74 results found.
... From Reviews: "All I can say to Corliss is carry on cataloging". New Scientist View Cart Buy online via PayPal with MC/Visa/Amex 304 pages, hardcover, $19.95, 52 illus., 3 indexes, 1992. 548 references, LC 91-68541. ISBN 0-915554-26-7 , 7x10. Biological Anomalies: Humans II: A Catalog of Biological Anomalies Sorry, Out of print The second Catalog volume on human biological anomalies focuses upon the "internal" machinery of the body (1 ) Its major organs; (2 ) Its support structure (the skeleton); and (3 ) Its vital subsystems (the central nervous system and the immune system) Typical subjects covered: Enigma of the fetal graft * Phantom limbs * Blood chimeras * Anomalous human combustion * Bone shedders * Skin shedders * "Perfection" of the eye * Dearth of memory traces * Sudden increase of hominid brain size * Health and the weather * Periodicity of epidemics * Extreme longevity * AIDS anomalies * Cancer anomalies * Human limb regeneration * Nostril cycling * Voluntary suspended animation * Male menstruation [Picture caption: Is the complexity of the human eye anomalous?] 297 pages, hardcover, $19.95, 40 illus., 3 indexes, 1993. 494 references, LC 91-68541, ISBN 0-915554-27-5 , 7x10. Biological Anomalies: Humans III: A Catalog of Biological Anomalies Sorry, Out of print Completing our trilogy on human anomalies, this volume focuses on four areas (1 ) the human fossil ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 6 - 10 Oct 2021 - URL: /sourcebk.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 136: JUL-AUG 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Songs In Your Head Aneurysms occur when the wall of a blood vessel weakens and bulges outward. They can be very dangerous but in some cases they produce bizarre side effects. Take, for example, this case of a 61-year-old woman. The woman's symptoms began with nausea, fatigue and then disorientation. Then, after a year, she began hearing music in the forms of songs she knew. The music was peristent but kept changing. In December, it involved Christmas songs, for example. The songs were ones the woman learned when she was young. She had no obvious physical problems that might explain the hallucinations. The woman naturally went to a psychiatrist, but to no avail. Finally, repeated MRI examinations revealed two small brain aneurysms. When these were corrected surgically, the music stopped. (Nagourney, Eric; "A Song in Your Head Can Turn Deadly," New York Times, April 24, 2001. Cr. M. Piechota.) Comment. Just how can the pressure from slightly bulging blood vessels cause someone to hear songs stored in one's memory? From Science Frontiers #136, JUL-AUG 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf136/sf136p14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 128: MAR-APR 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Viruses as Ancient Artifacts HTLV-1 is a blood-borne retrovirus that causes leukemia in about 3% of those carrying it. In southern Japan, roughly 4% of the populace are afflicted with this virus, so are some isolated groups living today in Columbia and Chile. Does this correlation prove that South America received settlers from Japan in the distant past? Such a biological linkage would augment pottery evidence from Peru and, especially, Ecuador where Jomon-style pottery 4,000-5 ,000 years old has been found on the coast. However, the HTLV-1 virus also could have been introduced to South America by more recent visitors. Is there any way to fix the timing of HTLV-1 's introduction to South America? Actually, there is. The DNA in viruses is not as durable as pottery shards, but it does hang around for a while, as seen is recent efforts to ex-tract DNA from from frozen mammoths for possible "revival" of the species. A team of Japanese and Chilean scientists has been searching for DNA surviving in 104 mummies deposited in South America's arid Atacama Desert 1,200-1 ,500 years ago. Two of the mummies still retained DNA; and one of them included shards of DNA from HTLV-1 . This certainly doesn't prove trans-Pacific diffusion, but it helps. (Holden, Constance; "Backtracking ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 17 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf128/sf128p01.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 128: MAR-APR 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Fake Needles but Real Knives The effect of a patient's mind in medical procedures can be as powerful as drugs and real surgery. This is the well known placebo effect. But how can doctors differentiate between the healing power of the mind and that of chemicals and scalpels? The logical thing to do is to fake the procedure with one group of patients and compare results with a second group that got the "real thing." Of course, ethical problems come to the fore because doctors are supposed to cure people and not to pretend to. The ethical dimension is accentuated when real knives are employed and real blood flows. Our first item is not invasive but interesting nonetheless. Placebo acupuncture. Many physicians scoff at acupuncture. Placebo experiments could prove its efficacy. To this end, special placebo needles have been invented. Like the fake daggers used on the stage, the points are blunt and retractable. The acupuncture patient feels a pinprick and thinks he or she sees the needle penetrating the skin, but it's all fakery. At the University of Heidelberg, 52 people with rotator cuff tendinitis were split into two groups; 25 were punctured with real needles, the rest just thought they were. In this experiment, the first group showed much greater improvement than those treated with the fake needles. Real acupuncture was more powerful than the placebo effect. Now if we can only figure out how real acupuncture works! ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf128/sf128p13.htm
... in order to master the infinitely intricate problem of nature. Without being aware of it and without being rigorously systematic about it, we exclude the Subject of Cognizance from the domain of nature that we endeavor to understand. We step with our own person back into the part of an onlooker who does not belong to the world, which by this very procedure becomes an objective world. [Our] science... is based on objectivation, whereby it has cut itself off from an adequate understanding of the Subject of Cognizance, of the mind. But I do believe that this is precisely the point where our present way of thinking does need to be amended, perhaps by a bit of bloodtransfusion from Eastern thought. This will not be easy, we must be aware of blunders -- blood-transfusion always needs great precaution to prevent clotting. We do not wish to lose the logical precision that our scientific thought has reached, and that is unparalleled anywhere at any epoch." The third letter is from J.R . Dowling, who expresses the belief of many physicists in matters parapsychological. "For the most part, the results of relevant experiments undertaken over the last four decades have not proved to be reproducible by independent experimenters. Accordingly, I really do not see the value of conducting yet more experiments." Dowling feels that not only should parapsychological research be terminated but that the major physics journals should be closed to the subject. (Berezin, Alexander A., et al; "More Spirited Debate on Physics, Parapsychology and Paradigms," Physics Today, ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf106/sf106p16.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 132: NOV-DEC 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Fish Tales From the Mouth of Fishes Several species of fishes live inside the mouths and gills of larger species of fish. Some are true parasites. Attached by their teeth, they drink the blood of their hosts. Other fishes have fins that have been transformed into adhesive disks that allow them to also live inside the mouths and gill cavities of larger fish. These are true symbionts that feed on food scraps. The sizes and shapes of these invaders are neatly adapted to the mouths and cavities of each host. It is possible, but not easy, to explain how these remarkable physiological and behavioral transformations were initiated and perfected via random mutations and natural selection. (Gudger, E.W .; "Fishes That Live in the Mouths or Gill Cavities of Other Fishes," Scientific Monthly, 24:556, 1927.) A fish living within a fish. The shapes and sizes of such symbionts and parasites have evolved to fit their unusual niches. E.W . Gudger (see above) collected all sorts of piscine anomalies. He would have been delighted to learn of a really bizarre type of parasitism involving the spotted rose snapper (and probably other species) and a parasitic isopod (a relative of crabs and lobsters). The isopod first invades the mouth of the host fish and then consumes its tongue. It then hooks itself into the place where the tongue used to be and, being about the same ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf132/sf132p07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 105: May-Jun 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mixed-up people Mother-child chimeras. Investigators have discovered cells carrying male DNA among a mother's blood cells 27 years after the birth a male child. Evidently, descendents of fetal cells escape during pregnancy and persist in the mother for years after birth. The mother thus becomes a blend of herself and her child (or, possibly, children) - a kind of chimera. The question is: Why doesn't the mother's immune system destroy these foreign cells? Some scientists speculate that these escaped and still-surviving cells may help explain why women are more susceptible than men to autoimmune diseases. (Travis, J.; "Kids: Getting under Mom's Skin for Decades," Science News, 149:85, 1996) Fatherless blood. In Britain, a male child has been found with normal skin, with each cell carrying the expected X and Y chromosomes, but "his" blood is all female. Its cells contain the mother's two X chromosomes with no paternal contribution. What happened? One theory is that the mother's unfertilized egg spontaneously divided. Then, fertilization occurred, but it was only partial. The sperm got to just one of the two or more cells derived from the egg. The embryo continued to develop but it was part all-mother and part mother-father! "Partial parthenogenesis" seems to be the proper term here ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 45 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf105/sf105p06.htm
... Feb 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Europe's mystery people The researches of R. Frank, a scholar at the University of Iowa, suggest that the Basques were far-advanced in navigational skills and other aspects of technology long before the rise of the Roman Empire. The Basques, she believes, are the last remnants of the megalith builders, who left behind dolmens, standing stones, and other rock structures all across Europe and perhaps even in eastern North America. Two facts set the Basque peoples apart from the other Europeans who have dominated the continent the past 3,000 years: (1 ) The Basque language is distinctly different; and (2 ) The Basques have the highest recorded level of Rh-negative blood (roughly twice that of most Europeans), as well as substantially lower levels of Type B blood and a higher incidence of Type O blood. Some probable technological feats of the Basques or their ancestors are: Stonehenge and similar megalithic structures oA unique system of measurement based on the number 7 instead of 10, 12, or 60 Regular visits to North America long before Columbus to fish and to trade for beaver skins. Recently unearthed British customs records show large Basque imports of beaver pelts from 1380-1433. The invention of a sophisticated navigational device called an "abacus." (No relation to the common abacus.) (Haddingham, Evan; "Europe's Mystery People," World Monitor , p. 34, September 1992. Cr. A. Rothovius.) ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 34 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf085/sf085a02.htm
... links of Zuni to California, the social disruption at the end of the Heian period of the 12th century in Japan, the size of Japanese ships at the time of proposed migration, the cluster of significant changes in the late 13th century in Zuni, all lend further credibility to a relatively late prehistoric contact." We cannot delve into all classes of evidence adduced by Davis. Let us focus on the Zuni biological anomalies: Skeletal remains. These show a significant change in Zuni physical characteristics from 1250-1400 AD, suggesting the arrival of a new element in the Zuni population. Dentition. Three tooth features of the Zunis lie midway between those of Asians and other Native Americans; namely, shoveling, Carabelli's cusp, and 5-cusp pattern on the lower second molar. Blood-group characteristics. Blood Type B is frequent in East Asian populations but nearly absent in most Native Americans. Zuni, on the other hand, have a high incidence of Type-B blood. The "Zuni disease". The kidney disease mesangiopathic glomerulonephritis is much more common among the Zuni than other Americans, and it is also very common in the Orient. (Davis; Nancy Yaw; "The Zuni Enigma," NEARA Journal, 27:39, Summer/Fall 1993. NEARA = New England Antiquities Research Association. From Science Frontiers #87, MAY-JUN 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 34 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf087/sf087a02.htm
... parts of the body. A recently published example of this phenomenon was observed by P. Hajek et al, at the Institute of Physiology in Prague: "Eight patients with atopic eczema and six healthy subjects were given hypnotic suggestion to feel pain in the upper part of the back and in one case on the palm. An average local increase in skin temperature of 0.6 C (detected by thermovision) occurred under this condition. For some patients, cutaneous pain threshold was increased before the experiment by means of repetitive hypnotic suggestion of analgesia. These subjects reported feeling no pain subjectively, but the local change in skin temperature was equal in both cases. The results suggest a central mechanism induced by measuring changes in pain threshold in the skin, which changes are independent of local changes in blood flow." (Hajek, P., et al; "Increase in Cutaneous Temperature Induced by Hypnotic Suggestion of Pain," Perceptual and Motor Skills, 74:737, 1992.) From Science Frontiers #86, MAR-APR 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf086/sf086p15.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 82: Jul-Aug 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects For some, sex = death It has long been known that the males of some species of marsupial mice mate in their first year and then die off completely, leaving the perpetuation of their species to their male progeny. Females of these species usually survive to breed a second and even third year. The poor males, however, succumb due to "elevated levels of free corticosteroids in the blood and associated disease such as hemorrhagic ulceration of the gastric mucosa, anemia, and parasite infestation." In short, they seem programmed to die after mating, like the male octopus. And one wonders why evolution has wrought this mass die-off. In their studies of marsupial mice, C.R . Dickman and R.W . Braithwaite have extended the phenomenon to two new genera: Dasyurus and Parantechinus . They have also found that the phenomenon is a bit more complex. First, in P . apicalis, the male die-off occurs in some populations and not others. In D. hallucatus , the die-off may occur in the same population in some years and not others. Furthermore, the females of this species may on occasion all die off, too -- but after giving birth, of course. (Dickman, C.R ., and Braithwaite, R.W .; "Postmating Mortality of Males in the Dasyurid Marsupials, Dasyurus and Parantechinus ," Journal of Mammalogy , 73: ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf082/sf082b08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 88: Jul-Aug 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The star of the star-nosed mole (Left) Tenticle-like rays surrounding one nostril of the star-like mole. (Right) The number of rays around the other nostril give the density of sensory receptors. The star-nosed mole is one of North America's more bizarre mammals. Its nostrils are surrounded by mobile, Medusa-like appendages that are richly suppled with nerves and blood vessels. These tentacle-like structures form the "star," which has long been considered a tactile organ used for feeling for prey. However, behavioral experiments by E. Gould et al indicate that the star may be more than a tactile organ. It seems to sport electrical sensors that detect the minute electrical fields surrounding worms, leeches, insect larvae, and other favorite mole tidbits. This conclusion derives from experiments in which starnosed moles preferentially attacked the parts of worms that are most strongly electrical. Actually, scientists have been puzzled as to how this mole found its prey, for this mammal is semiaquatic and somehow locates its dinner in muddy water even though it has poor eyesight. Although some fish possess electrical sensors, they are uncommon in mammals. Half way around the planet, another strange creature, also classified with the mammals, frequents muddy waters looking for the same sort of prey favored by the star-nosed mole. The Australian platypus also has weak vision and employs search techniques similar to those of ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf088/sf088b07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 77: Sep-Oct 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Water's memory or benveniste strikes back J. Benveniste has broken a two-year drought in the "water-memory" or "infinite-dilution" saga. "Working with colleagues at INSERM, the French medical research council, in Paris, Benveniste has completed fresh experiments to test his assertion that solutions of antibody diluted to the point where they no longer contain any antibody molecules continue to evoke a response from whole white blood cells, as if they possess 'ghosts' of the original molecules. If proven, this would shatter the laws of chemistry and vindicate homeopaths, who say that extremely dilute drugs can have a physical effect." Benveniste's latest scientific paper was published in Comptes Rendus after being rejected by both Nature and Science. Benveniste states that he has corrected the flaws in his original research that evoked passionate responses from the scientific world. However, Benveniste's latest paper prompted one of Nature's reviewers to charge that Benveniste was "throwing out data because they don't fit the conclusion." This story is not yet finished, because Benveniste promises to reveal new research that demonstrates that a solution of histamine, from which all traces of histamine were subsequently diluted out, can still affect blood flow in the hearts of quinea pigs! Furthermore, this phenomenon can be inhibited by the application of weak magnetic fields!! (Concar, David; "Ghost Molecules' Theory Back from ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf077/sf077p17.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 65: Sep-Oct 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Samurai And The Ainu Findings by American anthropologist C. Loring Brace, University of Michigan, will surely be controversial in race conscious Japan. The eye of the predicted storm will be the Ainu, a "racially different" group of some 18,000 people now living on the northern island of Hokkaido. Pure-blooded Ainu are easy to spot: they have lighter skin, more body hair, and higher-bridged noses than most Japanese. Most Japanese tend to look down on the Ainu. Brace has studied the skeletons of about 1,100 Japanese, Ainu, and other Asian ethnic groups and has concluded that the revered samurai of Japan are actually descendants of the Ainu, not of the Yayoi from whom most modern Japanese are descended. In fact, Brace threw more fuel on the fire with: "Dr. Brace said this interpretation also explains why the facial features of the Japanese ruling class are so often unlike those of typical modern Japanese. The Ainu-related samurai achieved such power and prestige in medieval Japan that they intermarried with royality and nobility, passing on Jomon-Ainu blood in the upper classes, while other Japanese were primarily descended from the Yoyoi." The reactions of Japanese scientists have been muted so. One Japanese anthropologist did say to Brace," I hope you are wrong." The Ainu and their origin have always been rather mysterious, with some people claiming that the Ainu are ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf065/sf065a01.htm
... pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Dna On Cell Surfaces DNA attached to a cell's surface? Such a notion was shocking to scientific orthodoxy in the 1970s. At that time, observations of the phenomenon were rejected. Even worse, funding to continue the work was not forthcoming. Happily, other researchers have later stumbled onto cell-surface DNA; and this startling phenomenon has been rescued from conformity's wastebasket. Now that cell-surface DNA can be talked about, we can wonder aloud where it comes from and what its significance is. First, this out-of-place DNA -- thought to amount to about 1% of a cell's total DNA -- could come from either inside the cell itself or from blood-borne cellular debris. There is considerable argument on this point. Second, this cell-surface DNA does not appear to undergo replication nor does it perform any gentic coding function. Speculation is that it may somehow be involved in the immunological response of the body; for its position on the cell surface is ideal for such a role. Some researchers think that cell-surface DNA may aid in the drug treatment of T-cell lymphoma, a type of cancer. On the other side of the coin, it may mask those molecules on tumor cells that provoke immune responses. Such divergence of opinion indicates how much there is to learn here. (Wickelgren, Ingrid; "DNA's Extended Domain," Science News, 136:234, 1989.) Comment. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 28 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf067/sf067b09.htm
... 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 Why do flamingos stand on one leg?This profound question elicited a wide range of replies from readers of New Scientist, some of which are worth recording here. W. Smith supposed that because the flamingo has exceptionally long, thin legs that it was difficult for its heart to return blood from its feet. Therefore, by standing on one leg and occasionally switching, the flamingo prevents blood from collecting in its feet. L.J . Los replied with reference to a phenomenon of which we were unaware: "Farm animals are well known for letting sleep be linked to half of their brain at a time. In this way they can maintain a measure of alertness -- even while looking fast asleep. "Flamingos roost upon one of their legs while the other half of their body is in the sleep stage. When the other half of their brain and body earns a rest, they change legs. A leg that is in the sleep stage would not support the bird as a whole." But P. Hardy had the best answer: "Why do flamingos stand on one leg? So ducks only bump into them half the time." (Various authors; "Flamingo File," New Scientist, p. 52, August 17, 1991.) From Science Frontiers #78, NOV-DEC 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf078/sf078b09.htm
... Duesberg is a molecular biologist at the University of California, Berkeley. He contends that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is not the cause of AIDS and is, instead, a harmless "passenger" in the bodies of AIDS victims. Naturally, this stance is controversial, and just as naturally we have had cause to mention Duesberg before. Duesberg is back in the news again because his iconoclastic views were prominently featured in a TV documen tary entitled "The AIDS Catch" seen in Britain in June. The scientific community was furious, claiming that the documentary was one-sided and selective. Further, it was maintained that Duesberg's arguments have been completely refuted. Briefly, Duesberg believes that AIDS is not an infectious disease because: Too few T-lymphocytes in the peripheral blood are infected to cause the disease; HIV carriers without symptoms exist; and HIV in pure form doesn't seem to induce Aids in humans or animals. Rather, says Duesberg, AIDS is a collection of symptoms arising from such factors as the repeated use of intravenous drugs and malnutrition. Mainstream researchers think that Duesberg is wrong on (1 ); that (2 ) is irrevelant, since asymptomatic carriers of typhoid and cholera exist; and that (3 ) may be incorrect, since SIV (Simian Immunodeficiency Virus) does induce simian AIDS in monkeys. (Weiss, Robin A., and Jaffe, Harold W.; "Duesberg, HIV and AIDS," Nature, 345:659, 1990.) Also: Brown, Phyllida; "' Selective' TV Documentary ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf071/sf071b10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 76: Jul-Aug 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Eight Leatherback Mysteries Our subject here is the leatherback turtle. Weighing up to 1600 pounds, it is the largest of the sea turtles. It is also the fastest turtle, hitting 9 miles per hour at times. But weight and speed are not necessarily mysterious; here are some 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 all 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 ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf076/sf076b07.htm
... who are remarkably different? They can, for instance, differ appreciably in size, intellect, and behavior. In such cases, does nurture dominate nature? No! Identical twins may diverge even in the womb, where one may receive more oxygen and nutrients than the other. One also may be assailed in by viruses, bacteria, or drugs, while the other escapes. Even more drastic is the possi bility that one twin may pick up an extra chromosome soon after the original egg has split. Also, mutations may doom one twin to Down's syndrome or some other genetic affliction, while the other is unscathed. Identical twins may even be of different sex! Of course, such twins are genetically different, but they are still monozygotic (from the same egg). Blood tests will show them to be identical. It used to be thought that the small differences that did exist between identical twins separated at birth were surely due to nurture, not nature. But, considering all the differences that can accrue in, it seems that the role of nurture in shaping individuals is much smaller than thought, possibly negligible. (Horgan, John; "Double Trouble," Scientific American, 263:25, December 1990.) Comment. Such conclusions have profound philosophical and political implications that are beyond the pale of the Sourcebook Project. Reference. Discordances between socalled "identical" twins are cataloged in BHA8 and BHB1 in Biological Anomalies: Humans I. To order, see: here . From Science Frontiers #74, MAR-APR 1991 . 1991-2000 ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf074/sf074b09.htm
... etc. Or the phenomenon may be more complex, with Mozart being green; Wagner, red, etc. Most "synesthetites" seem to experience colors, but geometrical figures sometimes appear in response to particular stimuli. As for the stimuli that call forth these exotic sensations; they are usually music or numbers. To some synesthetites, the cardinal numbers are associated with specific colors. The books's author is R.E . Cytowic, and he has provided some very interesting observations about synesthetites: There is much consistency among them; that is, if the number 5 evokes a red sensation with one, it does with most others, too. Also, synesthetites seem to run in families. Perhaps most significant is the observation that synesthetic experiences seem to be correlated with changes in cortical blood flow! (Humphreys, Glyn; "Higher Sight," Nature, 343:30, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #68, MAR-APR 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf068/sf068p16.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 Geomagnetic Activity Related To Mental Activity "Several recent reports have indicated significant relations between extrasensory perception (ESP) experiences and performances and the Earth's geomagnetic field (GMF) activity. ESP experiences are reported more frequently, and accuracy of laboratory ESP is more accurate, on days of relatively quiet GMF activity. On the other hand, there are indications that a complementary paranormal process, psychokinesis, may be enhanced by high GMF activity. We conducted retrospective analyses of possible relations between GMF activity and (a ) electrodermal activity (as an index of sympathetic autonomic activity), (b ) rate of hemolysis of human red blood cells in, (c ) attempted distant mental (i .e ., psychokinetic) influence of electrodermal activity, and (d ) attempted distant mental (psychokinetic) influence of rate of hemolysis. For each of these four measures, high activity was associated with high GMF values, while low activity was associated with low GMF values. The relations were statistically significant for three of the four analyses and showed a consistent trend in the fourth." (Braud, William G., and Dennis, Stephen P.; "Geophysical Variables and Behavior; LVIII. Autonomic Activity, Hemolysis, and Biological Psychokinesis: Possible Relationships with Geomagnetic Field Activity," Perceptual and Motor Skill , 68:1243, 1989.) From Science Frontiers #67, JAN-FEB 1990 . 1990-2000 William R ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf067/sf067p18.htm
... and subsequently evolved into Homo sapiens had, according to Falk, a better brain-cooling system. The evolutionary development that probably led to this advantage was a more extensive network of emissary veins, which permitted better dissipation of heat. This, in turn, allowed the evolution of larger brains and dominance by Homo sapiens. Other anthropologists, how ever doubt that such a minor change in the circulatory system could account for the emergence of modern man. (Shipman, Pat; "Hotheads," Discover, 12:18, April 1991.) Comment. What an intriguing concept! Perhaps human male baldness also confers more cooling efficiency and is setting the stage for a new expansion of the human brain -- at least the male brain, sorry girls! More seriously, did the better blood cooling system develop in response to an enlarging brain, or vice versa? Even more seriously, it is simplistic to say that an organism just went ahead and evolved this way or that way. A bigger brain requires not only more cooling but a bigger skull, more neurons, more connections between them, and additional infrastructure. Saying simply that "a larger brain evolved" obscures the fact that many different, inheritable changes had to take place in synchronism. From Science Frontiers #77, SEP-OCT 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf077/sf077b08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 55: Jan-Feb 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Do we really understand the dinosaurs?Until very recently, the standard dinosaur scene in the books and magazines showed huge, ungainly beasts shuffling around in lush swamps. Things are changing. Dinosaurs are now becoming more lively and talented; they may even have been warm-blooded! A recent paleontological expedition to the Gobi Desert by some Canadians will change the dinosaur stereotype even more. The Gobi dinosaur-bone sites are incredibly rich -- comparable with those in Alberta. What is most impressive, however, is the environment the Gobi dinosaurs lived in. "The dinosaurs of China and Mongolia did not live in the same type of lush, well-watered environment that existed in North America during the Mesozoic era, when dinosaurs dominated the globe. The dinosaurs of Alberta flourished on a great swampy coastal plain on the edge of a vast inland sea. In ancient China, conditions were much harsher. A modern-day equivalent would be the Great Salt Lake Basin of Utah. Water did exist in vast shallow lakes, but it was often alkaline and high in soda. The vegetation was scrubland with coniferous forests on the higher ground." (Anderson, Ian; "Chinese Unearth a Dinosaurs' Graveyard," New Scientist, p. 26, November 12, 1987.) Comment. To these Gobi observations should be added those above from northern Alaska, all of 70 north latitude, which suggest that dinosaurs also survived ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf055/sf055p12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 52: Jul-Aug 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects New Vertebrate Depth Record S. Eckert, of the University of Georgia, has reported that a leatherback turtle fitted with a recording device dove to 1200 meters. This exceeds the previous record for air-breathing vertebrates (sperm whales). Leatherbacks also hold other records, being the largest of living turtles (over 600 kilograms) and the most widely distributed reptile in the world. They are also capable of maintaining their body temperatures sub stantially above the ambient water temperature, although no one has as yet claimed that they are warm-blooded. (Mrosovsky, N.; "Leatherback Turtle Off Scale," Nature, 327:286, 1987.) From Science Frontiers #52, JUL-AUG 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf052/sf052b09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 51: May-Jun 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Mite Pockets Of Lizards "Many lizards are infested by chig gers, the larvae of trombiculid mites, which feed on tissue fluid and cell debris. Surprisingly, lizards seem to go out of their way to attract the chiggers -- they have special mite pockets that provide a protected, warm and humid site. In many cases, the skin of the lizard also has smaller scales than normal and a good blood supply in the pocket, which enables the parasites to feed more readily." There does not seem to be any advantage to the lizards providing plush accommodations for the chiggers. The chiggers can wreak havoc on their hosts in the form of skin lesions, allergic reactions, secondary infections, and the transmission of diseases. Nevertheless, some 150 species in 5 distinct lizard families possess mite pockets, which are often located in different places in different lizard species. Apparently, the mite pockets evolved separately several times. But why? (Benton, Michael J.; "The Mite Pockets of Lizards," Nature, 325:391, 1987.) Comment. Why haven't the lizards evolved thicker skin or some sort of chemical defense instead of reducing their fitness with mite pockets? Or, are other factors operating? From Science Frontiers #51, MAY-JUN 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf051/sf051b08.htm
... leads to more illness, one can see the pendulum start to swing away from the timehonored belief that mind and body are entirely separate entities. The foregoing studies and others like them are discussed in a recent survey of psychoimmunology by B. Dixon. Toward the close of the article, Dixon asks why humans (and other animals, too) have evolved an immunological system sensitive to stress. Evolutionists can always find some sort of justification in Darwinian terms, and Dixon's is rather ingenious. Suppose a primitive human was attacked by a saber-toothed tiger (what else?). If the human survived, his immunological system would immediately go into high gear to clean up the wounds and repel invading germs. The trouble is that a revved-up immunological system (especially the white blood cells) can go too far and chomp up healthy tissue, too. However, evolution has constructed animals such that stress (saber-toothed tigers are stressful!) suppresses the immunological system to restrict the consumption of healthy tissues. While this short-term damper on immunological activity may have been useful to primitive humans, the stresses on modern man are less intense and long-term. We are sick a lot, particularly with cancer, because evolution has not yet adjusted or finetuned us to the new environment. (Dixon, Bernard; "Dangerous Thoughts," Science 86, 7:63, April 1986.) From Science Frontiers #45, MAY-JUN 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf045/sf045p21.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 45: May-Jun 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Exploding Lake August 15, 1984. The village of Njindom, Cameroon. About 11:30 PM, the villagers heard a loud explosion coming from Lake Monoun. Early the next morning, people in a van driving past the lake discovered the body of a motorcyclist. The air smelled like battery fluid. One of the van's occupants collapsed. The others ran for their lives toward Njindom. By 10:30 AM authorities had found 37 bodies along a 200meter stretch of road by the lake. Blood was oozing from the noses and mouths; the bodies were rigid; first-degree chemical burns were present. Also, animals and plants along the shore had been killed. On August 17, the lake turned reddish brown, indicating that it had been stirred up somehow. Although Lake Monoun is in a volcanic crater, chemical analysis of the water found little of the sulphur and halogens normally associated with volcanic action. However, the analysis did find a tremendously high level of bicarbonate ions, which form from the dissociation of carbon dioxide. One theory is that an earthquake disturbed the carbonate-rich deep water of the lake, which as it rose to the surface and lower pressures, released huge volumes of carbon dioxide -- something like opening a soda bottle. The resulting wave of water and cloud of gas caused the deaths and devastation. If there had been some nitric acid in the cloud, the burns ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf045/sf045p16.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 49: Jan-Feb 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Grounded Bats Nicheless New Zealand boasts two bat species (Mystacina) which can fly but really prefer to clamber around on the ground hunting for insects, pollen, and fruit. So far, these bats have defied classification. They are distinctly different from their flying cousins in the area. Blood protein analysis links them to tropical bats in South America. No oth-er bats from New Zealand and Australia show such a relationship. Although these two oddball species may have flown in from South America some 80 million years ago, when the land masses were thought to be much closer, one then has to explain how these tropical bats survived the Ice Ages that afflicted New Zealand. (Anonymous; "Grounded Bats," New Scientist, p. 25, October 2, 1986.) From Science Frontiers #49, JAN-FEB 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf049/sf049p11.htm
... . 34: Jul-Aug 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Sunspots And Disease Six of the major influenza epidemics, at least as far back as 1917, were synchronized with the sunspot cycle. Fur-thermore, all but one of these epidemics involved an antigenic shift, wherein the flu virus developed a new coat of protein, which made it resistant to the immunities the population had built up over the years. There is no known mechanism by which solar activity can abet virus evolution, except penetrating radiation, which is inherently destructive. Lowered human immunity may also be a consequence of solar activity, according to Solco W. Tromp, director of the Biometeorological Research Center in the Netherlands. Over 30 years of research, using blood data from 730,000 male donors, led Tromp to the conclusion that the blood sedimentation rate varies with the sunspot cycle. Since this rate parallels the amount of albumin and gamma globulin, resistance to infection may also follow the lead of the sun. (Freitas, Robert A., Jr.; "Sunspots and Disease," Omni, 6:40, May 1984.) From Science Frontiers #34, JUL-AUG 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf034/sf034p12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 24: Nov-Dec 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Cinema Of The Mind Many curious mental states occur during sleep, most of which we cannot begin to explain. Horne homes in on REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movements sleep), during which: (1 ) Both heart and respiration rates become irregular; (2 ) The flow of blood to the brain increases 50% over relaxed waking levels; (3 ) Body temperature regulation becomes impaired; and (4 ) Blood flow to the kidneys and urine production drop markedly. REM sleep is thought to be "primitive" from an evolutionary standpoint because body temperature control is "reptilian." Horne also discusses REM and normal sleep in the context of nightmares, sleeptalking, sleepwalking, night terrors, narcolepsy, and sleep paralysis. (Horne, Jim; "The Cinema of the Mind," New Scientist, 95:627, 1982.) Comment. All in all, sleep is a complex phenomenon. We know we need it, but why? A really efficient organism would run 24 hours a day -- like a computer. From Science Frontiers #24, NOV-DEC 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf024/sf024p16.htm
... Stony Brook. Left-handers, the study demonstrated, are much more sensitive to drugs that act upon the central nervous system. Irwin believes that this finding is consistent with the known association of left-handedness with epilepsy and learning disorders. "But perhaps the most exciting aspect of Irwin's hypothesis is that it makes evolutionary sense. 'A greater resistance of right-handers to centrally active substances, when Man was a forager and before he learned to identify non-toxic edibles, would have favoured righthanded survival. This might account for the skew in the present handedness distribution that is unique to humans.'" And why should left-handers be more sensitive to psychoactive substances? Irwin thinks they must absorb or metabolize them differently, or perhaps there is a difference in the blood-brain barrier that affects the transport of substances into the brain. (Grist, Liz; "Why Most People Are Right-Handed," New Scientist, 22, August 16, 1984.) From Science Frontiers #36, NOV-DEC 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf036/sf036p18.htm
... water marine invertebrates, some with dimensions as large as 1 meter. This whole group of animals did not survive into Cambrian times, thus ending what has been termed The Ediacaran Experiment. Some paleontologists have tried to find similarities between the Ediacaran and Cambrian life forms to preserve the continuity of life. This has proved difficult, and some scientists now feel that The Edicaran approach to "largeness" was to increase surface area externally. The Ediacarans were therefore shaped like pancakes, tapes, fans, etc. This enabled them to present large areas to the environment for respiration, feeding, and other biological functions. In contrast, many present life forms achieve "largeness" by increasing internal areas, as in the lungs, folded intestines, etc., along with the forced circulation of air, blood, and other sub stances. This latter approach survived, while the two-dimensional Ediacaran Experiment did not. The demise or extintcion of the Ediacarans led Gould, the author of this far-ranging article, to the influence of extinctions on life in general -- a hot topic these days. Gould stated that with natural selection operating, one would expect continual "improvement" in life forms, but that this had not happened. "I regard the failure to find a clear 'vector of progress' in life's history as the most puzzling fact of the fossil record. But I also believe that we are now on the verge of a solution, thanks to a better understanding of evolution in both normal and catastrophic times. We need a twotiered explanation for patterns ( ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf033/sf033p08.htm
... .. "Believed-in suggestions can affect specific parts of the body in very specific ways. Suggestions of being burned can give rise to a very specific irregular pattern of inflammation on the hand that closely follows the pattern of a previously experienced actual burn in the same place. Suggestions that a congenital skin disorder will ameliorate step by step first in one area of the body, then in another, can be actualized exactly as suggested. At least one set of investigators found that suggestions that specific warts will regress can be effective in removing just those warts and not others." In addition to the subjects mentioned in the quotations, the following topics are explored: congenital skin diseases, blisters produced by suggestion, stigmata, mental inhibition of bleeding, fire-walking in safety, control of blood flow and skin temperature, and so on. (Barber, Theodore X.; "Changing 'Unchangeable' Bodily Processes by (Hypnotic) Suggestions: A New Look at Hypnosis, Cognitions, Imagining, and the Mind-Body Problem," in A.A . Sheikh (ed.) Imagination and Healing, Baywood Publishing Co., Farmingdale, NY, 1984, pp. 69.) From Science Frontiers #34, JUL-AUG 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf034/sf034p19.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Imaging Cancer Away "Anna had been given three months to live. The malignant tumor, growing rapidly at the back of her neck, had virtually crippled her. Her upper body was hunched over, her head was forced painfully to one side, and her right arm was contracted and paralyzed. The best thing she could do, said her doctor, was to go home and make arrangements for the future of her young son and daughter." Instead Anna learned how to "image." She conceived the tumor to be a dragon on her back and her white blood cells as knights attacking the dragon with swords. A year later, the tumor had shrunk. Later, it disappeared complete-ly. Can "imaging" work? Obviously, this is a very controversial question. Admittedly, little real scientific research has been done on imaging per se -- it is a bit too radical a concept. But a few scientists are beginning to chart the chemistry and information flow in the mind-body relationship. For example, the death of a spouse has long been associated with the increased mortality of the surviving spouse. Clinical studies of bereaved spouses reveal fewer circulating lymphocytes, which help the body fight disease, and significantly higher levels of cortisol, a substance that suppresses the immune system's response to disease. Although it is very early in the game, there are verifiable correlations between state-of-mind ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf033/sf033p22.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 19: Jan-Feb 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mind Marshals White Blood Cells If a hypnotist suggests to a receptive subject that his white blood cells are attacking cancer cells in his body, the population of white blood cells ranging through the subject's body will increase. Such "visualization" research is being conducted by Howard R. Hall at Penn State. The results seem to demonstrate the direct influence of hypnotic suggestion on the body's immune system. (Anonymous; "Hypnotism May Help Antibody Production," Baltimore Sun, October 19, 1981.) Comment. Since hypnotic suggestion is known to affect warts, body temperature, etc., its enhancement of the white blood cell population is merely one more example of the power of the mind over the body. The real mystery is just how the brain's electrical signals are converted into specific biological activity. From Science Frontiers #19, JAN-FEB 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 106 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf019/sf019p11.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 How Do Cancers Attract A Supporting Cast The ability of a cancer cell to grow depends upon getting a good supply of blood from its host's capillary system. Cancer cells, always insidious, seem to be able to con its host's body into constructing a special system of capillaries just to support tumor growth. First, the cancer sends out a chemical signal that attracts the host's mast cells. As the mast cells work their ways to the cancer, they apparently leave a heparinlined tunnel for the capillary cells to follow. Before long, the body has provided the blood supply the cancer needs to grow and possibly, eventually kill the host. (Gunby, Phil; "How Do Cancers Attract a Supporting Cast?" American Medical Association, Journal, 245:1994, 1981.) Comment. In view of all of Nature's marvelous adaptations, why hasn't the body evolved a counter strategy to foil cancer sabotage? Reference. Many more anomalous features of cancer can be found at BHH23-35 in our Catalog: Biological Anomalies: Humans II. Details on this book here . From Science Frontiers #16, Summer 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf016/sf016p08.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 Why conserve junk?A. Jeffries, working at Leicester University with globin genes from man and related primates, has been studying how these genes direct the blood cells to make the alpha and beta chains of hemoglobin. Jeffries' analyses seem to indicate that the genes now coding for these hemoglobin chains are almost identical to those existing in human ancestors some 500 million years ago. Two curious facts have cropped up, however. First, about 200 million years ago, these genes were modified very slightly and relocated to entirely different chromosomes. Second, 95% of the DNA associated with these genes is "junk" -- with no known use. Why did nature conserve junk for 500 million years? Are vital genes in the habit of jumping from one chromosome to another? (Yanchinski, Stephanie; "DNA: Ignorant, Selfish and Junk," New Scientist, 91:154, 1981.) From Science Frontiers #17, Fall 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf017/sf017p06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 14: Winter 1981 Supplement Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Worms with inside-out stomachs The recently discovered tube worms, living near the hot water vents on the ocean bottom off the Galapagos, have no mouths or guts. Their bodies are covered with thousands of feathery tentacles, each packed with blood vessels. Apparently, the tube worms extract nutrients directly from the sea water and expel wastes the same way -- having in effect external stomachs. These worms, which may be many feet long, contain enzymes that permit them to extract carbon dioxide from the seawater and fix it much like plants do during photosynthesis. George Somero, at Scripps, estimates that the enzyme levels in the worms are similar to those in a spinach leaf. (Anonymous; "15-Foot Sea Worm Has Plant Qualities," San Diego Evening Tribune, May 22, 1980. UPI dispatch) Comment. This curious biological anomaly developed in an ecological niche where the primary energy source for sustaining life is geothermal rather than solar. How did this remarkable situation arise? Do the tube worms have relatives in the fossil record showing a step-by-step development of inside-out stomachs? From Science Frontiers #14, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf014/sf014p08.htm
... By An Invisible Cord The largest study of separately raised identical twins has discovered incredible similarities among twins who never set eyes on each other before. There are difference, too, but not as many as expected by psychologists who hold that we are shaped primarily by our environments. Only a few of the astounding (and strange) similarities can be recounted here. Two 39-year-old twins, meeting for the first time, were both wearing seven rings each, two bracelets on one wrist, a watch and one bracelet on the other wrist. Two men both had dogs named Toy, had married and divorced women named Linda, remarried women named Betty, and named their sons James Allan and James Alan. Two other males had similar medical histories: hemorrhoids, same pulse rates and blood pressures, same sleep patterns. Both had put on 10 pounds at the same times in their lives. (Holden, Constance; "Identical Twins Reared Apart," Science, 207:323, 1980.) From Science Frontiers #11, Summer 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf011/sf011p11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 3: April 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Extraterrestrial Influences On Chemical And Biological Systems Conventional science shows little interest in the subject indicated by the title, except for some work that is done on circadian rhythms. However, readers of the journals Cycles and the Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research are treated regularly to a wide variety of purported correlations of biological systems with solar and other extraterres-trial influences. The present paper suggests that extraterrestrial forces influence the earth's weather which, in turn controls physiological processes. The physiological processes studied include blood precipitation rate and blood hemoglobin values. Also mentioned are Piccardi's precipitation-rate experiments that seem to show a highly variable behavior of simple chemical systems that bear no obvious relationship to weather conditions. Tromp concludes from these data that unknown forces, probably extraterrestrial in nature, act upon the earth and its inhabitants. (Tromp, Solco W.; "Study of Possibly Extraterrestrial Influences on Colloidal Systems and Living Processes on Earth," Cycles, 28:34, 1977.) From Science Frontiers #3 , April 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf003/sf003p11.htm
... Cattle Mutilations Called Episode Of Collective Delusion During the past several years, farmers in the western states have been reporting dead cattle that seemed strangely mutilated. Soft, exposed parts, such as the ears and genitals, were apparently removed with surgical precision. Some corpses seemed bloodless. Local papers blamed satan worshippers and UFO occupants. This paper analyzes the 1974 mutilation "flaps" in South Dakota and Nebraska, with special attention to the rapid rise and equally rapid decline of public interest as measured by newspaper coverage. In the opinion of the author, these two episodes are classic cases of mild mass hysteria, similar to the occasional crazes of automobile window-pitting. In all cases where university veterinarians examined the corpses, the mutilations were ascribed to small predatory animals. The veterinarians also pointed out that blood coagulates in a couple days after death, accounting for the frequent "bloodless" condition. With such expert reassurances, the "mass delusions" subsided quickly. Cattle mutilation flaps are thus seen by the author as episodes when people interpret the mundane in bizarre new ways, due perhaps to cultural tensions. It is noted, however, that expert veterinarians examined only a few of the dozens of mutilations, and that some people rejected the above commonplace explanations. (Stewart, James H.; "Cattle Mutilations: An Episode of Collective Delusion," The Zetetic, 1:55, Spring/Summer 1977.) From Science Frontiers #1 , September 1977 . 1977-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf001/sf001p08.htm
... site, M.F . Doran and B.H . Kunnecke review the various types of anomalous stone structures found in northeastern North America. Three major classes are recognized: Covered passageways up to 25 feet in length and analogous to Cornish fogous. Beehive chambers, such as the 10-foot-high chamber at Upton, Massachusetts. Dolmen-like constructions, as exemplified by the 60-ton "balancing boulder at North Salem, New York. Termed a "glacial erratic" by most, the North Salem stone seems distinctly unlike most erratics and more like some European dolmens. Noting that radiocarbon dates from Mystery Hill go back to more than 1,000 B.C ., Doran and Kunnecke feels that these stone enigmas should receive professional attention in the context of world distributions of blood groups and other evidence of early, frequent transoceanic contacts. (Doran, Michael F., and Kunnecke, Bernd H.; "The Stone Enigmas of New England," Anthropological Journal of Canada, 15:17, No. 2: January 1978 Reference. Many more "stone engimas" are detailed in Ancient Man. This Handbook is described here . From Science Frontiers #2 , January 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf002/sf002p01.htm
... summer, the New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA) organized a meeting of off-mainstream archeologists at Brown University. As readers of Science Frontiers have long been aware, the New World was not new to many ancient voyagers. A review of the Conference in the New York Times gave wide exposure to some of these controverted pre-Columbian contacts: 5000-year-old pottery found in coastal Peru bears an uncanny resemblance to pottery made in Japan during the same period. How could the Japanese have reached Peru circa 3000 BC? Easy! Storms could have blown fishermen into the trans-Pacific current. (See "Current Treads" item under GEOPHYSICS.) The Zuni Indians of New Mexico may have been influenced by Japanese voyagers in the Thirteenth Century, as suggested by their distinctive blood chemistry, language, and culture. 700-year-old temple art from India reveals detailed depictions of ears of corn, which was supposedly unknown outside the Americas until after Columbus. Jewish refugees from the Roman Empire may have somehow reached eastern Tennessee, if the famous Bat Creek Stone really bears an ancient Hebrew inscription. The grave in which the stone was found has been carbon-dated between 32 and 769 AD. (Wilford, John Noble; "Case for Other Pre-Columbian Voyagers," New York Times , July 7, 1992.) From Science Frontiers #84, NOV-DEC 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf084/sf084a01.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 59: Sep-Oct 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects NOTHING REACTS WITH SOMETHING? An absolutely delightful event occurred at the end of June, 1988. The authoritative journal Nature published an article that says, in essence, that a solution of antibodies diluted by a factor of 10120 can still trigger a strong biological response from basophils (a kind of white blood cell). Now, 10120 is such an incredibly large number that it is extremely unlikely that even one antibody molecule could be present in the diluted activating solution. Nevertheless 40-60% of the basophil cells reacted. So unbelievable are the reported experimental results that the editors of Nature felt compelled to add an "Editorial Reservation" stating that, "There is no physical basis for such an activity." This is all great stuff. The original French work was duplicated by six other laboratories in France, Italy, Israel, and Canada. What makes it even more fun is the homeopathy connection. Homeopathic medicine is based on the theory that substances causing the symptoms of a disease in a healthy person can cure a sick person displaying these symptoms, providing the dose administered is vanishingly small. Science strongly and passionately debunks homeopathic medicine. The Editor of Nature thinks that there must be a systematic error somewhere. Other scientists suggest that, perhaps, somehow, the antibodies left an "imprint" on the diluting water molecules. So far, we have not read that Sheldrake's "morphic resonance" theory has been invoked ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf059/sf059p07.htm
... Frontiers ONLINE No. 59: Sep-Oct 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects AIDS: ANOTHER GREAT DECEIVER In most diseases, we can count on the presence of antibodies as proof positive of infection. Thus, the usual test for AIDS registers the presence of antibodies and not the virus itself. But, researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, in Baltimore, have discovered four AIDS victims in a group of 1000, who seem to have lost their AIDS antibodies but not the AIDS virus itself. Curiously, two of the four later lost the AIDS virus, too. It is possible that the AIDS virus is not really "lost" but merely hiding out somewhere, perhaps in the brain where tests of circulating blood cannot detect it. (Anonymous; "Antibodies Can Disappear from Infected People," New Scientist, p. 4l, June 9, 1988.) Comment. Another possibility, of course, is that of a spontaneous cure. Whatever the answer, AIDS is a tricky disease. Reference . The AIDS debate is covered in considerable detail in BHH14-BHH22 in our catalog: Biological Anomalies: Humans II. Details here . From Science Frontiers #59, SEP-OCT 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf059/sf059p09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 35: Sep-Oct 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects ARE BLUEBLOODS MORE OFTEN TYPE A? In the 1983 issue of Nature (303:522), J.A . Beardmore and F. Karimi-Booshehri reported that, based on a study of a specific British population, A-blood groups are significantly more common among the higher socio-economic groups. As one might predict whenever someone asserts that human success is genetically determined, an avalanche of mail descended on the Nature office. Two other studies that did not show the blueblood effect were offered, although somewhat different populations were involved. Many letters tried to find an explanation for this anomaly in the constitution of the sample. By the time one got to the response by the authors, the whole issue was clouded. (Mascle-Taylor, C.G . N., et al; "Blood Group and Socio-Economic Class," Nature, 309:395, 1984.) From Science Frontiers #35, SEP-OCT 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf035/sf035p12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 145: Jan-Feb 2003 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Viking-introduced biological diversity in North America Who first mapped the West Coast of South America Astronomy Venus: telescopic shape-shifter Do some comets just go "poof" Cosmological voyeurism Biology Eyes: Adaptable, multimasked, and untasked Sperm transporters Knee light not effective? Geology Tunguska Confusion Mining for cosmic coal Geophysics Giant Australian marine incursions Amomalous Geysers Psychology Mind over blood Physics Element 0 ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf145/index.htm
... Edinburgh, doctors have been examining a "boy" with an ovary and a fallopian tube instead of a left testicle. Part of "his" body's cells are male (one X and one Y chromosome), part female (two X chromosomes). This hermaphrodite-like condition apparently developed because "he" was conceived via in vitro (IVF) fertilization. Probably both a male embryo and a female embryo were transferred to "his" mother's uterus, where they fused and formed a single fetus. (Anonymous; "Two into One," New Scientist, p. 21, January 24, 1998. Cited source: The New England Journal of Medicine, 338:166, 1997.) Comments. We have already cataloged two similar conditions: Human blood-chimeras, where one person has two types of blood due to the absorption of one fetus by its twin, each having different blood types. (BHC15 in Biological Anomalies: Humans II) Birds that are female on one side and male on the other (bilateral gynandromorphism). (BBA1 in our forthcoming Biological Anomalies: Birds) From Science Frontiers #116, MAR-APR 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 37 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf116/sf116p08.htm
... Physicists use the word "entropy" to describe the well-observed tendency of the universe to run down; that is, become more disorderly. In some situations, though, the increase in disorder (entropy) in one part of the universe can create order elsewhere. For example, if you add tiny plastic spheres of two sizes to salty water, you will not get a uniform mixture. Instead the larger spheres will pack together into tightly ordered crystaline shapes (representing more order) while the smaller spheres become more disordered. It is like watching cream unstir itself from coffee. It smacks of magic, but it is all within the laws of thermodynamics. This strange "force" exerted by entropy may explain some puzzling biological phenomena, such as the expulsion of nuclei from mammalian red blood cells before they enter the bloodstream as sacks of hemoglobin. The idea being that the increasing entropy of the proliferating hemoglobin molecules (analogous to the smaller spheres) is maximized when the nuclei (large spheres) are squeezed out of the cells altogether. (Kestenbaum, David; "Gentle Force of Entropy Bridges Disciplines," Science, 279:1849, 1998.) Comments. The red-blood-cell example presented in the article is on shaky ground, because while mammalian red blood cells do lack nuclei those of birds and reptiles retain theirs. (See BMC6 in Mammals II .) In the above context, the origin of life (more order) anywhere in the universe can be thought to be due to the "gentle force" of entropy; that is, the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 37 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf117/sf117p14.htm
... beetle Melanophila acuminata seeks out forests that have just been ravaged by fires so that it can lay its eggs in the nutritious, freshly burnt wood. These insects are capable of detecting fires up to 32 kilometers (20 miles) distant. They do not see the fire with their eyes but instead detect the thermal (infrared) radiation with a special organ on their chests. (Schmitz, Helmut, et al; "Infrared Detection in a Beetle," Nature, 386:773, 1997.) Knees "see". Well, sort of, and then only the backs of the knees. Human circadian clocks can be shifted by shining visible light on the skin on the backs of the knees. It is theorized that the light penetrates the skin and causes chemical changes in the blood, implying that human blood contains "chronobiological photoreceptors." (Oren, Dan A., and Terman, Michael; "Tweaking the Human Circadian Clock with Light," Science, 279:333, 1998. Also: Campbell, Scott S., and Murphy, Patricia J.; "Extraocular Circadian Phototransduction in Humans," Science, 279:396, 1998.) Comment. We can see how the tomatoes and beetles might find exotic photoreceptors useful, but what environmental pressures would favor the evolution of photoreceptors in the human blood? Our circadian clock can be reset by light through the eyes or light shining on the backs of knees. From Science Frontiers #116, MAR-APR 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 34 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf116/sf116p07.htm
