361 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 60: Nov-Dec 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects How Genius Gets Nipped In The Bud At once amusing and tragic, the article bearing the above title treats the reader to the musings of a university researcher who has a brilliant new idea -- or so it seems to him. At first he is ready to rush to the literature and check out the idea's originality and feasibility. But wait, this groundwork will take considerable time, and the idea may turn out to be old hat. Is it all worth the risk? Will the university support research on this new untried idea? This would be unlikely since funds are thin, the idea is not part of the overall research plan, and worse yet, an enemy sits on the research fund committee. Getting external funds is impossible unless one can show that your university has enough confidence in the idea to support it financially. A way out is to publish the idea at a conference in hopes of raising interest and money. Hold it, the referees will ask why a few obvious points have not been checked out in the lab. "Suddenly you realize that there is a far more serious problem. The current scientific system is based on the assumption that there is no such thing as a radically new idea. Each new paper is required to climb on the back of a plethora of earlier published papers, and does little more than add another layer of gloss to the cited references. Genuinely new ideas no ...
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... " hole Back in 1984, the American press had fun with the "cookie cutter" hole found in Washington state. A good-sized chunk of earth or "divot" had been neatly excised intact from the ground and deposited some 73 feet away. (see drawing.) One would think that nature would play only one such bizarre prank, but a remarkably similar occurrence also took place in 1887. A third example of this most curious phenomenon has been resurrected from one of the Middle Ages chronicles: "822 A.D .: 'In the land of the Thuringians, near a river, a block of earth 50 ft. long, 14 ft. wide, and 1 ft. thick, was cut out, mysteriously lifted, and shifted 25 ft. from its original location.' Royal Frankish Annals." (Carolingian Chronicles. W. Scholz, translator, Ann Arbor, 1972. Cr. E. Murphy) Reference. Descriptions of several other "cookie-cutter" holes can be found at ETB7 in our catalog: Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds, which is described here . Plan view of the much-ballyhooed "Cookie-cutter" hole phenomenon in Washington state, 1984. (From: Carolina Bays, etc). From Science Frontiers #60, NOV-DEC 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... of plate interactions explains them. We suggest that large lava plateaus are indeed terrestrial maria." Alt et al go on to show that these lava plateaus seem to have initiated continental rifts and hotspot tracks where none existed before. A reasonable inference is that these plateaus are the consequence of the impacts of large meteorites. This is particularly the case with the Deccan Plateau, which is agedated as synchronous with the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary event, with its legacy of worldwide iridium deposits and the wholesale extinction of life. The paper concludes with: "It therefore appears that random encounters with vagrant asteroidal objects play an important role in setting the course of plate tectonic events. The earth does not control its own agenda." (Alt, D., et al; "Terrestrial Maria: The Origins of Large Basalt Plateaus, Hotspot Tracks and Spreading Ridges," Journal of Geology, 96:647, 1988.) From Science Frontiers #61, JAN-FEB 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... and Viking spacecraft found no traces of Martian canals, most astronomers "closed the book" on the century-old Martian canals. Percival Lowell and all the other able astronomers who also saw the canal networks were obviously deluded. Wouldn't you know it, those canals haven't gone away! Consider this testimony of I. Dyer: "As staff photographer and observer at Lowell Observatory during the 1960-61 apparition of Mars, I spent several nights scrutinizing the planet's surface through the 24-inch Clark refractor. At instants of steady seeing I saw, and attempted to photograph, an apparent network of fine lines. Unfortunately, I was unable to duplicate clearly what I saw. Still, several of the more visually distinct 'canals' can be traced on my original prints. each is a composite of the finest four to eight images out of 49. Such prints suppress grain, remove artifacts and enhance detail." The canals thus photographed match some of lowell's well, although some of his detail is lacking. (Dyer, Ivan; "Martian Canals," Sky and Telescope, 73:605, 1987.) Comment. Let's open that "book" on the canals. Even better, let's never close books prematurely on any phenomena. Reference. More on the history of the canals and modern observations of them may be found in AMO1 in our catalog: The Moon and the Planets. To order, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #53, SEP-OCT 1987 . 1987-2000 William ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 63: May-Jun 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Life Currents In Space A few of the hundreds of meteorites picked up in the Antarctic wastes have chemical properties consistent with a Martian origin. Calculations, too, support the notion that a large meteoric impact could propel bits of the Martian surface into space where, statistically speaking, a tiny fraction would be captured by the earth's gravitational field. Some of these would fall to earth; others would remain in orbit. Now, the reverse scenario has been investigated numerically. S.A . Phinney and colleagues at the University of Arizona have calculated what would happen to small chunks of the earth's crust if a large meteor impact excavated a 60milewide crater. "Phinney's group used a computer to calculate where 1,000 particles would go if ejected from Earth in random directions, moving about 2.5 kilometers per second faster than the minimum speed necessary to escape. Of the 1,000 hypothetical particles, 291 hit Venus and 165 returned to Earth; 20 went to Mercury, 17 to Mars, 14 to Jupiter and 1 to Saturn. Another 492 left the solar system completely, primarily due to gravitational close encounters with either Jupiter or Mercury that 'slingshot' them on their way." (Eberhart, Jonathan; "Have Earth Rocks Gone to Mars?" Science News, 135:191, 1989.) Comment. One implication from the preceding analysis is that terrestrial bacteria and spores could well ...
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... the opportunity, we try to clear Percival Lowell's name. Lowell may have gone too far in claiming that the canals of Mars were the labors of intelligent beings, but he definitely saw "something." Earthbound observers still see and photograph Martian canals, despite the acknowledged fact that Martian orbiters and landers saw nothing resembling canals. R. Gordon now relates how on June 6, 1967, he and a friend, W.H . McHugh, were viewing Mars through an 8-inch f/9 reflecting telescope. The thick haze reduced atmospheric transparency, but the seeing was excellent. The infamous canals were there! "Two canals stretched clearly from Sabaeus Sinus and Meridiani Sinus to the northern deserts, where they faded. A most interesting canal was Deuteronilus-Protonilus -- originating in Niliacus Lacus which ran both east and west until I lost sight of it near the limb -- we counted at least six oases on this one, strung out like beads on a string." (Gordon, Rodger; "Martian Canals: Is Lowell Vindicated?" Sky and Telescope, 75:348, 1988.) Comment. Yes, some of the canals that Lowell and others drew are still there -- not physically perhaps -- but possibly as anomalies of perception and/or camera/telescope aberrations. Reference. The Martian "canal" story is covered in detail in AMO1 in our catalog The Moon and the Planets and handbook Mysterious Universe. To order these books, visit: here . A Mercator Projection of Mars drawn by Lowell, showing the major ...
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... fundamental assumptions we base our model on that may be wrong." A leading Big-Bang basher in H. Arp, of whom we have written frequently in SF. We will therefore not pursue his sort of bashing any further here. It is sufficient to say that Arp's doubts about the red-shift/distance relationship continue to receive support through observations of the heavens and in the lab. The other Big-Bang basher featured in Scientific American is H. Alfven, a Nobel-Prize winner in physics. Alfven postulates a universe dominated by electromagnetic forces, which he believes to be more important in shaping the cosmos than gravitation. His electromagnetic theory disallows any universe smaller than 1/10 the diameter of our present universe, thus excluding the Big Bang's point origin. Electromagnetic forces can account for all types of galaxies without resorting to the infamous "missing mass." Alfven can even account for the cosmic microwave background. Furthermore, Alfven's theories are supported by observations of solar-system plasma and magnetic fields. NASA's T.E . Eastman allows: "There is a revolution brewing in applying this knowledge to astrophysics." (Horgan, John; "Big-Bang Bashers," Scientific American, 257:22, September 1987.) Reference. Many more doubts about the Big Bang are cataloged in our Stars, Galaxies, Cosmos. To order, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #54, NOV-DEC 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... biotites must have been molten for a good deal longer than 138 days, thus destroying halos of short-lived isotopes. R.V . Gentry, a creationist, thinks that the polonium isotopes are primordial -- created by God some 6,000 years ago, in situ and without precursors. The rocks displaying the halos would, therefore, be among the oldest rocks on earth. What Wakefield does is exxamine the geology of some of the sites from which Gentry obtained his biotite samples. Basically, he finds that the supposedly primordial rocks are often just dikes and veins that were formed much later than the earth's oldest rocks. Wakefield comments, "This fact alone tells us that the rocks bearing Gentry's halos, even if instantly created, have no bearing on the origin and age of the earth." But does Gentry's "Tiny Mystery" vanish? Not at all -- unlike the Cheshire cat's grin. The polonium halos, seem ingly without detectable precursors, are still there. Wakefield states with all honesty, "Still, we must give Gentry his due. Nothing in geology fully explains the apparent occurrence of the polonium halos as described by Gentry. They do remain a minor mystery in the field of physics." Someone may eventually find an explanation in terms of quirkish chemical deposition or misidentification of the halos, but for now the "Tiny Mystery" survives! (Wakefield, J. Richard; "Gentry's Tiny Mystery -- Unsupported by Geology," Creation/Evolution , 22:13, Winter 19871988 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 52: Jul-Aug 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The calico debate, plus a little editorializing Passions run higher in archeology than in most fields of scientific endeavor. Favored hypotheses mesmerize some, despite contradictory data and cogent arguments. In this respect, much science verges on religion. The foregoing "kernel of real truth" was occasioned by letters written to Science News in response to B. Bower's article on the probability of human artifacts -- as old as 100,000 years -- having been found at the Calico site in California. (See SF#51.) First, J.G . Duvall, III, attacked Bower's article, asserting that the human origin of the Calico "artifacts" had long ago been shown to be untenable. For a reference, he cited an article by himself and W.T . Venner in the Journal of Field Archaeology. Duvall's major point was that the Calico "tools" did not resemble proven Paleoindian tools. Responding to Duvall, G.F . Carter first pointed out that the Duvall-Venner paper was "almost instantly shown to be erroneous" by L.W . Patterson in the pages of the very same journal. As for the differences in artifacts, Carter asked why one should expect 12,000-year-old Paleoindian artifacts to look like 200,000-year-old artifacts from an entirely different culture. (Duvall, James G., III; "Calico ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 60: Nov-Dec 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Lop-sided evolution We risk supersaturating our readers with the anomalies of evolution, but we simply cannot bypass an article that is introduced as follows: "An analysis of the fossil record reveals some unexpected patterns in the origin of major evolutionary innovations, patterns that presumably reflect the operation of different mechanisms." The most interesting "unexpected pattern" is the gross asymmetry between the diversification of life in the Cambrian explosion (about 440 million years ago) and that following the great endPermian extinction (a little over 200 million years ago). Biological innovation was intense in both instances; both biological explosions burst upon a life-impoverished planet. Many niches were unoccupied. Even so, all existing (and many extinct) phyla arose during the Cambrian explosion and none followed the Permian extinction. ". .. why has this burst of evolutionary invention never again been equaled? Why, in subsequent periods of great evolutionary activity when countless species, genera, and families arose, have there been no new animal body plans produced, no new phyla?" Some evolutionists blame the asymmetry on the different "adaptive space" available in the two periods. "Adaptive space" was almost empty at the beginning of the Cambrian because multicellular organisms had only begun to evolve; whereas after the Permian extinction the surviving species still represented a diverse group with many adaptations. (Just how the amount of "adaptive space" available was communicated to the ...
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... Were they excavated by ancient humans? Do they display ancient inscriptions? Australian readers were quick to supply additonal information. It turns out that several years ago, geologists did inspect the so-called "Mystery Craters." This appellation was actually applied by the owners of the land, who have made the craters into a tourist attraction. (This fact alone is enough to raise suspicion!) The geologist's report completely dispells any aura of mystery. Here follows their summary: "A geological investigation of the 'Mystery Craters" adjacent to Lines Road, South Kolan, indicates that these structures are sinkholes in a laterite profile. The sinkholes have been caused by the collapse of overlying strata into underground voids produced by tunnel erosion." (Robertson, A.D .; "Origin of the 'Mystery Craters' of South Kolan, Bundaberg Area," Queensland Government Mining Journal, p. 448, September 1979. Cr. R. Molnar.) Comment. No mention was made in the geologist's report of any inscriptions. From Science Frontiers #55, JAN-FEB 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Astronomers have long wondered about Mercury. Its density (5 .44) is unusually high for such a small planet, and its orbit's inclination (7 ) and eccentricity (0 .206) are also anomalously high. In one blow. W. Benz, A.G .W . Cameron, and W. Slattery may have solved all three problems. Four frames from a computer simulation of proto-Mercury being stripped of its lighter, outer crust by a collision. Frame times are -1 , + 2.3 , + 7.7 , and + 41.7 minutes after impact. The dark molten sheet of iron in Frame #4 will collapse into a sphere, while the silicates will escape Mercury's gravitational pull. They think Mercury's original, lighter, silicate outer layers were stripped off during the impact of one of the small protoplanets that are thought to have swirled around the inner solar system shortly after its formation. Computations on a supercomputer revealed to these three researchers that, if the protoplanet had hit Mercury at between 20 and 30 kilometers/second, then its dense iron core would have survived pretty much intact. A lower velocity would not have stripped off the lighter outer layers; anything higher would have blasted the whole planet into smithereens. Calculations of this type also suggest that if a protoplanet the size of Mars had hit protoearth, it likewise would have stripped off its light silicate mantle. After this material that had been torn off gravitationally sphericized itself in orbit around the earth, it became--you guessed it ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 66: Nov-Dec 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Doubts About Two Ritually Recited Theories Do you think humans originated in Africa? We have heard for so long now that modern humans got their start in Africa. (This assertion is as hackneyed as: "Life began in a warm little pond"!) There is, of course, some evidence for the African claim. Studies of genetic material and the fossil record are suggestive, although the latter includes the Middle East as a possible birthplace. Other data, however, put the "founding group" of modern humans in Southeast Asia. The iconoclast here is C.G . Turner, II, an anthropologist at Arizona State University. He has analyzed secondary dental traits (number of roots, bumps, etc.) of 12,000 individuals from around the world - both ancient and modern. Turner believes that the "great web of humanity" originated in Southeast Asia. Since then, two large populations, each recognizable by their dental features, have evolved.: (1 ) northeast Asians and the ancient residents of the Americas; and (2 ) southeast Asians, Europeans, ancient Australians, and Africans. Also of note is the close resemblance between native Australians and Africans. (Bower, B.; "Asian Human Origin Theory Gets New Teeth," Science News, 136:100, 1989.) Did the eruption of Thera do in the Minoans? According to popular archeolo-gical doctrine, ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 65: Sep-Oct 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Fossil from mars?Who would have thought that the dreary Antarctic wastes would harbor a piece of Mars, much less a fossil of Martian life? Yet, British scientists, I.P . Wright et al, in Nature, come close to such a conclusion. "The meteorite EETA 79001, which many believe to have originated on Mars, contains carbonate minerals thought to be Martian weathering or alteration products. Accompanying the carbonates are unexpectedly high concentrations of organic materials (defined here as carbonaceous matter that has a low stability towards oxidation, and so combusts at less than 600 C; the term 'organic' does not necessarily imply an origin by biogenic processes.) Although the carbon isotope composition of these materials is indistinguishable from terrestrial biogenic components, and so cannot be used to assess the source, we argue here that their occurrence in an interior sample of a clean Antarctic meteority militates against a wholly terrestrial origin. A sample of Martian organic materials may thus be available for further study in the laboratory." (Wright, I.P ., et al; "Organic Materials in a Martian Meteorite," Nature, 340: 220, 1989.) But there are many "buts": Meteorite EETA 79001 may not have come from Mars after all, even though many scientists think it did. The organic material in EETA 79001 may have come instead from the comet that supposedly blasted the meteorite into space from the ...
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... Nov-Dec 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Down With The Big Bang We might have concocted the above title, but we didn't ! Rather, J. Maddox, the Editor of Nature, raised that red flag. To make things even worse, he subtitled his editorial: "Apart from being philosophically unacceptable, the Big Bang is an oversimple view of how the Universe began, and it is unlikely to survive the decade ahead." His philosophical objcections to the Big Bang are powerful: "For one thing, the implication is that there was an instant at which time literally began and, so, by extension, an instant before which there was no time. That in turn implies that even if the origin of the Universe may be successfully supposed to lie in the Big Bang, the origin of the Big Bang itself is not susceptible to discussion." The Big Bang, Maddox says, is no more scientific than Biblical creation! The scientific objections involve space, time, the curvature of space. The Big Bang further fails at explaining quasars and the hidden mass of the Universe. Maddox doubts that the Big Bang will survive the new data to be provided by the Hubble telescope. (Maddox, John; "Down with the Big Bang," Nature, 340: 425, 1989.) From Science Frontiers #66, NOV-DEC 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 77: Sep-Oct 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Water's memory or benveniste strikes back J. Benveniste has broken a two-year drought in the "water-memory" or "infinite-dilution" saga. "Working with colleagues at INSERM, the French medical research council, in Paris, Benveniste has completed fresh experiments to test his assertion that solutions of antibody diluted to the point where they no longer contain any antibody molecules continue to evoke a response from whole white blood cells, as if they possess 'ghosts' of the original molecules. If proven, this would shatter the laws of chemistry and vindicate homeopaths, who say that extremely dilute drugs can have a physical effect." Benveniste's latest scientific paper was published in Comptes Rendus after being rejected by both Nature and Science. Benveniste states that he has corrected the flaws in his original research that evoked passionate responses from the scientific world. However, Benveniste's latest paper prompted one of Nature's reviewers to charge that Benveniste was "throwing out data because they don't fit the conclusion." This story is not yet finished, because Benveniste promises to reveal new research that demonstrates that a solution of histamine, from which all traces of histamine were subsequently diluted out, can still affect blood flow in the hearts of quinea pigs! Furthermore, this phenomenon can be inhibited by the application of weak magnetic fields!! (Concar, David; "Ghost Molecules' Theory Back from ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 74: Mar-Apr 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects When Identical Twins Are Not Identical Past studies of identical twins separated at birth have documented remarkable similarities between them, despite the fact that they were reared under radically different circumstances. Their physical appearances, habits, vocations, health histories, and other factors are often eerily the same. For example, two female identical twins, who had never seen each other, each wore eight rings! The upshot of such investigations is that most of a person's characteristics are genetic in origin; that is, Nature dominates nurture. But what about identical twins who are remarkably different? They can, for instance, differ appreciably in size, intellect, and behavior. In such cases, does nurture dominate nature? No! Identical twins may diverge even in the womb, where one may receive more oxygen and nutrients than the other. One also may be assailed in by viruses, bacteria, or drugs, while the other escapes. Even more drastic is the possi bility that one twin may pick up an extra chromosome soon after the original egg has split. Also, mutations may doom one twin to Down's syndrome or some other genetic affliction, while the other is unscathed. Identical twins may even be of different sex! Of course, such twins are genetically different, but they are still monozygotic (from the same egg). Blood tests will show them to be identical. It used to be thought that the small ...
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... Sourcebook Subjects Fossil Identity Still Up In The Air In 1986, we reported the discovery of bird-like fossils in Texas by S. Chatterjee, a paleontologist at Texas Technical University. Chatterjee was so certain that the fossils (two specimens exist) were primitive birds that he named the species Protoavis texensis (first bird from Texas). During the past five years, the scientific community has chafed while Chatterjee studied his finds and wrote them up. It seems that many paleontologists do not think that Proto-avis is really a bird at all, and Chatter jee has been slow in releasing details. But now his first paper has appeared in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society . Result: Many doubts still remain about the status of Protoavis. A. Feduccia: "Calling this the original bird is irresponsible." (1 ) J.H . Ostrom: "Sad to say, for all its length, little support for the claim is to be found in this paper." (2 ) J. Gauthier: While some of the bones appear bird-like, they also look dinosaurian and could represent a new type of theropod dinosaur. (3 ) For his part, Chjatterjee asserts that Protoavis' skull has 23 features that are fundamentally bird-like, as are the forelimbs, the shoulders, and the hip girdle. "His reconstruction also shows a flexible neck, large brain, binocular vision, and, crucially, portals running from the rear of the skull to the eye socket -- a feature seen in modern birds but not dinosaurs." ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 77: Sep-Oct 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mercury: the impossible planet Mercury, largely hidden in the sun's glare, also conceals beneath its baked, cratered surface: (1 ) far more iron than solar-system theory allows; and (perhaps) (2 ) a dynamo that should not exist. Let us take the excess-iron problem first. Mercury's density is 5.44 (compared to earth's 5.52), so that it very likely contains much iron. Our moon, which resembles Mercury in size and external appearance, only has a density of 3.34, implying an altogether different origin. In the currently accepted theory of solar-system formation, all of the planets and their satellites condensed from a primordial disk of dust sur rounding the just-formed sun. The planets closer to the solar inferno lost more of their easily vaporized constituents due to the sun's heat. The cooler, outer planets were able to retain large amounts of ices. In this scenario, we would expect Mercury to be rich in iron and rocks. This seems to be the case, but it has too iron to fit the theory. Astronomers have tried to save the theory by supposing that a large asteroid sideswiped Mercury tearing off part of its outer layer of lighter rocks, leaving the heavier iron core untouched. The theory doesn't say what happened to the debris from this colossal collision. As for Mercury ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 72: Nov-Dec 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Hypermutation rather than directed mutation?The year 1988 saw a flurry of excitement over the purported discovery of "directed mutation" in the laboratory; that is, mutations of organisms that seemed goal-directed rather than random and independent of environmental pressures. The concept of directed mutation is counter to prevailing biological dogma, and, naturally, this research bore severe scrutiny. Objections and arguments against directed mutation arose, but the original research was never shown to be faulty. New experiments along this line, by B. Hall at the University of Rochester, have supported the original Harvard work and refuted some of the objections that had been leveled. Working with a special strain of Escherichia coli , Hall starved the bacteria of a certain amino acid, (tryptophan) that they usually got from the environment and could not synthesize. In the days that followed, many of the bacteria mutated so that they could synthesize their own tryptophan. Hall concluded: "Mutations that occur more when they're useful than when they're not: That I can document any day, every day, in the laboratory." Rather than assign any "conscious" goal-seeking attributes to the bacteria, Hall prefers to think that the environmental stress induced a state of "hypermutation." In this state all sorts of mu-tations occurred in abundance. Only those that synthesized tryptophan survived the starvation program; even potentially favorable mutations died quickly. ...
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... In fact, like the crop-circle events, UFO reports are increasing in number and strangeness. It doesn't matter that the UFOs and their alleged occupants may be physically real. There are tens of thousands of people who think that they have observed something strange -- even after all hoaxes and misinterpretations of natural phenomena have been culled out. Most of those who are willing to accept UFOs as valid phenomenon think they are real hardware piloted by extraterrestrials. J. Vallee, a computer scientist and prolific writer on the subject, demurs, and he gives five reasons why: "( 1 ) Unexplained close encounters are far more numerous than required for any physical survey of the earth; (2 ) The humanoid body structure of the alleged 'aliens' is not likely to have originated on another planet and is not biologically adapted to space travel; (3 ) The reported behavior in thousands of abduction reports contradicts the hypothesis of genetic or scientific experimentation on humans by an advanced race; (4 ) The extension of the phenomenon throughout recorded history demonstrates that UFOs are not a contemporary phenomenon; and (5 ) The apparent ability of UFOs to manipulate space and time suggests radically different and richer alternatives." If not extraterrestrial hardware, what are the UFOs? Vallee has three suggestions: (1 ) they are "earth lights" a la P. Devereux; that is, an unappreciated terrestrial phenomenon that impresses mental images on the minds of observers; (2 ) They are artifacts of a "control system" operated by a nonhuman intelligence or, perhaps, a ...
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... Project Sourcebook Subjects Tilted Planetary Magnetic Fields The axis of the earth's magnetic field is tilted about 11 away from our planet's axis of rotation. This tilt is embarrassing to the reigning "dynamo theory," in which the axes of the magnetic field and rotation are presumed to be aligned. The situation is even worse with some the other planets; viz., Uranus with 60 and Neptune with 47 . Jupiter's tilt is 10 , while Saturn's is only 1 . Clearly, something is awry. Two possibilities are: (1 ) The dynamo theory is incorrect; or (2 ) The magnetic fields measured by spacecraft are actually combinations of central, dynamocreated, dipole fields, which are aligned with the axes of rotation, and "other" dipole fields originating in the outermost portions of the planetary cores. If the latter solution to the dilemma is correct, we must account for the origin and disposition of these "other" dipoles. (Eberhart, J.; "Straightening the Magnetic Tilts of Planets," Science News, 137:294, 1990.) Reference. The anomalously titled magnetic fields of planets are cataloged in The Moon and the Planets. For details on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #70, JUL-AUG 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... -like glasses at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (KTB) on Haiti is leading geological detectives closer and closer to the missing crater. Elsewhere in the world, the KTB is characterized by an iridium anomaly and a thin layer of "impact clay" consisting of tiny bits of shocked minerals. At Beloc, on Haiti, though, geologists find a 55-centimeter-thick layer of glassy debris. Approximately 25% of this stra tum consists of 1-6 -millimeter particles of tektite-like glass. Most of the glass particles are spherical, but a few have the splash-forms and dumbbell shapes of bona fide tektites. The thickness of the Haitian deposit and the large sizes of the particles suggest that the smoking gun must be nearby. Ironically, the Haiti stratum was originally classified as of volcanic origin; and we must add that we are presenting here only the conclusions of the asteroid school. But where oh where is this crater? The Manson crater in Iowa (now buried) is of the right age but too small. The best candidate so far is buried in northern Yucatan. The Chicxulub crater is discernible on gravity- and magneticanomaly maps and is probably of the right age. Only drilling will confirm the guilt of the suspect. Even if Chicxulub is the culprit, much debate prevails over exactly how the dinosaurs were done in. Was it a "cosmic winter" due to dust intercepting sunlight? Or perhaps a "cosmic summer" resulting from a super-greenhouse effect caused by: (1 ) impact-released methane trapped in sediments, ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 65: Sep-Oct 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Initial bipedalism!Our anomaly-collecting net has pulled in an interesting catch; namely, CERBI (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur la Bipedie Intiale). This Center, operated by F. de Sarre, publishes a little journal called Bipedia . In the first issue of Bipedia , de Sarre sets out, in English, his basic thesis: Abstract. "The explanation of Man's special nature is to be sought in the original combination formed by a primordial brain, the globular form of the skull and initial bipedalism. The ape, when compared with Man, appears to be rather a vestige of Man's ancestral line than his predecessor, according to the views of Max Westenhofer, Serge Frechkop, Klaas de Snoo and Bernard Heuvelmans. The study of the human morphology allows logically to carry the problem of Man's origin back to a very early stage of the evolution, and not to which has been reached by apes. From chromosomal and DNA comparison in the cells of living apes and people, several researches argue to-day that humans are genetically more like the common ancestor than is either Chimpanzees or other apes. The array of facts and considerations should be sufficient for an unbiased mind to discount away any idea of simian antecedents in Man's ascent." The body of the article supports de Sarre's thesis with observations from embryogenesis, comparative anatomy (skull, hand, foot ...
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... Project Sourcebook Subjects Deep-sixing another hypothesis?T. Gold once said, "In choosing a hypothesis, there isn't any virtue in being timid." Neither have the Swedes been timid in following Gold's lead by drilling for natural gas in the granite of central Sweden. All the experts pre-dicted this quest would come to naught, because there are no source rocks in the area containing biological materials from which the gas could have been generated. But Gold does not believe that the methane in natural gas comes from buried organic debris. Rather, most methane is primordial and abiogenic, a legacy left deep in the earth's crust when our planet was formed. The 72-kilometer-diameter Siljan Ring in central Sweden is generally believed to be of meteoric origin. The granite here has been shattered, perhaps to a depth of 40 kilometers. If Gold's hypo-thesis about the origin of methane is correct, methane might well be found seeping up through this wound in the earth's outer skin. Further, the shattered granite might prove to be a gigantic reservoir of valuable methane. The Swedes decided to drill. After three years and the expendi-ture of $40 million, drilling at the Siljan Ring has been terminated. The drill penetrated to 6.8 kilometers before it got stuck. No significant methane had been found. The experts snickered! But the story is not finished, at least as far as Gold is concerned. He maintains that the drilling stopped just short of an apparent reservoir at 7.2 ...
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... the Tugela River at a distance of about 1km. This stationary light column seemed to have the dimensions of a pencil stub (approx. 50mm x approx. 7mm) held vertically at arm's length. The column, which had a bluish glow like a fluorescent tube, was visible for about 5 to 10 seconds. .. .. . "At 11.15pm, when the intensity of the storm had abated and the sky was lit intermittently with flashes of sheet lightning, the writer saw a luminous spherical object, seemingly of golf to tennis ball size, moving rapidly with an apparently vertical undulating motion from left (northeast) to right (southwest) on a horizontal course in the general direction of Mont-Aux-Sources (3282m) where the Tugela River has its origin. This sighting lasted 2 to 3 seconds. About 3 minutes later, another similar object crossed the field of view, following the same course as the first object and showing about 2 or 3 undulations in its passage. At midnight, a third object was seen having the same characteristics as the first two objects. However it did not arise from the extreme left of the field of view but appeared to originate from a point marked by a small tree close to and in the middle of the window. These objects had a bright yellowish-blue luminescence, and no noise was heard which could be associated with their passage." (Neish, William J.P .; "Lightning Phenomena in the Drakensberg Mountains of Natal, RSA," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Elliptical Halos Original drawing of the halo of Hissink, observed at Leiden. January 26, 1977. In the catalog Rare Halos, Mirages, Anomalous Rainbows, we list nine cases of elliptical halos. Such observations are anomalous becaouse the only wellexplained elliptical halo is formed when the lower and upper tangential arcs of a 22 halo join together. Possibly because of the absence of appropriate theory, R. White, in 1981, suggested that the observations recorded in GEH2 were only the consequences of observational error or inaccuracy in representation of the phenomenon. (This assertion is well-known to all anomalists!) Recently, however, several elliptical halos have graced the skies of Finland. We provide below a summary of these observations, as prepared by J. Hakuma ki and M. Pekkola. First, though, we express appreciation to Hakumaki and Pekkola for a paragraph headlined SOURCEBOOK PROJECT ANOMALIES, where in effect they vindicate the approach of the Project. We now quote from the summary of their article. "In December 1987 two Finnish amateur astronomers observed and photographed a peculiar vertically elliptical ring surrounding the moon. A literature study carried out soon after this first observation brought to light ten reported historical cases of this type of rare halo phenomenon. It was found out that the existence of these elliptical halos has been uncertain to date due to a lack of photographic evidence. One indication of this is that none of the major modern works on ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 65: Sep-Oct 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects How fares cold fusion?During the past two months, you could have read across a very wide spectrum of conclusions and opinions concerning cold fusion. Nature. This editorial begins with: "Although the evidence now accumulating does not prove that the original observations of cold fusion were mistaken, there seems no doubt that cold fusion will never be a commercial source of energy." Editor J. Maddox concludes by stating that Pons and Fleischmann should have placed their responsibility to the scientific community above publicity. (Maddox, John; "End of Cold Fusion in Sight," Nature, 340:15, 1989.) American Scientist. Here are reported the observations of neutrons at Los Alamos. (Hively, William; "Cold Fusion Confirmed," American Scientist, 77:327, 1989.) Science. Some laboratories have seen neutrons and heat production. (Pool, Robert; "Cold Fusion Still in a State of Confusion," Science, 245:256, 1989.) Baltimore Sun. The chemist quoted is Utah's B.S . Pons. "In the experiment, a 'boiler' the size of a thermos emitted 15 to 20 times the amount of energy that was being put into it - a reaction that 'cannot be explained by normal chemical reactions we're aware of,' according to Dr. Pons. .. .. . He said he was convinced his device could ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 69: May-Jun 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Megawalls Across The Cosmos "The universe is crossed by at least 13 vast 'walls' of galaxies, separated by about 420 million light years, according to a team of British and American researchers. The walls seem to be spaced in a very regular way that current theories of the origin of the universe cannot explain." "Walls" of galaxies emerge when galaxy separation distance is plotted against the number of galaxies possessing specific separation distances. (128 million parsecs = 420 million light years). The astronomers have collected observations of galaxy redshifts along a linear "borehole" through the universe 7 billion light years long centered on the earth. If the redshifts are assumed to be measures of distance (as mainstream thinking demands), one gets the clumping effect seen in the accompanying illustration. (Henbest, Nigel; "Galaxies Form 'Megawalls' across Space," New Scientist, p. 37, March 19, 1990.) Comment. Not mentioned in the above article are the papers by W.G . Tifft on quantized redshifts. (See SF#50, for example.) It will be interesting to learn if "boreholes" pointed in other directions will encounter the same megawalls. If they do, the earth will be enclosed by shells of galaxies, much as some elliptical galaxies are surrounded by shells of stars. Wouldn't it be hilarious if the earth were at the center of these concentric ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 68: Mar-Apr 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Now it's greece!The general consensus is that modern humans first emerged in Africa. This assertion was challenged in SF#66, where an origin in southeast Asia was championed. Now, it's Greece! "The immediate ancestors to the human family - the hominids - might have been living in Greece, rather than Afica, some 10 million years ago in the late Miocene, according to the French palaeontologist Luis de Bonis. "In September 1989, de Bonis and George Koufos of the University of Thessaloniki discovered the fossilized face of an ape-like creature, Ourano pithecus, at a site in the Valley of Rain, 40 kilometres northwest of Thessaloniki. Although the fossil has not yet reached the scientific press, de Bonis has publically described it as a possible precursor of the earliest known hominid species, Australopithecus afarensis , from Africa 3.5 million years ago." (Lewin, Roger; "Humans May Have Come from Greece, Not Africa," New Scientist, p. 35, January 27, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #68, MAR-APR 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... ONLINE No. 69: May-Jun 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Spontaneous order, evolution, and life In our thinking, one of the most remarkable articles ever to appear in Science bears the above title. Most re markable of all is the use of the word "spontaneous" without philosophical comment. The stimuli for the research described are such observations as: (1 ) life exists; (2 ) life evolves; (3 ) the fossil record displays stasis, extinctions, and great gaps between phyla and lesser classifications; and (4 ) disordered molecules move smoothly and surely into the order manifest in the living cell. The question asked in the article is whether science has missed something in its description of the origin and development of life. Just what makes molecules coalesce into cells and humans? The answer given is: spontaneous self-organization ! In other words, there is no guiding external force. Molecules do this spontaneously. There are even computer models being developed, based on a branch of mathematics called "dynamical systems," that describe how this all happens - spontaneously, of course. (Waldrop, M. Mitchell; "Spontaneous Order, Evolution, and Life," Science, 247:1543, 1990.) Comment. When water molecules spontaneously cluster together to form a snowflake, with all its symmetry and order, science explains the process in terms of the properties of water molecules. The same must be true when molecules merge to form life forms. But why do atoms ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Artificial molecule shows 'sign of life'A synthetic molecule has been found that apparently replicates itself. This seems to be a step on the road to artificial life. "Julius Rebek, Tjama Tjivikua and Pablo Ballester of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say that their compound, an amino adenosine triacid ester (AATE), acts as a "template" which combines molecular fragments to make a copy of the original compound. This process is very similar to that used by DNA. The difference is that the biological copying usually needs an enzyme to make it work." (Emsley, John; "Artificial Molecule Shows 'Sign of Life,'" New Scientist, p. 38, April 28, 1990.) Comment. No one can say that replication is a "spontaneous" property of inorganic matter. It is truly remarkable that base matter is intrinsically self-organizing and replicating. We know! It is all because the universe just happens to be anthropic. From Science Frontiers #70, JUL-AUG 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Successful Predictions Mean Little In Science Many maverick scientists make the pages of Science Frontiers because they are the ones who deviate from the mainstream. They pursue those Anomalies that the Sourcebook Project filters from the great river of scientific literature. But enough fluvial allusions! The maverick here is, again, H. Alfven. We first met Alfven in SF#59,where we commented on his paper "Memoirs of a Dissident Scientist." Alfven is still a dissident, a scientist who has the temerity to claim that cosmic rays have a local rather than galactic origin. Even more heretical is his assertion that electromagnetic forces have shaped the universe rather than the Big Bang! The subject of this entry is not so much Alfven's conflicts with accepted scientific views, but rather whether correct scientific predictions really influence the scientific community's acceptance of theories. This, after all, is what science is all about. It turns out that Alfven has made many correct scientific predictions. (He even shared a Nobel Prize in 1970.) But, as S.G . Brush has related in a detailed article in Eos, being correct is not the same as being accepted. "According to some scientists and philosophers of science, a theory is or should be judged by its ability to make successful predictions. This paper examines a case from the history of recent science - the research of Hannes Alfven and his colleagues on space plasma ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 71: Sep-Oct 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Wyoming: a periodic spring "Near the base of a limestone cliff in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest, spring water gushes from an opening for several minutes, stops abruptly, then begins a new cycle a short time later. This is Periodic Spring, whose intermittent flow is a rare geologic phenomenon. The water is cold and clear, an indication that this is not a geyser like Old Faithful; such geysers, of volcanic origin, send forth hot water. Through the years various observers have timed the flows at anywhere from four to twentyfive minutes, with similarly varying dry spells. The intermittent flow is especially regular in late summer and autumn. During stormy periods or when there is heavy snow melt-off, the flow fluctuates but does not stop entirely." At full flow, Periodic Spring discharges about 285 gallons/second into a stream 9 feet wide and 1 feet deep. Periodic Spring, therefore, is fairly impressive, but it is not anomalous. (Mohlenbrock, Robert H.; "Periodic Spring, Wyoming," Natural History, 99: 110, April 1990.) Comment. Siphon action nicely explains periodic springs. Water keeps flowing through the upper loop until the water level in the reservoir drops below the siphon intake. The spring will not flow again until the reservoir fills to the top of the upper loop(level a) again initiating siphon action. Siphon action seems simple ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 76: Jul-Aug 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects An ancient egyptian ship in australia?The illustration, right, was taken from a newspaper, The Australian . It is a computer-enhancement of a badly faded painting found on Booby Island off the coast of Australia. R. Coleman, the Queensland Museum's curator of Maritime History and Archaeology, was quoted in the paper as saying: "Using this technique we are able to selectively neutralize confusing background virtually making the original image pop out of the background...this system... will add tremendously to our knowledge of those cultures prior to European set tlement." (Anonymous; "An Ancient Egyptian Ship in Australia?" Epigraphic Society, Occasional Papers , 19:211, 1990.) Comment. The vessel in the sketch does seem to have Egyptian lines. However, as our friends in Australia often remind us, we must be wary of what we read in Australian newspapers. From Science Frontiers #76, JUL-AUG 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 77: Sep-Oct 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Paper Trail From Asia To The Americas Stone beaters used in making bark paper from Mesoamerica (left) and Southeast Asia (right) The Mayan codices were made from bark paper as opposed to ordinary paper. To make bark paper, one first takes the inner layer of bark, or bast, from a tree. This material is then thinned, widened, and made flexible by soaking it in water and beating it. The final product retains much of the bark's structure with its interconnecting fibers. Ordinary paper today is also made of wood fibers, but the original fiber interconnections are destroyed in the pulping process. The manufacture of bark paper requires characteristic grooved beaters, specimens of which have been found in both Mesoamerica and Southeast Asia. Were bark paper and the tools required to make it invented independently on both sides of the Pacific, or were they transported across the Pacific by early navigators? If the latter, the flow was probably from Asia to America because the paper-making tools first appeared in Southeast Asia 4-5000 years ago and in Mesoamerica only 2500 years ago. Even so, trans-Pacific voyages 2500 years ago are definitely not part of acceptable archeology. Anthropologist P. Tolstoy, swimming against the mainstream, has surveyed the manufacturing technology of both bark paper and ordinary paper on a worldwide basis. He identified some 300 variable features in the process, 140 uses of the final products, and ...
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... reasonable to suppose that the warm Martian oceans, like the ancient oceans of Earth, would develop anerobic and aerobic photosynthesizing prokaryotes and structures like stromatolites. Their development might have changed the Martian atmosphere. Their fossils might be found along the fringes of the old oceans, the northern lowland plains." (Helfer, H.L .; "Of Martian Atmospheres, Oceans, and Fossils," Icarus, 87:228, 1990.) Comment. The Gaia influence is seen in the molding of the Martian atmosphere into something more conducive to the development of life. One can also speculate that, if life did develop on Mars, it could have seeded the earth via bits of debris blasted off by meteorite impacts. Several meteorites picked up in Antarctica are thought to have come from Mars originally. Reference. Data suggesting Martian life are cataloged in AME14 in The Moon and the Planets. For ordering information, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #74, MAR-APR 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... the Ice Ages lowered ocean levels by locking up water in the advancing ice caps, pressures on ocean-bottom methane hydrate lessened and, according to some speculators, released enough gas so that the increased greenhouse heating turned back the Ice Ages. (Was Gaia at work here?) On the other hand, if present human activities are truly stoking the greenhouse effect, ocean temperatures should rise, possibly destabilizing methane hydrate deposits and thereby aggravating the greenhouse effect. Such positive feedback could cook the biosphere. (Anonymous; "Did Methane Curb Ice Ages," New Scientist, p. 24, May 25, 1991. Also: Appenzeller, Tim; "Fire and Ice under the Deep-Sea Floor," Science, 252:1790, 1991.) Reference. Discussions of the origin of methane hydrate can be found in ESC5 in our catalog: Anomalies in Geology. For ordering information, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #77, SEP-OCT 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... in the earth's history. Indeed, all of the reference books confidently label charts with firm dates for the appearance of fishes, the demise of the dinosaurs, and so on. Alas, things are not quite as certain as they appear. Radiometric dating is not all that precise; errors may be large indeed. Take the Pennsylvanian period for example. It is part of the Carboniferous period, when many of the great coal deposits were laid down. The classical duration of the Pennsylvanian -- used in many texts -- is 34 million years. A meticulous new study of central European stratigraphy now pegs the Pennsylvanian as spanning only 19 million years. Now that's a 44% change! This new figure for the duration of the Pennsylvanian has already cast doubt on the origin of the famous Pennsylvanian cyclothems (repetitive strata) in North America. It had been thought that these seemingly cyclic deposits were correlated with sea level changes forced by variations in the earth's orbit (the Milankovitch periods). With this substantial compression of Pennsylvan-ian time, this correlation falls apart. The cyclothems, which are of impressive area and thickness, now seem to have been created by some other, still unrecognized phenomenon. (Klein, George deV.; "Pennsylvanian Time Scales and Cycle Periods," Geology , 18:455, 1990.) Comment. Even worse, perhaps, is the fuzziness conferred on the entire geological time scale by this compression of the Pennsylvanian and the possibility of similar revisions for other periods. From Science Frontiers #71, SEP- ...
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... walls of water have smashed ships in relatively calm waters. A tanker encountering a steep-sided giant wave in the Aguhlas Current of the African coast. Until recently, oceanographers were confident that any unusually large wave was just the chance addition of two smaller waves. Now, a consensus is emerging that at least two other factors are important: seabed topography and ocean currents. To illustrate, perhaps the most dangerous stretch of water in the world lies off southeast Africa, where the fast (8 feet/second) Agulhas Current often runs into storm waves surging up from Antarctica. The African continental shelf is so shaped that it funnels the current directly into the storm waves. Immense, steep-fronted waves have broken many a ship here. In sum, the old statistical theory about the origin of rogue waves has been jettisoned, but a new approach is still in the formative stages. (Brown, Joseph; "Rogue Waves," Discover, 10:47, April 1989.) Comment. But can any theory explain giant, solitary waves on calm seas. For more on this subject, see GHW in Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds. To order this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #66, NOV-DEC 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... from nearby impact craters. These irregular chunks of solidified melt could not have traveled great distances like their streamlined brothers. They lie at most only a few crater diameters from their parent craters. Since layered tektites are found over an area 800 x 1140 kilometers in extent, and they are not far-travelers, Southeast Asia must have been peppered with many small cosmic projectiles 700,000 years ago (the disputed age of the event). Whereas geologists have been searching diligently for a single huge crater (perhaps 100 kilometers in diameter) to explain the Australasia strewn field, they should be looking for many 1-kilometer craters. This scenario is radically different from mainstream thinking about this great event in earth history. (Wasson, John T.; "Layered Tektites: A Multiple Impact Origin for the Australasian Tektites," Journal of Geophysical Research, 102:95, 1991.) Reference. For more on tektites, see ESM3 in the catalog Neglected Geological Anomalies. For details, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #78, NOV-DEC 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... some American archeologists call "Carterfacts," after G. Carter, who has found similar rock fragments in the Americas and dates them much, much earlier than 12,000 B.P . In Europe, there is little argument about the 2.5 -million-year-date for the stratum in which the controversial rocks are found. The debate is over whether they are natural or products of human manu facture. The French champion of human manufacture is E. Bonifay, an archeologist at the National Center for Scientific Research, in Marseilles. At stake here is the mainstream view that modern man is the last in a succession of three species. The first was Homo habilis , which arose in Africa about 2 million years ago. (But see SF# 66, where an origin in southeast Asia is championed.) The second species was Homo erectus , which appeared about 1.6 million years ago, also in Africa, and migrated into Europe about 1 million years ago. Homo sapiens, "our" species, appeared about 500,000 years ago in "archaic" form, to be succeeded by "modern" Homo sapiens 200,000 years ago. Obviously, a 2.5 -million-year date for Homo erectus in Europe undermines this scenario. (There seems to be no evidence that Homo habilis ever made it to Europe.) (Ackerman, Sandra; "European History Gets Even Older," Science, 246:28, 1989.) Comment. It should be pointed out that revised dates, new skeletal material, and ...
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... geologists draw of the Guaymas Basin is that of a spreading center covered by perhaps a half kilometer of sediments. Spewing up from the spreading center is hot water at 300-350 C, which "cracks" the organic material in the sediments, converting it into petroleum only 10-30 meters below the sea floor. (Hecht, Jeff; "Youngest Oil Deposit Found below Gulf of California," New Scientist, p. 19, April 6, 1991.) Comment. Since spreading centers are really cracks in the earth's crust, it is possible that some of the feed materials for this modern "petroleum factory" in the Guaymas Basin could consist of abiogenic, primordial methane and other organics seeping up from deep within the earth. Reference. Many questions remain about the origin and migration of oil. Many of these are discussed in ESC13 in our catalog: Anomalies in Geology. Details here . From Science Frontiers #76, JUL-AUG 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... once, on p.000. where biogenic stalactites were described, have we persued the idea that minerals, including crystal forms, might be biogenic. We now have at hand a survey of biogenic minerals. It turns out that biogenic minerals are quite common - so common, in fact, that the Gaia concept is recalled, in which biological processes preside over much that happens upon this planet. Here follows a sampler of some biogenic minerals: Much, if not all, travertine (calcite and/or aragonite) and silicious sinter (opal) are deposited through algal action. Much pyrite and marcasite in sedimentary rocks comes from bacterial sulfate reduction. Bacterial breakdown of oil produces organic complexes that dissolve, transport, and precipitate quartz. The reknowned Herkimer "diamonds" may be of biological origin. Living cells synthesize isometric crystals of magnetite. Mitochondria manufacture crystals of hydroxylapatite. Better known are the apatite in bones and teeth and the aragonite, calcite, or fluorite in the vestibular systems of vertebrates. (Dietrich, R.V ., and Chamberlain, Steven C.; "Are Cultured Pearls Mineral?" Rocks and Minerals , 64:386, September/October 1989. Cr. R. Calais) From Science Frontiers #66, NOV-DEC 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... coasts of almost all the continents are believed by some to be caused by eruptions of methane from the seafloor. The same eruptions probably also account for the myriads of "pockmarks" found in the sediments of shallow seas. Whether this outgassing of methane comes from shallow accumulations of organic matter or from deep within the crust is still debated. Here, geophysics merges with biology. Recently, a group of researchers discovered a large (540 square meters) patch of chemosynthetic mussels in a brine-filled pockmark, at a depth of 650 meters, off the Louisiana coast. The mussels grew in a ring around the concentrated brine. The mussels harbor symbionts which consume the methane still seeping up through the brine from a salt diapir (a massive fingerlike intrusion 500 meters below the brine pool. The origin of some diapirs is not well-understood.) The mussels get the oxygen they require from the ordinary seawater covering the dense brine. Like the biological communities surrounding the "black smokers" and other ocean-floor seeps, the brine-filled pockmark community includes several species of shrimp, crabs, and tube worms. We have here another example of the astounding ability of lifeforms to take advantage of unusual, even bizarre niches. (MacDonald, I. Rosman, et al; "Chemosynthetic Mussels at a BrineFilled Pockmark in the Northern Gulf of Mexico," Science, 248:1096, 1990.) Comment. Such examples of life's adaptability are so common one hesitates to label them as anomalous. Yet, one wonders how and why life acquired this property. Is ...
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... Japanese, Ainu, and other Asian ethnic groups and has concluded that the revered samurai of Japan are actually descendants of the Ainu, not of the Yayoi from whom most modern Japanese are descended. In fact, Brace threw more fuel on the fire with: "Dr. Brace said this interpretation also explains why the facial features of the Japanese ruling class are so often unlike those of typical modern Japanese. The Ainu-related samurai achieved such power and prestige in medieval Japan that they intermarried with royality and nobility, passing on Jomon-Ainu blood in the upper classes, while other Japanese were primarily descended from the Yoyoi." The reactions of Japanese scientists have been muted so. One Japanese anthropologist did say to Brace," I hope you are wrong." The Ainu and their origin have always been rather mysterious, with some people claiming that the Ainu are really Caucasian or proto-Caucasian - in other words, "white." At present, Brace's study denies this interpretation. (Wilford, John Noble; "Exalted Warriors, Humble Roots," New York Times, June 6, 1989. Cr. J. Covey.) Comment. Fringe anthropology notes many "white" races in strange places; viz., the white Indians of Panama and the Mandans of the American West. From Science Frontiers #65, SEP-OCT 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... the flat lozenge on a table at eye level and orientating it with its shorter diagonal on the meridain, an observer could use an alidade while watching sunrise or sunset throughout the year. Were the bronze rivets, found nearby, the remains of the alidade? Markings exist on the plaque which indicate that the 16-month calendar was in use. Guide lines exist for inserting the intercalary leap day. Eight additional lines can be identified as indicating moonrise and moonset at the equinoxes' standstills. Using actual horizon altitudes at Stonehenge and azimuths shown by the lozenge, calculation shows that the average discrepancy of the solar lines is 0.36 days and that it was made about 1600 BC. "Was this ceremonially buried gold artifact a copy of a more robust working calendar, or was it the original master copy? "The lozenge was a means whereby observed angular measurements could be recorded and subsequently retrieved years later without recourse to writing. It was essentially a textbook for making the calendar, a reference encyclopedia." (Thom, A.S .; "The Bush Barrow Gold Lozenge: Is It a Solar and Lunar Calendar for Stonehenge?" Louisiana Mounds Society Newsletter, no. 37, February 14, 1991.) From Science Frontiers #74, MAR-APR 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 78: Nov-Dec 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Meteoroid impacts: the other side of the story Astronomers have long puzzled over the origin of localized magnetic anomalies on the moon. These magnetic concentrations (called "magcons") are located precisely on the opposite side of the moon from the larger lunar basins. How could an impact on the moon magnetize the antipodal region? The impact of a large silicate meteoroid at speeds of 10 kilometers/second would not only blast out a big crater but it would also create a huge cloud of hot, partially ionized gas. This hot gas or plasma will conduct electricity and interact with lunar magnetic fields. As the plasma cloud spreads away from the impact site, it acts like a bulldozer, compressing the lunar magnetic fields ahead of it, as it envelopes the whole moon and rushes towards the antipodal point. It drives the compressed mag netic field into the surface, permanently magnetizing the rocks at the antipodal point. Voila! Magcons. (Hood, L.L ., and Huang, Z.; "Formation of Magnetic Anomalies Antipodal to Lunar Impact Basins: Two-Dimensional Model Calculations," Journal of Geophysical Research, 96:9837, 1991.) Comment. The earth also sports scars from the impacts of large meteoroids. Are there magnetic anomalies opposite these craters? Even more interesting to check out would be the holes blasted in the earth's biosphere by the converging masses of hot gases at the an tipodal points ...
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... in the direction of their television satellite dish some 30 yards away where something had hit the ground with a terrific impact. "Inspecting that area, they found a hole some 24 inches long and 18 inches wide, and about four to six inches deep filled with large chunks of broken ice. Amos said pieces of baseball- and marble-size ice were scattered in a 30-foot radius around the hole." Further facts from this newspaper account: Several other chunks of ice were found in an area about 1 mile long. Some chunks made whistling sounds as they fell. The larger chunks were completely transparent except for a yellowishbrown streak. Many of the chunks had sand in them. Some contained holes. The weather was clear. The Federal Aviation Administration stated that if the ice originated in aircraft toilets it would have been blue from the chemicals used. (Hawk, Harold; "50-Pound 'Ice Bomb' Falls near Jerry's Run," Parkersburg News, June 27, 1990. Cr. M. Frizzell) Reference. You can find much more data on "hydrometeors" (large chunks of falling ice) in GWF1 in our catalog: Tornados, Dark Days. Information on this book can be found here . From Science Frontiers #74, MAR-APR 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... -oil pumped down from the surface," laughed the experts. This autumn (1991), more oil was struck in a new hole only 2.8 kilometers deep. This time, only water was used to lubricate the drill. How are the skeptics going to explain this? Well, about 20 kilometers away, there are sedimentary rocks; perhaps the oil seeped into the granite from there. Rejecting this interpretation, the drillers are going deeper in hopes of finding primordial methane. (Aldhous, Peter; "Black Gold Causes a Stir," Nature, 353:593, 199l. Anonymous; "Black Gold," The Economist , p. 101, October 19, 1991. Cr. T. Brown) Reference. T. Gold's iconoclastic ideas are the origin of oil and methane are reviewed in ESC13 and ESC16 in our catalog: Anomalies in Geology. To order, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #79, JAN-FEB 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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