation. However, professional musicians, as their brain waves demonstrate, use their left hemispheres for just about everything of a musical nature. So much for the right-hemisphere theory! The comparison of magnetic resonance images of 27 right-handed musicians and 27 right-handed nonmusicians have shown that even their brain structures differ. The corpus callosum -- that inter-hemisphere information highway -- is 10-15% thicker in musicians who began their training while young than it is in nonmusicians. Our brain structure is apparently strongly molded by early training. The corpus callosum in musicians is essential in such things as finger coordination. Like a weight-lifter's biceps, it enlarges to accommodate the increased tasks assigned to it. (Anonymous; "Music of the Hemispheres," Discover, 15:15, March 1994.) Comment. It would be interesting to compare the brain structures of mathematicians and nonmathematicians where the dexterity factor is absent. From Science Frontiers #95, SEP-OCT 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... probabalistic way. In other words, once a specific crystal (or life form) is synthesized, it sets up a morphogenic field that will make it easier to synthesize further the same, or nearly the same, crystal (or life form). To support his ideas, Sheldrake claims that it is common knowledge that a brand-new crystal form is difficult to synthesize at first but that further syntheses become easier and easier. The prevailing "scientific" explanation of this amazing fact is that fragments (seeds) of the initial synthesis are carried from lab to lab by humans and even the air! Morphogenic fields, however, explain such phenomena very nicely without postulating tiny crystal seeds in scientists' beards. Sheldrake then goes on to review McDougall's experiments in the 1920s in which trained rats from water mazes apparently passed their new knowledge on to their progeny. McDougall thought that he had proved the inheritance of acquired characteristics. Other biologists repeating his heretical experiments found that their first-generation rats solved the same water mazes much faster than had McDougall's rats. In addi tion, the progeny of untrained rats used as controls showed improved abilities in maze-solving with each generation, just as if their parents had been trained. Current theory has not explained these curious results, but they are consistent with Sheldrake's Theory of Formative Causation. (Sheldrake, Rupert; "A New Science of Life," New Scientist, 90:768, 1981.) Comment. The Theory also seems to explain the many cases of simultaneous invention and even telepathy, assuming ...
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... sends the brain information on the direction of the geomagnetic field or, perhaps, draws a magnetic map of sorts. A completely different sort of magnetreceptor is now under investigation, one that humans may also unknowingly possess. It utilizes special photoreceptors that employ an electron-spin resonance process which is modulated by the geomagnetic field. Some of our very sensitive magnetometers use similar phenomena. The biological version of such a receptor would be connected to the brain, as the eye is, and send signals as to the direction of the earth's magnetic field. Sounds interesting, but is there any basis for thinking such a sophisticated gadget could have evolved? It seems that some experiments with newts by J.B . Phillips and S.C . Borland support the idea. The newts were first trained to orient themselves in a certain direction with respect to the geomagnetic field. "When tested under one of four artificial field alignments (magnetic north at geographic north, east, south or west), the newts kept their training directions constant relative to the magnetic rather than the geographic system of reference, but they selected different angles with respect to the magnetic field when they were illuminated by either short (about 450 nm) or long-wavelength light (about 500 nm). When tested under 475-nm light, or in the dark, they were completely disoriented." The experiments demonstrated that light was crucial to the newts' magnetic sense, and that photoreceptors had to be involved. (Wehner, Reudiger; "Hunt for the Magnetoreceptor," Nature, 359: 105 ...
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... Cr. J. Cieciel) A more technical review of the SnyderMitchel work has appeared in Nature. There, N. Birbaumer focussed on that mysterious barrier that supposedly prevents most of us from utilizing our innate genius. Unfortunately, his explanations are a bit murky and jargony. We normal people cannot use our innate talents "because we process information in a concept-driven way." Savants, however, can tap these capabilities because of "a functional or pathological loss of executive brain centres." In other words, the way we are programmed to think blocks or suppresses access to our reservoir of mathematical talents. In his review, Birbaumer adds that the work of Snyder and Mitchel is contradicted by studies of non-savant geniuses, and, especially, experiments in which ordinary people are trained intensively to match the mental performances of the savants. (Birbaumer, Niels; "Rain Man's Revelations," Nature, 399:211, 1999.) Comment. Apparently, we can wear down that barrier separating us from genius by long, hard training -- at least when it involves arithmetic skills. As Edison is reputed to have said, genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Or, possibly, we can program our "executive brain centers" better without compromising other capabilities needed to prosper socially, such as that empathy lacking in savants. From Science Frontiers #125, SEP-OCT 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 103: Jan-Feb 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Passenger pigeons not extinct!The English science magazine New Scientist has received numerous letters from persons confirming this assertion. For example, J. Howlett wrote: "In my experience, the sight of pigeons hitching a lift on the underground is nothing unusual. I too have often travelled from Paddington, westwards in my case -- not in frequently in the company of a pigeon, sometimes even two. "It raises fascinating questions. Do they just fly across the line and get the next train back? How many round trips a day do they make? Do they decide in advance how far to travel? Do they study the timetables?" (Howlett, Jack, et al; "Passenger Pigeons," New Scientist, p. 66, September 30, 1995) Comment. Birds frequently alight on ships at sea and even ride on the backs of animals, but these subway pigeons seem to be more than opportunistic! From Science Frontiers #103, JAN-FEB 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 39: May-Jun 1985 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology East Bay Wall Photographs The Hambleton Hill Neolithic Fortress Astronomy Mysterious Spate of Sky Flashes Exorcising the Hidden Mass Hold Everything: it May Be A Nonproblem The Message of Aluminum-26 Saturn's Rings May Be Young Biology Upside-down Animals How Animals Might Get Inverted Shrimp Trains Are A'coming Geology Status of Archaeopteryx Up in the Air! The Coming Revolution in Planetology Deeper Mysteries Bone Bed Discovered in Florida Geophysics Recipe for Dust Devils The Tsunami Tune Lde Problem Still Unsolved Falls of All Sorts of Things Psychology Pk parties: real or surreal? It's Easier to Hypnotize Right-handers Chemistry & Physics Anomalous Anomalons Forbidden Matter ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 42: Nov-Dec 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Guiding cell migration "Cell movement has always been thought to be independent of the extracellular matrix which encourages and guides movement; the cells were thought to move along the pathways under their own power, rather as a train moves along a railway track. New research by Stuart Newman, Dorothy Frenz and James Thomsack, of the New York Medical College, now suggests that the extracellular matrix itself may help to propel cells along." (Experiment details omitted here.) "No one knows whether this matrix-driven movement actually occurs in living organisms. But potentially, it could achieve the high-speed movement of cells depending on the size and characteristics of the cells. Considering that many of the events of development occur remarkably rapidly, this is an attractive possibility for cell migration. " (" More Clues to Cell Movement, " New Scientist, p. 30, September 5, ]985. ) (This phenomenon is not trivial, for it implies that non-living substances (the extracellular matrix) are not necessarily passive but might even be cooperative, if such an adjective can be applied to the non-living. WRC ) From Science Frontiers #42, NOV-DEC 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 84: Nov-Dec 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Solitary Waves Unlike the well-known long trains of ocean swells that sweep past ship and swimmer with great regularity, solitary waves move "in splendid isolation, steadfastly holding their shape." Spacecraft photos have revealed curious striations in the Andaman Sea near Thailand. They are presumed to be examples of solitary waves. The Andaman waves extend for many miles and travel very slowly -- less than 10 kilometers per hour. They propagate along the boundary between the layer of warm surface water and the great mass of cooler water below. The amplitude of the downwardly pointing wave troughs of warm water along this interface may penetrate as far as 100 meters into the cold water below. (Herman, Russell; "Solitary Waves," American Scientist, 80:350, 1992.) Comment. Much more about these solitary waves and the other unusual waves mentioned above may be found in section GHW in our catalog: Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds . The prevailing explanation for most oceanic solitary waves (often called "solitons") is that they are generated when tidal surges encounter underwater continental shelves or other obstructions. The above-mentioned catalog volume is described at: here . From Science Frontiers #84, NOV-DEC 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 91: Jan-Feb 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Remarkable Hailstones Oddly shaped hailstones from the 1993 Tulsa fall. Such weird shapes are duplicated by the million by some unappreciated storm mechanism. Dimensions in mm. October 16, 1993. Tulsa, Oklahoma. "Circa 5:00 PM, CDT, anomaly witness Keith L. Partain, a trained entomological systematicist, heard a tornado siren. Funnel-like phenomena were reported by local weathercasters, one of which approached within one mile of the witness before it lost its vorticity. This was between 5:00-5 :15 PM and parenthesized the interval of anomalous hail. In the target interval numerous hail peppered the area described above. Partain observered shapes which did not conform to spherical and collected several specimens, which he immediately froze." See accompanying figure for shapes and dimensions. (Partain, Keith L.; private communication, October 17, 1993.) Comment. Often such grotesque hail-stones are produced in immense quantities -- a meteorological factory of the absurd -- and we do not know how this production line operates! From Science Frontiers #91, JAN-FEB 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 52: Jul-Aug 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Dowsing Skeptics Converted A while back, New Scientist ran an article on the "dowsing sense." Two letters prompted by the article were from scientifically trained people who originally were very skeptical about dowsing. The first letter from P.L . Younger, a university hydrogeologist, first mentioned that most dowsers are convinced that they are hunting underground streams of water. In actuality, he says, most underground water flow is intergranular and laminar. There are no underground streams to find! Then, he continued: "Having said all this, while conducting hydrogeological fieldwork in Colorado, I was involved in 'dowsing' the exact location of buried metal pipes using two L-shaped metal rods, which were balanced on the fingers (not clutched at all). Surface and subsurface pipes gave clear deflection of the rods. I was led to conclude that the rods operated as a crude magnetometer." B.W . Skelcher originally did not believe that any variation in the magnetic field or any other natural force would cause a hand-held stick to move. But: "One day, on the undeveloped plot of land adjacent to my abode, I spied a 'nutter' pacing to and fro with hazel in hand. When the fellow assured me that he was seriously checking the site for hidden water mains, power cables, and so on, I expressed my grave doubts. At this he handed me the twigs and ...
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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 Is perfect pitch favored by natural selection?People with perfect pitch can identify, play, and/or sing a particular musical note without first hearing a reference note. (SF#99 and SF#102) Even if a string of notes is played randomly, they can instantaneously name them. Although musical training while young fosters perfect pitch, the talent also runs in families. A study of 500 musicians, with and without perfect pitch, by N. Freimer at the University of California, revealed that half of those claiming perfect pitch knew family members of like talent. Only 5% of those without perfect pitch made this claim. (Ref. 1) At the North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, NY, P.K . Gregersen and M. de Andrade were able to locate 126 perfect-pitchers. In this select group, 5.5 % had parents with perfect pitch, and 26% had siblings thus gifted. Among musicians lacking perfect pitch, the figures were 1.1 % and 1.3 %, respectively. (Ref. 2) An unexpected (to us, anyway) correlation of perfect pitch and synethesia (SF#68) was made by Freimer's group. Some perfect-pitchers swear they can "see" musical notes, and even "smell" and "taste" them! (Ref. 1) References Ref. 1. Day, Michael; ...
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... ONLINE No. 113: Sep-Oct 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Can computers have ndes?When HAL, the treacherous computer in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, was being slowly throttled by the one surviving astronaut, it tried first to negotiate. Then, as board after board of electronic components were disconnected, it burst into the old song A Bicycle Built for Two . It had learned this tune early in its silicon-based life. Surprisingly, real computers can experience similar Near-Death Experiences (NDEs). S.L . Thaler, a physicist at McDonnell Douglas, was studying neural networks designed to mimic the structure and functions of the human brain. Such neural nets can actually learn as programmers train them. As a evening avocation, Thaler devised a program that randomly severed connections in the neural net, in effect destroying the artificial brain bit by bit. When between 10 and 60% of the connections were destroyed, the net spat out only gibberish. Near 90% destruction, though, strange "whimsical" information was produced that was definitely not gibberish. In contrast, untrained neural networks generated only random numbers as they were "put down"! Evidently, HAL's tuneful demise was not so fanciful after all. (Yam, Philip; "Daisy, Daisy," Scientific American, 268:32, May 1993.) Comment. A.C . Clarke, author of 2001, has stated firmly that HAL's name was not chosen because its letters ...
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... Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Dog Doctors Credentials must be established here. The writer of the two articles digested below is an M.D . and a graduate of the Harvard Medical School. This is not a hoax! Melanoma sniffing. In 1989, the Lancet , a respected British medical journal, published an article relating how a female dog, half border collie, half doberman, sniffed out a spot of melanoma on a woman. In fact, the dog ignored all of the other moles on the woman and even tried to bite off the melanoma. Melanoma is the most dreaded form of skin cancer, so this bizarre report stimulated A. Cognetta, an American dermotologist, to try an experiment. First, another dog, named George, was trained to find tubes containing melanoma samples, which he did correctly 99% of the time. Next, a human with active melanoma was enlisted. Several bandages were placed on the subject's body including one over the melanoma site. Once again, George was almost 100% accurate in his diagnosis. Subsequently, George successfully identified malignancies on other patients. (Walker, Kenneth; "George the Dog Helps Take a Bite out of Skin Cancer," Chicago Sun-Times , September 6, 1998. Cr. J. Cieciel.) Seizure sniffing. An English woman subject to epileptic seizures never goes anywhere without her dog Rupert. Rupert has a nose for the odor that precedes epileptic seizures in humans. He barks about 40 minutes before the actual seizure, giving the woman a ...
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... Aug 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects DID A HALF MILLION METEORS FALL ON THE CAROLINAS?The Carolina Bays get scant notice in the literature these days, but E.R . Randall has rescued them this undeserved obscurity. "For years, people living along the Carolina coast have marveled at a series of strange, oval-shaped depressions in the ground called 'Carolina Bays.' "From the air these shallow, marshy bogs created a landscape that resembles the pockmarked surface of the moon. They crisscross each other in a chaotic tapestry, but at ground level are hardly noticeable because of thick forests and semitropical swamplands. "Highways and modern housing developments have all but obliterated thousands of the bays, leaving them visible only to trained eyes. "Still, it is estimated that no fewer than 300,000 such bays, ranging from a few feet across to almost two miles in diameter, dot the East Coast landscape from southern New Jersey to northeastern Florida. One source places the number at more than half a million." Map showing areas of abundant Carolina Bays and frequent meterorite finds. However, meteorites are rare in the areas of the bays. Floyd continues with a brief history of the Carolina Bay region and then reviews some of the theories of origin that have been proposed. Two now-discarded mechanisms of formation invoked: (1 ) immense schools of spawning fish; and (2 ) icebergs stranded as the Ice Ages waned. In presenting today's favorite theory, Floyd quotes from H. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 135: MAY-JUN 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Don't Stomp on Ball Lightning!Mid-December 1991. Brixham, Devon. Two young men aged about 22/23, Mr. Andrew Clark and friend, were inside Mr. Clark's cottage when a storm of lightning and thunder began. Suddenly, an orange fuzzy airborne blob, the size of a football but not perfectly spherical, came through the wall -- so it was said -- and hovered at a low level. His friend lept on to a settee; Andrew Clark jumped on to the lightning ball. This burnt the plastic sole of one of his training shoes and melted a hole some 50 to 70 mm across. The lightning ball was disrupted and "a part of it" went sideways and burnt out the transformer of his C.B . radio (to which was attached a radio mast fixed on the roof outside). The total duration of the event had been about five seconds. Andrew's foot was quite badly burned and he had to go to the doctor for treatment. (Anonymous; "Ball Lightning at Brixham in 1991," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 26:22, 2001.) From Science Frontiers #135, MAY-JUN 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, ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 143: Sep-Oct 2002 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Ancient stone road leads to mountain laced with jade The Planet of the Apes: It's archaeology Ice-age faces on cave floors Astronomy From amusing little volcanoes to giant red devils Strange and Stranger astronomy Biology Dark Life A plague on theories Too close to be so far People who are not entirely themselves Geology Three inner-Earth heresies Geophysics Train, whistle, slowdown, bloop A bad assumption may obscure dark matter Psychology Contagious, collective laughter Physics Wordless memeories Chemistry Mechanical chemistry ...
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... but without leaving a clear spiral mark. The ground area is approximately 20,000 m2 , and three antenna towers are located in the ground. The fences are formed by 2.5 -m -high wire netting and the station was watching for 24 hours. There were only two men in the station, and they were in a watching room for eight hours from 10.00 p.m . to 6.00 a.m .. Moreover, I can add that neither of the men had ever heard of the circles effect at that time, so that after the discovery of the grass circle the next day they did not report it for 40 days. By the way, there are no roads or railway which a hoaxer could have used to approach by car or train." (Ohtsuki, Yoshi-Hiko; "An Example of the Circles Effect Which Appeared in a Well-Protected, Fenced Compound in Japan," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 17:115, 1992.) From Science Frontiers #82, JUL-AUG 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Outgassing of Radon-222 ESC16 Methane Anomalies ESD DEPOSITS OF REMARKABLE SIZE ESD1 Bone Caves, Bone Caches,... ESD2 Bone Beds, Fish Beds,... ESD3 Sedimentary Deposits of Exceptional Volume ESD4 Historical Evidence for Large Scale Flooding ESD5 Recent Large Reductions of Polar Ice Cover ESD6 Giant Basalt Flows and Traps ESD7 Giant Accumulations of Oil ESD8 Giant Erratics and Megabreccias ESD9 Deposits of Great Areal Extent ESI INCLUSIONS ESI1 Inclusions in Crystals ESI2 Microdebris ESI3 Erratic Boulders, Stones, and Mineral Patches ESI4 Anomalous Amber Inclusions ESI5 Microfossil-Like Inclusions ESI6 Oil in Fossil Cavities ESI7 Carbon Dust on Fossil Plants ESI8 Great Rarity of Fossil Meteorites and Tektites ESI9 Stretched Pebbles ESM ANOMALOUS SUPERFICIAL GEOLOGICAL MATERIALS ESM1 Unusual Superficial Aggregations of Rocks ESM2 Strewn Fields of Natural Glasses ESM3 Tektite and Microtektite Paradoxes and Anomalies ESM4 Boulder Trains and Belts ESM5 Rock Glaciers, Block Fields,... ESM6 Elevated Erratics... ESM7 Anomalous Glacial Drift ESM8 Fluidized Debris Slides ESM9 Surging Glaciers ESM10 Driftless Enclaves within Glaciated Regions ESM11 Anomalous Rock Motion ESM12 Superficial Rocky Debris of Doubtful Provenance ESP ANOMALOUS PHYSICAL PHENOMENA IN GEOLOGY ESP1 Anomalous Radiohalos ESP2 Flexible Rocks ESP3 Unusually Colored Rocks ESP4 Noncrushing of Fossils in Sediment Compaction ESP5 Remarkable Polished Rocks ESP6 Ringing Rocks ESP7 Small-Scale Magnetic Anomalies ESP8 Frazil Ice, Anchor Ice,... ESP9 Long-Range Fine Structure In Strata ESP10 Jointing, Cleat, Crack Patterns ESP11 Shocked Mineral Grains at Geological Boundaries ESP12 Radiometric Dating Discordances ESP13 Natural Fission Reactors ESP14 Musical Sands ESP15 Luminous Rocks ESP16 Explosive Rocks ESP17 Dry Quicksand ESP18 Glacieres/Natural Refrigerators ESP19 Radioactive Fossils ESP20 Clustering of Mineralogical Dates in Time ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 7: June 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bpm Equals Dowsing It is remarkable that this article appears in a reputable scientific journal. Williamson was stimulated to write about dowsing by apparent recent Russian successes with BPM (Bio-Physical Method) in locating minerals. BPM has created quite a stir in the USSR, with all the scientific trappings of conferences and journal papers. The Russians evidently use BPM in conjunction with aerial photogeological surveys in pinpointing mineral deposits. BPM anomalies are detected on foot by hand-held BPM de tectors (read: divining rods). Williamson goes on to describe the ridicule heaped on dowsing in the West. The negative experiments of Foulkes with trained dowsers shoved dowsing out to the lunatic fringe. But recently, a little-mentioned American study by Chadwick and Jensen seems to contradict Foulkes. Chadwick and Jensen, highly skeptical at the beginning of their experiments, were surprised to discover that their 150 novice dowsers were actually sensitive to the small magnetic field changes one expects in the neighborhood of mineral concentrations. The dowsing effect is weak but apparently real. (Williamson, Tom; "Dowsing Achieves New Credence," New Scientist, 81:371, 1979.) From Science Frontiers #7 , June 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... ' .. .. . "It's got to be some kind of trapped charge that popped out of the top of a thunderstorm." (Anderson, Julie; "Ball of Light Leaves Scientists in the Dark," Omaha Morning Herald , December 18, 1996. Cr. L. Farish.) Comment. Perhaps 1,800 miles per second should really be 1,800 miles per hour. This velocity would be comparable with that of another very speedy "ball of light." May 25, 1997. Near Loco, Oklahoma. In what might be called a "video replay" of the above phenomenon, L. Lamphere caught a similar fast-moving "object" near a tornado-spawning storm. He and his team had a digital video camera trained on the storm and were taking time-lapse still photos. Lamphere reported: "The ceiling was maybe 900 feet. We were about four or five miles from the storm, which was tracking southeast. The object was well-defined and well-lit, but was obscured briefly by scud clouds. It dipped and bobbled in its trajectory before it flew into a storm known to contain hail the size of baseballs and then reemerged, apparently undamged. "Scientists at the Astrophysics Department at the University of Oklahoma believe the object was solid and may have been traveling between 9,000 and 20,000 mph." (Anonymous; "Image on Storm Video Raises Questions," Dallas Morning News, June 21, 1997. AP item. Cr. D. Phelps.) ...
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... Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Forbidden Matter When a hot mixture of aluminum and manganese, iron or chromium is squirted onto a spinning water-cooled copper wheel, the molten metal freezes into a thin, metallic ribbon. If it is cooled too fast, a metallic glass results; cooled too slowly, it forms normal metal crystals. But when conditions are just right, icosahedral crystals cluster together in nodules a few microns in size. These icosahedral crystals are not normal in the sense that they have five-fold symmetry. In fact, to a crystallographer, these crystals are the equivalent to ESP in psychology. All the rules of crystallography insist that icosahedral crystals should not exist. One scientist reacted in this way: "All my training has been with the assumption that crystals are periodic. Now, almost everything has to be reexamined." Actually, the icosahedral crystals are "quasi-periodic"; that is, they are completely regular only over small distances. Nevertheless, there are hints that these materials that should not exist have remarkable structural and electronic properties. (Peterson, Ivars; "The Fivefold Way for Crystals," Science News, 127:188, 1985.) Two-dimensionsal quasiperiodic geometry (Penrose tiling) with five-fold symmetry formerly thought to be impossible in nature. The tricontahedron with 30 faces is the basis of three-dimensional quasiperiodic structures with five-fold symmetry. From Science Frontiers #39, MAY-JUN 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Crystal Engineering Left to themselves, molecules of calcium carbonate tend to crystallize into neat rhombohedrons. But when a sea urchin gets hold of the same molecules, its biological machinery coaxes them into crystallizing into long spines, complete with pores and curved edges. X-ray diffraction patterns prove that the spines are all one crystal . In like fashion, bacteria mold miniature single-crystal bar magnets for navigational purposes. Many animals indulge in crystal engi neering. Now if we can only train organisms to build crystalline electronic devices for us. Biogenic chips? (Mann, Stephen; "Crystal Engineering: The Natural Way," New Scientist, p. 42. March 10, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #70, JUL-AUG 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... shapes and dimensions of thin, vibrating plates by the sound they make. In one type of experiment, conducted by A.J . Kunkler-Peck (Brandeis University) and M.T . Turvey (University of Connecticut), subjects gave surprisingly accurate estimates of the heights and widths of three different vibrating plates. The plates were concealed behind a screen, but the subjects could remotely control a striker. In further experiments, other subjects could distinguish between the sounds of circular, rectangular, and triangular plates. (Anonymous; "Listen to the Shapes," Science News, 157:171, 2000.) Comment. We all know from experience that small, thin plates produce higher pitched sounds that larger plates. How-ever, the ability to assign accurate dimensions without some training is surprising. The same can be said for the identification of shapes. Who, for ex-ample, has been exposed to vibrating, triangular-shaped plates in ordinary life? Could we be dealing here with another innate talent that, like perfect pitch, seems to have no adaptive value in the evolution of humans? From Science Frontiers #129, MAY-JUNE 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. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 73: Jan-Feb 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Malodorous Mystery "A scent squad has been unleashed in Bartlesville, Okla., to trace and identify an elusive odor that has plagued residents for months. The 19-member Bartlesville Odor Mitigation Task Force will distribute about a half dozen devices to trap the scent, which will then be snif fed and characterized by trained noses at a Chicago Research Company. The city has received 60 calls this year about the odor, described as smelling like rotten eggs or butane, but they have been unable to determine the source." (Newman, Steve; "Malodorous Mystery," Baltimore Sun, July 22, 1990.) Comment. We rarely come across olfactory anomalies, although they occasionally crop up in the Fortean literature. From Science Frontiers #73, JAN-FEB 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... eggs are soft and leathery, like those of reptiles, but they are brooded in a marsupial-like pouch. The emerging baby echidna has an egg tooth like the birds and reptiles, while the adult has no teeth at all. Rather, it has a narrow snout through which it ingests ants and termites caught on its sticky tongue. In this it resembles the mammalian ant-eaters, which are also toothless but an ocean away from Australia. In fact, the echidna is often called a "spiny anteater" for it has the sharp spines of a hedgehog or porcupine. There are more anatomical peculiarities, but let us focus on the echidna's strange behavior during the mating season. At this time, 2 to 8 echidnas can be seen roaming the Australian bush in "trains" headed by a female with the smallest male acting as a caboose. When mating time arrives, the female anchors herself to a tree with her forelegs. To-gether the males dig a circular "mating rut" up to 10 inches deep around the tree. (Australians have puzzled over these circular trenches for years.) Eventually the strongest male evicts the other males from the trench, the purpose of which now becomes apparent. As the old saying goes, porcupines make love very. Well, the echidna has an interesting technique; he simple lays on his side in the trench under the female! (Rismiller, Peggy D., and Seymour, Roger S.; "The Echidna," Scientific American, 264:96, February 1991.) Reference. Many ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 110: Mar-Apr 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Sparrows At Play While looking through the ornithological literature for avian anomalies recently, we found an irresistible item that bears on that deeply profound bit on "Crow Woes" appearing in SF#109. Remember how the Yokohama crows placed stones on the train tracks and dropped others on houses? Well, this stone-dropping must have some adaptive value in the evolution of birds, because sparrows have also inherited the trait. E.C . Jaeger recounted this anecdote in a 1951 number of The Condor : "During my high school days at West Point, Nebraska, my father was a merchant occupying a building of two stories with a long pebble-covered, tarred roof sloping to the rear. Forming a short walkway behind the rear entrance were two sloping doors, which, when opened up, admitted entry to the basement stairway. Over a period of several days in mid-May of 1903, I noticed many small pebbles scattered about on these doors. I also heard from time to time the sound of small objects falling on the doors. Efforts to find the pebble-droppers were of no avail until one day when I happened to approach the rear of the building from the alley. My position some fifty feet from the building now permitted me to see several House Sparrows ( Passer domesticus ) bringing small stones to the edge of the roof and dropping them. As each pebble was dropped the bird involved turned its head ...
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... The machine, which required two hours to program for the task, took more than a minto solve the problem. She took 50 seconds. "And, in 1981, she made the Guinness Book of World Records as the 'Human Computer' by correctly multiplying two 13-digit numbers -- 7,686,369,774,870 times 2,465,099,745,779 -- in 28 seconds. The awesome answer? 18,947,668,177, 995,426,462,773,730." S. Devi is also a calendar calculator, being able to name the day of the week for any date in the past or future, taking into account leap years and calendar changes. She never attended school or had any formal mathematical training! (Young, Luther; "Numbers Whiz Takes Delight in Beating Computers;" Baltimore Sun, January 21, 1988, p. A1.) Comment. Such prodigies have appeared regularly down recorded history. What is the meaning of the phenomenon? Why does evolution produce talents that far exceed the "need" of the species? Is there a "need" that we are not aware of? It could be that prodigies are precursors of new evolutionary developments, which will leave poor homo sapi ens in the intellectual dust. Surely, science fiction has a story about a secret society of transcendent geniuses living under some mountain or even on some planet! Maybe that's how "the face on Mars" got there! From Science Frontiers #56, MAR-APR 1988 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 46: Jul-Aug 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Tigers in western australia?The title of course refers to the Tasmanian tiger or wolf or thylacine. We reported above on the possibility of a small relict population of Tasmanian tigers in Tasmania, where the supposedly last specimen expired in a Hobart zoo in 1936. There is now good evidence that the thylacine also roams Western Australian, where it has been believed extinct for thousands of years! At hand are photographs, casts of footprints, a carcass that may be very recent, and many eye-witness reports. Much of the recent evidence has been gathered by Kevin Cameron, a first-rate bushman with two superbly trained dogs. A.M . Douglas, the author of this article and formerly Senior Experimental Officer at the Wetern Australian Museum in Perth was skeptical about living thylacines at first but is now a firm believer. He states, "I think Kevin Cameron has made the single most important wildlife discovery of this century." (Douglas, Athol M.; "Tigers in Western Australia?" New Scientist, p. 44, April 24, 1986.) From Science Frontiers #46, JUL-AUG 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Bed. No minor deposit this; it is is over 60 meters thick in places and covers more than 15,000 square kilometers. In the bed are found boulders (up to 2 meters in diameter), cobbles, pebbles, and traces of tektite glass and shocked quartz. The youngest microfossils date from the Eocene, and argon dating of the ejecta yield a date of 35.5 million years, which correlates with the North American tektite strewn field. C.W . Poag et al interpret this boulder bed as follows: "On the basis of its unusual characteristics and its stratigraphic equivalence to a layer of impact ejecta at Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Site 612 (New Jersey continental slope), we postulate that this boulder bed was formed by a powerful bolidegenerated wave train that scoured the ancient inner shelf and coastal plain of southeastern Virginia. The most promising candidate for the bolide impact site (identified on seismic reflection profiles) is 40 km north-northwest of DSDP Site 612 on the New Jersey outer continental shelf." (Poag, C. Wylie, et al; "Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 612 Bolide Event: New Evidence of a Late Eocene Impact-Wave Deposit and a Possible Impact Site, U.S . East Coast," Geology , 20:771, 1992.) Comment. Our planet's land surfaces are also strewn with many debris deposits that are probably the consequence of giant impact waves. See ESM12 in Neglected Geological Anomalies, where they are termed "marine incursions". Ordering information here . From Science Frontiers ...
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... Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball Lightning Collides With Car Summer 1991. Southern Bavaria, Germany. R. Urbanek, a teacher from Wasserburg, recalls her encounter with ball lightning. "I was with a friend in the area of Traunstein. My friend drove a minibus...150-200 meters...ahead of my car. Golf and several other cars were following behind me. It (had been) raining with heavy lightning and thunder. I did not drive at normal speed in such a weather...Then came a straight stretch of road with a bicycle path to the right, and an open wide field...Suddenly I saw a bright green, phosphorescent...ball about the size of a medical training ball, that dropped to the ground behind the minibus...It fell to the road and rolled towards me . I knew immediately it was ball lightning, and from school physics I knew a car acts as a Faraday cage. So I kept my feet to the floor mat and grabbed the wheel with both arms. 3 to 5 seconds passed until the ball reached my car. It came in a straight line, with a slight deviation to the right (as seen from my position). When the ball caught my car at the right front side, it gave the vehicle a strong shock or jerk, as if I had driven against an obstacle . All that was on the right side of me lit up bright green -- the hood, the windscreen, the ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 31: Jan-Feb 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mystery Spirals In Cereal Fields Late summer 1981. Ross-on-Wye, Eng land. "I live on a ridge 450 feet (135 metres) above sea level, about 100 feet (30 metres) above the adjacent land; it is quite steep in parts on the north side and stretches for about 1 miles (2 .5 kilometres). One day, at about noon, I was inside my cottage when suddenly I heard a very loud roaring sound, not unlike an express train. I ran outside to see what it was, but saw nothing; the noise was something like the sound of a falling bomb. I thought no more of this until the following morning when taking my dog for a walk. Then I saw two large circles, about 25 feet (7 .6 metres) in diameter, of flattened barley in a nearby field. A neighbor who lives on the north side of the ridge had also heard the roaring noise but could find no cause for it. I wondered if we had heard some part of an aircraft or satellite, or even a small meteor, coming down and, with the local farmer, we investigated the circles, but found no debris at all -- just flattened barley. The farmer said that sometimes growing conditions made barley collapse at its base, though he could not understand the almost perfect circle." Further investigation turned up people who had seen ...
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... frequent in American business than is commonly suspected."* Assuming that FGE is a real phenomenon, can it be measured objectively? Yes, says W.D . Rowe, and he tells how it has been done. The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research group has developed a random number generator that produces an unbiased series of bits such that a large sample will average 50% 1s and 50% 0s. PEAR normally uses this machine in psychokinesis experiments in which an individual mentally attempts to skew the statistically expected 50:50 outcome. But that's a different story. Here, the thought is that the PEAR random number generator is also a "consciousness detector." Since FGE seems to involve a group's collective consciousness, perhaps this random number generator will respond with a skewed train of 1s and 0s -- even when the group in unaware of its presence. Rowe reports that eleven group experiments have been carried out in which FGE seemed to be present according to participants. During these periods of group resonance, often hours long, the random number generator produced results that were two, sometime three standard deviations from the mean. Rowe concluded that FGE is a real and robust phenomenon that can be measured. It is "an extra sense above the five common senses." (Rowe, William D.; "Physical Measurement of Episodes of Focused Group Energy," Journal of Scientific Exploration, 12:569, 1998.) *Keifer, Charles F., and Senge, Peter M.; "Metonic Organizations: Experiments in Organizational Innovation," in ...
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... ) gives them stomach pain, by simultaneously injecting them with a pain-producing chemical. Unexpectedly, this chemical also suppressed the immune system of the mice. The mice, of course, knew nothing about the effect on their immune system. Nevertheless, whenever they received saccharin after being conditioned, their immune system was suppressed even though the pain-producing chemical was not administered. While one can imagine the mice consciously associating saccharin and stomach pain, and their brains somehow sending signals that simulated pain, it seems inconceivable that the mice knew anything about their immune system. We have always assumed that the placebo effect (and its reverse) worked because of the subjects' logical association of cause and effect, but evidently there is something else going on here! (Wingerson, Lois; "Training the Mind To Heal," Discover, 3:80, May 1982.) Comment. This all opens a rather large Pandora's Box, because it implies that seemingly innocent signals can trigger unrealized reactions. It's something like a post-hypnotic suggestion. Some cause -- not recognized as a cause -- results in an effect -- not consciously related to the real cause. We could all be puppets, not even recognizing the strings that control us! From Science Frontiers #22, JUL-AUG 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... that permits only useful, practical information to flash before us as we attempt to deal with the real world. Of what survival value is calendar-calculating in today's world when we have our PCs? Or even yesterday's threat-filled world? (Future worlds? Who knows?) The consciousness filter is only partially effective in autistic savants. It is a bit porous in normal childhood, when streaks of genius sometimes seep through. Some normal children possess the power to reproduce in great detail complex scenes seen only briefly. (This is "eidetic imagery.") Such talents ebb away with age as adult life thickens the consciousness filter. Yet, cracks may persist in a few adults with photographic memories and musical genius. The consciousness filter can be eroded by intense training. In fact, calendar-calculating and eidetic imagery can be cultivated to recover, in effect, those suppressed childhood talents! (Carter, Rita; "Tune in, Turn off," New Scientist, p. 30, October 9, 1999. Sutton, Jon; "You Can Do It," New Scientist, p. 15, November 6, 1999.) Comments. Our brains seem to possess much more power than required in today's world, and yesterday's , too. We ask (facetiously and iconoclastically) whether our brains are examples of evolutionary "preadaptation"; that is, something we will need in the future! It is also pertinent that humans are "neotenous." We possess many physiological features that are unspecialized -- slates ...
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... , the way genetic instructions are interpreted. Plasmids have been discovered in maize, fruit flies, bacteria, and, now, humans -- and healthy people at that. No one is quite sure what these plasmids do. Even though they look like retroviruses, they may not be associated with illness, but rather help organisms adapt to changing environments. But no one really knows. (Anonymous; "Human Wandering Genes Can Live on Their Own," New Scientist, 94:18, 1982.) Comment. So, the human body is not only beset by new genetic instructions and the static introduced by invading viruses and other disease agents, but it has an indigenous population of nomads continually fiddling with our cells' genetic instructions. Our bodies seem more like Grand Central Station with trains loaded with new biological ideas constantly arriving from far and near -- maybe even from outer space a la Fred Hoyle's book Diseases from Space. From Science Frontiers #22, JUL-AUG 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... ONLINE No. 133: JAN-FEB 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Unlocking Hidden Talents Dementia is a devastating illness. The brain deteriorates slowly. Sometimes, though, it seems like the illness strips away barriers and reveals hidden or suppressed talents, as seen in the two dementia patients described below. One 53-year-old man, a car stereo installer with a 10th-grade education and no prior interest in art, suddenly began painting. At first, he drew simple still lifes of vases and bridges. But his work became increasingly sophisticated. Eventually, he was painting Indians, churches and haciendas recalled from distant memories of his youth. Similarly, a 51-year-old housewife who had never had artistic training took up painting. She initially created unsophisticated images of rivers, ponds and rural settings; later, elaborate and sometimes eccentric versions of the works of great masters. Unfortunately, such new-found talents are short-lived. They, too, deteriorate. (Stein, Rob; "Patients' New Gift Paints Clearer Image of Disease," The Brain in the News, p. 7, October 30, 1998. Cr. J. Cieciel) Comment. This peeling away of mental barriers suggests that we all have hidden or suppressed capabilities. Perhaps, some day, we will know how to unlock these in normal people. It is pertinent here that in idiot savants these mental barriers are also somehow removed to expose remarkable mathematical talents, such as calendar calculating. See OUR ...
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... 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 action..." Maybe so, but this article admits at the outset that solitary rogue waves may occur in calm seas. (Peterson, I.; "Rough Math: Focussing on Rogue Waves at Sea," Science News, 150:325, 1996) Reference. Large solitary waves are rather common. See GHW1 in our Catalog: Earthquakes, Tides. Ordering information can be found here . From Science Frontiers #109, JAN ...
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... ; the "Mars Effect" BHB30 Cultural Creativity Correlated with Solar Activity BHB31 Cultural Flowering Correlated with Climate BHB32 Eminence and Order of Birth BHB33 Periodicity in the Population of Living Eminent People BHB34 Eminence Correlated with Longevity BHB35 Intelligence Correlated with Season of Birth BHB36 Intelligence Correlated with Birth Order BHB37 Intelligence Correlated with Myopia BHB38 A Relationship between Intelligence and Flicker-Frequency Response BHB39 Increasing Intelligence with Vitamin Intake BHB40 The Intelligences of Identical Twins Reared Apart BHB41 Likelihood of College Matriculation and Season of Birth BHB42 Mathematical Ability: Sex Differences BHB43 Intelligence Correlated with Stature Personality Correlated with Astronomy Inheritability of Intelligence Intelligence and Gender Human Intelligence Affected by Past Natural Cataclysms Economic Activity Correlated with Geomagnetic Field Schizophrenia Correlated with Season of Birth Disturbed Human Activity Correlated with Geomagnetic Field Tickling Phenomena Face Preference Correlated with Menstrual Cycle Curious Crowd Behavior (at Train Platforms) Why Do People Stick Out Their Tongues When Concentrating? Intelligence as a Pathogen Behaviorisms Transmitted by Organ Transplants Meme Phenomena Effect of Music (Mozart's ) on Mental Performance Motherhood Improves Learning and Memory BHC CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL ANOMALIES BHC1 Electric People BHC2 Magnetic People BHC3 Body Potentials Correlated with Lunar Phase BHC4 Brain Electricity (EEGs) BHC5 Very High Body Temperatures BHC6 Unusual Body-Temperature Cycles BHC7 Anomalous Human Combustion BHC8 Retarded Decay of the Human Body BHC9 Imbalances in Element Ingestion and Excretion BHC10 The Human Inability to Synthesize Ascorbic Acid BHC11 Blood-Chemistry Variations BHC12 The Existence of Blood Polymorphisms BHC13 The Complexity, Variability, and Ubiquity of Hemoglobin BHC14 Geographical Anomalies in the Distribution of Blood Groups BHC15 Blood Chimeras Biorhythms BHE THE HUMAN FOSSIL RECORD BHE1 Absence of Transitional Fossils BHE2 Abrupt Changes in Hominid ...
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