Science Frontiers
The Unusual & Unexplained

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About Science Frontiers

Science Frontiers is the bimonthly newsletter providing digests of reports that describe scientific anomalies; that is, those observations and facts that challenge prevailing scientific paradigms. Over 2000 Science Frontiers digests have been published since 1976.

These 2,000+ digests represent only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The Sourcebook Project, which publishes Science Frontiers, also publishes the Catalog of Anomalies, which delves far more deeply into anomalistics and now extends to sixteen volumes, and covers dozens of disciplines.

Over 14,000 volumes of science journals, including all issues of Nature and Science have been examined for reports on anomalies. In this context, the newsletter Science Frontiers is the appetizer and the Catalog of Anomalies is the main course.


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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 107: Sep-Oct 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Who Built The Kaimanawa Wall?Some 30 kilometers south of Lake Taupo, in New Zealand, stands an enigmatic array of stone blocks. It "looks" like a wall; a human-built wall. It also "looks" old; perhaps 2,000 years old according to some. Who built it? Passions are running high in New Zealand, where three hypotheses are being advanced: The wall was built some 2,000 years ago by the first settlers of New Zealand, the Waitahas, who were subsequently nearly exterminated by the Maoris, who arrived only 800 years ago. There are political problems with this theory, for the Maoris insist they are the original New Zealanders and therefore are due compensation for lands expropriated by later Europeans. The wall is merely what's left of a sawmill built only 50 or so years ago. The wall is simply a natural rock formation that has happened to split neatly into rectangular blocks -- like those slabs of beach rock that comprise the controversial Bimini "road" in the Bahamas. Future study of the "wall" will doubtless narrow the list to one. Meanwhile, let's take a look at the wall itself. B. Brailsford, of Christchurch, has been the chief investigator of the Kaimanawa wall, aided by American D.H . Childress, and others. The stones that make up the wall are 4-ton blocks of ignimbrite, ...
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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 Who built the east bay walls?Ranging along the hills east of San Francisco Bay are long stretches of walls constructed from closely fitted basalt boulders. Some of these boulders weigh more than a ton. In some places, the walls reach five feet in height and three feet in width. They extend for miles along the hill crests from Berkeley to Milpitas and beyond. Russell Swanson, one of the few persons willing to pursue the walls in the field, estimates that all the walls strung together would run for at least 20 miles. Naturally, time and civilization have destroyed some of the walls, but what remains is most impressive. The searches of property records going back to the Gold Rush and the studies of Spanish mission records give no hints of who built the walls or why. Evidently they are centuries old, possibly prehistoric. Why would anyone build miles of walls from ponderous boulders along miles of ridge crests? They appear to serve no practical purpose. Scientists seem to show no interest in the walls. One even stated: "I don't know of anyone who's come up with a credible explanation. I think what you're getting is an indication that there isn't any academic work in it." (Burress, Charles; "Unraveling the Old Mystery of East Bay Walls," San Francisco Chronicle, December 31, 1984. Cr. R. Swanson.) Comment. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 97: Jan-Feb 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The "inscribed wall" at chatata, tennessee One of our favorite anomalies over the years has been the ancient "inscribed wall" at Chatata, near Cleveland, in Bradley County, Tennessee. The above quotation marks are intended to warn the reader that said wall may not be man-made, and its inscriptions may be natural rather than artificial. An old drawing of a section of the "inscribed wall" at Chatata, TN. Note the triangular marker stone projecting above ground level. The history of the Chatata wall is long and convoluted. Discovered over a century ago, new facts are still coming to light today, as reviewed by D.E . Wirth in a recent issue of The Ancient American. The wall was originally almost completely buried. It attracted attention only because its course was marked on the surface by stones projecting from the ground every 25-30 feet over a gently curving arc about 1,000 feet long. One of these surface stones seemed to be inscribed with strange symbols. Excavations, supported at first by the Smithsonian Institution, revealed a 3-ply sandstone wall-like structure seemingly cemented together by a reddish mortar. Splitting the sandstone sheets revealed diagonal rows of markings like those illustrated. At first, both wall and inscriptions were proclaimed to be artificial. More recent studies by geologists point to natural origins for the wall, the mortar, and even the inscriptions themselves. The latter ...
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... 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 The Berkeley Walls Extended For almost two decades, R. Swanson has been searching out the enigmatic stone walls that festoon the Berkeley Hills and beyond, far, it now seems. We first mentioned these walls and provided a photograph back in 1985. (SF#39) Since then, Swanson's labors have received a modicum of public notoriety but hardly a flicker of academic interest. One reason for professional disinterest seems to be that grant money for exploring old walls is nonexistent! To bring new readers of SF up to speed on these perplexing California walls, we quote two paragraphs from a recent article by Swanson. "On the crest of the Berkeley hills there is a long line of large rocks, some are three feet in length, they may weigh a half ton. A century ago they ran for miles on these dry, wind-swept crests then down in a line to what is now the botanical gardens." .. .. . "In the past twelve years, I have visited over forty miles of these stone structures. To call them walls is something of a misnomer. Some do go in a straight line, others twist like a demented snake up a steep hillside, others come in a spiral two hundred feet wide and circle into a boulder with a six-inch knob carved on the top of it. Some are massive, over six feet tall and run for miles." ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 67: Jan-Feb 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Astronomers up against the "great wall"" For more than a decade now, astronomers have been haunted by a sense that the universe is controlled by forces they don't understand. And now comes a striking confirmation: 'The Great Wall.'" The Great Wall is the largest known structure in the universe at present, having superceded sundry superclusters and clusters of superclusters. The Wall is a "thin" (15 million-light-year) sheet of galaxies 500 million light years long by 200 wide; and it may extend even farther. It is emplaced some 200-300 million light years from earth. It helps outline contiguaous parts of vast "bubbles" of nearly empty space. Both the Wall and the adjacent voids are just too large for current theories to deal with. All popular theories have great difficulties in accounting for such large inhomogeneities. To illustrate an important observable -- the 2.7 K cosmic background radiation -- which is usually described as the afterglow of the Big Bang, ar gues for a very smooth, uniform distribution of galaxies. Great Walls are definitely anomalous. M.J . Geller, codiscoverer of the Great Wall with J.P . Huchra, remarked: "My view is that there is something fundamentally wrong in our approach to understanding such large-scale structure -- some key piece of the puzzle that we're missing." (Waldrop, ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 49: Jan-Feb 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Inca walls and rockwall, texas First, we have what seems to be a new Inca wall of impressive proportions. This story began when R.Chohfi, a UCLA graduate student was examining aerial photos of the Machu Picchu region in Peru. He noticed a straight line where no archeological ruins had been recorded. Friends put up money for Chohfi to journey to Peru and investigate. His hunch was that, since straight lines are rare in the jungle, something manmade must be there. He was right. He found a wall more than 7 feet thick. at least that high, and more than 1,000 feet long. Other structures were also found in the area, suggesting the existence of a major new archeological site. (Dye, Lee; "Incas: UCLA Student May Have Opened a New Door," Los Angeles Times, October 4, 1986. Cr. E. Krupp.) Next, let us consider Rockwall, Texas, a small town named for a strange wall, mostly buried, that exists in the area. We have had inquiries about this structure but have little in the way of substantial data. Just arrived is a facetious newspaper item that relates how, some 50 years ago, R.F . Canup excavated part of this wall. He dug 8 feet down and eventually unearthed about 100 feet of the wall. That was enough to convince him that it was the masonry wall ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 36: Nov-Dec 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Great Wall Of The Incas The Inca's ability to build with stone is well-known. But one of their most ambitious projects is rarely mentioned in the literature and is poorly investigated in the field. Probably no more than 150 miles in length, it cannot compare with China's Great Wall. Still, it is built at altitudes of 8,000-12,000 feet in extremely rugged terrain. It runs along high ridges and is studded with stone forts at strategic intervals. Even though the Inca Wall is only a few feet high, it would certainly slow down a force charging up precipitous terrain at two miles altitude. The true extent and condition of the Inca Wall is not accurately known. Only a few easily accessible sections have been checked out. The theory is that the Incas built it to discourage invasions by lowland Indians. Like all Great Walls, it seems to have met with only small success. (Paddock, Franklin K.; "The Great Wall of the Inca," Archaeology, 37:62, July/ August 1984.) Comment. The Great Wall of the Incas is located in Bolivia. There is another Great Wall in Peru that seems to have been built by the Chimu people, perhaps to defend themselves against the Incas! The Chimu Great Wall averages 7 feet in height and reaches 20-30 feet where it crosses gullies. Also incompletely explored, it ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 110: Mar-Apr 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Cracks In The Kaimanawa-wall Story?It was bound to happen. The publicity accorded the Kaimanawa Wall by New Zealand newspapers (SF#107) stimulated the scientific community to take a close look at the controversial "wall." The New Zealand Department of Conservation asked geologist P. Wood for his assessment. "He identified the rock as the 330,000-year-old Rangitaiki Ignimbrite. Following the line of blocks both horizontally and vertically, and photographing them in series, he revealed a system of joints and fractures natural to the cooling process in ignimbrite sheets. What Brailsford [see SF#107] had taken to be manmade cut, stacked blocks were no more than a type of natural rock formation." P. Andrews, the author of this article likened the regular jointing of the "wall" to neatly hexagonal prisms seen in many basalt flows. He supplied two photographs of the "wall." One was like the photo in SF#107 and showed regular joints; the second, from the same outcrop, displayed angled fractures and joints that certainly do not look like the work of humans. (Andrews, Philip; "New Zealand: Recent Ash, Ancient Wall," Geology Today , p. 136, July-August 1996. Cr. R.E . Molnar) Comments. If we receive counter-arguments from proponents of the wall's artificiality, we will add ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 39: May-Jun 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects East Bay Wall Photographs R. Swanson has kindly sent some photographs of the East Bay Walls described in SF#38. The photo on the left shows a rather complete section, 5-feet high, on Mission Peak, Fremont, California. N. Fink is shown measuring this wall. On the right, one of the walls leads to a "hill fort" at an elevation of 1,400 feet. Two other walls terminate at this rock pile. This wall has obviously experienced the ravages of time. It is said that these walls were in place when the Spanish arrived. From Science Frontiers #39, MAY-JUN 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 128: MAR-APR 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects 100-Mile-Long Wall in Africa A 100-mile-long wall? Well, sort of! Sungbo's Eredo, as it is called, is really an earthen embankment with an accompanying ditch. Whatever you call it, it does enclose an area 25 miles north-tosouth and 22 miles east-to-west. That's a lot of earth-moving, for at some spots the "wall" measures 70 feet from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the embankment. Today, this impressive structure is mostly concealed by the Nigerian jungle. A thousand years ago it enclosed a flourishing African kingdom. Sungbo's Eredo is hardly a military structure. Blow could a 100-mile-long embankment be defended with a reason-able number of warriors? Instead, it might have been a boundary marker or perhaps a "spiritual barrier." In fact, shrines are located along the wall where locals still leave offerings to protect themselves from outsiders. (Onishi, Norimitsu; "A Wall, a Moat, Behold! A Lost Yoruba Kingdom," New York Times International, September 26, 1999. Cr. R. Swanson) Comment. An interesting parallel to Sungbo''s Eredo is seen in Offa's Dyke, the largest ancient earthwork in Dritain. It is also an embankment-plus-ditch. Offa, the king of Saxon Mercia, had ...
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... lower ends. Called "qanats," these multimile subterranean structures were invented about 750 B.C . for trans-porting water efficiently in the dry desert climes of the Middle East. Cross section of a typical Iranian qanat. Unlike the exposed spring of the Bahrainian qanat, the water source here is at the bottom of a deep well. (From: Ancient Infrastructure) In our recent catalog, Ancient Infra-structure , we describe the qanats of Iran. (See figure.) Some of these shaft-tunnel structures run for miles and re-present a prodigious amount of labor. How prodigious? In Iran alone there are about 37,500 qanats with an aggregate length of some 100,000 miles! Qanats rank right up there with the Inca roads and the Great Wall of China as wonders of the ancient world. After reading our catalog section on Iranian qanats, E. von Fange informs us that the qanats of Bahrain pose a set of different problems. The Bahrainian qanats are easy to follow across the desert because the access shafts protrude a few feet above the sand. As one follows them up-slope for a mile or two, some greenery appears in the distance---low bushes perhaps. A closer approach proves instead that the greenery is actually the tops of palms. These trees are growing in a sunken oval area about 200 yards long girt by a wall 20-30 feet high. Outside, the desert sand reaches nearly to the top of the wall; inside, steps lead down to limestone bedrock from which springs of crystal ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 50: Mar-Apr 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball Lightning Burns A Rayed Circle On A Shed Wall B. Evans sent the following account to the Editor of the Journal of Meteorology: "Your report of 26th August (1986) about the mysterious five circles which appeared in cornfields near Devil's Punchbowl, near Winchester -- the largest being 42 feet across -- reminded me of an incident during the night shift in 1980 at Shotton steelworks. "A high wind was followed by a bright light which lit up the whole area. When we looked down on the yard from our vantage point we could see that a great ball of lightning had struck. As it bounced from spot to spot, we had to duck to get out of its way, but as soon as it has passed we ran out and saw it strike the side of a scrap shed. When the sun came up, it picked out the shape of a dartboard on the scrap shed. The pattern was clear, with all the segments in place, and it was about 37 feet across." (Meaden, G.T .; "Rayed Circle Made by Ball Lightning on the Wall of a Shed," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 11:27l, 1986. Journal address: 54 Frome Road, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, BA15 1LD, UNITED KINGDOM.) Reference. Other examples of ball lightning with rays are cataloged in GLB3 in ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 4: July 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Good-bye to the bimini wall and road?A perennial fixture of sensational archeology has been the frequent report of submerged "walls" or "roads" off North Bimini, in the Bahamas. That there are closely fitted, rectilinear stones under about 15 feet of water is not in question. The 1- to 10-ton blocks surely look manmade, but are they really? E.A . Shinn describes several "beach-rock" formations in the area, some exposed and some submerged under a few feet of water. This beach rock, as his photos demonstrate, has a natural tendency to fracture into rectangular blocks, creating strips of pavement-like blocks essentially identical to the famous Bimini road. Proponents of Atlantis and other radical archeological theories do not deny the similarity of the formations or even that the natural and supposedly man-made blocks are of the same composition. The Atlanteans, they say, obviously made use of readily available materials, and beach rock was their choice. Shinn goes on to prove to his satisfaction that the Bimini block formations are still in place where geological forces left them about 2,200 years ago. Further, he notes, there are absolutely no traces of human workmanship and no human artifacts in the area. One mystery is admitted, however, in this debunking article; and that is the unanswered question of how the Bimini rocks came to be submerged in 15 feet of water ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 41: Sep-Oct 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Possible Crack In The Wall Of The Temple Of Relativity "Stefan Marinov is a remarkable iconoclast who is convinced that Einstein's special theory of relativity is mistaken." Marinov apparently has been expelled from Russia because of his scientific and political opinions. So infuriated is he by the reluctance of mainstream scientific journals, such as Nature, to print his anti-relativity papers that he has threatened to immolate himself outside the British embassy in Vienna. Happily, he didn't strike the match, because it may be that he has something. Marinov claims that he has demonstrated experimentally that the velocity of light is not the same in all directions in all reference frames, as Einstein insisted. He says he can even detect the motion of the earth through absolute space and time, contrary to most Michelson-Morley-type experiments. Based upon some recent theoretical analysis, the journal Nature has bent a bit and now calls for repetitions of Marinov's experiments. (Maddox, John; "Stefan Marinov Wins Some Friends," Nature, 316:209, 1985.) Comment. Recently, three books highly critical of relativity have been published: (1 ) Turner, Dean, and Hazelett, Richard, eds.; The Einstein Myth and the Ives Papers; (2 ) Santilla, Ruggero Maria; Il Grande Grido: Ethical Probe on Einstein's Followers in the U.S .A .; ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 116: Mar-Apr 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects "A FANTASTIC RESULT!"That's what Princeton astronomer N. Bahcall said of the discovery that the very early universe was already partitioned by colossal walls of galaxies hundreds of millions of light years long. That walls of galaxies exist is not a new idea, but finding that they existed shortly after the Big Bang is highly disconcerting to most astronomers. How did these walls form so early? Why hasn't the force of gravity modified the basic structure of the cosmos over the billions of years that followed the Big Bang? The astronomical quandry is this: If the very early universe looks pretty much the same as today's universe, the implication is that mass, the source of gravitational sculpting, is scarce. But this is at odds with the cosmic expansion rate which implies a much higher density of matter. (Appenzeller, Tim; "Ancient Galaxy Walls Go up; Will Theories Tumble Down?" Science, 276:36, 1997.) Comment. The existence of galaxy walls, like so many astronomical constructs, depends upon the assumption that the red shifts of galaxies are proportional to their recessional velocities and, additionally, their distances and ages. So much rides on this one assumption. The same situation prevails in biology, where everything is founded on the assumption that random mutations and natural selection can together generate any degree of complexity, sophistication, and innovation seen in nature. The history of ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 96: Nov-Dec 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The "kites" or "keyhole" structures of the middle east Thousands of walled structures decorate the deserts and plains of the Middle East. Most are V-shaped terminating in a cul de sac studded with large rock piles. (See illustration.) Most of the wall arms are 300-3 ,000 meters long. They are constructed of basalt rocks from ancient lava flows. Artifacts found nearby suggest ages of at least 7,000 years. Younger, but very similar, structures have been found in Central Asia. A. Betts of the University of Sydney has been exploring these walls and attempting to discern their purpose. The best explanation seems to be that the ancient inhabitants of the region drove herds of wild animals into the wide mouths of the kites and then slaughtered them when they were trapped at the corral-like ends. The worst explanation is that extraterrestrials built them for some unknown purpose! (Anderson, Ian; "Prehistoric Prey Met Death through a Keyhole," New Scientist, p. 15, September 24, 1994.) Comment. Some kite walls extend 30 kilometers (18 miles) and represent a considerable investment of labor. See also: Field, Henry; "Early Man in North Arabia," Natural History, 29:32, 1929. Of course, aliens could have herded ancient humans into the kites. Remember the classic sci-fi story: "To Serve Man ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Enigmatic Stone Forts Of The American Midwest From diverse sources, J.D . Singer has drawn together a fascinating compendium of large stone forts and walled structures west of the Alleghenys. From Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and all across the Midwest come descriptions of stone structures of almost heroic proportions: A wall 5 to 12 feet high and almost a mile long at Fort Hill, Ohio; Two big walls at Fourteen Mile Creek, Indiana; Two massive stone walls or pyramids under Rock Lake, Wisconsin; and many more. Ignorance surrounds these structures. Who built them and when? Some are likely forts, for they are paralleled by ditches. Others seem to have no defensive value. The Moundbuilders may have hand a hand in some. Madoc and his wandering Welshmen are blamed for at least one wall! (Singer, Jon Douglas; "Stone Forts of the Midwest," NEARA Journal, 13:63 and 13:91, 1979. NEARA = New England Antiquities Research Association.) Comment. Concerted field work and searches of local archives would doubtless multiply the number of unexplained stone structures in the Midwest, just as it has in New England. For more on these forts see: Ancient Man. This Handbook is described here . From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Caves As Musical Instruments In past issues of SF, we have reported how some ancient rock art was intentionally painted on rock faces so that echos, as from a handclap, would not only be unusually loud but have some relation to the painting, as in the clatter of hooves. (SF#86) In a similar vein, some manmade chambers, such as New Grange (3 ,500 B.C .) were configured to enhance the subjective effects of ritual chanting. (SF#102) A fascinating article in Pour la Science , has described how ancient paintings in some of Europe's famous decorated caves were placed where sound resonated. To illustrate, examine the accompanying illustration of the north wall of the Jeannel Gallery of Portel Cave, in Arlege. The long, looping dotted line indicates the amplitude of resonating sound at a frequency of 95 Hertz, as the long gallery behaves like a giant wind instrument. The peak occurs smack in the center of the decorated area. At the peak, in the dotted circle, there is a rocky projection in the shape of a (hard-to-see) feline head. On the opposite wall (not shown), the same peak coincides with an ocher circle that dominates a meter-long decorated panel. (Dauvois, Michael, et al; "Son et Musique au Paleolithique," Pour la Science , p. 52, no. 253, November 1998. Cr. C. Mauge.) Comment. Modern ...
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... ONLINE No. 44: Mar-Apr 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Checking Out Those Australian Pyramids Several Australian readers have been kind enough to send this item about the Australian pyramids reported in SF#41, especially the one at Gympie, Queensland. The article's author, T. Wheeler, personally checked out the Gympie pyramid, the other supposedly ancient artifacts found in the area, and the testimonies of authorities and old-timers in the Gympie area. His results: "What are we left with? The facts are (probably) that the Gympie 'Golden' pyramid is actually an ordinary hill terraced by early Italian immigrants for viniculture that has been disfigured by erosion and the removal of stone from the retaining walls for use elsewhere; the stone wall around Gympie's Surface Hill Uniting Church is exactly what the Rev Mr Geddes says it is -- a wall made from irregular, freshly quarried stone. The 'Gympie Ape/Iron Man' statue was carved by a Chinese gold prospector and later abandoned. The sun symbol and snakes were carved quite recently. The prickly pear was introduced to Australia by early settlers journeying via South America. As for all the supporting statements by the various authorities, all but a few unimportant ones fade away as one after another proves to be a misquote, a falsification or an outright fabrication." (Wheeler, Tony; "In Quest of Australia's Lost Pyramids," Omega Science Digest, p. 22, November/December 1985.) ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 102: Nov-Dec 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ancient acoustical engineering In SF#86/43*, we reviewed R. Waller's acoustical measurements at ancient rock-art sites in Europe, North America, and Australia. Waller claimed that some rock art was intentionally placed where echos from the walls are not only exceptionally loud but are also qualitatively related to the art's subject matter, such as running hoofed animals. The Newgrange chamber, with acoustical nodes and antinodes. Antinode occur at the chamber's stone walls. In a similar venture, R.G . Jahn et al have taken sound generators and meters into the chambers of six ancient structures and measured their acoustical properties. The sites selected were: Wayland's Smithy, Chun Quoit, and Cairn Euny, all in the U.K .; Newgrange, and Cairns L and I, Carbane West, all in Ireland. All of these sites date back to about 3,500 BC. The chambers were all bounded by roughly hewn stones, but they had very different configurations. Newgrange was cruciform (see sketch); others were rectangular, beehive, and petalshaped. Quoting the abstract from the Princeton report, here is what the acoustical surveys found: "Rudimentary acoustical measurements performed inside six diverse Neolithic and Iron Age structures revealed that each sustained a strong resonance at a frequency between 95 and 120 Hz (wavelength about 3m). Despite major differences in chamber shapes and sizes, the ...
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... 2 inches Unfathomed Mind: A Handbook of Unusual Mental Phenomena Out of print Hardcover, 754 pages, Apr 1982, ISBN: 0-915554-08-9 , 9.5 x 6.5 inches Archeology Handbook For a full list of archeology subjects, see here . Ancient Man: A Handbook of Puzzling Artifacts Sorry: Out of Print. No longer available. Now in its third printiing, our archeology Handbook reproduces hundreds of items from the difficult-to-obtain archeological literature. Typical subjects covered: Ancient Florida canals * The Maltese "cart tracks" * New England earthworks * Ancient coins in America * Ancient Greek analog computer * Inscriptions and tablets in unexpected places * The great ruins at Tiahuanaco * Zimbabwe and Dhlo-dhlo * Huge spheres in Costa Rica * The Great Wall of Peru * Ancient batteries and lenses * Mysterious walls everywhere * Pacific megalithicsites * European stone circles and forts * [Picture caption: Scottish carved stones from circa 1000 B.C . Comments from reviews ". .. a useful reference in undergraduate, public, and high school libraries", Booklist. 792 pages, hardcover, $23.95, 240 illustrations, index. 1978 references. LC 77-99243, ISBN 915554-03-8 , 6x9forrnat. Ancient Infrastructure: Remarkable Roads, Mines, Walls, Mounds, Stone Circles Sorry, Out of print Ancient people raised standing stones on all continents save Antarctica. The dug canals 50 miles long and erected even longer walls. Gleaned from hundreds of volumes of Science, Nature, Antiquity and other science journals, this ...
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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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... they are dealing with a quarry. MG investigated the matter. We visited this alleged early quarry and discovered a few things! We thought it odd that that it's been classified as a Roman or Celtic quarry. "The site itself is located in the Sternenfels district about 25 km west of Pfortzheim/Baden-Wurttemberg. "The structure consists of: An almost central dome-hill laid in brick, surrounded by natural, hewn stones. The dome-hill (height: 15-18 m; length: 100 m; width: 60-80 m) was stacked blockwise with Keuper sandstones and clay slate. The structure's volume is estimated at about 60,000 cubic meters, which corresponds to about 100,000 tons of rock. The encompassing artificial rock walls are thought to have served as a quarry for the manufacture of the dome stratification. These rock walls were hewn artificially with tools after the quarrying of the dome stones...a place of worship? According to the map, this dome structure forms a connecting axis with other Celtic sites in this area." Summarizing additional data from the translation: (1 ) This is the largest pyramid in Europe; (2 ) The surrounding rock walls show tool marks, several petroglyphs, and Celtic symbols; and (3 ) It is suspected that this site might have been used for ritual purposes. ( Magazin fur Grenzwissenschaften , no. 5, 1993. Cr. W.-J . Langbein) From Science Frontiers #91, JAN-FEB 1994 . 1994-2000 William ...
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... by quantum mechanics. You see, in quantum mechanics, an object can exist in two or more states at the same time. This is, of course, a statement of fact rather than an explanation appealing to one's common sense -- a common occurrence in the quantum world. (Cho, Advising "Physicists Unveil Schroedinger's SQUID," Science, 287:2395, 2000) Heat flowing from cold to hot. The revered Second Law of Thermodynamics seems to tell us that heat always flows from hot to cold. But out in space, under special conditions, physicists seem to hedge a bit. The groundbreaking experiment was carried out onboard the Mir space station last year as part of the French-Russian Perseus mission. By warming a copper-and sapphire-walled cell filled with a drop of liquid sulfur hexafluoride and one tiny bubble of gaseous sulfur hexafluoride in near-zero gravity, scientists triggered a slight compression of the bubble. That gentle squeeze raised the temperature of the gas above that of the cell walls. For this to happen, heat must have been transferred from the cooler walls to the hotter gas, scientists report in the 1 May Physical Review Letters. This weird phenomenon can be tossed off as a "transient temperature overshoot." The Second Law didn't really apply because the system was not in thermodynamic equilibrium. Also, the Second Law really concerns changes in entropy rather than temperatures. (Sincell, Mark; "Backward Heat Flow Bends the Law a Bit," Science, 288:789, 2000.) From ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 91: Jan-Feb 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Dna Undermines Key Paradigms Lately, the Wall Street Journal has expanded its coverage from stocks and bonds to the Marfa lights and other scientific anomalies. Now, it is challenging archeological sacred cows using mitochondrial DNA. Quite a switch from pork futures! Of course, the WSJ is not a recognized scientific source, but its reporter did get his information directly from D.C . Wallace, a well-known professor of genetics and molecular medicine at Emory University and a champion of the African Eve theory. Surely an unusual illustration for the archeology section, but the DNA in these mitochondria may upset long-held theories of human migration. Anyway, Wallace has been studying mitochondria, those little energizers in human and animal cells. Strangely, mitochondria have their own DNA, which is separate and distinct from the nuclear DNA that directs other biological processes. Mitochondrial DNA has had its own history of evolution and is different for various human populations. Wallace has used this fact to trace the origins of American Indians by comparing their mitochondrial DNA with that from Asians, Africans, etc. His conclusions are controversial to say the least. The Amerinds, who comprise most of the Native Americans, arrived in a single migratory wave 20,000-40,000 years ago -- not merely 12,000 years ago! Native Siberians lack a peculiar mutation of mitochondrial DNA that appeared in the Amerinds 6,000-10,000 years ago ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 37: Jan-Feb 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Parasites may reprogram host's cell The long, segmented filament shown in the illustration consists of the cells of a parasite that preys on the cells of red algae. Two such cells abut the parasitic filament. The small black circles are parasitic cell nuclei which, when confronted with a red alga cell, become wrapped in small "conjuctor cells" which are then somehow transferred to the host cell on the right. The actual transfer involves the formation on the host cell wall of a sort of dimple called a "secondary pit connection." (Why this forms is not known.) Once inside the host cell, the parasite nucleus and/or the cytoplasm transferred with it dramatically reprograms host cell operations. The host cell shifts into highgear food production, enlarging up to twenty times its normal size. The host cell wall thickens, its nuclei (large black circles) and chloroplasts multiply. Adjacent cells (left) remain unaffected. (Lewin, Roger; "New Regulatory Mechanism of Parasitism," Science, 226:427, 1984.) Comment. It is one thing for external stresses to stimulate cell reprogramming, but quite another when another species inserts its programs into those of the host. Is this another way of producing "hopeful monsters?" A parasitic filament growing between host cells, showing how parasite nuclei are first enclosed in bud-like conjunctor cells and then inserted into the host cell. From Science ...
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27. Nanobes
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 123: May-Jun 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Nanobes Get used to this term! Of course you know about microbes. Well, nanobes are also life forms but so much smaller than microbes that they deserve the prefix "nano" (for 10-9 ) rather than "micro" (for 10-6 ). The smallest recognized bacteria, Myco plasma , lack cell walls and fall in the size range 150-200 nanometers. Nanobes are much smaller: 20-150 nanometers. But are nanobes really alive? A drill core recently extracted from a stratum of sandstone 3 kilometers deep off the coast of Western Australia was found to be infected with miniscule filamentous structures. P. Uwins and her colleagues at the University of Queensland believe these structures (" nanobes") are alive. They appear to grow and have cell walls. But skeptics assert that some lifeless chemical structures also grow. Others suspect contamination of the sample as it was raised to the surface and handled. Published photos of the nanobes look very much like the structures in the Martian meteorite ALH84001, which are claimed to be fossilized extraterrestrial bacteria. (SF#116) (Dayton, Leigh; "Tiny Wonders," New Scientist, p. 13, March 27, 1999.) Comment. R.L . Folk claims that so-called "nannobacteria" (100-400 nanometers) are ubiquitous on the earth. Few biologists believe that life forms can be this small, and ...
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... Frontiers ONLINE No. 47: Sep-Oct 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Humans in the americas 32,000 years ago?The following abstract is from Nature. Ir relates to one of the most controversial digs in the New World: Pedra Furada, in Brazil. "The view that man did not arrive on the American continent before the last glaciation has been supported by the fact that until now the known and dated archaeological sites have not been of very great antiquity. But now we report radiocarbon dates from a Brazilian site which establish that early man was living in South America at least 32,000 years ago. These new findings come from the large painted rock shelter of Boqueirao do Sitio da Pedra Furada, the walls and ceiling of which are decorated with a rich set of prehistoric paintings. We have excavated a sequence containing abundant lithic industry and well-structured hearths at all levels. Carbon-14 dates from charcoal establish a continuous chronology indicating human occupation from 6,160 130 to 32, 160 100 years BP. A date of 17,000 400 BP, obtained from charcoal found in a level with fragments of a pictograph fallen from the walls, testifies to the antiquity of rupestral art in the region of Brazil." (Guidon, N., and Delibrias, G.; "Carbon-14 Dates Point to Man in the Americas 32,000 Years Ago," Nature, 321: 769, 1986.) Comment. The Nature article just abstracted and other reports of the ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 26: Mar-Apr 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Nature's ballistic missile Abstract: "The parasitic fungus Haptoglossa mirabilis infects the rotifer host by means of a gun-shaped attack cell. The anterior end of the cell is elongated to form a barrel; the wall at the mouth is invaginated deep into the cell to form a bore. A walled chamber at the base of the bore houses a complex, missile-like attack apparatus. The projectile is fired from the gun cell at high speed to accomplish initial penetration of the host." (Robb, E. Jane, and Barron, G.L .; "Nature's Ballistic Missile," Science, 218:1221, 1982.) From Science Frontiers #26, MAR-APR 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 86: Mar-Apr 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Acoustics Of Rock Art S. Waller has visited rock art sites in Europe, North America, and Australia. Standing well back from the painted walls, he claps or creates percussion sounds, and records the echos bouncing back. A casual observer might be tempted to call 911. It turns out, though, that rock art seems to be placed intentionally where echos are not only unusually loud but are also related to the pictured subject matter. Where hooved animals are depicted, one easily evokes echos of a running herd. If a person is drawn, the echos of voices seem to emanate from the picture itself! "At open air sites with paintings, Waller found that echos reverberate on average at a level 8 decibels above the level of the background. At sites without art the average was 3 decibels. In deep caves such as Lascaux and Font-de-Gaume in France, echos in painted chambers produce sound levels of between 23 and 31 decibels. Deep cave walls painted with cats produce sounds from about 1 to 7 decibels. In contrast, surfaces without paint are 'totally flat'." What did the ancient artists have against cats? (Dayton, Leigh; "Rock Art Evokes Beastly Echos of the Past," New Scientist, p. 14, November 28, 1992.) From Science Frontiers #86, MAR-APR 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 44: Mar-Apr 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects How The Incas Worked Stone Inca stonework is famous for its large stones (some over 100 tons), which are fitted so precisely that "a knife cannot be inserted into the joints." An aura of mystery has always hung about the great "walls" at Saqsaywaman and Ollantaytambo (spellings vary). How could the Incas have quarried, dressed, transported, and lifted such huge stones? As usual with such remarkable ancient structures, the overzealous have proposed antigravity devices, stone-softening agents, and similar wild notions. In truth, as J. Protzen relates in the subject article, Inca stonemasonry was surprisingly unsophisticated and yet efficient, although some mysteries remain. Protzen has spent many months in Inca country experimenting with different methods of shaping and fitting the same kinds of stones used by the Incas. He found that quarrying and dressing the stones were not problems at all using the stone hammers found in abundance in the area. Even the precision-fitting of stones was a relatively simple matter. The concave depressions into which new stones were fit were pounded out by trial and error until a snug fit was achieved. Protzen's first-hand experience is impressive and convincing. Certainly he required no radical solutions. The problems that Protzen was not able to solve to his satisfaction involved the transportation and handling of the large stones. The fitting process necessitated the repeated lowering and raising of the stone being fitted, with ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 73: Jan-Feb 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Piney Pitstop Of The Paranormal Evidently trying to inject some joy into our country's financial capital, the Wall Street Journal recently printed a story on Spook Hill, Lake Wales, Florida. Spook Hill is one of several spots in the U.S . where gravity seems to be defied. "Sue Robertson motors her maroon Ford Tempo to the white line painted across Fifth Street, shifted into neutral and slowly rolls backward up Spook Hill. "' Eerie, weird, and definitely strange," she says, finally easing to a stop near the top of the rise. "Hers is the same amazed reaction expressed by most tourists who discover this piney pitstop of the paranormal, 50 miles south of Orlando. On a typical Saturday, up to 30 cars an hour line up at the top of the hill for their turn to drive down to the white line and drift back up." Not only cars roll up the hill. Farmers had to stop planting oranges in the area because visitors pulled them off the trees so they could watch them roll uphill. Skateboarders and cyclists also feel the pull of gravity in the wrong direction. Scientists who deign to investigate sites like Spook Hill usually end up by claiming them to be merely optical illusions. "If it's an optical illusion at work here, it's an odd one; a reporter applying a carpenter's level at about the hill's ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 122: Mar-Apr 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Mosier Mounds In past issues (SF#38 and SF#115) we introduced the still-mysterious East Bay walls that stretch for some 50 miles along the foothills bordering San Francisco Bay. The strange, meandering stone lines of the Panamint Valley near Death Valley appeared in AR#3 . In fact, the western states are festooned with curious stone structures. Now we add the Mosier Mounds to this file. On the south bank of the Columbia, near Mosier, Oregon, archeologists have mapped a 30-acre complex of rock walls, cairns, pits, and troughs -- a vertiable maze of lithic structures. (See map.) The most impressive features are alignments of stacked rocks that hug the contours of the slopes. Although their configuration suggests a battlement, the stone formations weave so sinuously that they cannot be defensive in nature. Some anthropologists suggest that these various lithic structures were used for burials, vision quests, and even the physical conditioning of the young men who were given the job of piling up all the stones! No precise dates are available, but the Mosier Mounds probably predate European contact. (Connolly, Thomas J., et al; "Mapping the Mosier Mounds: The Significance of Rock Feature Complexes on the Southern Columbia Plateau," Journal of Archaeo logical Science, 24:289, 1997.) Maps of the main concentrations of Mosier Mounds. The heavier lines represent the ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 79: Jan-Feb 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Ups And Downs Of Spook Hill The appearance of an article on Spook Hill in the Wall Street Journal of October 25, 1990, induced G. Wilder to have a look for himself. After all, when the conservative Wall Street Journal admits to being "baffled," there must really be something to the phenomenon! Spook Hill is located on a section of road in Lake Wales, Florida. Here, at Spook Hill, the road "seems" to slope downhill, but yet cars in neutral apparently roll up the incline. Wilder, a member of the Tampa Bay Skeptics, made several pertinent observations during his investigation: "( 1 ) Although the phenomenon is striking when one approaches Spook Hill from one direction, if one gets out of the car and looks back, it is quickly apparent that one's senses have been deceived. Because the illusion fails when one looks in the opposite direction, the road has been made one-way, so that tourists will not be disappointed! "( 2 ) A storm drain is positioned at the true low point of the road, and cars seem to roll up to the drain. Water, in its gravitational wisdom, knows where to go! Neither were the city engineers fooled." Conclusion: Spook Hill is only an amusing illusion; there is no gravitational anomaly. (Wilder, Guss; "Spook Hill: Angular Vision," Skeptical Inquirer ...
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... , Gene Savoy, has discovered a "lost" city some 120 square miles in area in the jungle-covered mountains of Peru. This citadel, called Gran Vilaya, is located about 400 miles northeast of Lima on a 9,000-foot mountain ridge. Savoy said: ". .. the city's buildings ran along the ridge for at least 25 miles. He said the expedition calculated that there were 10,350 stone structures in the defensive network along the ridge and 13,000 other stone buildings in three major city layouts. The stone structures, some measuring 140 feet in length, were built atop terraces that go up the mountain slopes like stairs, he said. He described them as 'complex units of circular buildings with doorways, windows, and niched walls.' The walls, he said, 'soar up as high as a 15-story building." The city was built by the Chachapoyas Indians about 1,000 years ago. The Chacahpoyas empire is dated at 800-1480 AD. The Incas, who finally conquered them, told Spanish explorers that the Chachapoyas were tall, fair-skinned people! (Anonymous; "Ruined City Found in Jungle in Peru," New York Times, July 7, 1985. Cr. M. Hall via L. Farish.) From Science Frontiers #42, NOV-DEC 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 138: NOV-DEC 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Down Side To Moundbuilding?The thousands of earthen mounds and walls piled up basketful-by-basketful by Native Americans throughout the Midwest and, especially, Ohio, suggest only simple cultures that raised rude edifices and monuments to their chiefs and gods. But now some anomalies have arisen from below the Midwestern soil. Archeologists got a shock in 1998, when drillers installing a drainage system at huge, terraced Monk's Mound in Illinois discovered that the mound was not all dirt after all. Some 40 feet below one of the terraces they ran into a 32foot-thick layer of stones. Hidden for centuries, no one knows the extent or purpose of this huge mass of stones. (SF#117) Now, just 3 years later, scientists using magnetic and other noninvasive equipment have discerned a buried circle of "something" measuring 90 feet across. Like the stones in Monk's Mound, the find was entirely serendipitous. The locale is Paint Creek Prairie, Ross County, in Southern Ohio. There are run-of-the-mill mounds at the site but no one supposed there was anything of significance beneath the surface. (Sloat, Bill; "Mysterious Circle Found Buried beside Mounds," Cleveland Plain Dealer web site, September 6, 2001. Cr. P. Huyghe) Comment. The Hopewell Culture flourished in this region from about 400 BC to 400 AD. In fact, they ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 49: Jan-Feb 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Sailing Through A Waterspout Sailing on the Pagan in the mid-Pacific, One July morning J. Caldwell spotted a tropic waterspout. Having heard that spouts had hurricane force winds in-side, whirlpools at their bases that could suck a ship under, and a solid wall of water being sucked up into the clouds, Caldwell threw caution to the winds and headed directly for the spout. "Pagan was swallowed by a cold wet fog and whirring wind. The decks tilted. A volley of spray swept across the decks. The rigging howled. Suddenly it was dark as night. My hair whipped my eyes, I breathed wet air, and the hard cold wind wet me through. Pagan's gunwales were under and she pitched into the choppy seaway. There was no solid trunk of water being sucked from the sea; no hurricane winds to blow down sails and masts; and no whirlpool to gulp me out of sight. Instead, I sailed into a high dark column from 75 to 100 feet wide, inside of which was a damp circular wind of 30 knots, if it was that strong. As suddenly as I had entered the waterspout I rode out into bright free air. The high dark wall of singing wind ran away. For me another mystery of the sea was solved." (Caldwell, John; "On Sailing through a Waterspout," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., ...
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... primordial syrup continually manufactured by the earth under ultrahot conditions and tremendous pressures. As this substance migrates toward the surface, it is attacked by bacteria, making it appear to have an organic origin dating back to the dinosaurs." The apparent deep-seated oil source at Eugene Island and Gold's ideas make petroleum engineers wonder about a similar situation at the seemingly inexhaustible oil fields of the Middle East. "The Middle East has more than doubled its reserves in the past 20 years, despite half a century of intense exploitation and relatively few new discoveries. It would take a pretty big pile of dead dinosaurs and prehistoric plants to account for the estimated 660 billion barrels of oil in the region, notes Norman Hyne, a professor at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. "Offthe-wall theories often turn out to be right," he says." (Cooper, Christopher; "It's No Crude Joke: This Oil Field Grows Even as It's Tapped," Wall Street Journal, April 16, 1999. Cr. C. Casale.) From Science Frontiers #124, JUL-AUG 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... MSR4 The Maltese "Cart Ruts" MSR5 Precocious Suspension Bridges MSS CITIES AND COMPLEXES MSS1 Unusual and Problematic Cities and Complexes: A survey MSS2 The Gungywamp Lithic Complex MSS3 Mystery Hill: America's Stonehenge MSS4 The Great Zimbabwe: A Unique Group of Stone Ruins in Subsaharan Africa MSS5 Mohenjo-dara: The First Planned City MSS6 Nan Madol: A Megalithic Venice MSS7 Large-Scale Orders of Cities and Complexes MST ANCIENT TOWERS MST1 The Newport Tower MST2 Incongruous Towers of the North American Southwest MST3 Chulpas: Stone Towers of South America MST4 Ancient European Stone Towers: A Survey MST5 Ancient Towers of the Middle East MST6 The Towers of Easter Island MSU ANOMALOUS STONE CHAMBERS AND PASSAGE GRAVES MSU1 The Stone Chambers of Northeastern North America MSU2 Remarkable Stone Passage Graves MSU3 Remarkable Acoustic Properties of Neolithic Passage Graves MSW WALLS, EMBANKMENTS, DITCHES MSW1 Notable Linear Earthworks: A Survey MSW2 Notable Rude Stone Walls: A Survey MSW3 Transocean Distribution of Precision-Fit Stone Walls MSW4 Cyclopean Walls MSW5 Natural Walls That Seem Artificial Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 137: SEP-OCT 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Ship-swallowers It's happened hundreds of times, and thousands of sailors have lost their lives. The killers are giant, usually solitary, waves that seem to come out of nowhere. These monster walls of water appear in seas that are rough but not fearfully so. Suddenly. a ship will find itself in a deep trough. Then conies a wall of water. 50-100 feet high. (34 meters is the biggest reliable measurement.) The vessel is flooded, perhaps its back is broken. It sinks like a rock without even sending a distress signal. Another ship has been devoured by a rogue wave. Giant solitary waves are usually preceded by deep troughs. as seen in this sketch of a vessel in the notorious A gulhas Current off the coast of South Africa. (From: Earthquakes. Tides....) Just between 1969 and 1994. 60 supercarriers were lost due to sudden flooding. Of this number, 22 were apparently swallowed by rogue waves. The rogue waves appear unexpectedly. They dwarf all surrounding waves. For a long time, the rogues were said to be just chance additions of two smaller waves. But they are too big and occur too frequently to be statistical flukes. In addition, statiticians have trouble in accounting for the fabled and feared "three sisters" -- three massive waves in succession. Consequently, scientists have retreated to a now-familiar ...
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... fusion as a real phenomenon and future energy source. Reflecting the antagonism of the "hotfusion" community, the U.S . expenditures on cold fusion probably do not exceed $1 million/year; Japan, in contrast, spends about $100 million/year. Cold fusion was not interred elsewhere around the planet and is quite healthy. In Storms' own words: "Evidence for large and reproducible energy generation as well as various nuclear reactions, in addition to fusion, from a variety of environments and methods is accumulating. The field can no longer be dismissed by invoking obvious error or prosaic explanations." (Storms, Edmund; "Review of the 'Cold Fusion' Effect," Journal of Scientific Exploration, 10:185, 1996.) More recently, the Wall Street Journal commented derogatorily about cold fusion. (February 28, 1997) E.F . Mallove, editor of Infinite Energy , reproached the newspaper by pointing out that hundreds of scientists were working on the phenomenon. He asked: "What are you going to tell your fossil-fuel industry readers when they learn that their obituary has already been written by carefully documented, meticulous experiments that show there is something, indeed, very new under the sun?" (Mallove, Eugene F.; "Fusion Confusion Runs Hot and Cold," Wall Street Journal, March 31, 1997. Cr. E. Fegert.) Even more recently, A.C . Clarke, no slouch when it somes to accurate prophecy, declined to talk about space travel in an interview with ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 136: JUL-AUG 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Songs In Your Head Aneurysms occur when the wall of a blood vessel weakens and bulges outward. They can be very dangerous but in some cases they produce bizarre side effects. Take, for example, this case of a 61-year-old woman. The woman's symptoms began with nausea, fatigue and then disorientation. Then, after a year, she began hearing music in the forms of songs she knew. The music was peristent but kept changing. In December, it involved Christmas songs, for example. The songs were ones the woman learned when she was young. She had no obvious physical problems that might explain the hallucinations. The woman naturally went to a psychiatrist, but to no avail. Finally, repeated MRI examinations revealed two small brain aneurysms. When these were corrected surgically, the music stopped. (Nagourney, Eric; "A Song in Your Head Can Turn Deadly," New York Times, April 24, 2001. Cr. M. Piechota.) Comment. Just how can the pressure from slightly bulging blood vessels cause someone to hear songs stored in one's memory? From Science Frontiers #136, JUL-AUG 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 39: May-Jun 1985 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology East Bay Wall Photographs The Hambleton Hill Neolithic Fortress Astronomy Mysterious Spate of Sky Flashes Exorcising the Hidden Mass Hold Everything: it May Be A Nonproblem The Message of Aluminum-26 Saturn's Rings May Be Young Biology Upside-down Animals How Animals Might Get Inverted Shrimp Trains Are A'coming Geology Status of Archaeopteryx Up in the Air! The Coming Revolution in Planetology Deeper Mysteries Bone Bed Discovered in Florida Geophysics Recipe for Dust Devils The Tsunami Tune Lde Problem Still Unsolved Falls of All Sorts of Things Psychology Pk parties: real or surreal? It's Easier to Hypnotize Right-handers Chemistry & Physics Anomalous Anomalons Forbidden Matter ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 149: Sep-Oct 2003 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Stringware Old Viking Bones Lied Astronomy A Bridge too Faint The Dark Side of Cosmology Biology The Sweet Sex The Seventh-Story Paradox Great Walls make Divergent Neighbors Liver Delivery Life's Lethal Quality Control? Life's Biochemical Enforcers Geology Natural Ground Patterns on Two Planets What Caused a Global Planation Event? Geophysics Strange Object Observered during Thunderstorm Giant Electrical Jets Flash up into Ionosphere Horizon-to-Horizon Bioluminescent Bands Psychology When Coming Events cast Psychic Shadows before them Sleight of Hand Physics More Light at the end of the Tunnel ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 2: January 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Stone Enigmas Of New England Beginning with the maze of walls, courtyards, and chambers that characterize New Hampshire's Mystery Hill site, M.F . Doran and B.H . Kunnecke review the various types of anomalous stone structures found in northeastern North America. Three major classes are recognized: Covered passageways up to 25 feet in length and analogous to Cornish fogous. Beehive chambers, such as the 10-foot-high chamber at Upton, Massachusetts. Dolmen-like constructions, as exemplified by the 60-ton "balancing boulder at North Salem, New York. Termed a "glacial erratic" by most, the North Salem stone seems distinctly unlike most erratics and more like some European dolmens. Noting that radiocarbon dates from Mystery Hill go back to more than 1,000 B.C ., Doran and Kunnecke feels that these stone enigmas should receive professional attention in the context of world distributions of blood groups and other evidence of early, frequent transoceanic contacts. (Doran, Michael F., and Kunnecke, Bernd H.; "The Stone Enigmas of New England," Anthropological Journal of Canada, 15:17, No. 2: January 1978 Reference. Many more "stone engimas" are detailed in Ancient Man. This Handbook is described here . From Science Frontiers #2 , January 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 4: July 1978 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Stone Alignments in Subsaharan Africa Good-bye to the Bimini Wall and Road? Astronomy What Caused the Grooves on Phobos? A New Cosmic Heresy Biology The Four-eyed Fish Sees All A Sinuous Line of Sea Snakes Geology Echo Sounder Outlines Strange Patches Over Underwater Peaks Is the Earth A Giant Methane Reservoir? Geophysics Bioluminescence and Spurious Radar Echoes Curious Patches of Light on the Horizon Meteoric Night-glow Psychology Out-of-the-body Traveller Exerts No Influence Category X South of the Bermuda Triangle ...
Terms matched: 1  -  Score: 15  -  15 May 2017  -  URL: /sf004/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 15: Spring 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Atlantis found -- again When Soviet oceanographers examined their underwater photos taken of the Ampere Seamount, they discovered what seemed to be walls, stairways, and other artificial stonework. The Ampere Seamount is 450 miles west of Gibraltar, just the area where Plato placed Atlantis! (Anonymous; "Undersea Discovery May Be Atlantis," Baltimore Sun, April 5, 1981. AP item.) From Science Frontiers #15, Spring 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 18: Nov-Dec 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Senegambian Megalithic Monument Complex When one thinks of megaliths, one's thoughts usually turn to Britain and Brittany, forgetting that North Africa is covered with them. M.H . Hill sketches out in this paper the full extent of the great tract of megalithic remains on the Atlantic coast of Africa near Cape Verde, which he calls the Senegambian Monument Complex because it sits astride both Senegal and Gambia. An archeological inventory of the region discloses 212 pillar-circle sites and 251 "tombelles," which are stone cairns or heaps often surrounded by ring-like stone walls. Hundreds of sites with tumuli also dot the area. One of the pillar-circle sites boasts all of 50 individual pillar circles. Some of the pillars are topped with cupules, raised discs, or balls. The fanciest pillars are V- or Y-shaped with crossbars. Archeological exploration of these impressive sites is incomplete. Preliminary dating makes the Senegambian Complex over 1,000 years old. The functions of this vast array of megalithic sites is unknown, although it is not obviously astronomical. (Hill, Matthew H.; "The Senegambian Monument Complex: Current Status and Prospects for Research," in Megaliths to Medicine Wheels: Boulder Structures in Archaeology, Michael Wilson, et al, eds., Calgary, 1981, p. 419.) Reference. Much more information about these North African sites may be found in our Handbook: ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 29: Sep-Oct 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects South american-polynesian contacts at easter island In a letter to Archaeoastronomy, Jim Wheeler lists three bits of evidence suggesting that there were ancient contacts between South America and Easter Island. The Rapa Nui legends mention the arrival of strange men (about 25) from the east. Excavation of the ancient Easter Island tombs in 1981 revealed that some of the skeletons belonged to American Indians. The wall of carved stone at Vinapu on Easter Island is almost identical with the South American stone structures at Pisac and Machu Picchu. (Wheeler, Jim; "Comment on Ben Finney's Review," Archaeoastronomy, 5:8 , July-September 1983.) Reference. Many articles on the anomalous diffusion of culture are presented in our Handbook: Ancient Man. For ordering information, go to: here . From Science Frontiers #29, SEP-OCT 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1  -  Score: 15  -  15 May 2017  -  URL: /sf029/sf029p01.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 32: Mar-Apr 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ball Lightning Splits And Recombines Inside Soviet Airliner An Ilyushin-18 took off from Sochi, on the Black Sea, in fair weather. Soon after takeoff thunderclouds were noted about 60 miles away. "Suddenly, at the height of 1,200 yards, a fireball about four inches in diameter appeared on the fuselage in front of the crew's cockpit. It disappeared with a deafening noise, but reemerged several seconds later in the passenger's lounge, after piercing in an uncanny way through the air-tight metal wall. The fireball slowly flew about the heads of the stunned passengers. In the tail section of the airliner it divided into two glowing crescents which then joined together again and left the plane almost noiselessly." Upon landing back at Sochi, holes were discovered in the fuselage fore and aft. (Anonymous; "Tass Says Lightning Ball Entered Soviet Airliner," Associated Press Dispatch, Moscow, January 13, 1984. Cr. M.A . Lohr) Comment. Several examples of ball lightning dividing are on record in the Catalog of Anomalies, but recombination is an extremely rare event. See Chapter GLB in our Catalog: Lightning, Auroras. To order, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #32, MAR-APR 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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