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... in 1982. So much additional information on luminous phenomena has been collected, that this new edition is almost twice the size of the 1982, that a new title seems appropriate. Dozens of new phenomena are recognized, and we have added a great many eye-witness account (mostly from science journals) of low-level auroras, ball lightning, earthquake lights, marine wheels, luminous phenomena above thunderclouds, and, especially, lengthy coverages of low-level nocturnal lights (Marfa, Brown Moutnain, Min Min, Nekha, Hessdalen, etc). Topic covered include: Aurora-like phenomena Ball Lightning Diffuse Electrical Discharge Phenomena Lightning Anomalies Low-Level Meteor-Like Luminous Phenomena Nocturnal Lights Marine Phosphorescent Displays 425 pages, hardcover, $24.95, 128 illustrations, Time- ... hardly aware of this rich spectrum of natural phenomena. [Picture caption: Sand craters created by earthquakes] Typical subjects covered: Periodic wells and blowing caves * Sun-dominated tides * Immense, solitary waves * Animal activity prior to earthquakes * Earthquake geographic anomalies * Earthquake electricity * The sound of the aurora * Musical sounds in nature * Mysterious detonations * Anomalous echos * Slicks and calms on water surfaces * Periodicities of earthquakes * The vibrations of waterfalls * Unusual barometric disturbances Comments from reviews: ". .. surprisingly interesting reading", Nature 220 pages, photocopied edition, $16.95p, 32 illustrations, 5 indexes, 1983. 790 references, LC 83-50781, ISBN 915554-11-9 , 7x10 format Rare Halos, Mirages, Anomalous Rainbows: A Catalog of ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 31 - 10 Oct 2021 - URL: /sourcebk.htm
... the lee of those idyllic islands with their volcanic peaks that poke over 10,000 feet into the Pacific airstreams. These long streaks on the ocean surface are called "wind wakes." The wind wake leeward the Hawaii is spectacular. These islands are swept by steady northeast trade winds. Mauna Kea (4201 meters), Mauna Loa (4201 meters), and other Hawaiian peaks penetrate high above trade inversion. Together they create a visible wind wake some 3,000 kilometers long to the west -- many time-greater than any other island wind wakes to be seen on the planet. The effects of these soaring peaks are more than visual. Their wind wake drives an eastward ocean current that, in turn, draws warm water away from the Asian coast 8,000 kilometers ... 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 Long Reach Of The Hawaiian Islands From aircraft and satellites, one can see strong contrasts in the roughness of the ocean surface in the lee of those idyllic islands with their volcanic peaks that poke over 10,000 feet into the Pacific airstreams. These long streaks on the ocean surface are called "wind wakes." The wind wake leeward the Hawaii is spectacular. These islands are swept by steady northeast trade winds. Mauna Kea (4201 meters), Mauna Loa (4201 meters), and other Hawaiian peaks penetrate high above trade inversion. Together they create a visible wind wake some 3,000 kilometers long to the west - ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 42 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf137/sf137p11.htm
... 's erosion rates, these landforms should be deeply eroded or, more likely, completely erased by the forces of nature. This paradox has long been used by Creationists to challenge geological dating methods. Mainstream geologists do recognize the paradox but have had scant success in resolving it. For example, geologist C.H . Crickmay wrote: Again, one finds all over the world, even high above and far distant from existing waterways, smooth-surfaced and level ground -- including everything from small terraces to broad, flat plains -- much of it still bearing intact a carpet of stream alluvium. Such lands were carved and carpeted, evidently, by running water, even though they are now in places where no stream could possibly run... What is remarkable about them is ... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 129: MAY-JUN 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Anomalous Antiquity of Some Landforms All over the planet, but particularly in Australia, there exist great expanses of land surface that fossils and radiometric dating tell us are tens of millions of years old. This doesn't seem very serious until we learn that, given today's erosion rates, these landforms should be deeply eroded or, more likely, completely erased by the forces of nature. This paradox has long been used by Creationists to challenge geological dating methods. Mainstream geologists do recognize the paradox but have had scant success in resolving it. For example, geologist C.H . Crickmay wrote: Again, one finds all ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 39 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf129/sf129p10.htm
... so far only been able to name it. It is thought to be associated with a repulsive force that is accelerating the expansion of the universe. What is the destiny of the universe? Will entropy do us in? (Sincell, Mark; "The 8 Greatest Mysteries of Cosmology," Astronomy, 29:46, June 2001.) Comments, It is easy to add to the above list: (1 ) Why does anything exist? (2 ) Is there life elsewhere in the universe? (3 ) Are redshifts really good yardsticks? (4 ) Are there other universes, as distinct from the other dimensions mentioned above? From Science Frontiers #138, NOV-DEC 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient ... inflation"), what caused the inflation? Why does matter fill the universe? in other words, where is all the antimatter that we think must have been created in equal amounts? (This equality is a human philosophical requirement. The universe can do anything it wants!) How did galaxies form? What is cold dark matter? This "substance" seems to be filaments threading the surfaces of cosmic bubbles (voids). It seems to be slow-moving and cold (no electromagnetic radiation), but no one really knows what it is. Apparently, it constitutes 30% of that part of the universe that we have so far detected. (We are doing a lot of guessing here!) Are all the baryons assembled in galaxies? Baryonic matter includes protons, ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 37 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf138/sf138p02.htm
... of Crop Circle Ball lightning reports are very common, but here is one worth recording because of its unusual physical effects. It was investigated and reported by O. Stummer. In May or June of 1988 or 1989 around 2 P.M . CEST, Mr. Alois Fuehrer, a farmer of 38 years from Jungschlag, a small village south of Ottenschlag, northern Lower Austria, 850 meters above sea level, returned early from fieldwork because a heavy thunderstorm moved in from the north-west. Fuehrer stood in the open on a wooden plank at the rear of the diesel tractor driven by his father. The vehicle had passed the last Ottenschlag houses southbound, when he noticed a falling object. It was round, 20 centimeters across, and "seemed to come down like a toy ... ", vertical, soundless, without rotation. It was brilliant white, a steady light, and had "something like a smoke trail". Only 20 to 30 meters to the right of the tractor and of the road, after 4 to 6 seconds, the object hit the surface of a green summer barley field, flashed up and "exploded with a loud, very high pitched bang". Mr. Fuehrer said "this was no thunder", and noticed no heat or pressure wave. However, what he felt caused panic--a tingling, and his hairs stood on end on his head, neck, even on his hands. Ile urged his father: "Get out of here, the next one will kill us!", who also felt the electrostatic ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 30 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf128/sf128p11.htm
... 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 ... over the enormous area needed to expose a matter of fifteen thousand square yards of bedrock and the springs that broke forth there? And was a twenty-foot wall then built and the sand piled back around it? And if so how had they known where to dig and find the springs? For if not there was only one other explanation. That we were standing there on the original ground surface. That once upon a time the whole hill slope had been naked rock at the level at which we stood, with springs in the hollows, and that the irrigation channels, probably indeed roofed from the start to prevent evaporation, had been dug at ground level or only a little below. In that case the sand came later, and the wall around the springs, together with the ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 26 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf129/sf129p01.htm
... 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 held sway from the Great Lakes to the Gulf. Above ground, they left abundant mounds, earthen walls in various enigmatic geometries, and, of course, the Great Hopewell Road running 60 miles long through central Ohio. (SF#127) Who knows what else a culture of this power and sophistication might have built underground? From Science Frontiers #138, NOV-DEC 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . ... , 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 held sway from the Great Lakes to the Gulf. Above ground, they left abundant mounds, earthen walls in ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 26 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf138/sf138p01.htm
... Singapore on a body of water noted for bioluminescent displays. Flashes of light were seen in the bow wave and the ship's wake, appearing to be both on the surface and slightly below. This type of display is rather common, but another, much rarer phenomenon was also present: In 1880 off the Malabar Coast of India, a vessel was engulfed in great waves of light floating above the sea. "At the same time as the above form of bioluminescence, there seemed to be a second type but it was difficult to pinpoint the source. The effect was that the atmosphere around the ship and extending to the horizon had some form of faint white illumination not provided by the light in the water, which was black apart from the previously described flashes. On the other ... 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Aerial Bioluminescence January 19, 1991. South China Sea. Aboard the m.v . Benavon . The vessel was heading for Singapore on a body of water noted for bioluminescent displays. Flashes of light were seen in the bow wave and the ship's wake, appearing to be both on the surface and slightly below. This type of display is rather common, but another, much rarer phenomenon was also present: In 1880 off the Malabar Coast of India, a vessel was engulfed in great waves of light floating above the sea. "At the same time as the above form of bioluminescence, there seemed to be a second type but it was difficult to pinpoint the source. The ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 57 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf080/sf080g14.htm
... the final glacial epoch occurred late in Martian history. Thus, Mars may have had a relatively warm, moist climate and dense atmosphere much later than previously believed." (Kargel, Jeffrey S., and Strom, Robert G.; "Ancient Glaciation on Mars," Geology, 20:3 , 1992.) If Mars was warm and wet not too long ago, as implied above, perhaps life did gain a foothold there through either independent invention or, perhaps, through seeding by template-carrying comets or meteorites. P.J . Boston et al have investigated one possible Martian ecosystem: "We have reexamined the question of extant microbial life on Mars in light of the most recent information about the planet and recently discovered nonphotosynthetic ecosystems on Earth -- deep sea hydrothermal ... communities and deep subsurface aquifer communities. On Mars, protected subsurface niches associated with hydrothermal activity could have continued to support life even after surface conditions became inhospitable. Geochemical evidence from the SNC meteorites and geomorphological evidence for recent volcanism suggest that such habitats could persist to the present time...We suggest a possible deep subsurface microbial ecology similar to those discovered to depths of several kilometers below the surface of the Earth." (Boston, Penelope J., et al; "On the Possibility of Chemosynthetic Ecosystems in Subsurface Habitats on Mars," Icarus, 95:300, 1992.) Comment. Although Boston et al speak in terms of microscopic Martian life, there is no reason why chemosynthetic life forms could not be large -- perhaps even large enough to leave traces on the ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 47 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf082/sf082a05.htm
... layer of warm surface water and the great mass of cooler water below. The amplitude of the downwardly pointing wave troughs of warm water along this interface may penetrate as far as 100 meters into the cold water below. (Herman, Russell; "Solitary Waves," American Scientist, 80:350, 1992.) Comment. Much more about these solitary waves and the other unusual waves mentioned above may be found in section GHW in our catalog: Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds . The prevailing explanation for most oceanic solitary waves (often called "solitons") is that they are generated when tidal surges encounter underwater continental shelves or other obstructions. The above-mentioned catalog volume is described at: here . From Science Frontiers #84, NOV-DEC 1992 . 1992-2000 ... past ship and swimmer with great regularity, solitary waves move "in splendid isolation, steadfastly holding their shape." Spacecraft photos have revealed curious striations in the Andaman Sea near Thailand. They are presumed to be examples of solitary waves. The Andaman waves extend for many miles and travel very slowly -- less than 10 kilometers per hour. They propagate along the boundary between the layer of warm surface water and the great mass of cooler water below. The amplitude of the downwardly pointing wave troughs of warm water along this interface may penetrate as far as 100 meters into the cold water below. (Herman, Russell; "Solitary Waves," American Scientist, 80:350, 1992.) Comment. Much more about these solitary waves and the other unusual waves mentioned above may be ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 36 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf084/sf084g97.htm
... what the drill found: "When I started 25 years ago, the idea was that the deeper you go into the crust, the drier it gets." (Kerr, Richard A.; "Looking -- Deeply -- into the Earth's Crust in Europe," Science, 261:295, 1993.) Comment. Deep-living bacteria were not mentioned in the above article, but Soviet scientists claim to have pumped them up from 12 km down! Outer space may not be our final frontier despite the introductory blurb to Star Trek! From Science Frontiers #90, NOV-DEC 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 36 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf090/sf090g08.htm
... s great unex plained phenomena. "At 1800 UTC on a clear moonless night while 150 n.mile east of the Somalian coast a whitish glow was observed on the horizon and, after 15 minutes of steaming, the ship was completely surrounded by a sea of milky-white colour with a fairly uniform luminescence. The bioluminescence appeared to cover the entire sea area, from horizon to horizon but above the surface, and it appeared as though the ship was sailing over a field of snow or gliding over the clouds. "There was no damping effect on capillary waves or reduction of visibility at all and there was no mist at deck level although at a distance it seemed as if there was either lowlying mist or the upwelling of the luminescence itself. The bow waves and the wake appeared ... in colour and thick black patches of oil were passing by. Later, the Aldis lamp revealed that the 'oil patches' were actually light-green kelp, amazingly black against the white water." A water sample contained many singlecelled microorganisms, but they displayed no luminescence. After 6 hours, the luminescence disappeared. Commenting on this report, P.J . Herring, of the Southhampton Oceanography Centre, said that milky seas are most often associated with the Southwest Monsoon. This one was was rare in that the Northeast Monsoon prevailed. His final remark was: "The mystery of its cause remains unsolved." (Briand, J.P .; "Bioluminescence," Marine Observer, 66:12, 1996) Reference. The various types of anomalous bioluminescence are cataloged in ...
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... 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 ... 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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... a hidden Therapeutic Touch practitioner or to sham exposure. "Results showed that treated subjects experienced a significant acceleration in the rate of wound healing as compared to non-treated subjects at day 8." (Wirth, Daniel P.; "The Effect of Noncontact Therapeutic Touch on the Healing Rate of Full Thickness Dermal Wounds," Subtle Energies , 1:1 , 1990. Quoted abstract text above taken from Exceptional Human Experience , 10:248, 1993.) From Science Frontiers #88, JUL-AUG 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 26 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf088/sf088p16.htm
... (see illustration) appeared a perfect bright sphere, about 5 apparent diameter; it became largest in a few seconds, then it grew thinner and appeared like a line. In 45 minutes, its brilliance diminished progressively, and it disappeared at the western horizon. "From astronomical observations by some amateur astronomers were calculated the following data: The object's altitude was between 600 and 650 kilometers above the earth's surface; at its biggest dimension, the object was 95 kilometers wide; it was over the Mediterranean Sea, in a place between Algiers and the Balearic Islands. "No astronomer was able to explain the phenomenon, and the university astronomical review Coelum denominated it 'un oggetto misterioso' (a mysterious object)." (Anonymous; Coelum , 34:36, ... -June 1966. Cr. P. Cortesi.) From Science Frontiers #88, JUL-AUG 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... , Carl; "Endogenous Production, Exogenous Delivery and Impact-Shock Synthesis of Organic Molecules: An Inventory for the Origins of Life," Nature, 355:125, 1992. Also: Henbest, Nigel; "Organic Molecules from Space Rained Down on Early Earth," New Scientist, 2. 27, January 25, 1992.) Comment. Little is said in either of the above articles about the nature of and impetus for that final elusive step from organic chemicals to the simplest life forms. Everyone assumes that it happened, but did it? One can always imagine a universe in which matter, energy, and life have always existed. From Science Frontiers #80, MAR-APR 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 26 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf080/sf080b10.htm
... No. 67: Jan-Feb 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Really-deep rivers "Ecologists studying rivers have discovered a vast subterranean world filled with dozens of previously unknown species of worms, shrimp, insects and microscopic organisms that live in the groundwater below the stream channel and sometimes for miles on each side." The quotation above once again evokes the concept of "crevicular structure" in the crust. The crevicular world is that immense, unappreciated maze of underground space created by cracks in the rocks, solution channels, permeable gravels, and so on. In the article reviewed here, a crevicular realm has been discovered underneath river beds. But this is just a special case of a subterranean world found many places beneath ... surface -- even under the continental shelves. The surface waters we see are just (to use an aquatic metaphor) the tip of the iceberg! Sub-river life lives far under the beds of the great Alaskan rivers and even small desert streams in Arizona. Preliminary exploration has shown that fluid-and life-filled crevicular structure exists at least 30 feet under river beds and may extend several miles to either side. For example, water wells drilled two miles from the Flathead River, in Montana, yield immature stoneflies. J. Stanford, Director of Montana's Flathead Lake Biological Station states, "We have basically enlarged the concept of what a river is." He and his colleagues have found at least a dozen new species in the crevicular world beneath the bed of ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 47 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf067/sf067b10.htm
... , drawing the attention of the BCCC observers. It was about 1,000 feet distant at this point, and it was clear that a large animal was swimming in a northerly direction against the prevailing wind and slight swell. At a distance of about 600 feet, Kirk Sr. was able to see clearly through a Bushnell 40X telescope that this was the classic Ogopogo, with its humps well above the water level. Both Clarks were also able to see the object clearly through binoculars. The animal displayed, variously, five and sometimes six humps. "Kirk's telescope allowed him to see that the animal's skin was whalelike, and that there were what appeared to be random calcium-like deposits under the skin which appeared to be similar to barnacles in shape. All ... team members agree that the animal was between 30 and 35 feet in length, and was almost 3 feet above the surface at its highest point -- that being the middle hump." (Kirk, John; "BCCC Report on Okanagan Lake, 1989," Cryptozoology, 8:75, 1989.) From Science Frontiers #72, NOV-DEC 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 37 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf072/sf072b05.htm
... 100,000 years. If sufficient N2 could also be released from putative soil deposits, and the CO2 level kept low enough, then a human- breathable atmosphere could be produced. (McKay, Christopher P., et al; "Making Mars Habitable," Nature, 352:489, 1991.) Comment. There is more to terraforming, but you get the idea from the above quote. Now. J. Lovelock and others have speculated that our earth is much like a living orgaism that, with the help of the biosphere, maintains conditions suitable for life; that is, the Gaia concept. Terraformers of Mars would some-how have to induce Gaia to emigrate to Mars to regulate things there. Or, since we are on a science-fiction kick, ... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 78: Nov-Dec 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Terraforming Mars The concept of terraforming a planet is an old standby of science fiction; it is the process by which a technologically advanced race manipulates the surface and atmosphere of an uninhabitable planet so that it becomes inhabitable. We humans know to our dismay that we have the capacity to modify the earth's environment, but could we perhaps exercise better judgment and terraform Mars? C.P . McKay et al have looked into this possibility: "From our analysis, one could propose the following sequence of events: production of CFCs (or other greenhouse gases) starts on Mars and the surface temperature warms up by about 20 K. ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 36 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf078/sf078a05.htm
... gigantic UFO landed last week on their Victorian wheat property. "A pattern of five perfect circles - in which unbroken wheat stalks swirl anticlockwise - have been found on the 9000- hectare farm, West Park, run by Max and Nancee Jolly and their son Stuart, 29. "The startling discovery comes only weeks after the family's 700 sheep were panicked by a huge yellow object pulsating above the paddocks in western Victoria's Mallee region." (Pickney, John; "Sheep Panicked by Eerie Light in Fields," Melbourne Truth, December 16, 1989. Cr. P. Norman via L. Farish) Canada. "Argyle, Man. - There's a mystery on Ray Crawford's land and stumped investigators say anything from bizarre weather phenomena to visitors ... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 68: Mar-Apr 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Crop Circle Craze Continues Trying to maintain our sanity during the current crop-circle flap, we have adhered closely to reports in the conservative Journal of Meteorology, U.K . But don't imagine that wilder accounts are not surfacing in the newspapers. Two accounts should suffice. Australia. "Three frightened farmers believe a gigantic UFO landed last week on their Victorian wheat property. "A pattern of five perfect circles - in which unbroken wheat stalks swirl anticlockwise - have been found on the 9000- hectare farm, West Park, run by Max and Nancee Jolly and their son Stuart, 29. "The startling discovery comes only ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 30 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf068/sf068g15.htm
... 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 Continuity At The Conrad Discontinuity From the study of seismic waves, geophysicists have determined that between 7.5 and 8.6 kilometers below the surface there exists a clear-cut "discontinuity." Practically speaking, this means that above this layer seismic waves travel at a markedly different velocity than they do below it. This discontinuity is so widespread, occurring beneath all of the continents, that it has received a special name: the Conrad Discontinuity. Ordinarily, a geophysicist would expect to find a significant change in rock type when drilling through such a strong discontinuity. It was widely expected that, at the Conrad Discontinuity, drillers would ... 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 Continuity At The Conrad Discontinuity From the study of seismic waves, geophysicists have determined that between 7.5 and 8.6 kilometers below the surface there exists a clear-cut "discontinuity." Practically speaking, this means that above this layer seismic waves travel at a markedly different velocity than they do below it. This discontinuity is so widespread, occurring beneath all of the continents, that it has received a special name: the Conrad Discontinuity. Ordinarily, a geophysicist would expect to find a significant change in rock type when drilling through such a strong discontinuity. It was widely expected that, at the Conrad Discontinuity, drillers would ...
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... s magnetic field. They "might" even be responsible for most of it, including its his torical behavior. Magnetic bacteria, as agents of Gaia, actually constructed the earth's magnetic field for the specific purpose of erecting a shield against space radiation, and thereby allowing the development of more complex life forms on the planet's surface. Imagine the consequences if any one of the above speculations is even close to the mark! From Science Frontiers #68, MAR-APR 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... characteristics that are: The leatherback is the only turtle without a rigid shell. Why? Perhaps it needs a flexible shell for its very deep dives. What looks like a shell is its thick, leathery carapace -- a strange streamlined structure with five to seven odd "keels" running lengthwise. These turtles are warm-blooded , and able to maintain their temperatures as much as 10 F above the ambient water, just as the dinosaurs apparently could. The bones of the leatherback are more like those of the marine mammals (dolphins and whales) than the reptiles. "No one seems to understand the evolutionary implications of this." Leatherbacks dive as deep as 3000 feet which is strange because they seem to subside almost exclusively on jellyfish, most of which are surface feeders. Like ... turtles, leatherbacks can stay submerged for up to 48 hours. Just how they do this is unexplained. Their brains are miniscule. A 60-pound turtle possessed a brain weighing only 4 grams -- a rat's weighs 8! Leatherbacks' intestines contain waxy balls, recalling the ambergris found in the intestines of sperm whales. The stomachs of leatherbacks seem to contain nothing but jellyfish, which are 97% water. Biologists wonder how the huge, far-ranging leatherback can find enough jellyfish to sustain itself. (McClintock, Jack; "Deep-Diving, WarmBlooded Turtle," Sea Frontiers , 37:8 , February 1991.) From Science Frontiers #76, JUL-AUG 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... deep into the earth, and are created by the total removal of vegetation and soil. A large fleet of lorries would be needed to move the quantities of earth involved, but there are no vehicle marks around the holes. The grass and plants around them exhibit none of the minor damage which would inevitable be caused by any normal process of drilling. The holes have all been excavated directly from above, at an angle of 90 degrees to the surface." Six Swiss holes have been reported from the environs of Lake Geneva. The two largest are at Begnins (December 17, 1982; 18 feet across, 24.5 feet deep) and Confignon (February 3/4 , 1990; 33 feet across, 40 feet deep). Obviously, we are not dealing with minor ... -moving operations here. (Anonymous; "The Gruyerization of Switzerland," The Cerealogist , no. 3, p. 26, Spring 1991. The Cerealogist is a British publication focussing on the crop-circle phenomenon.) Comment. Could the "force" flattening the crop circles also gouge out cookiecutter holes and the Swiss cavernous pits? Additional information on the Swiss excavations and similar events is certainly required. Anomalists know from experience that for every strange phenomenon there exists a hoaxer anxious to reproduce it. Reference. Cookie-cutter holes have been cataloged in ETB7 in our catalog on topographical anomalies: Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds. To order, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #77, SEP-OCT 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... meters from the seafloor. While volcanic eruptions form most sea-mounts, these mountains consist of a nonvolcanic rock called serpentinite, and oceanographers are not entirely sure how the serpentinite mountains formed." The theory of plate tectonics has the Pacific plate diving under the Philippine plate along the Mariana trench. It may be that water trapped in the downgoing crust leaks out, rises, and serpentinizes the crust above. This altered rock, being lighter than that surrounding it, may slowly rise through it, eventually forming undersea mountains. (Monastersky, Richard; "Novel Mountains and Chimneys in the Sea," Science News, 134:333, 1988.) Comment. This all sounds pretty speculative, but those mountains had to come from somewhere. Perhaps the serpentinite mountains are just one manifestation of ... analyzing shock waves from earthquakes to determine the chemical composition of the Earth's interior. If the researchers are correct, then the view of the interior of the Earth that scientists have previously accepted is wrong. "The geophysicists say that they have found minerals like those in the Earth's crust in a layer of crustal material, 250 kilometres thick, which starts about 400 kilometres below the surface and extends to a depth of 650 kilometres. There is enough crustal material at this level, according to geophysicists to form a crust 200 kilometres thick - the average thickness of the Earth's crust is only 20 kilometres. .. .. . "The material is not trapped at this depth: the layer acts like a conveyor belt which returns the crustal material to the surface by ...
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... of the Earth's Interior," Science, 236:37, 1987. Ref. 2. Weisburd, Stefi; "The Inner Earth Is Coming Out," Science News, 131:222, 1987. Ref. 3. "Satellites See Valleys in the Earth's Core," New Scientist, p. 33, May 21, 1987. Comment. Reviewing Item 5 above, one wonders if the so-called "core spots" might attain such strengths that they locally reverse the terrestrial magnetic field at the surface. If so, geological scenarios relying on paleomagnetism (like continental drifting) would become suspect. From Science Frontiers #52, JUL-AUG 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... well on photo). We quote an abstract that appeared in the journal Icarus. "We present photographic evidence of a very short duration, strong flash from the surface of the Moon (near an irregularly shaped crater in Palus Somni). The flash covered a region roughly 22 by 18 km wide with a total energy of the order of 1017 erg. The event is established to be slightly above the surface of the Moon. An explanation is proposed involving outgassing and a subsequent electrical discharge caused by a piezoelectric effect." (Kolovos, G., et al; "Photographic Evidence of a Short Duration, Strong Flash from the Surface of the Moon," Icarus, 76:525, 1988.) Comments. Of special interest above is the suggestion that the flash was generated ... on the moon is 1985 Left. Photo of Moon. Right. Sketch based on photo. The arrow marks the position of the flash. Some large craters noted for reference. (Two to right of terminator do not show up well on photo). We quote an abstract that appeared in the journal Icarus. "We present photographic evidence of a very short duration, strong flash from the surface of the Moon (near an irregularly shaped crater in Palus Somni). The flash covered a region roughly 22 by 18 km wide with a total energy of the order of 1017 erg. The event is established to be slightly above the surface of the Moon. An explanation is proposed involving outgassing and a subsequent electrical discharge caused by a piezoelectric effect." (Kolovos, G., ...
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... point, I was about 3 feet from the raft, and I made a mad dash for it and got out of the water. It was then that I saw it.' The report goes on to describe the observation: 'When I first saw it, it was about 15-20 feet away. I could see a hump or coil which was 8 feet long and 4 feet above the water moving in a forward motion. It was traveling north, away from me. It did not seem to be in much of a rush, and it swam very slowly. The water was very clear, and 5 to 10 feet behind the hump, about 5 to 8 feet below the surface, I could see its tail. The tail was forked and horizontal like a whale ... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 53: Sep-Oct 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Another Tale Of Ogopogo Another report of Lake Okanagan's monster, palindromically named Ogopogo, has surfaced. A Canadian woman, Mrs. B. Clark, actually bumped into Ogopogo while swimming in the British Columbia lake in July of 1974. "Mrs. Clark's report states: 'I did not see it (the animal) first. I felt it. I was swimming towards a raft/ diving platform located about a quarter of a mile offshore, when something big and heavy bumped my legs. At this point, I was about 3 feet from the raft, and I made a mad dash for it and got ...
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... portion is densely cratered from a period pf heavy meteorite bombardment. It is also carved by many channels that are thought to have been cut in ancient times by flowing water, water which quickly escaped into space or combined chemically with Martian minerals. The present atmosphere of Mars, in consequence, contains little water vapor. But some of the Martian landscape, notably Alba Patera, raises questions about the above scenario. The anomalous characteristic of Alba Patera is its relative smoothness and scarcity of impact craters. This Martian real estate is believed to be 2 billion years younger than the rest of the planet. Even so, it, too, is marked by "fluvial" features that resemble stream beds. Question #1 . How did Alba Patera get smoothed out or "reworked"? In other ... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 62: Mar-Apr 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Recent Martian Rivers Erode Alba Patera Most of the Martian surface is thought to be more than 3.8 billion years old. This portion is densely cratered from a period pf heavy meteorite bombardment. It is also carved by many channels that are thought to have been cut in ancient times by flowing water, water which quickly escaped into space or combined chemically with Martian minerals. The present atmosphere of Mars, in consequence, contains little water vapor. But some of the Martian landscape, notably Alba Patera, raises questions about the above scenario. The anomalous characteristic of Alba Patera is its relative smoothness and scarcity of impact craters. This Martian ...
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... in a state far from equilibrium; they are heated by the sun and cooled by the vacuum of space. This pervasive cosmic imbalance is the driving force in producing an environment conducive to the formation of structure and complexity." This sweeping statement seems to apply to the entire universe. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, however, insists that, on the average, for the entire universe, the above paragraph cannot be true. The article introduced by this unqualified assertion about the evolution of the universe is really about self-organizing chemical reactions. We classify it under biology because the authors imply that some biological phenomena are self-organizing. The famous Belousov-Zhabotinskii reaction is used as the prime example of chemical self-organization. First, one takes a shallow dish filled with a solution ... Project Sourcebook Subjects Has the second law been repealed?" From the largest to the smallest scales, the universe is evolving. Matter, in the form of galaxies, is undergoing a colossal expansion. Gas, condensed into stars, is radiating thermonuclear energy out across an infall of matter, drawn by gravity. The simplest of chemical reactions and the most complex of biological activities are occurring on the surface of the earth in a state far from equilibrium; they are heated by the sun and cooled by the vacuum of space. This pervasive cosmic imbalance is the driving force in producing an environment conducive to the formation of structure and complexity." This sweeping statement seems to apply to the entire universe. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, however, insists that, on the average, for the ...
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... solved!So goes the title of an item in Sky and Telescope. Instead of ending with an exclamation point, a question mark would have been more appropriate. The Perseus Flasher, a recurring flash of light in Perseus described in SF#39 and #49, is a topic upon which astronomers also wish to "close the book." So, we must ask ourselves how accurate the above title is. Photographic records of the Perseus Flasher site show no flashes at all in 3,288 hours of monitoring. In fact, a Harvard plate, which was being exposed at the same time that a 0-magnitude flash was reported by naked-eye observers, revealed nothing! The passages of some artificial satellites through the Perseus site have been correlated with naked-eye-observed ... , the flashes are said to be only sun glints from satellites, which is an admission that the flashes are real after all. In all probability, the photographic plates may not be capable of recording such brief flashes, but nothing is said on this matter. Further, many Perseus flashes are apparently not correlated with satellite passages. And we have no indication that the guilty satellite had a reflecting surface properly oriented at just the proper moment. There must be more to this story. From Science Frontiers #53, SEP-OCT 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... . 64: Jul-Aug 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Halley: a young, combusting, alien interloper Can this be the comet Halley of the textbooks? Comets are supposed to be as old as the solar system itself (4 .6 billion years), born of solar-system stuff when a gaseous cloud condensed. Above all, comets do not "burn" or combust! The vision of a "burning" comet was advanced by recent observations that the velocity and temperature of the gases escaping from Halley are higher than one would expect from the sublimation of ices under solar radiation. Also, the concentration of expelled material in large, hypersonic jets carrying large quantities of fine dust further undermine the sublimation model. ... ) can be accounted for by assuming the cometary ices to contain, apart from the hydrocarbons, nitrogen-containing compounds, etc., also of free oxygen (about 15 wt. %) . Under these conditions, burning should occur in the products of sublimation under deficiency of oxidizer accompanied by the production of 'soot,' 'smoke,' etc. The burning should propagate under the surface crust and localize at a few sites. "The presence of oxygen in cometary ices follows from a new eruption theory assuming the minor bodies of the Solar System to have formed in explosions of the massive ice envelopes saturated with electrolysis products on distant moon-like bodies of the type of Ganymede and Callisto." (Drobyshevski, E.M .; "Combustion as the Cause of Comet ...
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... the moor is absolutely even at the bottom, and the angle between the bottom and its walls is 90 degrees. The hole is 30-35 cm deep, and its edges are nicely cut. "From the hole there is a crack running westwards for about 6 m. Close to the hole this crack is somewhat widened, and one side of the crack twists itself 25-30 cm above the other. This twisting decreases as one gets further from the hole. The crack gradually subsides, and it is hard to tell exactly where it ends. "About 12 m NW of the hole there is an arched crack of about 15 m lying with its concave side towards the hole. It is plainest in the middle. Here the side closest to the hole has been twisted upwards ... 15 cm. Here also the crack gradually disappears at both ends. There is an open hollow beneath the part which has been twisted upwards, about 30 cm below the surface. One theory has lightning creating a steam explosion from underground water. If this were the case, one would expect to find some fusion of the earth and more havoc wrought to the divot. "The slab of turf has an area of about 5 m2 and this should give a weight of between 1500-1700 kg." The article concludes with a brief description of three similar occurrences of the phenomenon in Norway. (Dybwik, Dagfinn, and M ller, Jakob J.; "Phenomenon in an And ya Moor - An Insoluble Mystery?" Ottar , no. 5, p. 15, 1988 ...
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... biomass (mainly surface vegetation) as the source of the soot. The total quantity of K-T soot is equivalent to that which would be produced by burning 10% of all present terrestrial plant material. (Wolbach, Wendy S., et al; "Global Fire at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary," Nature, 334:665, 1988.) Comment. Unmentioned in the above article is the possibility that extensive wildfires might have been generated by volcanic eruptions, perhaps accompanied by great electrical storms. The 1988 fires in Yellowstone needed no meteoric impact. Reference. Chemical anomalies in the earth's crust are cataloged in ESC1 in Anomalies in Geology. To order this catalog volume, visit: here . Concentration "spikes" of iridium, elemental carbon and soot at the ... and New Zealand are 102 -104 -fold enriched in elemental C (mainly soot), which is isotopically uniform and apparently comes from a single global fire. The soot layer coincides with the Ir layer, suggesting that the fire was triggered by meteorite impact and began before the ejecta had settled." The composition of the hydrocarbons in the sediments points to the earth's biomass (mainly surface vegetation) as the source of the soot. The total quantity of K-T soot is equivalent to that which would be produced by burning 10% of all present terrestrial plant material. (Wolbach, Wendy S., et al; "Global Fire at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary," Nature, 334:665, 1988.) Comment. Unmentioned in the above article is ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 56: Mar-Apr 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Do black holes exist?Can we believe our eyes? Dare anyone suggest that black holes do not lurk out in the cosmos sucking in stars and unwary spaceships? It's all true; an arti cle bearing the above title appeared in the January 1988 number of Sky and Telescope. Doubts do surface once in a while, despite all the TV documentaries, all the textbooks, and all the newspaper jottings, where black holes are described in the hushed tones used only with profound truths of nature. To set the stage, we quote a paragraph from said article: "There is, however, a serious problem with black holes ... one that leaves some scientists skeptical about their existence. The overarching mystery lies hidden at a hole's center. Einstein's general theory of relativity predicts that we will find there an object more massive than a million Earths and yet smaller than an atom -- so small, in fact, that its density approches infinity. The idea of any physical quantity becoming infinite flies in the face of everything we know about how nature behaves. So there is good reason to be skeptical that such a nasty thing could happen anywhere at all." Among the observations that hint at the reality of black holes are the X-ray binaries. In a typical X-ray binary, prodigious, flickering fluxes of X-rays reveal the presence of an ultradense star and an orbiting companion. ...
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... event was nine years of age at the time of the observation, and was indoors with her uncle on the first floor of a building during a severe morning thunderstorm with heavy rainfall. There was a lull in the storm and the ball lightning appeared on the left side of the window sill about 4-5 m from the observers. The window had been left open because there was a balcony above it which prevented the rain from entering the room. "The ball fell to the floor where it jumped up and down once or twice. It then started to roll slowly towards the observers across the floor, at about the speed of a dropped ball of wool. Its diameter was about 20 cm, it was translucent, and the rapidly changing colours showed spots of light green, crimson ... light blue and pale yellow. It was bright enough to be clearly visible in daylight, and it was uniformly bright over its entire surface. It had protrusions 'like the Andromeda nebula.' "When it came near the table, where my uncle and I were sitting, I tried to get up to have a closer look. My uncle (fortunately) held me back. It then rolled towards the tiled stove on the right side of the room, crept up the iron parts of the stove leaving (in its path) a deep groove about the width and depth of a thumb, then it exploded in the (airvent) higher up, the sound was like that of a blown up paper bag when (burst) leaving a smell of ozone. The path of the ...
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... "In recent years, scientists have found bacteria, as far down as 1,150 feet, in wells that penetrate deeply buried aquifers -- porous layers of rock that hold underground water. Such finds have forced hydrologists to question their traditional belief that deep aquifers were devoid of life. But it was not clear whether these bacteria were native residents of the aquifers or just contaminants from the world above, living solely within the wells. Moreover, no one had established how the bacteria were affecting the environment, if at all." Experiments have now shown that these subterranean bacteria are indigenous and are important to groundwater chem istry. The bacteria feed on organic molecules and display a curious propensity for metabolizing the carbon-13 isotope rather than carbon-12. Thus, carbon dissolved in some ... aquifer water is enriched in carbon-13 compared to surface water. None of the bacteria found so far seems dangerous to humans. (Monastersky, R.; "Bacteria Alive and Thriving at Depth," Science News, 133: 149, 1988.) Comment. Subterranean bacteria may be associated with the creation of oil and natural gas. From Science Frontiers #57, MAY-JUN 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... as fertilizer. The dense concentration of humans, ducks, and pits threatens to be a factory for constructing new strains of flu. (Scholtissek, Christoph, and Naylor, Ernest; "Fish Farming and Influenza Pandemics," Nature, 331:215, 1988.) Comment. Noting that the AIDS virus may have originated and still be mutating in African monkeys, and coupling this with the above discussion of flu, we can speculate a la Evolution from Space that terrestrial life itself is its own evolutionary engine! Going still another step further, we can wonder if life-as-a -whole (the Gaia concept) is not trying to check the burgeoning human population by biological warfare -- a check and balance arrangement. Isn't it amazing how much speculation a couple ... "There is firm evidence that pigs can become infected by and may transmit both human and avian influenza viruses not only amongst other pigs but also back to the original hosts. Therefore, pigs seem to be 'mixing vessels' where two separate reservoirs meet and where reassortment between avian and human influenza A viruses occurs, giving rise to the antigenic shift by creating new human pandemic influenza strains with new surface antigens." The article stimulating this discussion worries about new aquaculture practices, especially in Asia (the so-called Blue Revolution), in which duck and pig manure is dumped into fish ponds as fertilizer. The dense concentration of humans, ducks, and pits threatens to be a factory for constructing new strains of flu. (Scholtissek, Christoph, and Naylor, Ernest; "Fish ...
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... the Moon," Sky and Telescope, 75:11, 1988.) Comment. Does nearby earth also bear cometary scars? Some think that the 1908 Tunguska Event was a cometary impact. (See ETC2 in our catalog: Caro lina Bays, Mima Mounds .) Also see the the item below under GEOLOGY about comets and the earth's oceans. Reference. Both catalog volumes mentioned above are described here . From Science Frontiers #56, MAR-APR 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... were plenty of chemicals typical of primitive bacteria. The mere existence of commercially exploitable deposits of Precambrian oil implies that, far from being devoid of life, the ancient earth was host to immense accumulations of bacteria and other simple organisms. (Anonymous; "Ancient Oil in Australia: A New Bonanza?" New Scientist, p. 26, September 11, 1936.) Comment. As discussed above this Australian oil might have been produced abiogenically. The surface and near-surface Athabasca oil sands in western Canada constitute a well-known deposit of almost unbelievable size. Geologists have long speculated about where such an immense quantity of biological matter could have originated. (Few dare to suggest nonbiological origins!) Now, we learn that below the Cretaceous Athabasca oil sands lies a 70,000 ... kilometer "carbonate triangle" estimated to contain about 2 x 1011 cubic meters (about 6 cubic kilometers) of bitumen. This bitumen is closely related chemically to the oil sands above it. A common origin seems likely. (Hoffmann, C.F ., and Strausz, O.P .; "Bitumen Accumulation in Grosmont Platform Complex, Upper Devonian, Alberta, Canada," American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin, 70:1113, 1986.) Comment. Many geologists believe that these incredible accumulations of organic matter migrated from some distant source to their present location. But just where was this prodigious wellspring of biological activity? Reference. Controversies regarding the origin of oil are covered in ESC13 in our catalog: Anomalies in Geology. This book is described here . From Science ...
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... water tables. For example, the Charleston quake of 1886 was preceded by two years of unusually heavy rainfall followed by a short dry spell. Also, seismicity in the New Madrid (MO) area increases 6-9 months after the Mississippi has crested. The theory is that the added water penetrates deep into the earth where it lubricates faults, causing them to become active and jolt the surface above. (Weisburd, S.; "Trickle-Down Theory of Eastern Quakes," Science News, 129:165, 1986.) Comment. The above correlations and our inability to explain deep-focus earthquakes underscore our ignorance of the mantle. To illustrate, Soviet drillers have found fluids circulating through fractured rocks 11 kilometers down, where one would expect every thing to be sealed tight ... high water tables. For example, the Charleston quake of 1886 was preceded by two years of unusually heavy rainfall followed by a short dry spell. Also, seismicity in the New Madrid (MO) area increases 6-9 months after the Mississippi has crested. The theory is that the added water penetrates deep into the earth where it lubricates faults, causing them to become active and jolt the surface above. (Weisburd, S.; "Trickle-Down Theory of Eastern Quakes," Science News, 129:165, 1986.) Comment. The above correlations and our inability to explain deep-focus earthquakes underscore our ignorance of the mantle. To illustrate, Soviet drillers have found fluids circulating through fractured rocks 11 kilometers down, where one would expect every thing to be sealed ...
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... -bands. A dull 'strobe-light' effect flashed through a mist, giving the bands a dirty white to gray colouration which was not a 'smooth' colour, but rather grainy in appearance. The bands were about 2 m wide and about 2 m apart and moving at speed. At first it was difficult to discern whether or not the bands were in the water or just above the surface, as no form of reflection or distortion was visible off the hull. In the end, I decided that the effect must be waterbourne if only because nothing was visible in the vessel's wake. "The most intense activity was observed on the starboard side of the ship where the phenomenon appeared to stretch as far as the horizon. At this stage, it did not ... localized, just a mass of high-speed interacting bands of light. The effect is shown in the first sketch. As is usual on an 'all aft' ship, you become 'deaf' to the constant background noises, but I gradually became aware that the pulses of light seemed to match those of the main engine's throb, that is, about two per second. The radar (3 -cm radar, running on the 24 n. mile range), and the echo-sounder (indicating a water-depth of about 35 fathoms), were switched off in turn to see if any change was discernible, but there was not. "However, at about this time, the ship passed a localized revolving system, distance off appeared to be about ...
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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 Two Snowflake Anomalies Rarely is there anything in the scientific literature suggesting that anything about snowflakes could possibly be mysterious. Surprisingly, two articles on snowflake anomalies have appeared recently. To form at all above -40 F, snowflakes supposedly require a solid seed or nucleus around which ice can crystallize -- or so scientists have assumed for many years. It was long believed that airborne dust, perhaps augmented by extraterrestrial micrometeoroids, served as the necessary nuclei. But cloud studies prove that there are about a thousand times more ice crystals than dust nuclei. Now, some are convinced that bacteria blown off plants and flung into the air by ocean waves ... to mind the Gaia Hypothesis; that is, all life forms work in unison to further the goals of life. The second item is from Nature and is naturally more technical. After reviewing the great difficulties scientists are having in mathematically describing the growth of even the simplest crystal, the author homes in on one of the fascinating puzzles of snowflake growth: "The aggregation of particles into a growing surface will be determined exclusively by local properties, among which surface tension and the opportunities for energetically advantageous migration will be impor tant. But the symmetry of a whole crystal, represented by the exquisite six-fold symmetry of the standard snowflake, must be the consequence of some cooperative phenomenon involving the growing crystal as a whole. What can that be? What can tell one growing face of a ...
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... quote two of the 14 digests of Champ sightings in 1985. Champ, as all cryptobiologists know, is the oft-reported monster of Lake Champlain. "June 29, 1985: Peg McGeoch and Jane Temple; off Scotch Bonnet, south of Basin Harbor, Vermont; 'length well over 30 feet'; head/neck similar to a brontosaurus, with head held 'about 5 feet above surface'; body was snakelike. "August 8, 1985: Jean and Becky Joppru; in Mullen Bay, New York; 4 or 5 black humps protruding 2 or 3 feet from water; total length, 30 feet." (Zarzynski, Joseph W.; "LCPI Work at Lake Champlain, 1985," Cryptozoology, 4:69, 1985.) Location of the ... 1985 sightings. From Science Frontiers #45, MAY-JUN 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... recent researcher at Nan Madol. In an interview, Ayres described Nan Madol in these terms: "To withstand time and the sea, the artificial platforms were built in a staggeringly laborious process. Multiton basalt columns, formed by volcanic activity, were stacked horizontally, log-cabin style, to form outer walls. The inside was then filled with coral rubble to form a dry surface several feet above high-tide level. Radiocarbon testing finds signs of human habitation at Nan Madol as early as A.D . 500, and the megalithic construction was completed by about 1500." Besides incongruity and a certain bizarreness, Nan Madol does pose several problems: How were the huge, very heavy prismatic columns of basalt quarried and transported? Why was Nan Madol built at all? Why about ... has been a recent researcher at Nan Madol. In an interview, Ayres described Nan Madol in these terms: "To withstand time and the sea, the artificial platforms were built in a staggeringly laborious process. Multiton basalt columns, formed by volcanic activity, were stacked horizontally, log-cabin style, to form outer walls. The inside was then filled with coral rubble to form a dry surface several feet above high-tide level. Radiocarbon testing finds signs of human habitation at Nan Madol as early as A.D . 500, and the megalithic construction was completed by about 1500." Besides incongruity and a certain bizarreness, Nan Madol does pose several problems: How were the huge, very heavy prismatic columns of basalt quarried and transported? Why was Nan Madol built at all ...
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... , but no one knows just what. At the recent Second International Symposium on Deep Seismic Reflection Profiling of the Continental Lithosphere, a lot of doubts about the stability and character of the Moho surfaced. Under the North American Cordillera, which runs from Alaska to Mexico, the Moho is flat, continuous and oblivious to the faults, terrane plastering, mountain "roots," and the geological phenomena above it. In other areas, though, several Mohos are stacked up. Some Mohos are discontinuous, jumping from one depth to another. Others are strongly influenced by overhead geological structures. Gone is the neat, so simple Moho figured in all the textbooks. (Barton, Penny; "Deep Reflections on the Moho," Nature, 323:392, 1986. Also: Weisburd, ... For a long time the Moho (Mohorovicic discontinuity) has been considered a stable plane dividing the crust from the mantle. It is at the Moho that seismic wave velocities change abruptly. There is something there, but no one knows just what. At the recent Second International Symposium on Deep Seismic Reflection Profiling of the Continental Lithosphere, a lot of doubts about the stability and character of the Moho surfaced. Under the North American Cordillera, which runs from Alaska to Mexico, the Moho is flat, continuous and oblivious to the faults, terrane plastering, mountain "roots," and the geological phenomena above it. In other areas, though, several Mohos are stacked up. Some Mohos are discontinuous, jumping from one depth to another. Others are strongly influenced by overhead geological structures. ...
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... In the hottest of fires, the extremities are consumed but the torso remains; why did the reverse happen here and in other reported cases of human combustion? (Heymer, John; "A Case of Spontaneous Human Combustion? New Scientist, p. 70, May 15, 1986.) But every tale has two (or more) sides. The following letter appeared in response to the above article: "John Heymer will no doubt assume that I am suffering from the 'Lavoisier Syndrome' if I disagree with the conclusion he had reached from his meticulous observations. His mistake is in trying to draw a parallel between the extensive burning to the body which he examined and the processes of cremation, when they can be distinguished by one critical factor. Cremation is intended to destroy a ... Heymer's job with the Gwent Police was attending the scenes of serious crimes and sudden deaths to gather forensic evidence. On January 6, 1980, he investigated a "rather unusual" death at a Gwent council house. When he opened the door of the room, steamy, sauna-like heat still remained. The walls still radiated heat; condensation was running down the window; all surfaces were covered with a greasy black soot. "On the floor, about one metre from the hearth, was a pile of ashes. On the perimeter of the ashes, furthest from the hearth, was a partially burnt armchair. Emerging from the ashes were a pair of human feet clothed in socks. The feet were attached to short lengths of lower leg, encased in trouser leg bottoms ...
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... ) Comment. Note that the visual meteors or shooting stars that burn up high in the atmosphere are believed to be cometary debris (SF#44) and mostly ice and dust. The meteors large and substantial enough to make it through the atmosphere and arrive at the surface as meteorites must have a different source -- something more palpable, such as the asteroids, but the spectral disparities reported above may force a reevaluation of this theory. From Science Frontiers #45, MAY-JUN 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... s all a lot of fun. The people attending "feel good" about themselves and their shared experiences. (Houck, Jack; "PK Party History," in Proceedings of a Symposium on Applications of Anomalous Phenomena, C.P Scott Jones, ed., Kaman Tempo, Alexandria, Virginia, 1984.) Comment. Is mass delusion the foundation of PK parties? Is the above article serious? Houck's paper is in a long collection of rather standard parapsychological fare presented at a conference held under the auspices of Kaman Tempo. The phenomena of PK parties are similar to the audible effects produced by a Toronto group a few years ago. In their case, the participants conjured up "Phillip, the Imaginary Ghost," who communicated via table rapping. In all ... through your neck, down through your shoulder, down through your arm, through your hand, and put it into the silverware at the point you intend to bend it.' 'Command it to bend.' 'Release the command and let it happen.' "He then instructed the group to use their fingers to test for warmth coming out of the silverware or to feel the metal surface become sticky. Everyone felt pretty silly, sitting there holding the silverware, until the head of a fork being held by a boy (age 14) bent over all by itself! Almost everyone in the room saw this happen and experienced an instantaneous belief system change. Then the silverware in the hands of many people in the room became soft. They easily bent and twisted the silverware into ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 26 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf039/sf039p19.htm
... compounds. They often form in huge masses in ocean-bottom sediments and, if disturbed by slumping or some other stimulus, can release immense quantities of gas bubbles. These gases rise to the surface, subdivided en route, and reach the surface as a huge upwelling of frothy, low-density fluid. A ship cannot float in such low-density fluids. If a large plume rose above the sea's surface, aircraft passing through it would lose engine power. Quoting the final paragraph: "Intermittent natural gas blowouts from hydrate-associated gas accumulations, therefore, might explain some of the many mysterious disappearances of ships and planes -- particularly in areas where deep-sea sediments contain large amounts of gas in the form of hydrate. This may be the circumstance off the ... lattices of water molecules, in which the water molecules are hydrogen-bonded into hollow spheres or oblate spheroids in which gas molecules are enclosed. They are not true compounds, but rather clathrates or inclusion compounds. They often form in huge masses in ocean-bottom sediments and, if disturbed by slumping or some other stimulus, can release immense quantities of gas bubbles. These gases rise to the surface, subdivided en route, and reach the surface as a huge upwelling of frothy, low-density fluid. A ship cannot float in such low-density fluids. If a large plume rose above the sea's surface, aircraft passing through it would lose engine power. Quoting the final paragraph: "Intermittent natural gas blowouts from hydrate-associated gas accumulations, therefore, might explain ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 54 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf025/sf025p11.htm
