173 results found.
... over the past few decades, Nature's official investigative team (formerly called the "hit team" in these pages) has labelled Benveniste's results a "delusion." Now begins the dirty work of completely destroying the reputation of Benveniste and the believability of any work done in this field. First, in the New York Times, J. Maddox, editor of Nature, stated that Benveniste's positive results were "nonexistent." Then J. Randi, the magician member of the investigative team, called the positive results "fraudulent" in the Lisbon Expressor . This means that five independent laboratories all produced fraudulent results! (Benveniste, Jacques; "Benveniste on the Benveniste Affair," Nature, 335: 759, 1988. Also: Maddox, John; "Waves Caused by Extreme Dilution," Nature, 335:760, 1988.) Comment. Regardless of the merits of the scientific work done by Benveniste and his coworkers, it now appears, to some outsiders at least, that Benveniste was set-up, entrapped, and sand-bagged. A similar campaign is being waged to discredit M. Gauquelin's Mars Effect. (See item under BIOLOGY.) So, heretics beware, the Inquisition lives! From Science Frontiers #61, JAN-FEB 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... of glows seen around mag-nets, crystals and minerals, lights reportedly seen with mediums, and luminous apparitions, among others." The paper then goes directly into a review of specific observations. We shall have to be satisfied here with just one of the many examples: "D .D . Home was reported to produce many striking luminous phenomena. In one seance Dunraven observed that one of Home's hands 'became quite luminous,' and that two persons 'saw tongues or jets of flame proceeding from Home's head.' On another occasion: 'He was elongated slightly.. and raised in the air, his head became quite luminous at the top, giving the appearance of having a halo round it. When he was raised in the air, he waved his arms about, and in each hand there came a little globe of fire (to my eyes blue)...' (Alvarado, Carlos S.; "Observations of Luminous Phenomena around the Human Body: A Review," Society for Psychical Research Journal, 54:38, 1987.) This paper concludes with 5 pages of references, illustrating the great extent of the parapsychological literature. Comment. D.D . Home, to provide a bit of background, was a famous English medium. One of his favorite "stunts" was self-levitation. We have seen sketches of him floating high with his head nearly touching the ceiling. It is perhaps a bit snide to remark that if one can conquer gravity, producing luminous phenomena should be easy. Reference ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 151: Jan - Feb 2004 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology 7,000-year-old circles in Modern Crop Fields Fingers Lost and Found Astronomy Not Enough TNOs (Trans-Neptunian Objects = KBOs Kuiper-Belt Objects) Was the Big Bang Dodecahedral? Biology Thickening the Ocean's Biomass Sponging on Sponges What else is Meant to Be? Geology Building a Fire with Wood 45 Million Years old The Shrinking of Chicxulub Geophysics The Deadliest Forest Fire in American History The Yellowstone-Lake Bulge Want Big Waves for Surfing? Forget Hawaii and Australia! Anomalous Auroral Flashes Psychology Why Sleep? If we must Sleep, Why must we Dream too? Chemistry Lab-made Microfossils ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 157: Jan - Feb 2005 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Discovery of a hidden chamber in the Great Pyramid? Who are what was writing over a million years ago? Astronomy The cosmos is 'unspeakably bizarre' -- if you accept two premises No canals but glassy tubes instead Biology Snowflakes of the sea Ground-squirrel infrared countermeasures The shapes that determine time and memory Geology Geyser-type action of the Oklo natural nuclear reactors Geophysics Rogue waves Pwdre Ser falls again Psychology The profundity of sleep Physics Something's the matter with matter Who digs the Higgs? ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 109: Jan-Feb 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Rogue wave smashes the queen elizabeth ii September 11, 1995. North Atlantic. Aboard the Queen Elizabeth II enroute from Cherbourg to New York. During this crossing of the Atlantic, the Queen Elizabeth II had to change course to avoid Hurricane Luis. Despite this precaution, the vessel encountered seas of 18 meters with occasional higher crests. At 0400 the Grand Lounge windows, 22 meters above the water, stove in. But this was only a precursor. "At 0410 the rogue wave was sighted right ahead, looming out of the darkness from 220 , it looked as though the ship was heading straight for the white cliffs of Dover. The wave seemed to take ages to arrive but it was probably less than a minute before it broke with tremendous force over the bow. An incredible shudder went through the ship, followed a few minutes later by two smaller shudders. There seemed to be two waves in succession 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 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 113: Sep-Oct 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Atlantic Wave Heights Increasing We have touched on this subject before. (SF#84/279) We now have more precise data. Wave-height measurements at the Seven Stone Light Vessel, anchored in the northeastern Atlantic, show that wave heights have increased 2.4 centimeters/year during the period 1960-1985. This is not a trivial amount. At this rate, waves a century from now would be 2.4 meters (about 8 feet) higher. Many existing coastal structures will be smashed to bits. All this is over and above any effects from rising sea levels. The records from the Seven Stone Light Vessel are corroborated by an analysis of more then 20,000 wave charts of the North Atlantic drawn between 1960 and 1988. It therefore seems clear that something unusual is going on in the North Atlantic. One would suspect increased winds, but velocities measured at Seven Stone have remained constant while wave heights rose. It is concluded that the bigger waves are not generated by local winds; rather, they are swells that have been created thousands of miles away. The cause of these larger swells now affecting the entire North Atlantic is not known. The authors of this paper are forced to conclude with: "It should be noted that so far it has not been possible to attribute the observed change to either an anthropogenic cause or to natural climate variability on decadal time scales." (Bouws ...
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... Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The hilina slump a.k .a . "the big crack"Huge chunks of the Hawaiian Islands have been sliding into the Pacific Ocean for hundreds of thousands of years. (SF#101) Geologists classify these slides as either "slumps" or "debris avalanches." Slumps move just a few inches a year but are prone to bigger, jerky adjustments. Debris avalanches are fast cascades of rocks and soil. In Hawaii, both varieties of movement can involve massive blocks of real estate. In the huge Nu'uanu debris slide, stone blocks 6 miles across tumbled 30 miles out to sea. Both slumps and debris slides may create colossal tsunamis. (Tsunamis are miscalled "tidal waves," but they have nothing to do with tides and do not behave like tides or wind-driven waves.) When large pieces of the Hawaiian Islands slip into the ocean, the entire Pacific Rim is smashed by the resulting tsunamis. In New South Wales, Australia, there is geological evidence that part of this coast was scoured by a Hawaiigenerated tsunami 100,000 years ago. The postulated wave started out about 375-meters ( -mile) high in Hawaii. By the time is reached Australia, it was about 40 meters high. (SF#85) Worse waves may be on tap. A 4,760 cubic mile chunk of the Big Island (Hawaii) is breaking away at the rate of 4 inches per year. This is the Hilina Slump, ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 121: Jan-Feb 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Lake Champlain's Two Seiches The main body of Lake Champlain is 117 kilometers long, with an average breadth of 6.3 kilometers, and average depth of 29 meters. Although its shoreline in complex, there is a deep channel about 2 kilometers wide with steep sides running lengthwise along the lake floor. When wind blows across the lake's surface, wind-drag pushes surface water downwind. When the wind stops or changes direction, the piled-up water is freed, and standing waves are set up as the water sloshes back and forth in the lake basin. These waves are called "seiches." Lakes usually have characteristic periods of oscillation. For Lake Champlain, it is 4 hours, with amplitudes measured only in centimeters on the surface of the water. What makes Lake Champlain of more than usual interest is the presence of a second seiche, an internal phenomenon not visible on the surface. In the summer, Lake Champlain is stratified with a thermocline separating a layer of warm surface water from much colder deep water. You can only "see" the thermocline if you lower a thermometer into the water. This thermocline also exhibits seiches, but they are startlingly different from those on the surface. In Lake Champlain, the period of the internal seiche is 4 days rather than 4 hours. The amplitudes fall between 20 and 40 meters instead of being in the centimeter range. Just a few meters ...
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... convinced almost everyone that the famous "face" on this planet is really only an eroded mesa, we can attend to some other Martian curiosities. One of these is the so-called "stealth" region. For some 2,000 kilometers along the Martian equator west of Arsia Mons and Pavonis Mons stretches an area that is invisible to terrestrial radar. Of course, we can see this region; but, when a 3centimeter radar is pointed at it, no detectable echoes are returned. Thus, the term "stealth," as in the F-117 Stealth aircraft, Are the clever Martians trying to conceal something from prying earthlings, using, say, a "cloaking" device a la Star Trek? Of course not. Loose, unconsolidated sediments are poor reflectors of radar waves. Examination of Viking-Orbiter photos tell geologists that the "stealth" region is almost certainly thickly strewn with volcanic ash, which would absorb the radar waves very well. (Edgett, Kennth S., et al; "Geologic Context of the Mars Radar "Stealth" Region in Southwestern Tharsis," Journal of Geophysical Research, 102:21,545, 1997.) From Science Frontiers #118, JUL-AUG 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 122: Mar-Apr 1999 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The mosier mounds El nino -- bueno? The black pyramids Astronomy Our lucky star Ghost galaxies Is a singularity worse than a spinning cosmos? Biology Are we running on martian time? Another skin shedder A GENETIC DISCONNECT Another sucker Geology The earth hums more loudly in the afternoons Geophysics Bizarre phsiological effects of lightning Unusual wave Psychology Exceptional human experiences A FEW POTENTIAL EHEs Unclassified A REALLY MEANINGFUL COINCIDENCE Ach du lieber himmel Now we know why! ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 109: Jan-Feb 1997 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Riddles of the sphinx And they went forth and multiplied Kennewick man: a 9300-ear-old caucasian skeleton in north america? Astronomy Lunar landslide lights Greenwich late time Too much order in the early cosmos Biology Biology lite Biology heavy Geology Wind-driven ice sheets in death valley The nodoroc Geophysics Rogue wave smashes the queen elizabeth ii Unclassified The return of the monolith Indeterminacy in computers ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 108: Nov-Dec 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The motor of the world*The innards of our planet, as presently visualized, consist of an inner core of solid iron about 2,400 kilometers in diameter. Surrounding this is a fluid outer core, which in turn is wrapped onionlike by the mantle and outer crust. Earthquakes are always sending seismic waves through these regions and jostling seismometers installed all over the globe. From this wealth of seismic signals, geophysicists have found that the inner core, lubricated by the fluid outer core, rotates about 1.1 per year faster than the mantle and crust. The inner core interacts with the geomagnetic field and is, in effect, like the rotor of a slow, ponderous induction motor. Expanding upon this vision of the earth as a colossal electrical machine, E. Stokstad writes: "Electric currents of about a billion amps flow across the boundary between the solid inner core and the fluid outer core that lies around it. In the presence of the Earth's magnetic field, these currents generate massive forces that tug on the inner core. And because the outer core has a relatively low viscosity, the inner core can spin freely." (Stokstad, Erik; "Earth's Heart Is in a Spin," New Scientist, p. 18, July 20, 1996. The basic paper is: Song, Xiadong, and Richards, Paul G.; "Seismological Evidence for Differential Rotation of the ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 113: Sep-Oct 1997 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Triangular holes in boulders America b.c . and then some! Astronomy A VANISHED PLANET? An exploded planet and the "face on mars" Biology Who's in charge down there? Acoustical pipes in beaked whales? Sheep foil cattle guards Geology Earth's shifting crust Geophysics Green thunderstorms Ball of light clocked at 1,800 miles/second! Atlantic wave heights increasing Psychology Why are dreams always retrospective? A DREAM INVENTION The view from within Unclassified Where do all good deleted data go? Can computers have ndes? ...
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... 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Anthropology Unbound When careful dating at the Monte Verde site in Chile finally smashed the Bering Strait paradigm (SF#112), it was if science had been unchained. Ideas and data that have long been suppressed in fear of professional retribution are now appearing. At the February 1998 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Philadelphia, anthropological heresies ran rampant. T. Dillehay, who directed the Monte Verde work, declared that there were 15-20 other South American sites older than 11,500 years. Monte Verde itself may have been founded 33,000 years ago. D. Stanford, Smithsonian curator of archeology, opined that there were probably several waves of prehistoric immigration into the Americas across the Arctic, the Pacific Ocean (! ), and possibly even the Atlantic (! !) . [This is heresy no longer.] Supporting early Atlantic crossings are several dozen artifacts found in the eastern U.S . that closely resemble some found in France and Iberia. Stanford said, "We don't know yet what that means." Studies of DNA diversity among New World Indian populations find such large differences that at least 30,000 years would have been needed for these differences to develop. (Assuming, of course, a relatively homogeneous group of initial colonists.) Linguist, J. Nichols, from Berkeley, sees a similar diversity in the languages of New World peoples. Some 140 language families -- half ...
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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 Exotic Seismic Signals Not all terrestrial tremors emanate from buckling crust and slipping tectonic plates. The crashing of large waves on a seashore sends "microseisms" to sensitive instruments hundreds of kilometers away. The bubblings of Old Faithful geyser give rise to an enduring and engaging "harmonic tremor." As for the more "exotic" sources of seismic signals, they had an entire session devoted to them at the Fall 1996 meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Here are two of the unusual seismic events presented there. July 10, 1996. Yosemite National Park. "At 6:52 pm PDT Wednesday, July 10, 1996, a large block of granite, with an estimated mass of 80,000 to 184,000 tons, detached from the cliff between Washburn Point and Glacier Point, in Yosemite Valley. The rock mass subsequently launched from the cliff and free-fell ballistically an estimated 550 m before impacting approximately 30 meters from the base of the cliff in the Happy Isles area of the valley floor in Yosemite National Park...This rock fall was well recorded by 3 UC Berkeley (BDSN) and Caltech (TERRAscope) broadband seismographic stations and 15 shortperiod seismographic stations (operated by the USGS in Menlo Park and the University of Nevada, Reno). In fact, it is the largest vertical rock free-fall ever recorded seismically and it registered on seismographs up to 200 km distant." (Uhrhammer, ...
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... color was blue, but it could have been like blue-white, like the star Rigel. I found that if I stepped hard or stamped my foot, the lights flashed brighter and the lit area went out farther from my foot. I could see the movement expanding out. After a stamp or two, they did not light up as much. I assumed that this was caused by some organism that lit up when it felt pressure, and 'wore out' after it had done this a few times -- a refractory period probably occurred." (Hastings, Arthur; personal communication, March 21, 1996) Comment. This is probably a pressureinduced biological phenomenon, but we have no idea what kind of organism produces the lights. Footsteps do produce a rapidly expanding pressure wave on damp sand, which whitens the sand as it moves outward. But we have never seen any luminosity on our Atlantic beaches, even on dark nights. From Science Frontiers #107, SEP-OCT 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... ) may exist in the form of particles they dub "dilatons." Dilatons might also explain the formation of the aforesaid galactic shells. "The Mexican researchers have explored a situation in which G [the gravitational constant], instead of becoming fixed after gravity separated from the other forces [after the Big Bang], has continued to oscillate by a few per cent. They have found that the mass of dilatons required to allow G to vary in this way could account for all the Universe's dark matter." A consequence of an oscillating G would be a varying rate of expansion for the universe -- a sort of ebb and flow of the whole cosmos. One can then visualize galaxies gradually clustering together into shells much as sand particles drift into ripples under the influence of waves along a beach. (Parsons, Paul; "Weird Matter Makes Gravity Wobble," New Scientist, p. 19, October 5, 1996) Clustering of distant galaxies From Science Frontiers #109, JAN-FEB 1997 . 1997-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... between them. Weak though it may be, gravity controls the trajectory of a baseball, the motion of the planets, and the shape of our Galaxy. Physicists describe gravitation with Newton's Law of Gravitation, which incorporates the Gravitational Constant G. Here's where the embarrassment arises. Many other constants of nature, such as the charge on the electron, are known to eight significant figures. We only know G to three. What's worse, modern attempts to refine the measurement of G come up with wildly different answers. Torsion-pendulum experiments in the U.S ., Germany, and New Zealand are far apart in their G-measurements. And physicists are perplexed -- to put it mildly. Of course, G is hard to measure. Seismic waves from ocean surf hundreds of miles away can affect the experiments. If a colleague a few offices away brings in some boxes of books for his library, the experiment is compromised. Better instrument science may eventually resolve the too-large discrepancies between the measured values of G, but some physicists worry that perhaps the problem runs deeper. "If experiments find that G is changing slowly over time, for example, physicists would have to rethink how space and time are stitched together in a single fabric. Einstein would groan in his grave." (Kestenbaum, David; "The Legend of Big G," New Scientist, p. 39, January 17, 1998.) From Science Frontiers #116, MAR-APR 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... cyclic fashion? If an automobile engine did this, we would take it to the garage! (Holden, Constance; "More Neutrino Mystery," Science, 273:1663, 1996.) The problem deepens: The first 102 days of neutrino data from Japan's new Super-Kamiokande detector suggest that the solar neutrino flux is greater at night than during the day, and that it also varies during the year. (Anonymous; "First Data from New Neutrino Detector," Science News, 151:279, 1997.) Once we learn how to measure neutrinos really well, we can start looking for intelligent signals impressed upon them by advanced extraterrestrial civilizations. W. Simmons and colleagues at the University of Hawaii at Manoa point out that neutrinos are much better than electromagnetic waves for galaxy-wide communication. They are not blocked by dust nor are they smeared out by ionized gas. Any civilization clever enough to colonize the entire galaxy would want to send out neutrino signals if only to keep clocks in far-flung star systems synchronized. Simmons et al calculate that a neutrino detector containing a cubic kilometer of seawater could probably detect neutrino signals from artificial sources located within 3,000 light years of earth. A detector that might be able to do this is being installed in the ocean off the Hawaiian Islands. Naturally, it has an acronym: DUMAND = Deep Underwater Muon and Neutrino Detector. (Chown, Marcus; "Do ETs Phone Home with Neutrinos?" New Scientist, p. 19, December 3, 1994.) Reference. The problem ...
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... in the lowdensity froth of bubbles, and aircraft might be adversely affected, too. This is where TWA800 comes in. R. Spalding, a scientist at Sandia National Laboratories has been monitoring mysterious atmospheric explosions and believes that some of these detonations are consistent with the atmospheric ignition of huge methane plumes. (Other detonations are due to meteors.) Spalding proposes the following scenario: The ocean floor releases a massive methane gas plume, which rapidly rises to the surface and ascends into the atmosphere. The lighter-than-air methane cloud gains altitude, mixing with oxygen and thereby gaining explosive poten tial. An electrical disturbance -- possibly caused by the rising cloud itself or a lightning strike -- detonates the cloud. Awesome energy is instantly re leased in the form of a devastating shock wave and fireball that shat ters nearby TWA Flight 800. Supporting Spalding's theory are the many reports of light flashes, light streaks, and booming/rumbling sounds accompanying the disaster. But, methane burps are bizarre, and the properties of methane hydrate are so unfamiliar to most scientists and investigators of aircraft disasters that Spalding's idea has received scant attention. (Spohn, Lawrence; "Earth 'Burp' Might Have Downed Jet, Scientists Says," Albuquerque Tribune, January 20, 1997. More appeared in the January 24, issue. Cr. R. Spalding) Comment. The phenomena accompanying methane burps are well known to SF readers. First, there are the common offshore booms that have been reported for centuries (SF#3 /283, SF#8 ...
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... Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A TWISTED COSMOS?An astronomer really risks his or her reputation if he or she suggests that the universe has a preferred direction. A core belief in cosmology maintains that no point or direction in the cosmos is in any way "special." So, B. Nodland and J.P . Ralston stirred up a hornets' nest this past spring when they published a paper that began with this paragraph: "Polarized electromagnetic radiation propagating across the Universe has its plane of polarization rotated by the Faraday effect. We report findings of an additional rotation, remaining after Faraday rotation is extracted, which may represent evidence for cosmological anisotropy on a vast scale." (Ref. 1) Most inflammatory was their claim that the plane of polarization of the radio waves rotated more along a particular direction [axis?]; specifically, along a line connecting the constellations Aquila and Sextans. (Ref. 2) Only a few days after the NodlandRalston paper was published, it was blasted in Science. The major complaint was that their data were old and incomplete, since they derived mainly from observations made prior to 1980. (Ref. 3) Indeed, a similar study using more recent measurements but fewer radiation sources seems to refute the NodlandRalston claim of a preferred direction in the cosmos. (Ref. 4) Nodland and Ralston disagree with the charges and the implications of the other study. It will be a while before this is all sorted out. The paradigm that Nodland and Ralston are challenging is deeply entrenched and of great philosophical import. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 120: Nov-Dec 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Acoustical "vision" underwater When we (and all eyed animals) see an object, we are detecting light reflected from that object. When underwater, though, our vision is limited because light does not travel far. Sound, however, does; and sound is reflected from objects just as light is. This is of course the basis of underwater sonar, in which a sound source replaces the sun or a diver's floodlight. But even without an active sound source, the ocean is full of sound. Waves, rain, and the sounds made by marine animals create a background of noise that "illuminates" objects, not directly, but from the environment in general. Using only this enveloping background sound, it is possible to create acoustical images of objects. "Vision" of this sort is equivalent to "facial vision" in blind humans, who can hear objects using the environmental sound reflected from them. J. Potter and his colleagues at the National University of Singapore have constructed an array of underwater microphones that detects "slices" of the acoustical environment around it. When processed by a computer, images of objects emerge by virtue of the background noise reflected from them. This group has also estimated the ability of dolphins to detect and process background noise. They suggest that dolphins should be able to "see" objects at least 25 feet away without even using their active sonar; that is, ...
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... weakness and "grunt" for them in several ways; say, by drawing a notched stick across the trunk of a small tree to generate vibrations. Wood turtles are said to "stomp" for worms. (SF#65) Kiwis and Kagus also stomp for their dinner. (Kagus are rather strange birds found in New Caledonia.) We have just learned that Woodcocks will beat their wings against the ground to coax earthworms within range. (Hennigan, Tom; "A Wonderfully Bizarre Bird," Creation/Ex Nihilo , 19:54, September-November 1997.) Comment. Woodcocks seem to lure worms to the surface in still another way: They "bob" or "rock" their body in a most peculiar manner. It is thought that the resulting pressure waves are transmitted to the ground through their feet and that these bring their favorite prey to where they can be grasped. (Marshall, William H.; "Does the Woodcock Bob or Rock -- and Why?" The Auk , 99:791, 1982.) The American Woodcock -- a very strange bird, said to fly off with its chicks clasped between its thighs! From Science Frontiers #114, NOV-DEC 1997 . 1997-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... tales of the catastrophe as well as their culture and agricultural know-how into these areas. The Middle East was affected, too. The traumatic experiences of the survivors may have been the basis for the Sumerian and Biblical flood stories. (Mestel, Rosie; "Noah's Flood," New Scientist, p. 24, October 4, 1997. Also: Kerr, Richard A.; "Black Sea Deluge May Have Helped Spread Farming," Science, 279:1132, 1998.) Scenario #2 . The Eltanin asteroid hits. About 2.2 million years ago, a chunk of space debris about a kilometer in diameter splashed down in the Bellingshausen Sea between Antarctica and South America. It was some splash! The splash zone was about 20 kilometers across, waves 4 kilometers high raced away from Ground Zero, and a column of salt water ascended miles high into the upper atmosphere. The TNT equivalent is estimated at 12 billion tons. Ice clouds formed and shaded the planet, causing severe climate changes. On the floor of the Bellingshausen Sea, 5 kilometers deep, lies the Eltanin Impact Structure. Today, we can still see the geological consequences thousands of kilometers from the impact point. The puzzling remains of marine diatoms in Antarctica's dry valleys may well be fallout from the cubic kilometers of seawater blasted out of the Bellingshausen Sea. More formidable were the giant tsunamis that fanned out at jet speeds toward South America and Australia. On the deep ocean these tsunamis were only 20-40 meters high, but as they approached land, they ...
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... , from distant 'brown dwarf' stars to the satellites of giant planets, may have internal heating but no effective 'Sun'. If Carnot life is possible, it may well have evolved in such dark and distant places -- making life abundant throughout the Universe. Indeed, our distant descendants may be able to harness Carnot biochemistry to sustain themselves on geothermal or residual browndwarf warmth when the Sun finally grows dim." (Jones, David; "The Dark Is Light Enough," Nature, 385:301, 1997.) Comments. To our knowledge, those who search for extraterrestrial life do not consider the possibility of Carnot creatures and wouldn't recognize them if they stumbled across them or their signals. For example, Carnot creatures might emit infrared signals rather than radio waves; and they might be immense in size. (See related item under ASTRONOMY in this issue.) From Science Frontiers #111, MAY-JUN 1997 . 1997-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A SUBMARINE ORGAN?Exactly two years ago, we reported on strange seismic signals detected by German geophysicists near Mount Semeru, in Java. These signals consisted of a fundamental tone and evenly spaced harmonics. Sometimes, the fundamental tone rose and fell. This "natural trombone" was thought to be a gas-filled subterranean cavity capped at the top by rock, with a pool of magma at the bottom. Volcanic vibrations resonated in this chamber. As the magma pool rose and fell, the fundamental tone changed. More recently, a network of seismic stations in French Polynesia has picked up more mysterious seismic signals. These differ from those in Java in that each fundamental tone is "pure"; that is, there are no harmonics. Dubbed "T -waves," the sounds originated from an active volcanic ridge in the South Pacific. Suspicion fell on one flat-topped volcano that rose to within 130 meters of the ocean surface. But, how could this peak generate such a pure tone? The theory is that the active volcano spews out a column of steam bubbles bounded at the bottom by the flat volcano and by the ocean at the top. Computer simulations proved that sound could resonate in a column of bubbles just as it does in an organ pipe. Since the height of the column remains fixed, so does the fundamental tone. Certainly harmonics are generated, too, but the bubbles damp out the higher frequencies, leaving a pure tone. (Schneider, David: "A Blue Note," Sci entific American , 277 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 101: Sep-Oct 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Death waves and seebars A comprehensive, 12-page article on seiches appeared in the July/August issue of American Scientist, and it was awash with curious observations. A seiche (pronounced "saysh") is a rhythmic rocking motion of a body of water that has been disturbed by natural forces, such as sudden weather changes and, especially, earthquakes. A famous example of the latter seichedriving force occurred on March 27, 1964, when the Great Alaskan Earthquake sent seismic waves rippling around the globe. Fourteen minutes after this quake, the tremors reached the U.S . Gulf coast and triggered numerous seiches in bays, harbors, canals, bayous, etc. Some crest-to-trough waterlevel oscillations reached 2 meters in amplitude. Startling though these seiches were to Gulf fishermen, most seiches are wellexplained. Bodies of water that are mostly enclosed have natural frequencies of oscillation or "sloshing," just as do coffee cups and bathtubs. The Alaskan quake just operated on a larger scale than a bump to your coffee cup! Short-period oscillations in the tidal record from Puerto Princesa, Palawan Island, Philippines. These are coastal seiches, but hardly "death waves"! So far, so good. But there are exists an interesting -- and sometimes dangerous -- class of related events that affects open coastal waters. The Irish call them "death waves." In the Baltic, they are ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 98: Mar-Apr 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Earthquake Ripples In The Ionosphere During the January 1994 Northridge earthquake in California, the ground surface acted like a drumhead. By suddenly shoving the surface upwards by about 40 centimeters, the quake generated atmospheric disturbances that spread skyward at velocities of 1,000-2 ,200 kilometers/hour. Upon reaching the ionosphere, the waves created ripples that were detected by the array of navigational satellites that make up the Global Positioning System (GPS). (Monastersky, Richard; "Bouncing an Earthquake off the Sky," Science News, 146:415, 1994) Comment. The great 1964 Alaskan quake not only blasted the ionosphere, it generated air waves that were detected by a microbarograph at Berkeley, California, 3,130 kilometers away. See GSW2 in Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds. For a description of this volume, visit here . From Science Frontiers #98, MAR-APR 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... sunswept lagoons into the superficially featureless Pacific. How did these peoples, a thousand years ago, sail reliably from one speck of land to another, thousands of miles distant? The archeology of Oceania confirms that the Polynesians made such voyages centuries before they learned about compasses and navigation satellites. But were these voyages anomalous; that is, did the Pacific peoples possess devices or talents unrecognized today by mainstream science? For the most part, the answer seems to be NO. While the navigational abilities of the Polynesian seafarers seemed supernatural to early European explorers, it has been convincingly demonstrated -- through modern voyages -- that the senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch, and time-passage are and were sufficient for most interisland voyages. The early Pacific navigators were adept at observing the waves, stars, birds, clouds, winds, and several other natural phenomena that carry subtle directional cues. There are, however, modern instances in which Pacific navigators bereft of the usual sensory cues seem to employ an anomalous "sense." B. Finney, in his study of the possibility of human magnetoreception, tells how one native Hawaiian navigator, though wellschooled in traditional Polynesian navigational techniques, conquered the dread doldrums on a 3,000mile voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti in a way we might call "psychic.". In the doldrums, the sky is often overcast and the seas leaden, expunging the usual cues. This particular navigator, Nainoa Thompson, entered the doldrums on a black night, with 100% cloud cover. The wind was switching around and the waves cueless ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 93: May-Jun 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Giant Crystal At The Heart Of The Earth Geophysicists have been forced to consider this possibility because of two anomalies: Seismic waves from earthquakes pass through the earth's core faster when they travel parallel to the earth's axis than when they travel in the plane of the equator. The transit time difference is 2-4 seconds. Apparently, the earth's core is not perfectly spherical or its properties are different in different directions. The natural vibration or "ringing" frequencies of the earth are "split," that is, instead of a series of single "tones" we detect a series of closely paired frequencies. This is symptomatic of a core that is anisotropic; that is, its properties are different in different directions. J. Tromp, of Harvard, may have de-anomalized both sets of observations with a single theory: "For the shape of the core alone to explain the observations, he says, the shape of the inner core would have to be very unrealistic. Instead, he claims that the inner core behaves like a giant asymmetric crystal, aligned with the Earth's axis so that seismic waves travel faster in that direction. Tromp's analysis fits neatly with suggestions that the inner core is made of a high-pressure phase of iron in which the atoms are close-packed in hexagons, because such a 'sigma' phase is anisotropic." But, ...
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... Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Expanding Luminescent Rings Three sets of expanding phosphorescent rings observed on October 14, 1960, in the Gulf of Oman March 26, 1993. Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf. Aboard the m.v . Liverpool Bay , Jeddah to Jebel Ali. "At 1540 UTC while the vessel was transiting the Strait of Hormuz westbound, within the traffic separation scheme, it was strangely illuminated for several minutes by what turned out to be bioluminescent organisms. Bearing in mind the size of the vessel and the height of the containers above the water (about 25 m) the intensity of the light produced was remarkable. "The first appearance could only be described as something out of a science fiction novel, as the vessel moved through a wave-like form of light which initially appeared to be above the water in the pitch-black night. Shortly afterwards an area to port at a distance of several hundred metres exhibited an even more amazing display of concentric circles emanating from a single point; the star board side maintained the more broken wave form but retained the same intensity of light. The vessel and deck containers were illuminated by an eerie and variable glow." (Welch, J.W .; "Bioluminescence," Marine Observer, 64:14, 1994.) From Science Frontiers #92, MAR-APR 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 95: Sep-Oct 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Music Of The Hemispheres 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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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 97: Jan-Feb 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The 627-foot water slide between australia and india The world ocean, when viewed close-up from ship or airplane, displays the familiar microstructure of waves and currents. The view from a satellite, thousands of miles up, is startling to say the least. Huge bulges hundreds of feet high and hundreds of miles in extent appear when satellite radar altimeter data are plotted. Equally large depressions in the ocean surface also show up -- none obvious to surface observers. This unexpected macrostructure of the ocean surface is shaped by variations in the strength of the earth's gravitational field and sea-bottom terrain. Wherever the gravitational field is stronger, it creates a depression on the fluid surface. German geophysicists, in fact, have drawn a global map of the ocean's large-scale topography, as measured from the European Space Agency's ERS-1 satellite. The surface of the world ocean departs wildly from a smooth sphere. On their colored map: "Brilliant pink and red areas are continental-size mounds of water most notable northeast of Australia, where the sea topography is up to 85 meters (280 ft.) higher than the standard ocean level. Just to the west near India, deep blue indicates a 105-meter (346-ft.) deep depression in the sea surface. Major differences in the gravity fields and terrain underlying the two regions cause a variation of 190 meters ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 101: Sep-Oct 1995 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology FROM THE SUNSWEPT LAGOON Astronomy THE METAL-FROSTED MOUNTAINS OF VENUS! ALH 84001: A MESSAGE FROM MARS OR PERHAPS SOME OTHER PLANET IRONCLAD PROOF OF THE MOON'S ORIGIN? Biology THE ALGORITHMIC BEAUTY OF SEASHELLS MORE HEAR EARS DRAGON FISH SEE RED MALE DOLPHIN KILLS MAN Geology POLAR-BEAR BONES CONFOUND ICE-AGE PROPONENTS A TRIPLE ANOMALY IN A DIAMOND THE GIANT LANDSLIDES OF HAWAII "ALMOST INCONCEIVABLE" CHANGES IN THE GEOMAGNETIC FIELD CHINA'S BERMUDA TRIANGLE Geophysics DEATH WAVES AND SEEBARS STRANGE PHENOMENON DETECTED BY RADARS AND SATELLITES AN ASTONISHING MEDLEY OF BIO LUMINESCENT DISPLAYS Unclassified THE GREAT EXODUS ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 102: Nov-Dec 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Warm lake found under antarctic ice sheet Russian scientists using "ice radar" and artificial seismic waves have discovered a vast warmwater lake under their Antarctic base. Named after the Russian base, which is located 1,300 kilometers from the South Pole, Lake Vostok lies under 3,800 meters of solid ice and, apparently, directly under the base. This remarkable body of water was reported in the journal Kyokuchi , published by the Japan Polar Research Association. The lake is 250 kilometers long, 40 wide, and 400 meters deep. Obviously, it requires some sort of explanation as to why is not frozen. Two theories have been proposed: (1 ) Heat from the earth's interior has kept it from freezing; (2 ) The lake has not yet had time enough to freeze after a temperate period that ended about 5,000 years ago. (Anonymous; "Lake Discovered beneath Antarctic Ice," The Japan Times , May 23, 1995. Cr. N. Masuya) Comment. Can there be a connection between this discovery and the ice-free Antarctica suggested by C.H . Hapgood in his Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings ? From Science Frontiers #102 Nov-Dec 1995 . 1995-2000 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 A Subterranean Trombone In 1992, while making seismic recordings near Java's Mount Semeru, a German scientific team noticed that the seismic waves were much more regular than one would expect from deep volcanic activity. Their recordings revealed a series of evenly spaced harmonic frequencies. They likened it to a musical instrument emitting a fundamental note accompanied by overtones. Sometimes, the fundamental tone would rise and fall, as if the mountain were playing a tune for them. The Germans, V. Schlindwein et al, postulated that the vibrations originated in a gas-filled cavity, presumably cylindrical -- something like an organ pipe -- capped at the top, with a pool of molten magma at the bottom. Volcanic vibrations resonated in this chamber and, as the magma pool rose and fell, so did the fundamental tone. Rather than a fixed organ pipe, it was a natural trombone! Unfortunately, the "earth music" was always in the infrasound range, 8 Hertz and less, and could not be heard by the researchers directly -- only their instruments could "listen." (Schneider, David; "Country Music," Scientific American, 273:28, November 1995.) Comments. There is no physical reason why such a subterranean trombone cannot play in the audible range. Such a mechanism might explain some of the mysterious hums heard in various localities, such as the Taos hum. (SF#88 ...
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... written human history, lead J. Hartung to warn us that June is a dangerous month for earthlings. June 18, 1178. On the moon. ". .. just after sunset, it was reported by at least five men that the 'upper horn of a new moon split and from the division point fire, hot coals, and sparks spewed out.'" These observations have been interpreted as eyewitness accounts of the impact on the moon that gouged out the crater named Giordano Bruno, 20 kilometers in diameter. June 30, 1908. Siberia. "On the morning of June 30, 1908, a tremendous explosion deep in the Siberian taiga near the Tunguska river caused trees over an area of 40 km in diameter to be flattened in a radial pattern and produced a pressure wave in the atmosphere which circled the Earth." June 17-27, 1975. On the moon. ". .. an unusual meteoroid 'storm' was detected by the array of seismometers placed on the moon during the Apollo missions. The peak impact rate on the moon of 0.5 -to-50-kg objects was about 10 times the normal background during this interval. Such a high rate was not recorded at any other time during the 8-year operation of the Apollo passive seismic network." Hartung links all three events to the comet Encke and the closely related Taurid Complex of naturally occuring space debris. Some chunks in this wide stream of space debris are measured in kilometers and, if they hit the earth, would far outclass the infamous Siberian projectile ...
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... , and it is to this that we now turn. Apparently, there were three bolides or fireballs seen. Father Fidello wrote: "They landed in the centre of the forest with a triple shock similar to the rumble of thunder and the splash of lightning. There were three distinct explosions, each stronger than the other, causing earth tremors like those of an earthquake. A very light rain of ash continued to fall for a few hours and the sun remained veiled till midday. The explosions of the bodies were heard hundreds of kilometres away." (Ref.1 ) M.E . Bailey singles out two puzzling features of the Brazilian event: (1 ) the fall of dust before the fireballs were observed; and (2 ) the lack of any mention of a blast wave. Further, the L'Osservatore Romano account does not say anything about extensive forest fires. (Ref. 1; see Ref. 2 for a synopsis.) Circa December 11, 1935. British Guiana (now Guyana). Only five years after the Brazilian event, a large bolide apparently smashed into the jungle of Guyana. Buried in the library stacks, we found a mostly forgotten trio of reports on the 1935 event in a 1939 issue of The Sky, predecessor of Sky & Telescope. The articles suggest that the devastated area "may equal or exceed that of the great Siberian meteor of 1908." The bolide and apparent impact area were observed by a gold prospector, a Dr. G. Davidson. Davidson testified: "About 10:30 in the morning ...
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... an intrinsic, brain-specific code. Direct stimulation of these codes within the human temporal or limbic cortices by applied electromagnetic patterns may require energy levels which are within the range of both geomagnetic activity and contemporary communication networks. A process which is coupled to the narrow band of brain temperature could allow all normal human brains to be affected by a subharmonic whose frequency range at about 10 Hz would only vary by 0.1 Hz." (Ref. 1) Second, Jahn sees a remarkably similar information channel, but of a cryptic nature, connecting humans to the environment in PEAR's psychokinesis and remoteviewing experiments. In describing his model of this information channel, Jahn writes: "Like physical light (energy) and elementary particles (mass), consciousness (information) enjoys a wave/ particle duality that allows it to circumvent and penetrate barriers and to resonate with other consciousnesses and with appropriate aspects of the environment. Thereby it can both acquire and insert information, both objective and subjective, from and to its resonant partners." (Ref. 2) The immense body of empirical data amassed by Jahn's PEAR laboratory certainly suggests the existence of an allpervading information-transfer medium that is independent of space and time. Persinger relies upon a different corpus of research: neurological experiments as well as scores of his own studies of the effects of the geomagnetic environment upon human perception and consciousness. Both Jahn and Persinger write of information flow. The ideas of brain matrices and resonances are not too dissimilar. Persinger relies upon the electromagnetic medium; Jahn's is not ...
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... appliance, some of the trees adjacent to the antenna have enjoyed an unexpected spurt in growth, according to D. Reed and G. Mroz of the Michigan Technological University. "The researchers have been gathering data on the growth of trees since 1985, making measurements at two sites, one near the antenna and the other 50 kilometers away. The results seem to suggest that the electromagnetic field has a subtle influence on the forest. They found that two species of trees, northern red oak and paper birch, do not seem to be influenced by the antenna at all. But red pines near the antenna grew taller than red pines at the distant site, while aspen and red maple grew thicker than their counterparts further off." (Kiernan, Vincent; "Forest Grows Tall on Radio Waves," New Scientist, p. 5, January 14, 1995) Trees are not the only plants affected. Algae in the upper Ford River, where the field is only 10% as strong as that near the antenna, increased chlorophyll production sharply after the antenna started operation. The cause of the growth spurts in trees and algae is still a mystery. (Holden, Constance; "EMF Good for Trees?" Science, 267:451, 1995.) From Science Frontiers #98, MAR-APR 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... , some shell patterns are easy to understand. A series of vertical stripes -- that is, stripes running perpendicular to the growing edge -- implies a static distribution of pigment secreting cells in the mantle margin. Where a cell or group of cells is permanently turned on, there is a dark stripe of pigment, and where the cells are dormant, there is an unpigmented space. The complementary pattern -- horizontal stripes, parallel to the growing edge -- results from a temporal rather than a spatial oscillation. All the secretory cells turn off and on in synchrony, so that light and dark bands are left behind on the surface of the shell as the growing edge moves on." All well and good, but some seashells have intricate patterns that require modellers to imagine traveling waves of excitation, oscillating chemical systems, signals that travel faster than chemical diffusion, and longrange synchrony employing a "global control element." These patterngenerating schemes are clever and rather successful on the theoretical level. Indeed, the seashell modellers are rather smug about their accomplishments. (Hayes, Brian; "SpaceTime on a Seashell," American Scientist, 83:214, 1995.) Comment. The seashell modellers, of course, do not have to explain how or why "global control elements" evolved. The biological rendering of "long-range synchrony" is left unexplained. Although humans will pay large sums for intricately patterned seashells, the anomalist must ask why these patterns exist at all? Why are they beautiful? Of what use are the patterns to the sea-shell ...
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... offshore stipled areas show the major submarine landslides. Application of the distance scale proves their immense areal extents. Depth contours are in kilometers! The heavy dashed line marks the axis of the Hawaiian Deep. Most landslides are not anomalous, but some of those that occurred on the flanks of the Hawaiian Islands are so immense that anomalists should at least take note of them. J. Moore et al have been mapping and sampling huge blocks of rock that slid off the sides of Mauna Loa in the socalled South Kona landslide. These blocks of lava and basalt are truly giants. One was measured at 10 kilometers in length, 300 meters in thickness. Some of these colossal chunks of rock slid 80 kilometers (50 miles) out to sea during the late Pleistocene. Imagine the tsunami (tidal wave) this landslide must have generated! (Moore, James G., et al; "Giant Blocks in the South Kona Landslide, Hawaii," Geology, 23:125, 1995.) Comment. The South Kona landslide, or one like it, and the resulting tsunami might account for the curious distribution of sand dunes along the coast of New South Wales, Australia. See Science Frontiers #85. From Science Frontiers #101 Sep-Oct 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects 90-DAY SEA-LEVEL OSCILLATION AT WAKE ISLAND Most North Americans are familiar with rather powerful diurnal tides. The oceans, however, also move in ponderous cycles that beachcombers can never appreciate. Thanks to data from Geosat's precision altimeter, geophysicists can now discern some of these long-period moving patterns on the oceans' surfaces. "Energetic 90-day oscillations of sea levels have been intermittently observed at Wake Island in the western tropical Pacific during the past 2 decades. The oscillations tend to occur about 1.5 years after El NinoSouthern Oscillation events, to have amplitudes of 10-15 cm, and to persist for about 1 year. Sea-surface heights from the Geosat altimeter are used to establish that these signals take the form of Rossby waves and have an energy source near the Big Island of Hawaii, which lies 40 of longitude to the east. Sea-level and upper-layer currents from an eddy-resolving numerical model are examined and suggest that the energy source is eddies generated off the Big Island of Hawaii. These eddies appear to be associated with westward currents that intermittently impinge on the island." (Mitchum, Gary T.; "The Source of 90-Day Oscillations at Wake Island," Journal of Geophysical Research, 100:2459, 1995.) Comment. Such eddies would have to persist for long periods to survive the long trip to Wake Island some 2500 miles away. In this, they must be like the current rings that break off from the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic. From ...
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... place in 1992 in a sparsely populated area about 9 km away from the first one. For some years before the explosions, there were signs of increased tectonic activity in the region: a great number of 'fireballs' and so-called UFOs, evidence of slow ground deformation, and so on. For about several hours before the 1991 explosion, in many places, people saw numerous 'fireballs,' often accompanied by rumbling and even ground vibrations. In many houses, animals began to be anxious. Some people felt ill. Railroad communication devices failed. About 1 minute before the explosion, noise appeared in broadcast radio receivers, this soon jammed all radio stations. At a distance of up to several hundred kilometers from the epicenter, some people said that they felt a "heat wave" and suffocation. Near the epicenter, a bright flash with a duration of several seconds and an explosion (thunder and ground shock) took place. (According to some reports. at first a 'glowing object' flew down to the ground.) Probably light phenomena were present at some other places. "The 1991 Sasovo explosion was accompanied by a number of intri-guing phenomena, sometimes resembling (ball) lightning and even tornado damage. There was some unusual and selective damage in the town and even in the village 20 km from the epicenter. Azimuth distribution of hurled frozen soil from the crater and damage had four lobes. But, on the other hand, a tree 10 m from the epicenter was undamaged. There was no damage on the ground level at a ...
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... , 1994, what may be the largest deep earthquake of the century -- magnitude 8.2 -- exploded 640 kilometers beneath Bolivia. "Exploded" may or may not be the proper word. Geophysicists are really not certain what causes the very deep quakes, because at 640 kilometers rocks are so hot that they flow rather than snap under geological stresses. The more common, shallow earthquakes are generally created when rocks snap and fracture. Since the deep quakes seem to be concentrated in subducted slabs of terrestrial crust that plunge down deep into the earth's mantle, geophysicists suppose that the increasing heat and pressure applied to the descending slabs may cause "explosive" phase changes in minerals contained in the slabs. Phase changes often involve volume changes that, if sudden, might generate seismic waves. Too, water of hydration in minerals may be explosively turned into vapor. But this is all surmise at present. The Bolivian quake also caused the whole earth to ring like a bell. Every 20 minutes or so, the entire planet expanded and contracted a minute but detectable amount. Another surprise: the Bolivian earthquake was felt a far away as Seattle -- the first time that a quake in that part of South America has been actually felt in North America. (Kerr, Richard A.; "Bolivian Quake Deepens a Mystery," Science, 264:1659, 1994. Also: Monastersky, R.; "Great Quake in Bolivia Rings Earth's Bell," Science News, 145:391, 1994.) Deep-focus earthquakes are cataloged in ...
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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 Anomalous Radar Echoes And Visual Phenomenon Band-shaped "ghosts" seen on radar off the east coast of Africa. November 16, 1994. Eastern North Atlantic. Aboard the m.v . City of Durban . Enroute from Le Havre to Capetown. As seen by three of the ship's officers: "At 2230 UTC the observers noted on both the 3-cm and 10-cm radars, as well as visually, a wave or band-like phenomenon shown as a succession of 'bands' approximately 4 n.mile long with a uniform separation of about 0.8 n.mile. "The bands appeared as if they were precipitation but on passing through one of them nothing was observed nor were there any other particles [i .e ., no wind-blown dust], seeing as the vessel was off the West African coast at the time. The bands themselves caused a rippling effect on the sea surface of roughly 150 m wide, giving an otherwise calm sea a black appearance beneath them on what was a well moonlit night. Although the phenomenon looked like rain bands, the observers could not give an otherwise definite solution for it." (Herring, R.M .; "Radar Echoes," Marine Observer, 65:170, 1995) From Science Frontiers #103, JAN-FEB 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Some Shaky Observations Back in SF#65, we offered an item on how wood turtles stomp the ground to force earthworms out of their burrows. (When humans do this -- and they do -- it is called "grunting for worms!) Other animals also use vibrations for communication and, rather surprisingly, for cutting leaves. Malaysian tree frogs. Zoologists already knew that Puerto Rican white-lipped frogs use vibrations to communicate amongst themselves. The Malaysian tree frog can now be added to the list of substrate vibrators. The female will sit on a reed or small sapling and tap out a "come-hither" message with her toes. The message goes forth in minute seismic waves. The males detect these vibrations and proceed, sometimes in great numbers, to the source of the vibrations, and the species is thereby perpetuated. (Mestel, Rosie; "Courting Tree Frogs Make the Earth Move," New Scientist, p. 8, December 10, 1994.) Leaf-cutting ants. Leaf-cutting ants neatly excise penny-size pieces of leaves and tote them back to their fungus gardens. J. Tautz and colleagues, University of Wurtzburg, noted that the ants chirped as they sliced at the leaves with their jaws. With a little instrumentation, they discovered that during each chirp both ant and leaf vibrated at about 1,000 hertz. The vibration apparently rigidizes soft leaf tissues and makes them easier to cut. The same principle is used ...
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... generating capabilities of rattlesnake rattles. Snakes were not blessed with the voltage-generating organs of electric fish, but the simple act of slithering along the ground can generate potentials of 100-1 ,000 volts. In fact, their dry skin seems adapted to generating and retaining electrical charge. Even more curious, laboratory experiments with snake rattles demonstrate that they can generate 75-100 volts when shaken! What is the electrostatic payoff for snakes in their search for prey? It is hard to say. Who has followed hungry snakes around checking on their electric fields? A clue may lie in the ways snakes use their forked tongues in hunting. When following a chemical trail, snakes usually touch surfaces with their flicking tongues. In general exploration, when chemical trails are absent, snakes seem to wave their tongues up and down in a distinctive manner, avoiding surfaces. Herpetologists usually ascribe this action to chemical "sniffing." However, W.T . Vonstille and W.T . Stille, III, venture a different explanation: "The fact that moist air is conductive for the electric charges that exist on the Earth's surface could be very important to a snake's survival. The airborne plumes of moisture exhaled by animals and flowing out from under cover are invaded by static charges from the Earth and could be detected by snakes." (Vonstille, W.T ., and Stille, W.T ., III; "Electrostatic Sense in Rattlesnakes," Nature, 370:184, 1994.) From Science Frontiers #96, NOV-DEC ...
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... those following nuclear atmospheric explosions. The Tunguska object left no smoky trail like many fireballs, but rather irridescent bands that looked like a rainbow. Following the "explosion," at least part of the object continued on in the same direction but veered upwards. [Meteors sometimes skip out of the atmosphere on trajectories like this.] Although the Tunguska event occurred on June 30, 1908, optical anomalies appeared all across northern Europe as early as June 23. These included mesospheric, silvery clouds, very bright nights, colorful twilight afterglows [something like those following the Krakatoa eruption], and remarkably intense and long-lasting solar halos. Some of these effects persisted until late July. Neither craters nor meteoric debris have been discovered so far, despite assiduous searches. The explosion created a shock wave that leveled 2150 km2 of taiga and a flash that singed about 200 km2. (Vasilyev, N.V .; "The Tunguska Meteorite: A Dead-Lock or the Start of a New Stage of Inquiry?" RIAP Bulletin, 1;3 , nos. 3-4 , July-December 1994, and 2:1 , no. 1, January-March 1995. RIAP = Research Institute on Anomalous Phenomena, P.O . Box 4684, 310022 Kharkov-22, UKRAINE) From Science Frontiers #100, JUL-AUG 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 84: Nov-Dec 1992 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology THE "AMERICA BEFORE COLUMBUS" American pygmies Astronomy Galactic shell game Quasar redshift clusters and (even worse) multiple redshifts Biology It came from within Odd growths found on satellite Cat**cats The hunt for the magnetoreceptor Geology A PERMIAN POLAR FOREST The orbiting mountains below Geophysics Mysterious smoke in sri lanka ROCKET LIGHTNING PHOTOGRAPHED FROM SPACE The florida rogue wave Current treads in the north pacific Solitary waves Atlantic waves getting bigger Psychology Psichotomy THE WOMAN WHO COULDN'T DESCRIBE ...
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