17 results found.
... 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 Flying, parachuting, and falling frogs (Top) Shapes of flying and non-flying frogs. (Bottom) Aerodynamic diagram for a flying frog. Falling frogs have always been a Fortean favorite. These particular frogs plummet to earth in uncontrolled, unchecked free fall after (presumably) being lofted by whirlwinds. But there are frogs that are aerodynamically more sophisticated; these creatures glide and parachute through the dense tropical forests. S.B . Emerson and M.A .R Koehl have inquired into (even resorting to models in wind tunnels) the morphological and behavioral changes that have accompanied the repeated evolutions of these airworthy amphibians. "This paper reports an examination of the shift from aboreal to 'flying' frogs where we evaluate the the aerodynamic performance consequences of both a behavioral and morphological change. 'Flying' frogs have evolved independently several times among the 3,400 species of anurans. Although the particular nonflying sister species to each flying form remains unknown, in all cases flyers are distinguished from related, nonaerial, aboreal frogs by a similar suite of morphological characters: enlarged hands and feet, full webbing on the fingers and toes, and accessory skin flaps on the lateral margins of the arms and legs. 'Flying' frogs are not capable of powered flight, but do travel considerable horizontal distances during vertical descent. They are technically classified as gliders because they can descend at an angle less than 45 to the horizontal ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 284 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf076/sf076b08.htm
... : Cloaca Pecking BBB24 Unusual Mating Systems BBB25 Two Species with a Common Nest BBB26 Determination of Clutch Size BBB27 Exotic Objects and Eggs in Nests BBB28 Unusual Methods of Heating and Cooling Eggs BBB29 Brood Parasitism: How Did It Begin BBB30 Disparities between Parasite Host Adaptations BBB31 Tolerance of Parasite Chicks BBB32 Tolerance of Parasite Eggs Even When They Are Recognized as a Threat BBB33 Murder for Purposes Other Than Food and Brood Reduction BBB34 Infanticide BBB35 Siblicide BBB36 Information Processing in Migratory Behavior BBB37 Uncommon Groupings of Birds BBB38 Flock Synchrony BBB39 Flight Formations BBB40 Avian "Courts" and "Funerals" BBB41 Avian Graveyards BBB42 Huddling and Stacking BBB43 Bird Battles BBB44 Miscellaneous Curiosities of Avian Behavior BBC CHEMICAL PHENOMENA BBC1 Palatable Eggs More Vulnerable to Predation BBC2 Conspicuous Plumage Advertises Unpalatability BBC3 Why Did Stinking Birds Evolve? BBC4 Poisonous Birds and Poison Dart Frogs: Convergent Evolution? BBC5 Are Ratites More Primitive Than Flying Birds? BBC6 Did Australian Songbirds Evolve Earlier than European Songbirds? BBC7 Are Birds More Closely Related to Mammals Than to Reptiles? BBC8 The Inability of Some Birds to Synthesize Ascorbic Acid BBD DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS IN SPACE AND TIME BBD1 Discontinuous Populations of Birds BBD2 Uncolonized Areas: Unfilled Niches BBD3 Land Birds Observed Far at Sea BBD4 Late Survival of Moas and Passenger Pigeons BBD5 Distribution Curiosities BBE THE FOSSIL RECORD OF BIRDS BBE1 The Fossil Record of Birds and Associated Paradigms BBE2 Evidence against the Dinosaur Origin of Birds BBE3 Protoavis: A Pre-Archaeopteryx Bird? BBE4 Unresolved Nature of Archaeopteryx BBE5 The Apparent Absence of Transitional Forms of Feathers BBE6 Fossils of Ostrich Ancestors in the Northern Hemisphere BBE7 Controversial Feathers of the London Archaeopteryx Fossil BBE8 Giant Fossil Eggs ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 125 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /cat-biol.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 115: Jan-Feb 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Frog Fall June 16, 1937. Frackville, Pennsylvania. "Astonished householders of this little mining town, ten miles north of Pottsville, went out with brooms and swept bullfrogs off their open porches after a thunderstorm today. "The tiny frogs sounded like the thudding of hailstones as they dropped by hundreds on tin roofs. "Miniature "twisters" accompanying the rain had lifted the frogs several yards into the air, it was suggested, and dropped them over Frackville." (Anonymous; "Bullfrogs by the Hundred Fall in Pennsylvania Rain," New York Times, June 17, 1937. Cr. M. Piechota. Comment. The "whirlwind theory" is always trotted out to account for fish, frog, and toad falls. It is not easy to find hundreds of tiny frogs in a marsh and then vacuum them up without also levitating considerable plant debris and other marsh dwellers. From Science Frontiers #115, JAN-FEB 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 124 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf115/sf115p12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 40: Jul-Aug 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Frog mothers do so care!We usually think of reptiles and amphibians as bad parents, leaving their eggs unguarded and their young to fend for themselves. The strawberry poison-dart frog of Panama and Columbia seems to be an exception. The parents stand guard over the eggs, moistening them until the tadpoles emerge. Then, the mother allows the tadpoles to wriggle onto her back and, one at a time, she carries them to separate little pools of water trapped in bromeliad fronds. She even goes one remarkable step further. Remembering the location of each tadpole, she makes the rounds, depositing infertile eggs for them to eat! (Anonymous; "Gallery," Discover, 6:55, May 1985.) From Science Frontiers #40, JUL-AUG 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 69 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf040/sf040p08.htm
... 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 Extinction Countdown Some plants may, as described below, have environment-sensitive genes that help them adjust to external pressures. Amphibians and birds do not seem to be so pliable. The worldwide precipitous decline of amphibian populations is alarming. Her-petologists are literally seeing species disappear before their eyes. Here is a typical anecdote: "In 1974, Michael Tyler of the University of Adelaide, Australia, described a newly discovered frog species that broods its young in its stomach. The frog was once so commo 'an agile collector could have picked up 100 in a single night,' Tyler says. By 1980 it had completely disappeared from its habitat (a 100-square-kilometer area in the Conondale Ranges, 100 miles north of Brisbane). It has not been seen since." Similar stories emanate from Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Norway, and elsewhere. Many environmental causes have been proposed, but it is significant that the frogs are also disappearing from nature preserves where environmental pressures are small. D. Wake, a biologist at Berkeley, has remarked: "[ Amphibians] were here when the dinosaurs were here, and [they] survived the age of mammals. If they're checking out now, I think it is significant." In this context, Wake believes that there is a single, global, still-unidentified cause operating. (Barinaga, Marcia; "Where Have All the ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 98: Mar-Apr 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Some Shaky Observations Back in SF#65, we offered an item on how wood turtles stomp the ground to force earthworms out of their burrows. (When humans do this -- and they do -- it is called "grunting for worms!) Other animals also use vibrations for communication and, rather surprisingly, for cutting leaves. Malaysian tree frogs. Zoologists already knew that Puerto Rican white-lipped frogs use vibrations to communicate amongst themselves. The Malaysian tree frog can now be added to the list of substrate vibrators. The female will sit on a reed or small sapling and tap out a "come-hither" message with her toes. The message goes forth in minute seismic waves. The males detect these vibrations and proceed, sometimes in great numbers, to the source of the vibrations, and the species is thereby perpetuated. (Mestel, Rosie; "Courting Tree Frogs Make the Earth Move," New Scientist, p. 8, December 10, 1994.) Leaf-cutting ants. Leaf-cutting ants neatly excise penny-size pieces of leaves and tote them back to their fungus gardens. J. Tautz and colleagues, University of Wurtzburg, noted that the ants chirped as they sliced at the leaves with their jaws. With a little instrumentation, they discovered that during each chirp both ant and leaf vibrated at about 1,000 hertz. The vibration apparently rigidizes soft leaf tissues and ...
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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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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 125: Sep-Oct 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Two Down-Falls "Falls" are a Fortean staple, particularly showers of fish and frogs. But the sky produces other exotic materials, such and blocks of ice and (ugh!) raw sewage. July 26, 1998. Rue, Switzerland. "On Sunday July 26, 1998, at around 9h 45m Central European DaylightSaving Time (7h 45m UT), a Rue farming couple were in front of their house when they heard a whistling sound "like a big rocket on August 1" (Swiss national holiday). They just had time to see a block of ice the size of a "football" pass in front of their field of vision and crash into the tarred path near to their farm. The block broke up into thousands of pieces and the witness recuperated [sic] the largest which was "the size of a skittle." The ice was "very hard" and "snow-colored." "The witness estimated the weight of the ice block at 7-8 kg and the piece he was able to recuperate at 6-7 kg. Unfortunately, he did not think of conserving the block in the freezer, and let it melt near his house after having shown it to his neighbor, who had also heard the noise." Swiss aviation officials claimed they could not identify any aircraft that might have been responsible "because of incertitude over the time of the incident" ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 115: Jan-Feb 1998 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Woodhenges before pyramids The berkeley walls extended Addenda and emenda Astronomy Why did life take a left turn? Biology Genes vs. memes A STRANGELY SELECTIVE SPIDER Acoustical mirrors on plants Stroke changes accent Nuclear families Geology The hilina slump a.k .a . "the big crack" Tektite mysteries Geophysics A SUBMARINE ORGAN? Frog fall A SKY-SPANNING AURORAL ARCH Psychology More sheldrake heresy Physics Splitting the electron's charge Unclassified Evolvable hardware ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 150: Nov - Dec 2003 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Australians First in the New World? Origin of Clovis Culture Disputed A "Magic Number" Encoded in Three of the World's Major Pyramids Astronomy Mapping and Analyzing Dark Matter Biology Frog Poison Factory Puffin Tongue Trick? Human-chimp DNA Dissimilarities Four-Dimensional Biology A Squid's Eyes that Look Up and Down Tuberculosis and the Extinction of the Megaforna Dark Matter in our Genome Unknown Source of Animal Diversity Communication among Bacteria Geology When the Earth Gets Cracking Subduction Doesn't Check Out Chicxulub Didn't Do It! Geophysics Squishy Ball Lightning Far-Floating Fowl Psychology Natural-Born Readers Physics Mixed Anomalies ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 76: Jul-Aug 1991 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology An ancient egyptian ship in australia? THE MEXICAN SELLOS: POSSIBLE EVIDENCE FOR EARLY EUROPEAN CONTACTS The orogrande, nm, site Astronomy Catastrophic flooding on mars? Will earth's rings return? Biology Ants as "excitable subunits" Eight leatherback mysteries FLYING, PARACHUTING, AND FALLING FROGS Geology Baby oil UNDERGROUND CURRENT ELECTRIFIES AUSTRALIA Geophysics Atlantic's waves getting bigger Subterranean "circles" Psychology PSI EFFECTS IN THE SACRIFICE OF MARINE ALGAE Physics COLD FUSION: NEW EXPERIMENTS AND THEORIES NEW INSIGHTS AS TO THE STRUCTURE OF MATTER ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 40: Jul-Aug 1985 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Standing-stone Cluster in Eastern Massachusetts Megalithic Recycling Astronomy Planets As Sun-triggered Lasers Neptune's Arcs: Embryonic Moons? Next Let Us Consider Uranus What is It? A Black Hole, of Course! Biology Nessie Photos Not Retouched Frog Mothers Do So Care! Glitch in the Evolution of Funnelweb Spider Venom? Circadian Rhythms and Chemotherapy Genetic Code Not Universal! Geology Back to Guadeloupe Again Galapagos Younger Than Thought Libyan Desert Glass May Not Be the Product of Impacts. Geophysics Quakes and UFOs Vanishing Goo Multiple Whirlwind Patterns Psychology Mnemonism Not So Easy! Hypnotic Misrecall Chemistry & Physics Fruitfulness of Math Not An Intimation of A Transcendent Mind! The Most Profound Discovery of Science Messengers of A "new Physics" Double Nuclei At Darmstadt ...
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... -usual trees growing at the Summit Botanical Garden and Zoo just outside Panama City. They decided to take a look and were soon walking along a slip pery, narrow trail. "After a short walk the trail ended abruptly. There was a sign that pointed to a group of trees. It said 'arbol' (square tree). From a distance, they didn't look square. I was disappointed. My husband made a closer inspection. He put a field guide against the trunk of one tree. It was totally square. "Later I found that the square trees were a member of the banyan family and grow only in this area of El Valle. Why they are square is still a mystery." (Oldfield, Rochelle; "Panama's Gold Frogs and Square Trees," International Travel News, 21:20, June 1996) Comment. There's a lot of waste at the sawmill when round trees are cut up for lumber. We should ask the gene fiddlers to produce square pines and oaks. Maybe they can even coax 2 x 4s to grow! From Science Frontiers #106, JUL-AUG 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... pitohuis are loaded with homobatrachotoxin, a type of poison. This discovery makes the pitohuis the first known poisonous birds. Like many other poisonous animals, the pitohuis also emit a foul odor and advertise their unsavory nature with bright colors. (Dumbacher, John P., et al; "Homobatrachotoxin in the Genus Pitohui : Chemical Defense in Birds?" Science, 258:799, 1992. Also: Anonymous; "Bird with a Sting in Its Tail," New Scientist, p. 10, October 31, 1992.) Comment. As we see from the diagram, homobatrachotoxin possesses a rather complex chemical structure. One wonders how the pitohuis acquired the ability to synthesize it through random mutations. The puzzle deepens when one discovers that homobatrachotoxin is also manufactured by the New World poisondart frogs. Although far-separated taxonomically, both species traveled along the same path of random mutations to achieve this evolutionary convergence. From Science Frontiers #85, JAN-FEB 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... and East Ham? .. .. . "On 16 June 1984, a month after the fish falls in London, the owner of a service station near Thirsk in north Yorkshire found winkles and starfish covering the forecourt of his garage and the top of its high canopy. The winkles were salty and many were still alive. Thirsk is 45 kilometres from the sea, and the garage owner thought that this collection of marine life arrived with the torrential thunderstorms during the night. Though proof remains elusive, the winkles and starfish were probably lifted by a waterspout along the east coast and carried aloft for an hour or more within the powerful updrafts of the thunderstorms." Several more anecdotes of a similar nature can be found in this article. (Elsom, Derek; "Catch a Falling Frog," New Scientist, 1988.) Reference. Falls of fish and other anomalous material are cataloged in GWF10 in Tornados, Dark Days. For information on this catalog, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #59, SEP-OCT 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... we were down to a very slow speed, and under closer observation we noticed that the area was littered with millions of hailstones and those toads hopping all over. "The storm stopped as fast as it started, and the toads disappeared just as fast. I'll never forget how slippery the road was as we drove over those toads, and the popping of their bodies under the tires of my automobile." (Schuler, Richard A.; personal communication, July 23, 1987.) Comment. The sudden onset of the violent storm and the huge numbers of toads are both difficult-to-account for. If a whirlwind picked up the toads, as prevailing explanations would have it, where in nature would the whirlwind find such a concentration of toads? Reference. Frog and toad falls are cataloged in GWF11 in our Tornados, Dark Days. Ordering information here . From Science Frontiers #54, NOV-DEC 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Excess of Ice Crystals in Cumulus Clouds GWC16 Cloud Brightness Changes GWC17 Anomalous High-Altitude Haze Green Clouds [GWH] Bright-Night Phenomenon High-Altitude Layers of Material Natural Sodium Clouds Bromine Pulses Arctic Plumes Stratospheric Water Flow and Reservoirs Miscellaneous Unexplained Clouds Holes in the Ionosphere (Icy Comets) Ozone Holes Ozone Clouds GWD DARK DAYS, FOGS, AND OTHER OBSCURATIONS GWD1 Dark Days GWD2 Pogonips and Other Ice Fogs GWD3 Mists and Epidemics GWD4 Dry Fogs and Dust Fogs GWF FALLS GWF1 Ice Falls or Hydrometeors GWF2 Stone Falls GWF3 Sulphur/Pollen Falls GWF4 Falls of Miscellaneous Inorganic Substances GWF5 The Fall of Manna GWF6 Unusual Falls of Hay and Leaves GWF7 Gelatinous Meteors or Pwdre Ser GWF8 Prodigious Falls of Web-Like Material (Angel Hair) GWF9 Falls of Miscellaneous Organic Substances GWF10 Fish Falls GWF11 Falls of Frogs and Toads GWF12 Insect Falls GWF13 Bird Falls GWF14 Falls of Miscellaneous Living Animals Sewage Falls Falls of Liquids and Goo GWH LARGE STORM SYSTEMS GWH1 Ozone in Hurricanes GWH2 Hurricane Geographical Anomalies GWH3 Thunderstorm Systems Hypercanes Unusually Intense Storms Large-Scale Oscillations of the Atmosphere Wind Storms in the Upper Atmosphere Green Thunderstorms [GWC] Hurricane Fine Structure GWP ANOMALOUS PRECIPITATION GWP1 Precipitation from a Clear Sky GWP2 Giant Snowflakes GWP3 Conical Snowflakes GWP4 Hailstones with Anomalous Shapes GWP5 Giant Hailstones GWP6 Hail Strewn Patterns GWP7 Slowly Falling Hail GWP8 Unusual Inclusions in Hail GWP9 Explosive Hail GWP10 Colored Precipitation GWP11 Luminous Precipitation GWP12 Point Precipitation GWP13 Surplus Ice Crystals in Clouds GWP14 Decrease of Rainfall with Increasing Altitude GWP15 Rain Gushes Associated with Lightning Puzzle of Snowflake Symmetry Weekend Rain Rainfall Correlated with Soil Temperature GWR TEMPERATURE ANOMALIES GWR1 Temperature Flashes GWR2 Incendiary Phenomena Global ...
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