107 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 47: Sep-Oct 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects How The Cheetah Lost Its Stotts "Faced with a predator, for example, a cheetah, many deer, antelope and other bovids turn tail and run. But they also go in for a very curious display, before and during the run. They bounce up in the air, keeping all four legs straight. Stotting, as the display is known, must make the animal visible, and presumably also vulnerable to the predator. It certainly attracts the human observer's attention, and there has been no shortage of 'explanations' for this strange behavior." Actually, at least 11 hypotheses have been proposed. T. Caro has observed Thomson's gazelles stott on more than 200 occasions, usually in response to a cheetah or himself. Caro thinks that adult gazelles stott to proclaim to the cheetah that it has been detected and no longer has surprise in its favor. Cheetahs often do give up after stotting. Further, stotting gazelles have never been seen to be caught -- so far. (Anonymous; "How the Cheetah Lost Its Stotts," New Scientist, p. 34, June 19, 1986.) Reference. More information on stotting and other unusual mammalian behavior, see BMB32 in our catalog: Biological Anomalies: Mammals I. Ordering information here . A springbok stotting or 'pronking' From Science Frontiers #47, SEP-OCT 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 45: May-Jun 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Scant Ant Chromosomes The Australian ant Myrmecia pilosula, called the "bulldog ant" because of its viciousness, carries all its genetic information in a single pair of chromosomes. (Males are haploid and have just one chromosome.) Although classified as a "primitive" ant, the bulldog ant exhibits complex social behavior and is obviously far from a simple biological entity. Biologists were therefore surprised to find all genetic instruction residing in a single chromosome pair. Social insects tend to have higher chromosome numbers. It is also interesting that Myrmecia pilosula, originally described as a single species, actually consists of several distinct sibling species with chromosome numbers (i .e ., pairs) of 9, 10, 16, 24, 30, 3l, and 32. Yet, they all look pretty much alike. (Crosland, Michael W.J ., and Crozier, Ross H.; Myrmecia pilosula, an Ant with Only One Pair of Chromosomes," Science, 23l:1278, 1986.) Comment. Chromosome number or the sheer quantity of genetic material seems poorly correlated with biological complexity. From Science Frontiers #45, MAY-JUN 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 41: Sep-Oct 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Restless Gold Thanks to the development of high-resolution electron microscopes and video recorders, we can now watch the bizarre behavior of tiny solid particles, which, it turns out, are not so solid after all. Ultrafine particles of gold about 18 Angstrom units across, containing only about 500 atoms, are not statis aggregations. The shapes of the particles are always changing. The gold atoms move cooperatively to shift kaleidoscope-like into various crystal structures. They have, in fact, been dubbed 'quasi-solids.' A large gold particle may even ingest smaller gold particles. The phenomena have no explanations as yet. (Anonymous; "Japanese Gold in Atomic Motion," Nature, 315:628, 1985.) From Science Frontiers #41, SEP-OCT 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 47: Sep-Oct 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Unpredictable Things Simple spherical pendulums are fixtures of physics labs, to say nothing of grandfather clocks. It is now widely recognized that pendulums can behave chaotically; that is, unpredictably. As the pendulum bob swings farther away from its rest position, the restoring force becomes nonlinear; i.e ., not proportional to the displacement. At some combination of displacement and driving frequency, a region of chaos may develop, in which theory is powerless to tell what is going to happen next. "It is not just the behavior of pendulums that has sprung this surprise. Systems as diverse as simple electrical circuits, dynamos, lasers, chemical reactions and heart cells behave in an analogous way and the implications extend far beyond these examples -- to matters such as weather forecasting, populations of biological species, physiological and psychiatric medicine, economic forecasting and perhaps the evolution of society." (Tritton, David; "Chaos in the Swing of a Pendulum," New Scientist, p. 37, July 24, 1986.) Comment. Some of the anomalies we record may be the consequence of simple systems gone wild. Chaotic motions of some asteroids and at least one solar system moon are already suspected. Imagine what might happen in much more complex systems, such as biological evolution (hopeful monsters?), brain development (idiot savants?), etc. From Science Frontiers #47, SEP-OCT 1986 . 1986 ...
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... ) of a sudden and intense increase in global geomagnetic activity. To test this visual observation, a near-complete account of these episodes for which the inception dates were recorded and verified was examined. Statistical samples clearly indicated that global geomagnetic activity (aa index) on the day or day after the onset of these episodes was significantly higher than the geomagnetic activity on the days before or afterwards. The same temporal pattern was noted for historical cases and for those that have occurred more recently. The pattern was similar for episodes that occurred in North America and Europe. The results were statistically significant and suggest that these unusual episodes may be some form of natural phenomena that are associated with geophysical factors." (Gearhart, Livingston, and Persinger, M.A .; "Geophysical Variables and Behavior: XXXIII. Onsets of Historical and Contemporary Poltergeist Episodes Occurred with Sudden Increases in Geomagnetic Activity," Perceptual and Motor Skills, 62:463, 1986.) Comment. To put this interesting item in perspective, one must realize that few established scientists recognize the reality of poltergeists. From Science Frontiers #46, JUL-AUG 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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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... UFO reports per month during this classic UFO flap were correlated 0.80 with the sum of the earthquake magnitudes per month for events within 150 km of the report area. Numbers of UFO reports were not correlated significantly with earthquake activity at distances greater than 150 km but less than 250 km away. The strongest correlation occurred between UFO reports and nearby seismic activity within the same month but not for previous or consequent months. Close scrutiny of daily shifts of epicenters and reports of UFOs indicated that they occurred when the locus of successive epicenters shifted across the area. These analyses were interpreted as support for the existence of strain fields whose movements generate natural phenomena that are reported as UFOs." (Persinger, M.S ., and Derr, J.S .; "Geophysical Variables and Behavior: XXIII. Relations between UFO Reports within the Uinta Basin and Local Seismicity," Perceptual and Motor Skills, 60:143, 1985.) Comment. The "natural phenomena" mentioned above are probably close kin or identical to earthquake lights. An earli-er paper by Persinger alone in the same journal (60:59, 1985) links transient and very localized geophysical forces to such psychic phenomena as haunts and poltergeist activity. These two papers are the latest in a long series, mostly authored by Persinger, in this psychological journal. Calculated correlations between seismic activity and UFO observations in the Uinta Basin. From Science Frontiers #40, JUL-AUG 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 34: Jul-Aug 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Are parasites really the masters?All animals harbor parasites; and some parasites even have their own parasites. The usual effect of a parasite upon its host is debilitation, often to the point of death. But parasites have to reproduce, and some settle for the modification of their hosts in ways that improve their chances. Parasites can change the size, color, and even the behavior of their host. The object is usually to encourage a specific predator to eat the host so the parasite can continue its life cycle. A classic example is the lan-cet fluke which infests ants and then sheep. The problem is that sheep don't normally eat ants, giving the flukes a chance to switch vehicles. So, the innovative flukes somehow force the ants to crawl to the tops of plants and lock themselves there with their jaws. The next hungry sheep that comes along has his meal seasoned with ants. The bulk of the present article deals with thorny-headed worms, which are not as endearing as the lancet flukes. These parasites are merely bags of reproductive organs attached to a thorny probiscus, by which they attach themselves to the intestinal walls of vertebrates. Living in a sea of processed nutrients, the worms don't even have a digestive tract. Part of the life cycle of this parasite is spent in arthropods (insects, crustaceans). As with the lancet fluke, the thorny-headed worm ...
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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. 31: Jan-Feb 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects What causes the sunspot cycle?Even since the sunspot cycle was discovered, a few people have been trying to prove that it is caused by the influence of the planets, particularly Jupiter with its 11.86-year period. A century of various correlations has convinced almost no one. John P. Bagby has now introduced a new piece to the puzzle of solar-system cyclic behavior. While searching for possible perturbations of the planets due to a tenth major planet or a dark massive solar companion (MSC), he discovered that the perihelia of the outer planets (orbital points closest to the sun) were being disturbed with an average period of 11.2 years. This is almost exactly the sunspot period. This serendipitous finding caused Bagby to wonder whether some common influence was causing not only the sunspot cycle and those perturbations in outer-planet perihelia but also cyclic volcanic and seismic activity on earth. Some correlations indeed do indicate a sun-earth link of some sort. Bagby suggests two possibilities: (1 ) Mutual resonance effects between the planets, (2 ) The effects of a massive solar companion. (Bagby, John P.; "New Support for the Planetary Theory of Sunspots," privately circulated paper, 1983.) Comment. Even "farther out" is the thought that gravitational waves or some unrecognized influence from the galaxy or beyond causes the whole solar system to "ring." In ...
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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 The hypothesis of formative causation lives!Rupert Sheldrake's hypothesis has been roundly condemned by many scientists, presumably because it departs so radically from current thinking. Basically, the hypothesis maintains that the forms of things (from crystals to life forms) and the behavior of organisms is influenced by "morphic resonance emanating from past events." Convergent evolution, wherein human eyes closely resemble squid eyes, might well be explained by the hypothesis. Sheldrake has been testing his idea in various ways. One experiment involves the accompanying illustration containing a hidden image. Once the solution of this illustration is learned, it is hard to forget, but few people see the answer right off. The hypothesis of formative causation insists that once one or more persons learn the drawing's secret, the easier it will be for others to see the solution. Actual tests consisted of broadcasting the illustration and its solution (that is, the hidden image) on English television combined with before-and-after checks elsewhere in the world outside TV range. The results strongly supported the hypothesis, for it was far easier for people outside England to identify the hidden images after the broadcast. (Sheldrake, Rupert; "Formative Causation: The Hypothesis Supported," New Scientist, 100:279, 1983.) Comment. With all this prior publicity, the hidden image should pop immediately into the reader's mind. But if it doesn' ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mima Mounds In The Kenya Highlands Mima Mounds are rarely reported outside the western United States. But Kenya has them, too. At elevations of 1500-3600 meters on Mt. Kenya, fields of mounds up to 6 meters in diameter and 1.5 meters high have been described. Cox and Gakahu have studied some of these African mounds and find them much like the North American Mima Mounds. They are found well above the range of the rhizomyid mole rat, a rodent similar to the North American pocket gopher in size and behavior. Quantitative measurements indicate the mounds to be constructed from dirt immediately surrounding the mounds. In short, the African mounds and probably those of North America seem to be the products of industrious rodents. (Cox, George W., and Gakahu, Christopher G.; "The Formation of Mima Mounds in the Kenya Highlands: A Test of the Dalquest-Scheffer Hypothesis," Journal of Mammalogy, 65:149, 1984.) From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 35: Sep-Oct 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Halley's comet is winking at us Halley's Comet, still a billion kilometers away, is just beginning to emit gases at the urging of the sun's rays. It should, therefore, be getting brighter -- and it is -- but its brightness pulsates. A French team of scientists, led by Jean Lecacheux, has determined that Halley's Comet flares up at regular intervals just over 24 hours apart. We usually do not study comets carefully until they are very close to the sun, so we don't know if this blinking behavior is typical or not. The most reasonable explanation is that Halley's Comet rotates about every 24 hours and that its surface is not uniform. One portion of its surface may be brighter or emit more luminous gases than the rest. In any event, we have a new astronomical curiosity. (Lloyd, Andrew; "Halley's Comet Is Blinking," New Scientist, p. 20, May 24, 1984.) Reference. Cometary outbursts are cataloged at ACO20 in The Sun and Solar System Debris. This Catalog volume is described here . From Science Frontiers #35, SEP-OCT 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 28: Jul-Aug 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Memory in food-hoarding birds Birds are not popularly thought to possess superlative memories, but the behavior of food-hoarding birds proves this is untrue. Several species of birds gather huge quantities of food when it is abundant and cache it for later use. On the surface this trait does not seem remarkable, but a look at the numbers of caches involved belies this superficial evaluation, especially to a species who forgot where he put the car keys a few hours ago. Take Clark's nutcracker as an ex-ample. A bird of the U.S . Southwest, Clark's nutcracker harvests conifer seeds when in season and buries them for future use during the rest of the year. One bird may bury as many as 33,000 seeds in thousands of caches, 4-5 seeds per cache. Its memory guides it back to those caches during the next year. (Shettleworth, Sara J.; "Memory in Food-Hoarding Birds,; Scientific American, 248:102, March 1983.) Comment. Such capabilities should not be filed away under "Isn't nature wonderful?" or "Gee whiz!" The import of these special characteristics is suggested in a quote from the article: ". .. certain species have adaptive specializations that make them particularly good at learning and remembering things it is important for them to know." From Science Frontiers #28, JUL ...
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... No. 31: Jan-Feb 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ri Seen In June 1983, a three-man team travelled to New Ireland, off the coast of New Guinea, to track down the ri, an unrecognized aquatic mammal with some mermaid overtones. The natives of New Ire-land kill and eat the ri, which they insist is different from the dugong. The team was fortunate to observe a ri from as close as 50 feet as it hunted fish in Elizabeth Bay. The animals was 5-7 feet long, skinny and fast. No dorsal fin was seen, and the tail flukes were mammilian (i .e ., horizontal). The creature surfaced about every 10 minutes. Such behavior is quite unlike that of known cetaceans and sirenians. (Anonymous; "New Guinea Expedition Observes Ri," ISC Newsletter, 2:1 , Summer 1983.) (ISC is the International Society of Cryptozoology.) From Science Frontiers #31, JAN-FEB 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... a source of materials that influence the immune system. Maddox lists several specific candidates, and then observes: "The more radical psychoimmunologists talk as if there is no state of mind which is not faithfully reflected by a state of the immune system." So far, not too radical! But then Maddox comes to an article by J.E . Blalock, University of Texas (Journal of Immunology, 132:1067, 1984.) bearing the title, "The Immune System as a Sensory Organ." Blalock argues that the interaction between the central nervous system and immune system must be reciprocal. By this he means that the immune system's response to infection, through the secretions of disease-fighting lymphocytes, gets back to the central nervous system and produces physiological and even behavioral changes in the infected animal. Applicable studies of animals have been reported recently. For example, rats under stress are found to have less easily stimulated immune systems. (Science, 221:568, 1983.) Also, men who have recently lost their wives to breast cancer have immune systems less responsive to mitogens. (Journal of the American Medical Association, 250:374, 1984.) (Maddox, John; "Psychoimmunology Before Its Time," Nature, 309:400, 1984.) Comment. This is an appropriate time to suggest that "psychoevolution" may be physiologically possible. If the brain can fight disease and even control cell growth, why not a role for the mind in stimulating the development of new spe cies, perhaps in response to extreme environmental ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 38: Mar-Apr 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Listening With The Feet "Male white-lipped frogs exhibit conspicuous behavioral responses to calling conspecific males that are nearby but out of view. Since the calls often are accompanied by strong seismic signals (thumps), and since the male white-lipped frog exhibits the most acute sensitivity to seismic stimuli yet observed in any animal, these animals may use seismic signals as well as auditory signals for intraspecific communication." (Lewis, Edwin R., and Narins, Peter M.; "Do Frogs Communicate with Seismic Signals?" Science, 227:187, 1985.) Comment. Rabbits often thump the ground to communicate, but their thumps are thought to be sound generators rather than vibration generators. From Science Frontiers #38, MAR-APR 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... especially insects. But nature, ever-innovative, has other aeronautical techniques up her sleeve. Consider the tiniest insects that do not possess wings. It is difficult for large animals like ourselves to realize that these tiny creatures are actually prisoners of the so-called "boundary layer" of air hugging all surfaces. The thin boundary layer is stagnant very close to the surface. Any tiny in-sect wishing to take advantage of wind-dispersal to propagate the species farther afield must somehow breach this layer. Some of the scale insects have in their instar phases developed the trick of rearing up on their hind legs, penetrating the boundary layer, and presenting a high-drag surface to the wind. (Many climb along plant surfaces inside the boundary layer to exposed areas before exhibiting this behavior.) The wind plucks them off the plant and carries them off to new territories. The authors think this may be convergent evolutionary strategy for many minute insects. (Washburn, Jan O., and Washburn, Libe; "Active Aerial Dispersal of Minute Wingless Arthropods.....," Science, 223:1088, 1984.) Comment. The fact that these insects are shaped like airfoils (i .e ., aircraft wings) is also interesting. Scale insects (first instar phase). A. In the slow-moving boundary layer. B. Rearing through the boundary layer to present a high-drag cross section to the wind. From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 20: Mar-Apr 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Puzzling Group Behavior Of Sharks For some unknown reason, sharks often congregate in immense groups. Approximately 2,000 sharks took over 24 kilometers of the surf zone near Corpus Christi during June 1977. Some courageous divers decided to study large groups of the scalloped hammerhead that regularly gather in the Gulf of California. Happily, the hammerheads were not aggressive when so occupied and could be approached closely. They swam pointed in roughly the same direction, maintaining about the same spacing through the groups, which sometimes numbered 100 or more. They did not feed, mate, or do anything collectively; but once in a while an individual would suddenly engage briefly in acrobatic behavior -- one common type was dubbed the "shimmy dance." The researchers concluded that these shark groups had no obvious purpose and that, for reasons beyond the ken of man, this behavior somehow contributed to their evolutionary success. (Klimley, A. Peter; "Grouping Behavior in the Scalloped Hammerhead," Oceanus, 24:65, Winter 1981/1982.) Comment. The sharks might be much "farther along" without complex, time-wasting group behavior. What do sharks know about evolution anyway? From Science Frontiers #20, MAR-APR 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 11: Summer 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Hark, hark, the dogs do bark American geophysicists have been slow to take unusual animal behavior prior to earthquakes seriously. Spurred by Chi-nese work, a network of observers has been set up in California in an earthquake-prone area. Most reports of strange animal behavior have been after-the-fact. Furthermore, the "strange behaviors" frequently turn out to be common during quake-free periods, but simply not remarked upon. Nevertheless, geophysicists did observe some clear-cut instances of animals super-sensitivity to quake phenomena. Studying aftershocks in the Mohave Desert in 1979, Donald Stierman and his colleagues often heard earthquake booms 4-l0 sec after feeling the shock and seeing their portable seismometers record the tremor. Two dogs nearby inevitably responded with a chorus of barking. Sometimes though, the human observers heard and felt nothing when the seismometers and dogs announced another aftershock. (Kerr, Richard A.; "Quake Prediction by Animals Gaining Respect," Science, 208: 695, 1980.) From Science Frontiers #11, Summer 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 14: Winter 1981 Supplement Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Does the moon really faze people?Folklore strongly supports the power of the full moon to disturb people's minds, as underscored by the term "lunatic." The many scientific studies of this supposed lunar effect, however, have come to conflicting conclusions. Templer and Veleber have surveyed previous studies and believe that the discrepancies arise because of different methodologies. By combining new and older data and using a common approach, they confirm folklore by finding a disproportionate frequency of abnormal behavior occurring at the times of full moon, new moon, and the last half of the lunar phase. (Templer, Donald I., and Veleber, David M.; "The Moon and Madness: A Comprehensive Perspective," Journal of Clinical Psychology, 36:865, 1980.) Reference. The moon's putative effect on human behavior is discussed at BHB4 in our Catalog: Biological Anomalies: Humans I. For ordering information, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #14, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 6: February 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Positive Ion Emission Before Earthquakes May Affect Animals Both folklore and modern observations are emphatic that many animals become agitated prior to earthquakes. Cats car-ry their kittens outdoors; cattle panic in their barns; dogs bark for no apparent reason; and even some humans become restless. Tributsch notes that similar behaviors also accompany certain weather situations, such as the Alpine foehn and Near East sharav, which are characterized by high concentrations of positive ions. The unusual "fogs" and luminous displays preceding some earthquakes may also have electrical origins. In essence, Tributsch has reviewed many earthquake precursors and suggests that most can be explained in terms of positive ion emission from the earth due to pre-quake strains. (Tributsch, Helmut; "Do Aerosol Anomalies Precede Earthquakes?" Nature, 276: 606, 1978.) Reference. Even humans are sensitive to "earthquake weather." See Section GQW in: Earthquakes, Tides. Unidentified Sounds. More information on this Catalog volume here . From Science Frontiers #6 , February 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... the species. Colorful berries, stones, and, when available, human artifacts are systematically arranged around the bower. Some bowerbirds even take a piece of bark in their bills and paint their bowers with colored berry juices. Each species has a certain style, but the bowers vary from individual to individual and with the age of the bird. Manifestly, these birds use tools for artistic purposes. Or do they? Is it all instinct? Some animal behaviorists believe the bower's purpose is to attract mates, but the males often chase females away, although mating does eventually occur within the bowers. A second explanation is that the bowers symbolize territorial rights. In this context, bowerbirds fre-quently raid and destroy neighboring bowers, stealing choice decorations -- all very human-like behavior. (Diamond, Jared M.; "Evolution of Bowerbirds' Bowers: Animal Origins of the Esthetic Sense," Nature, 297:99, 1982.) Comment. Is human art any more profound than that of the bowerbirds? Human artists doubtless feel they are doing something more than attracting mates or proclaiming territory. Unfortunately, we cannot ask the bowerbirds what they are thinking as they carefully select colors and develop designs. From Science Frontiers #22, JUL-AUG 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... eye-possessing ancestor far back along evolution's track. The fossil record might be mute on this matter because eyes are soft tissues that are rarely preserved or perhaps because many eyes were jettisoned because the organisms didn't need them, as cave dwellers are wont to do with surprising rapidity. Some of the letters responding to Tipler questioned whether an intelligent civilization would be stupid enough to build self-reproducing von Neumann machines for galactic exploration. Wouldn't it be far more fun to go in person rather than by proxy? And, some pointed out, von Neumann machines would be ravenous consumers of energy and materials and might turn on man as an unnecessary competitor. Machines are not immutable. Space radiation and other environmental factors might alter computer programs and memories to drastically affect the behavior and objectives of such machines. Actually, as one letter writer observed, the earth has already been invaded by a self-reproducing, energy-hungry machine with exploratory tendencies -- man! (Anonymous; "Extraterrestrial Intelligence: The Debate Continues," Physics Today, 35:26, March 1982. Also: Ornstein, Leonard; "A Biologist Looks at the Numbers," Physics Today, 35:27, March 1982.) From Science Frontiers #21, MAY-JUN 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 6: February 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Some Highly Focussed Minds Here is a modern study of calculating prodigies, idiot savants, or, as Rimland prefers, "autistic savants." Calculating prodigies are rarely idiots; that is, with IQs below 30: rather they are almost always autistic, displaying gross disturbances in communication, and/or motor behavior. Rimland and his colleagues have studied 5,400 autistic children and found 10% of them to have extraordinary abilities. We hear most often about those prodigies who can multiply large numbers in their heads instantaneously or give us calendar information far in the past or future without the blink of an eye. But autistic savants are also prodigal in the fields of art, music, and mechanics. No one knows how they per-form their feats, although psychologists speculate that their minds are intensely focussed on their special skills to the exclusion of most everything else. A few "normal" people, such as Gauss and Ampere, have matched the capabilities of the autistic savants, but the rest of us have our minds spread too thinly. We are in the majority, so the autistic savants usually end up in institutions while we plod along outside. (Rimland, Bernard; "Inside the Mind of the Autistic Savant," Psychology Today, August 1978.) Comment. We may speculate that the capabilities of the autistic savants are inherent in all of us, awaiting only some key. From Science Frontiers #6 , February ...
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... assume in swimming away from light. Many such lunar rhythms apparently have no adaptive value whatsoever. So, why do they exist? Even more disconcerting is the fact that lunar rhythms persist in the lab where the moon is not visible. Are internal clocks responsible here? If so, how do they work and how are they set? These questions are hard to answer if the rhythms have no value to the organism's success. (Palmer, John D., and Goodenough, Judith E.; "Mysterious Monthly Rhythms," Natural History, 87:64, December 1978.) Comment. It would, or course, be outright heresy to suggest that heavenly bodies may be the sources of unrecognized but biologically significant forces. Reference. Correlations of lunar phase and disturbed human behavior are cataloged at BHB4 in: Biological Anomalies: Humans I. Further information on this book is located at: here . From Science Frontiers #7 , June 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 15: Spring 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects If bacteria don't think, neither do we As one goes step-by-step down the ladder of biological complexity, one discovers that flatworms, plants, and even bacteria display purposeful behavior. Bacteria, which are usually regarded as fairly inert when it comes to responding to environmental pressures, actually react in different ways to dozens of different stimuli. This ability at the very least requires sensory equipment, internal clocks, a memory, and a decision-making capability. If bacterial activity is all preprogrammed (the reductionist view), are not humans also preprogrammed? Human programs are larger and more complex, of course, but still devoid of "thinking." Conversely, if humans really do think; that is, transcend preprogramming (free will, if you wish), then bacteria must also think. The third possibility is that at some step in the ladder of life, "higher" life forms begin to think. There is little evidence that life is split so profoundly between thinkers and non-thinkers. (Morowitz, Harold J.; "Do Bacteria Think?" Psychology Today, 15:10, February 1981.) Comment. This ancient controversy about determinism has been revived as: (1 ) Simple life forms have been found to be not-so-simple; (2 ) All life seems unified by a single (or small number of) genetic codes; and (3 ) " ...
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... or changing the separation of interferometer mirrors by a hundred-thousandth of a centimeter. Quite unexpectedly (at least to the conventional physicist) the mind seems able to cause such changes at will under controlled conditions. The changes are minuscule to be sure, but cause-and-effect is clear-cut according to Jahn. But don't say that psi power has now been scientifically proven. The effects vary from person to person and, for the same individual, from time to time. The fact that one cannot predict the occurrence of the effects has led Jahn to speculate that the phenomena are inherently statistical. (Anonymous; "Dean Justifies Psychic Research," Science News, 116:358, 1979.) Comment. In other words, the effects resemble radioactivity where the behavior of a single atom is unpredictable but en masse the atoms follow the law of radioactive decay. From Science Frontiers #10, Spring 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 1: September 1977 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Animal Behavior Prior To The Haicheng Earthquake The catastrophic Chinese Haicheng earthquake of 1975 was preceded by many reports of unusual animal behavior. Beginning in December 1974, lay observers noted dazed rats and snakes that appeared to be "frozen" to the roads. In February, reports of this type increased markedly, including observations of general restlessness and agitation of the larger animals, such as cows and horses. Rats now appeared as if drunk. Chickens refused to enter their coops and geese frequently took to flight. Chinese scientists seem convinced that such animals behavior might help predict some of the larger earthquakes. Further research is being undertaken at the Institute of Biophysics in Peking and at Peking University. (Molnar, Peter, et al; "Prediction of the Haicheng Earthquake," Eos, 58:254, 1977.) From Science Frontiers #1 , September 1977 . 1977-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 2: January 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Hedgehogs Use Toad Venom For Defense European hedgehogs chew toad skins to extract venom from the paratoid glands. They then lick their spines with the saliva-venom mixture. Experiments with human volunteers prove that the venomanointed spines are much more painful and irritating than clean ones. Such hedgehog behavior is innate and fully developed before the juveniles leave the nest. Tenrecs, which are similar to hedgehogs but in an entirely different family, display a somewhat different self-anointing type of behavior that must have developed independently. Conclusion: self-anointing with toad venom is so useful that it developed twice under evolutionary pressures. (Brodie, Edmund D., Jr.; "Hedgehogs Use Toad Venom in Their Own Defense," Nature, 268:627, 1977.) Reference. Hedgehog anointing and other idiosyncrasies may be found in Chapter BMB in Biological Anomalies: Mammals I. This book is described here . From Science Frontiers #2 , January 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... night-glow During some intense meteor showers, such as the Leonids in 1866 and the Bielids in 1872, observers noted a faint diffuse glow of the night sky in the direction of the meteor shower radiant. The glows were aurora-like but no sunspot or magnetic activity was noted. A New Zealand scientist, W.J . Baggaley, has suggested that these strange glows were caused by sunlight scattered from huge clouds of fine meteoric dust accompanying the meteor swarms. (Anonymous; "Meteoric Night-Glow," Sky and Telescope, 35:485, 1978.) Comment. This item is closely related to the many observations of luminous skies and, in particular, the vivid sky glows following the Tunguska Event of 1908. There may also be a connection with the highly variable behavior of the not-sowell-understood zodiacal light. From Science Frontiers #4 , July 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 3: April 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Extraterrestrial Influences On Chemical And Biological Systems Conventional science shows little interest in the subject indicated by the title, except for some work that is done on circadian rhythms. However, readers of the journals Cycles and the Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research are treated regularly to a wide variety of purported correlations of biological systems with solar and other extraterres-trial influences. The present paper suggests that extraterrestrial forces influence the earth's weather which, in turn controls physiological processes. The physiological processes studied include blood precipitation rate and blood hemoglobin values. Also mentioned are Piccardi's precipitation-rate experiments that seem to show a highly variable behavior of simple chemical systems that bear no obvious relationship to weather conditions. Tromp concludes from these data that unknown forces, probably extraterrestrial in nature, act upon the earth and its inhabitants. (Tromp, Solco W.; "Study of Possibly Extraterrestrial Influences on Colloidal Systems and Living Processes on Earth," Cycles, 28:34, 1977.) From Science Frontiers #3 , April 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... , the earth is being bombarded by extra-high fluxes of X-rays, ultraviolet light, and other energetic radiation. A century ago, no one would have noticed or cared, but today our technological infrastructure is suffering. K.H . Schatten has listed some of the "sunburn symptoms" in a recent article in Nature. Fade-outs of over-the-horizon radio communications Greater aerodynamic drag on satel lites and earlier reentry Glitches and outright damage in satellite electrical systems Anomalous induced voltages in elec trical power systems and long-line communications Blackouts of high-frequency polar communications oInduced errors in VLF (Very Low Frequency navigation systems Occasional radiation levels that are hazardous to humans in high-flying aircraft. (Schatten, Kenneth H.; "The Sun's Disturbing Behavior," Nature, 345:578, 1990.) Comment. It would be interesting to learn whether the "computer errors" we encounter so frequently follow the sunspot cycle. One phenomenon, at least, seems anticorrelated with solar activity: The number of solar neutrinos measured here on earth falls as sunspots multiply. This is particularly puzzling because neutrinos are presumably generated in the solar core, whereas sunspots are supposed to be manifestations of solar-surface activity. One phenomenon "should not" affect the other. (Waldrop, M. Mitchell; "Solar NeutrinoSunspot Connection Found," Science, 248:444, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #71, SEP-OCT 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... in the history of life may be intrinsic to life itself. With a tip of the hat to the Gaia hypothesis, let us think of life-as-a -whole as a most complex, interlinked system. What might be the dynamics of such a megasystem? From the mathematical point of view, many of the processes involved, as life copes with the environment, are doubtless nonlinear, which means that chaotic conditions may sometimes prevail. In fact, the graphs presented below could have been taken right out of a book on chaotic systems. Life's extinctions and explosions might have no connection to asteroids, Ice Ages, or global volcanism. If something as simple as a spherical pendulum can lapse into chaotic motion, life-as-a -whole should show occasional wild behavior, too. Take our planet's weather as another example. Idealists once thought that given enough observations and computer power, weather could be predicted. But, alas, our atmosphere has also turned out to be a chaotic system, and long-term predictions are next to impossible. So, too, with life and its development. Those extinction-explosion plots may be just the paleontological expressions of a chaotic system. From Science Frontiers #59, SEP-OCT 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... nests of other species, which then incubate the eggs and raise the alien chicks. The parent parasites are thus free to forage, hang out, and parasitize more nests. Brood parasitism is such a successful and easy way of life that 136 species of cuckoos, 5 species of cowbirds, 20 finches, and South America's Blackheaded Duck have adopted it. Brood parasitism fascinates ornithologists because it involves war between the parasites and their hosts. Since host species may eject parasite eggs or fail to nurture parasite chicks, brood parasites have evolved mimicry as a powerful weapon in these battles. Mimicked are host eggs, host nestlings, and host vocalizations. But the most insidious weapons of all involve the outright murder of host chicks. To this end, parasite chicks have evolved some special weapons and behaviors. Some cuckoo chicks evict host eggs or chicks by squirming under them and positioning them in a specially configured hollow on their backs. Then, pushing upward and outward to the rim of the nest, they dump their cargo over the edge. Other brood parasites are more direct and bloodthirsty. "Nestling African honeyguides have bill hooks to stab and kill their nestmates and the brood parasitic American striped cuckoos have independently evolved hooks and pincers to kill." (Payne, Robert B.; "Brood Parasitism in Birds: Strangers in the Nest," BioScience, 48:377, 1998.) Comment. The hollow in the cuckoo's back and the deadly hook on the honeyguide bill disappear once their grisly work is done. Both strategies require bizarre, coordinated innovations in both weapons ...
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... By redefining science. This is what R.G . Jahn and B.J . Dunne have proposed in a long, philosophical article in the Journal of Scientific Exploration. They define a "neo-subjective" science, which retains the "logical rigor, empirical/theoretical dialogue, and cultural purpose" of present-day "rigorously objective" science, but would: Allow a proactive role for consciousness Be more explicit and profound in the use of interdisciplinary metaphors Permit more generous interpretations of measurability, replicability, and resonance (4 ) Reduce onotological aspirations Permit an "overarching teleological causality. R.J . Jahn heads the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) Laboratory, which over the years has conducted some 50 million experimental trials, mostly in the search for psychokinetic effects on the behavior of a wide variety of mechanical, electrical, and other types of machines. Jahn and Dunne assert that the results of those experiments clearly show the effects of the pre-stated intentions of the machine operators. In other words, mind can affect matter -- as in the distribution of spheres cascading down a peg board. We now list some of the other salient features of the immense corpus of PEAR experimental results: The scale and character of the results are rather insensitive to the type of random devices (machines) employed. Operator learning and experience have no effect on performance. Operators may exert their "intentions" on the machine hours or days before the machine is run and still produce results similar to "on-time" machine operation. The distance between operator and machine ...
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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 Those selfish genes may also be intelligent!R. Dawkins has proposed that we humans and other organisms are merely lumbering life-support systems for our genes. In this view, genomes are the masters, controlling our evolution and behavior to ensure their own survival and multiplication. In short, our genes are "selfish." J. Shapiro, at the University of Chicago, has gone a step further and ascribed still another human attribute to genomes. "Genomes function as true intelligent systems, which can be readjusted when conditions require. We still lack testable theories to explain how this can be done. ( Genetica , 84:4 , 1991)" Perhaps we see evidence of this "intelligence" of genes when bacteria and other microorganisms rapidly accommodate to environmental challenges, as in the application of new antibiotics. In this context, read below about the fast-evolving cichlid fishes of Lake Victoria. These fish must have macho genes! From Science Frontiers #108, NOV-DEC 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... ; "Homage to an Itinerant Master," Science, 275:759, 1997.) Cross reference. The distribution of prime numbers is more than strange, see the plot in SF#42/332. What do prime numbers have to do with the real world? Are math and natural science really separate, unlinked disciplines? Pythagoras, 2,500 years ago, decided that: "All is number." He may be right. A strange connection seems to exist between prime numbers and quantum physics. On one side of the chasm that supposedly separates math from physics, we have the prime numbers and the Riemann zeta function, which provides information on how prime numbers are distributed among the other integers. On the "physics" side of the chasm, we have the behavior of complex atomic systems. The chasm seems bridged when one compares the energy levels of an excited heavy nucleus with the distribution of the zeros of the zeta function. Why should this correspondence exist? B. Cipra exclaimed: "Just why number theory and quantum chaos should be soul mates is a mystery for the gods to unveil." (Cipra, Barry; "Prime Formula Weds Number Theory and Quantum Physics," Science, 274:2104, 1996.) Comment. God, well known to be a geometer, evidently also dabbled in prime numbers! From Science Frontiers #111, MAY-JUN 1997 . 1997-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... DNA (mtDNA) of the Guam and Kosrae skinks differed by an amazing 6%, even though both skinks were E. cyanura . Even worse, the Vanuatu skink ( E. impar ) differed from all other E. impar skinks around the Pacific by an astounding 13%. Yet, to the eye, they all looked alike. So much for homology -- unless there is something basically wrong with molecular biology. Biologists now suspect that there are many more "cryptic species": animals that look alike but possess substantially different DNA complements. (Cohen, Philip; "Lizards Keep Their Differences to Themselves," New Scientist, p. 17, July 6, 1996) Comment. The flip side can be seen in humans and chimpanzees. From the standpoints of anatomy and behavior, these species are rather divergent; but their DNAs differ by only 2%! There is something suspicious in all this. Three of the hundred or so basic body plans (phyla): jellyfish (Coelenterata), aphid (Arthopoda), eohippus (Chordata). The present fossil record indicates that all phyla appeared rather suddenly in early Cambrian times. From Science Frontiers #109, JAN-FEB 1997 . 1997-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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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 Why Snakes Have Forked Tongues Laymen and scientists alike have wondered for millennia why some reptiles possess forked tongues. It seems that we may now have an answer: Some variations of the forked-tongue theme among lizards and snakes. "Theory, anatomy, neural circuitry, function, and behavior now support a hypothesis of the forked tongue as a chemosensory edge-detector used to follow pheromone trails of prey and conspecifics [especially the opposite sex]. The ability to sample simultaneously two points along a chemical gradient provides the basis for the instantaneous assessment of trail location." The framer of this hypothesis, K. Schwenk, adds that the forked tongue and, obviously, the muscles and neural circuitry to use it properly, have evolved independently at least twice, possibly four times. (Schwenk, Kurt; "Why Snakes Have Forked Tongues," Science, 263:1573, 1994.) Comments . One can compare the forked tongue to binocular vision. Both require the parallel evolution of impressive infrastructures of data processing "equipment." From Science Frontiers #93, MAY-JUN 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... No spectral lines were seen on any picture. IR-viewer: This instrument was used too little to drawn any conclu sion. Spectrum-analyzer: Sometimes there were electromagnetic signals with harmonics of about 80 MHz. Seismograph : No local seismographic activity was measured. Magnetograph : The magnetic field did sometimes change when the lights showed up. There also seemed to be a correlation with the mag netic pulsation. Radar : The lights could be seen on radar. The speed varied all the way from 0 to 30,000 km/hour. Sometimes the radar saw something moving at a low speed, but no lights were seen by eye. Clearly, there was something there, but only the radar showed it. Laser : A laser-beam was directed toward the light, and the behavior of the light changed. Geiger-counter : No radioactive radi ation was detected. But the source was 1 km away when this instrument was used. (Strand, Erling; "Project Hessdalen -- A Field Investigation of an Unknown Atmospheric Light Phenomenon," Journal of Scientific Exploration, 8:581, 1994.) From Science Frontiers #98, MAR-APR 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 99: May-Jun 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Biological precursors of the 1995 kobe earthquake The Japanese are meticulous observers of animals. Many keep birds, insects, fish, etc. as pets. When scientists at the Osaka City University asked for reports of unusual animal behavior around the time of the great January 17 quake, over 1,200 people in the Kobe-Osaka area came forth with anecdotes. Some typical pre-quake observations were: Doves flying into walls. Caged birds (Chinese hawk-cuckoos) flying against the sides of their cages. Fish rising to the surface in great numbers. At the port of Shioya, "millions" of gizzard shad turned the surface of the water into silver. Captive stag beetles and turtles emerging from hibernation. And strangest of all, silkworms and fish in ponds orienting themselves in the same directions. (Minami, Shigehiko; "Creatures Went a Bit Batty, Maybe Knew Quake Was Coming," Asahi Evening News, February 25, 1995. Cr. N. Masuya) Cross reference. Many luminous phenomena were also seen. For descriptions of so-called "earthquake lights" refer to GLD8 in our catalog Lightning, Auroras, etc. It is listed here . From Science Frontiers #99, MAY-JUN 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... thriller with the above title? In it, a small seaside town was invaded by birds intent upon homicide. Well, something a little bit like that really happened. The real-life event actually helped Hitchcock plan his movie -- of course, D. Du Maurier's short story with the same title helped even more! Here is what really happened on the California coast: "In 1961, a small seaside town near Santa Cruz was bombarded by hordes of sooty shearwaters. The crazed birds pecked people, smashed into houses and cars, broke windows and staggered around vomiting pieces of anchovy over local lawns." This attack was initially blamed on foggy weather which might have disoriented the shearwaters, which normally stay far out at sea. The latest theory is based on the erratic behavior of the birds. They may have ingested fish that carried a marine neurotoxin called domoic acid. Domoic acid is produced by marine alga that bloom frequently along the California coast. (Mestel, Rosie; "Hitch's Birds Deranged by Dodgy Anchovies," New Scientist, p. 6, July 22, 1995.) From Science Frontiers #102 Nov-Dec 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... and aggressive. Nevertheless, as the Cambrian began, some single cells suppressed their mutual antagonisms and formed partnerships. Thus were born the first metazoans -- the multicellular species. The road was now open to the evolution of what we term "higher" life forms. But before really complex organisms could evolve, the selfish, aggressive characteristics inherited from the ancestral single-cell species had to be tamed. Unfortunately, some of the controls that evolved -- and which we have inherited -- do not always work. Conversely, they sometimes work too well. J.M . Saul has described how the appearance of cancer in complex multicellular organisms may be the consequence of the failure of biochemical controls evolved to curb cell aggression: "Such failure may be seen as reversion to ancestral cellular behavior, or as failure of a cell with a monocellular heritage to perform metazoan tasks for which it was not originally designed. In such instances, the resultant types of wild and indiscriminate proliferation and variation would resemble pathologies classified as 'cancer.'" Furthermore, Saul speculates, overcontrol could lead to autoimmune diseases: "Within the individual metazoan, excessive antiproliferation measures would have occasionally resulted in focussed attacks against specialized classes of "innocent" cells, producing pathologies describable as 'autoimmune.'" (Saul, John M.; "Cancer and Autoimmune Disease: A Cambrian Couple?" Geology , 22:5 , 1994.) From Science Frontiers #94, JUL-AUG 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 52: Jul-Aug 1987 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Costa rica's neglected stone spheres The calico debate, plus a little editorializing Astronomy Small icy comets and cosmic gaia Carbon in a new comet Meteorites also transport organic payloads Supernova confusion and mysteries "COMPACT STRUCTURES": WHAT NEXT? Biology Nose news Checklist of apparently unknown animals New vertebrate depth record Aggressive mimicry Parasites control snail behavior Geology Do large meteors/comets come in cycles? Complexities of the inner earth Geophysics Concentrated source of lightning in cloud More carolina waterguns More moodus sounds Inside a texas tornado Ship enveloped by false radar echo Psychology Dowsing skeptics converted Do dreams reflect a biological state? ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 44: Mar-Apr 1986 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology How the Incas Worked Stone Checking Out Those Australian Pyramids Astronomy Neptune's Partial Rings Space Spume Star Sludge Tunnelling Towards Life in Outer Space Biology Evolving on Half A Wing (And A Prayer?) Signals in the Night The Moon, the Stars, and Human Behavior Geology Squirrels As Measures of Geological Time Northwest Indian Tradition of A Large-scale Sea Inundation Of Dust Clouds and Ice Ages Geophysics Atmospheric Footprints of Icy Meteors Unusual Double Sun Unclassified Unidentified Flashing Object ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 20: Mar-Apr 1982 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology A Recently Discovered "book" of Petroglyphs Astronomy A Big Void in Space Or A Defective Yardstick? Something Hot Beneath Small Saturn-satellite Surfaces A Couple Venusian Curiosities Biology Heads Or Tails? A Tale of Two Ecosystems -- or Maybe Many More Missing Links: the Big Ones Still Elude Us Puzzling Group Behavior of Sharks Geology Gravity Anomaly Ripples Centered in Canada Subterranean Petroleum Factories? Geophysics A Most Peculiar Cloud Arch Whirling Crescents Move with Ship Psychology The Mystery of Spontaneous Visions ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 1: September 1977 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology First Writing May Have Been Three-dimensional Ancient Iberian Jars Recovered Off Maine Coast Geology New England Seamounts Once Near Surface Astronomy Four Extragalactic Sources Expand Faster Than Light Biology Australian Mistletoes Mimic Their Hosts Motion Sickness Difficult to Explain in Terms of Evolution Addiction to Placebos Cattle Mutilations Called Episode of Collective Delusion Geophysics Animal Behavior Prior to the Haicheng Earthquake Lightning Superbolts Detected by Satellites ...
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... Science Frontiers Catalog of Anomalies (Subjects) Strange reports * Bizarre biology * Anomalous archaeology From New Scientist, Nature, Scientific American, etc Archaeology Astronomy Biology Geology Geophysics Mathematics Psychology Physics Catalog of Anomalies (Subjects)Overview Astronomy Biology Chemistry/Physics Geology Geophysics Logic/mathemitics Archeology Psychology Miscellaneous phenomena Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online Science Frontiers: The Book Sourcebook Project B BIOLOGY Catalog of Anomalies (Biology Subjects)Within each of these fields, catalog sections that are already in print are given alphanumerical labels. For example, BHB1 = B (Biology)+ H (Humans)+ B (Behavior)+ 1 (first anomaly in Chapter BHB). Some anomalies and curiosities that are listed below have not yet been cataloged and published in catalog format. These do not have the alphanumerical labels. BA ARTHROPODS Titles not yet posted BB BIRDS BBA EXTERNAL APPEARANCE AND MORPHOLOGY BBA1 Avian Asymmetries BBA2 Female Hawks Larger Than Males BBA3 Skewed Sex Ratios of Offspring BBA4 Vividly Colored and Highly Patterned Avian Plumages and Ornaments BBA5 Plumage Polymorphism BBA6 Females with Male Plumage BBA7 Molting before Hatching BBA8 Unusual Diversification and Conservation in Plumage BBA9 Complexity and Sophistication of Feathers BBA10 Complexity and Sophistication of Feather Color-and-Pattern-Generation Mechanisms BBA11 Unusual Plumage-Color Changes BBA12 Feather Curiosities BBA13 Neoteny in Feathers BBA14 Tooth Substitutes in Modern Birds BBA15 Birds Lacking Egg Teeth BBA16 Extreme Sexual Dimorphism in Bills BBA17 Bill Polymorphisms BBA18 Avian Bills: Unusual Adaptations BBA19 Wing Claws BBA20 Wing Spurs BBA21 The Alula or Bastard Wing BBA22 Some Curiosities of Avian Feet BBA23 Inherited Callosities BBA24 Unusual Pouches on Birds BBA25 Luminous Birds BBA26 Odoriferous ...
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... Science Frontiers Catalog of Anomalies (Subjects) Strange reports * Bizarre biology * Anomalous archaeology From New Scientist, Nature, Scientific American, etc Archaeology Astronomy Biology Geology Geophysics Mathematics Psychology Physics Catalog of Anomalies (Subjects)Overview Astronomy Biology Chemistry/Physics Geology Geophysics Logic/mathemitics Archeology Psychology Miscellaneous phenomena Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online Science Frontiers: The Book Sourcebook Project P PSYCHOLOGY Catalog of Anomalies (Psychology Subjects)Within each of these fields, catalog sections that are already in print are given alphanumerical labels. For example, BHB1 = B (Biology)+ H (Humans)+ B (Behavior)+ 1 (first anomaly in Chapter BHB). Some anomalies and curiosities that are listed below have not yet been cataloged and published in catalog format. These do not have the alphanumerical labels. PB DISSOCIATIVE BEHAVIOR PBA AUTOMATIC COMMUNICATION Automatic Writing Automatic Drawing Glossalalia or "Speaking in Tongues" Planchette and Ouija-Board Phenomena Channeling Table-Tilting Xenoglossy [PHR] PBD COMMUNICATED HYSTERIA AND DELUSIONS Mass Hysteria and Psychogenic Illnesses Folie a Deux: Communication of Abnormal Mental States Self-Induced Delusions "Jumping" and Other Triggered Explosive Activities Abnormal Mass Delusions The Latah Phenomenon PBH HYPNOTIC BEHAVIOR (GENERAL FEATURES) General Features of So-Called "Hypnotic Behavior" Supposed Hypnosis by Telepathy Fascination by Inert Objects (" Spontaneous Hypnosis") Posthypnotic Behavior Effects of Magnetism on Hypnotically Induced Images Self-Hypnosis Drum Phenomena [BHB7, BHH8] Collective Hypnosis PBJ DEJA VU Deja Vu PBM MULTIPLE PERSONALITY Multiple-Personality Phenomena Hypnotic Probing of Secondary Personalities Possible Duality of Consciousness under Anesthesia PBP POSSESSION Going Berserk ...
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