No results found containing all search terms. 324 results found containing some search terms.
... bagpipe. The second, superimposed on the low drone, is a succession of flute-like sounds that resonates high above the drone. It is the second component that can be controlled so as to mirror natural sounds. The result is like nothing Mozart or Verdi conceived. But it is an art form valued in Tuva and a talent rather remarkable from a biologist's perspective. One should compare the vocal tract to an organ pipe with its standing waves, except that the human pipe is only 7 inches long in the average adult male. One end of the human pipe is the mouth; the other is at the so-called "vocal folds" deep in the throat (larynx). To control their "instrument" throat-singers move their tongues back and forth to change the standing waves in the vocal tract. The source of raw sound is the vocal folds. It is the vocal tract that shapes the raw sound into musical tones. Biofeedback is also involved as the throatsingers tweak the rate and manner in which the vocal folds open and close. (Levin, Theodore C., and Edgerton, Michael E.; "The Throat Singers of Tuva," Scientific American, 281:80, September 1999.) Comments. The human throat is obviously a complex musical instrument, but what survival value does this remarkable instrument have? Did evolution overshoot its mark? Incidentally, many birds can produce simultaneously two tones that are not harmonically related. However, these birds have a special doublebarreled organ called the syrinx. So, the avian "two- ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf127/sf127p10.htm
... planet's mass distribution, some sort of subterranean indigestion, like a subducted ocean plate suddenly plunging through into the lower mantle. (Kerr, Richard A.; "Did the Dinosaurs Live on a Topsy-Turvy Earth?" Science, 287:406, 2000.) The biological consequences of such a sudden tilting could have been severe. The event -- known as rapid true polar wander -- may have been accompanied by worldwide volcanic upheavals and reorganization of tectonic plates that would have played havoc with anything living in the Late Cretaceous period, 65 million to 99 million years ago. Although the notion that an asteroid was the immediate cause of dinosaur extinction about 65 million years ago has won wide acceptance, many paleontologists have argued that volcanic activity may have played a role in changing the climate and sending populations of the giant creatures into decline. (Bowman, Lee; "Scientist's Say Earth's Magnetic Field Shifted Rapidly in Time of Dinosaurs," Dallas Morning News, January 21, 2000. Cr. Phelps) Comment. Coincidentally (honest!), we are offering with this mailing a reprint of C.H . Hapgood's The Path of the Pole. From Science Frontiers #128, MAR-APR 2000 . 1997 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.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf128/sf128p08.htm
... Dreams More Real Than Reality Those people who experience so-called lucid dreams say that they are not only vivid in all human senses but completely under the control of the dreamer. Specifically, individuals can be commanded to appear and the action controlled to please the dreamer. As Keith Hearne, a dream researcher, remarks with tongue-in-cheek, the entertainment possibilities are endless if lucid dreaming could be induced in everyone! Lucid dreams are so real that the dreamer will sometimes believe that he has awakened and answered questions from the researcher, when nothing like that has happened. Lucid dreaming occurs only during periods of REM (Rapid Eye Movements) sleep. The lucid dream-er, however, can signal the dream researcher that lucid dreaming has begun with agreed-upon eye movements and changes in the rate of breathing. (Hearne, Keith; "Control Your Own Dreams," New Scientist, 91:783, 1981.) Comment. The fact of lucid dreaming encourages many questions. How is it related to out-of-the-body experiences and hallucinations? Pertinent once more is that old philosophical teaser: How do we know that reality is not a dream from which we shall soon awaken? It turns out that lucid dreamers have to devise special tests to ascertain whether they are dreaming or awake! From Science Frontiers #18, NOV-DEC 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf018/sf018p13.htm
... 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 TLPs One Fades, Others Flash The TLP (Transient Lunar Phenomenon) reported in SF#127 involved a 40-minute darkening of an area near the lunar crater Aristarchus on April 23, 1994. The phenomenon was observed independently by some 100 amateur astronomers. The initial analysis of data returned at the same time by the lunar satellite Clementine at first seemed to confirm the amateurs' telescopic impressions. But after correcting the satellite data for lighting geometry and other effects, Clementine's vision of the TLP faded away like the Cheshire Cat. TLP doubters were well-satisfied. (Anonymous; "Lunar Surface Change: A False Alarm," Sky & Telescope, 99:22, March 2000. Cr. D. Barbiero.) Comment. Were the independent observations by 100-or-so geographically dispersed amateurs all hallucinations? The TLP "myth" does not fade away so easily. On the night of November 17/18, 1999, the Leonid meteors pelted the earth's atmosphere and, as one would expect, the moon's surface. The moon's atmosphere, however, is almost non-existent so its share of the Leonid shower did not burn up before hitting the surface. But might not the high-velocity impacts with the surface create luminous phenomena? To find out, a team of observers monitored the dark side of the moon during the peak of the Leonid shower. Sure ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf129/sf129p02.htm
... 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 Phoebe Not Locked To Saturn When Voyager 2 passed through the Saturn system a few months ago, it snapped pictures of Phoebe, Saturn's outermost moon. Phoebe is nicely rounded, 200 kilometers in diameter, and swings around Saturn in a retrograde orbit 550 days long -- nothing anomalous so far. Phoebe, however, turns out to be the only solar-system satellite whose axial period of rotation is not about equal to its period of rotation about its parent planet. All other moons, including our own, are gravitationally "locked" so that they always point the same hemisphere at the parent planet. (Anonymous; "Voyager's Fleeting Glimpse of Phoebe," New Scientist, 91:779, 1981.) Comment. One inference here is that Phoebe is a relatively recent addition -- and a good-sized one -- to the Saturn system, and just hasn't been there long enough to become "locked." From Science Frontiers #18, NOV-DEC 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf018/sf018p04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Solar Cosmic Rays Stimulate Thunderstorms Not so long ago the idea of short-term solar influences on terrestrial weather was treated with contempt. However, meteorologists are now being converted in droves because believable physical links have been found linking sun and earth. A prime example is the bombard-ment of the terrestrial atmosphere by solar cosmic rays. The cosmic rays and the secondary particles they create ion-ize enough of the atmosphere to disturb the entire planetary electrical circuit. The details of the circuit changes are still under study, but there seems no question about cosmic rays initiating thunderstorm activity. Plots of global thunderstorm activity peak strongly about three days after any maximum in solar cosmic rays. (Lethbridge, M.D . "Cosmic Rays and Thunderstorm Frequency," Geophysical Research Letters, 8:521, 1981.) Comment. At its present rate of decline the earth's magnetic field will reach zero in 1200 years. With this protective magnetic bottle gone, we see a good future for lightning rod manufacturers. hunderstorm frequency index shows a maximum 3 days after cosmic-ray maximum. From Science Frontiers #17, Fall 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf017/sf017p12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 16: Summer 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Hooray, another "dangerous" book!The May 22, 1981, issue of Science devotes three entire pages to a discussion of the issues raised in the book Genes, Minds, and Culture, written by Edward Wilson and Charles Lumsden. The subject of this book is "gene-culture coevolution," which infers that human culture is controlled not so much by "free will" as by rapidly changing human genes. The authors propose that as few as 1000 years are sufficient for important genetic shifts. Such shifts might, for example, impel humans to break out of the Middle Ages and bring on the Industrial Revolution. The most controversial facets of the theory are: (1 ) The tight genetic control over human culture with little room for free will; and (2 ) The rapid blossoming of many cultures as genes shift about. As one scientist remarked, this book is "dangerous." Others describe it as marvelous. The Science article deals not so much with the book as with the reactions to it -- and the reactions have been powerful, both pro and con. (Lewin, Roger; "Cultural Diversity Tied to Genetic Differences," Science, 212:908, 1981.) Comment. The impression one gets from the synopsis of the book is that humankind is diversifying rapidly into new cultural configurations not through human volition but because of those imperious "selfish genes" we all carry. From Science ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf016/sf016p06.htm
... s books, the data form the core of the controversy. Reviewed are the Blanchard Stone (Celtic writing in Vermont); a ceramic tablet inscribed in ancient Libyan (Big Bend National Park, Texas); the Massacre Lake petroglyphs (apparent Carthaginian writing in Nevada); and two Roman coins from a group picked up along a Massachusetts beach. Traditionalists denounce these finds and Fell's interpretations with a fervor once reserved for von Daniken. (Bradner, John H., and Laudin, Harvey; "America's Prehistoric Pilgrims," Science Digest, 89:90, May 1981.) Comment. The fact is that if any one of Fell's many, many identifications and translations of North American inscriptions is correct, our whole view of ancient seafaring will have to change. Reference. Our Handbook Ancient Man brims with anomalous inscriptions found all over the world. For details on this book, go to: here . The Blanchard Stone, discovered in Vermont, is a prayer for rain inscribed in a form of Gaelic used by Iberian Celts, according to Barry Fell. From Science Frontiers #16, Summer 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf016/sf016p01.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 13: Winter 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Remarkably Early Dates For Agriculture B.K . Maloney, of the British Museum, describes his pollen analysis of sediments that have accumulated in the Toba Highlands of North Sumatra, Indonesia. The base of a 9.7 -meter core from the Pea Sim-sim Swamp has yielded a radiocarbon date of 18,496 years. Pollen studies of the core indicate a brief decline of forest pollen about 17,800 BP along with increased sedimentation characteristic of cleared land. Taken by themselves, these data would probably be interpreted in terms of natural climate changes. But extremely early dates for human activity exist nearby: 14,000 BP for agriculture in Thailand and 11,000 BP for forest clearance on Taiwan. It is possible, therefore, that men were clearing land for planting in North Sumatra almost 18,000 years ago. (Maloney, B.K .; "Pollen Analytical Evidence for Early Forest Clearance in North Sumatra," Nature, 287:324, 1980.) Comment. Some archeologists hotly disoute the early dates mentioned above. For more, see our Handbook: Ancient Man. Ordering information for this volume may be found here . From Science Frontiers #13, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf013/sf013p04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 13: Winter 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Funny Thing Happened Along The Mean Free Path A little anomaly may go a long way. Accelerator experiments at Berkeley have again focussed attention on those few fragments from nuclear reactions that have unexpectedly short trajectories. About 6% of these fragments travel only about one tenth as far as prevailing physical laws say they should. These anomalously short mean free paths are not new, having first cropped up in 1954, but they have gone unexplained for 26 years. Current speculation is that the anomalous fragments somehow change their identities, making them more susceptible to collision (i .e ., their collision cross sections spontaneously increase by ten times). But no known transformations of matter can do this! Consequently, we are left with the possiblity that some entirely new form of matter exists. (Robinson, Arthur L.; "A Nuclear Puzzle Emerges at Berkeley," Science, 210:174, 1980.) Comment. Just a few weeks ago, some nuclear physicists were saying that the advent of quark theory explained everything in their field. From Science Frontiers #13, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf013/sf013p03.htm
... . Stummer personally investigated this case. The salient facts are as follows. A. Reisinger was working in her garden about 10 meters from an apple tree when she observed a phenomenon that seems to have been an elaborate and hard-to-explain form of ball lightning. When the BL appeared suddenly from behind the tree, it caught the attention of the witness who said that it looked like it "sat down on to the tree." It had the dimensions of "a small truck tyre, not as large as a tractor one," and it had a definite torus shape. What made the dark object an even stranger sight was a considerable number of "Xmas candies", all hanging down from its underside 15 to 20 centimetres long and "sparkling", which means changing brightness with an emission of sparks at the same time. A humming and sizzling sound was associated with the optical effect, but there was no static electricity. The strange light was not blinding, but irritated the eyes of the witness who looked at it only intermittently. Mrs. Reisinger continued her work in the shed, not moving closer to the object and getting more nervous over the 10 minutes that the phenomenon lasted. Her eyes started to water towards the end of the observation. Another phenomenon that she remembers was the irregular extinction of the "candies" which went out piece by piece. (Keul, Alexander G.; "More on a Torus Ball-Lightning Case," Journal of Meterology, U.K ., 25:49, 2000. The initial report ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf132/sf132p10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 133: JAN-FEB 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Statistical Astrology No matter how severely scientists demonize astrologers, statistics keep piling up suggesting that season-of-birth can influence human traits and talents. When one relects upon this matter, a rational, cause-and-effect chain is not far out on the lunatic fringe. After all, a pregnant woman's body responds to varying temperatures, changing amounts of sunlight, seasonal foods, and varying physical activity during the year. Such effects can be felt in utero, too. Many of the multitudinous studies looking into the season-of-birth correlations are very specialized and employ small samples. For example, English professional soccer players in the 1991-1992 season were twice as likely to have been born September through November. Mental traits are also influenced by season-ofbirth. More medical students are born April through June than can be explained by chance. Best of all (for us) is the following correlation: Perhaps the most unusual seasonal effect is found amongst scientists who support revolutionary theories. It seems that academics who were quick to support controversial theories such as relativity and evolution tended to he born between October and April. (Thomas, Jens; "Like a Virgo," New Scientist, p. 56, December 25, 1999.) Comment. So, there is a season for iconoclasts and anomalists! However, we (the editorial "we") bucked the trend. Could we have ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf133/sf133p06.htm
... C . Frisch, at the University of Chicago, has constructed a cosmic scenario that reminds us of F. Hoyle's science fiction tale, The Black Cloud . According to Frisch, until just a few thousand years ago, the solar system was cruising through interstellar space that was almost devoid of matter. Then, perhaps within historical times, 2,000-8 ,000 years ago, the solar system plunged into an interstellar gas cloud. This cloud is believed to be the remnant of the bubble of matter shot into space perhaps 250,000 years ago by a supernova in the Scorpius-Centaurus region. This tenuous cloud of gas feeds matter into the solar system, some of which interacts with the solar wind and, therefore, affects the geomagnetic field, too. Climate changes may have been caused by entry into this cloud, and very likely the flux of cosmic rays impinging on the earth would have been modulated. (Frisch, Priscella C.; "Morphology and Ionization of the Interstellar Cloud Surrounding the Solar System," Science, 265:1423, 1994. Also: Peterson, I.; "Finding a Place for the Sun in a Cloud," Science News, 146:148, 1994.) Comment. Note that the 2,000-8 ,000-year span brackets many key developments in human civilization. Also, see under ARCHEOLOGY in this issue. For a potentially serious effect this cloud may have on carbon dating. Getting back to Hoyle's "black cloud," we recall that his molecular cloud was sentient ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf098/sf098a04.htm
... the atomic unit of time. If these two ratios are truly equal, then G must decrease with time. Beyond the unstable feeling one gets, there is nothing in physics or cosmology to discourage a belief in time-varying gravity. Indeed, some as-tronomical data weakly support the idea. It is geophysics, though, where one finds strong evidence. Measurements of the decreasing length of the day and the expansion of the earth give about the same value for a decreasing G -- after other contributing factors have been eliminated. An interesting consequence of all this is that astrophysical theory seems to require that a decreasing G be balanced by increasing mass. Experiments are now underway to detect the continual creation of mass in terrestrial objects. (Wesson, Paul S.; "Does Gravity Change with Time?" Physics Today, 33:32, July 1980.) From Science Frontiers #12, Fall 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf012/sf012p11.htm
... the ancient Babylonians laid out their first zodiacs. For example, Jegues-Wolkiewiez asserts that the painting of a bull in Lascaux is drawn and positioned such that it mirrors a group of stars in the constellation Scorpio. He identifies several other like "congruences." Cro-Magnons, it seems, were astute observers of the heavens and attempted to make some sense out of the star configurations they saw. Cro-Magnon artist painting a zodiac figure on cave ceiling. His assistant holds a star map to guide him. The second claim of Jegues-Wolkiewiez notes that on the summer solstice the last rays of the setting sun penetrate the cave and illuminate a bison painted in red. He believes this is no accident, and that, 17,000 years ago, humans already appreciated the changing length of the days and the seasonal movements of the sun. This is precocious astronomy by any measure. (Lima, Pedro; "L 'Incroyable D couverte d'une Pal o-Astronome," Science et Vie, p. 77, December 2000. Cr. C. Maug .) Comments. C. Jegues-Wolkiewiez is identified as an "independent" paleoastronomer," which seems to mean that he is not part of the French scientific establishment. It should he remarked that about 5,000 years ago, the New Grange passage grave in Ireland was constructed with a special channel to admit light to the central chamber only at sunrise on the year's two equinoxes. A stone chamber in the Gungywamp Complex, in Connecticut, possesses a similar light channel ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf134/sf134p01.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 134: MAR-APR 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects I Must Go Down To The Goo Again!With apologies to Masefield for mangling a line of his poetry. it really is tine to go down to the sea and examine its microstructure. The ocean is not what it seems. When you snorkel in crystal-clear Caribbean waters, you do not sense that you are swimming in a very thin jelly. In reality, ocean water is filled with a complex tangle of microscopic strands and particles of gel. According to F. A zam , an oceanographer at Scripps: It's not in the textbooks or in the classical explanations. The gel's existence fundamentally changes our ideas of the microcosmos in which sea organisms live. It has added another layer of complexity that people are only now starting to consider in the context of whole ocean systems . . Gel is like the dark matter of the sea. While sea gel does not impede the snorkeler, . it does herd microbes into clumps or microniches . which we cannot see either. These microbes. in effect, exist in a tangled. 3-D mesh that affects not only their movements but also those of their prey and predators. A few statistics confirm the amazing complexity of the seawater microcosm and its incredibly high microbe population density. The long strands in the oceanic gel are mostly crosslinked polysaccharides. If the polysaccharides in 1 milliliter of seawater could be placed end-to-end, they would stretch out ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf134/sf134p09.htm
... nonsense DNA sequences that do not code for protein. The presence of these "useless" bits of genetic material is often explained in terms of gene "expression." Emphasis is always on maximizing the "fitness" of the organism (phenotype). Perhaps this seemingly excess genetic material actually maximizes the fitness (survivability) of the DNA itself. Evolution thus occurs at DNA and gene (genome) levels, despite what transpires at the organism (phenotype) level. (Doolittle, W. Ford, and Sapienza, Carmen; "Selfish Genes, the Phenotype Paradigm and Genome Evolution," Nature, 284:601, 1980.) Comment. We know that mitochondria and chloroplasts have their own genetic material; evolution may be occurring at this level, too, independent of pressures for change on the organisms. Waxing speculative, may there not be other hierarchies where systems are trying to maximize their own survivability, even at molecular, atomic, and subatomic levels? Don't laugh! Is not all life implicitly encoded in the properties of the most fundamental particles? If not, reductionism is a lie. From Science Frontiers #11, Summer 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf011/sf011p04.htm
... remain true and revert to one or the other of the original species. Although cell fusion has been observed only under laboratory conditions, it seems to represent a near-universal cell phenomenon that might be realized rarely under natural conditions. The implications for the history of life are far-reaching. For example, the mitochondria in human cells that help our bodies use oxygen to obtain energy may well be descendants of bacteria that once fused with primitive cells. The same may be true for the chloroplasts in plant cells. (Thomas, Lewis; "Cell Fusion: Does It Represent a Universal Urge to 'Join Up'?" Science Digest, 86:52, December 1979.) Comment. Natural cell fusion might make large evolutionary steps possible and be much faster than endless small genetic changes. Are we all composite creatures? From Science Frontiers #10, Spring 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf010/sf010p05.htm
... Frontiers ONLINE No. 52: Jul-Aug 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ship Enveloped By False Radar Echo August 1, 1985. Red Sea. Aboard the m.v . Botany Bay . "At 1800 a crescent-shaped trace of spurious echoes appeared about 15 n. miles ahead of the vessel. This gradually developed, in an encirculating manner, until, by 1845 the echoes had totally surrounded the vessel. (See sketch.) The effect looked like, or could be likened to a plan view of a black island with sandy beaches around its perimeter. The echoes were significant with strong contrast and could even have been mistaken for land on the radar. The effect could not be removed or diminished by changing range scales, motion modes, gain, tuning or perhaps most significantly, altering the pulse lengths. An identical effect was observed on the vessel's independent ARPA radar. The Master commented that although false echoes were invariably encountered in this region, he had not seen one such as this, which actually 'encapsulated' the vessel within the PPI of the radar. By 1935 the false echoes had dissipated into isolated batches splayed randomly across the screen." (Leslie, A.J .; "Radar Echoes," Marine Observer, 56:117, 1986.) Comment. In the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, similar false echoes are often associated with bioluminescent phenomenon. For details, see category GLW in our catalog: Lightning, Auroras. Ordering information here . From ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf052/sf052g19.htm
... Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Wyoming: is old faithful a strange attractor?" Eruptions of Old Faithful Geyser are generally perceived as extremely regular events, with variation of eruptive interval being attributed to random noise. The governing equations for such a hydrothermal system are highly non-linear, therefore it is reasonable to assume that such systems are capable of operating in regines that display chaotic behavior. Three-dimensional state-space reconstruction of eruption time data provides strong evidence of a strange attractor quite similar to the Rossler attractor. Establishing the system as chaotic indicates that while one can predict eruptive intervals in the short term, long term predictions regarding Old Faithful's eruptive behavior are impossible, no matter how carefully and accurately the system is modeled. The mean eruptive interval of Old Faithful has changed over time. This is consistent with the behavior of a chaotic system, which by definition must be nonstationary in the mean. Seismic activity is believed to be a perturbation shifting Old Faithful into a new chaotic state with a different shape to the strange attractor. A simple non-linear dynamic model of geyser behavior is proposed that leads to chaotic behavior and is consistent with the observations of eruption interval data for Old Faithful." (Nicholl, Michael, et al; "Is Old Faithful a Strange Attractor?" Eos, 71:466, 1990.) Comment. "Strange attractor" is a specialized term employed in chaos analysis. So, Old Faithful is not really faithful; neither are the planets in their orbits (see under Astronomy). Is there nothing left in ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf071/sf071g16.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 72: Nov-Dec 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Birds Of Burden Anthropologists long ago decided that the ostrich was domesticated only in historical times. They pooh-poohed a prehistory sketch showing an ostrich carrying a human rider and pictographs of ostriches apparently fitted with pack saddles. The latest discovery may change their minds. It is a Neolithic figure (5000-7000 years old), deeply engraved on rocks along the River Blaka, in Niger, Africa. Here, the ostrich definitely appears to be loaded with cargo that is strapped on. The bird's legs are folded in a resting position. The Egyptians occasionally captured young ostriches and broke them to harness, but this engraving seems to prove that this practice had been going on long before. (Bahn, Paul; "A Head in the Sands of Time," Nature, 346:794, 1990.) Comment. One wonders what Neolithic goods the ostrich caravans carried and where they were bound. From Science Frontiers #72, NOV-DEC 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf072/sf072a02.htm
... 1949 Under the recent law making most government records available to the public, B.S . Maccabee obtained the FBI's UFO file. His analyses of this file have been serialized in the APRO Bulletin. One of the most unsettling revelations concerns the FBI data on the notorious "green fireballs" of the 1948-1949 era. According to the verbatim transcript of the FBI record, dated January 31, 1949, File No. 5: November 1978 Briefly, the "fireballs" were a brilliant green, sometimes beginning and ending with red or orange flashes. The objects travelled mainly on an east-west line at an average speed of 27,000 miles per hour. They seemed to pass over in level flight at altitudes of six to ten miles. On two occasions vertical changes of course were noted. Size was about one-fourth the diameter of the full moon. Multiple fireballs appeared in two instances. No sound was ever noted. No debris was ever discovered. (Maccabee, Bruce S.; "UFO Related Information from the FBI File," APRO Bulletin, 7, March 1978.) From Science Frontiers #5 , November 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf005/sf005p15.htm
... interior rather than that of the sun that is at risk. There is simply not enough helium escaping from earth's crust to account for the heat flowing outwards from our planet's core. You see, most of the earth's internal fires are fueled by the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium. The heat produced by these disintegrations eventually makes its way to the surface where we can measure it. but the helium (4He) created by the radioactive decay of the uranium and thorium is mostly missing. The discrepancy is large, and scien tists are confronted with the possibility that we are wrong about either the source of the earth's heat or the facts of nuclear physics. You can bet it will not be the latter. We are confident that helium atoms cannot change their type like those solar neutrinos! Neither can we blame chemical sequestration because helium is a noble gas. Perhaps the missing helium is physically trapped and stored somewhere in the earth's mantle. No one knows the answer; nor does any one pay much attention to this clearcut anomaly. (Chin, Gilbert, ed. ; "A Scarcity of Gas," Science, 292:2219, 2001.) From Science Frontiers #137, SEP-OCT 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.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf137/sf137p10.htm
... 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, when considerable evidence indicates that no such sea-level changes occurred in the last 2,200 years. (Shinn, E.A .; "Atlantis: Bimini Hoax," Sea Frontiers, 24:130, 1978.) From Science Frontiers #4 , July 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf004/sf004p02.htm
