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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 79: Jan-Feb 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Louse Line We all learned about the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer in high school, but the voyagers of old also recognized a "louse line." "They wrote about arriving at a longitudinal point in the tropics -- the so-called 'louse line' -- where fleas and lice abandoned even healthy humans. Although a specific line is a myth, cultural entomologist Charles Hogue of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles believes part of the story. 'Voyagers in the tropics often experience a rise in body temperature of as much as 4 degrees F.' That's enough, he says, to kill some species of fleas. Also, the traumatic experience of being caught in a trap causes the body temperature of animals to rise. Thus, trappers often witness fleas jumping off a trapped animal by the dozens. (Johnson, Donna; "How to Tell Time by a Cat's Eye," National wildlife , 29:12, October/November 1991.) From Science Frontiers #79, JAN-FEB 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 355, 1986.) Comment. Curiously enough, the same issue of Science News carries an advertisement for the book The Fabric of Mind, in which R. Bergland: ". .. offers the revolutionary theory, already stirring controversy among fellow researchers, that the brain is actually a gland and depends on changes of hormones and molecules for its function....While he does not deny that electrical impulses occur in the brain, they are only superficial signals, he says, and not as important in conveying messages to the brain and within it, as hormones are." Comment. Obviously, no consensus yet exists as to brain-functioning and memory. Reference. More on the possible biological basis of memory may be found in BHO23 in our catalog: Biological Anomalies: Humans II. To order, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #49, JAN-FEB 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 121: Jan-Feb 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Imprison Willy!Killer whales get good press and complimentary movies, too. They are usually portrayed as gentle, intelligent, human-friendly marine mammals that dine only on fish. Lately, though, we have been reading that Alaskan killer whales have been snacking on those cute little sea otters. Much more devastating to the killerwhale image is an article in Natural History describing the vicious attack of a pack of killer whales on a pod of much larger sperm whales 70 miles off the California coast. To ward off the attack, nine sperm whales had formed a rosette, heads together, with their powerful tails splayed outwards towards the enemy. The killer whales circled the sperm whales ominously. Every so often, one would dash in and tear off a huge chunk of blubber. Eventually, all nine sperm whales floated dead or dying in an ocean of blood. The "gentle-giant" portrait of the killer whale is tarnished further in the Antarctic where they habitually dine on the lips and tongues of minke whales, then leave them to die. (Pitman, Robert L., and Chivers, Susan J.; "Terror in Black and White," Natural History, 107:26, December 1998/January 1999.) Comment. How will the media spin-doctor stories like these? Killer whales didn't get their name because they ate fish alone. From Science Frontiers #121, JAN-FEB ...
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... strain within the area. According to the hypothesis of tectonic strain, anomalous luminous phenomena are generated by brief, local changes in strain that precede earthquakes within the region. Psychological factors determine more elaborate details of the experiences because there are both direct stimulations of the observer's brain as well as indirect contributions from reinforcement history." The authors of the study at hand, J.S . Derr and M.A . Persinger, are well known for their theory associating anomalous, terrain-related, luminous phenomena with tectonic strains. In the Zeitoun case, they have discovered that a year before the phenomena commenced there was an unprecedented increase (by a factor of ten) in seismic activity some 400 kilometers to the southeast. Also, there was a moderate (0 .56) correlation between the luminous phenomena and increases in seismicity during the same or preceeding months. Derr and Persinger claim these observations support their hypothesis. (Derr, John S., and Persinger, Michael A.; "Geophysical Variables and Behavior: LIV. Zeitoun (Egypt) Apparitions of the Virgin Mary as Tectonic StrainInduced Luminosities," Perceptual and Motor Skills , 68:123, 1989.) Comment. It does seem, however, that seismic activity 400 kilometers away would have little effect at Zeitoun. How is luminosity produced from an earthquake that far away? From Science Frontiers #64, JUL-AUG 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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 ...
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... Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Fused Ancient Garbage Dumps When a geologist discovers naturally formed glasses, he can explain them in several ways. When an archeologist finds the contents of ancient garbage dumps (" middens") fused into a glassy slag. he has to ponder a bit longer. First, a bit of background. Natural glasses can be created in several ways. Impact-heating by meteorites or asteroids probably fused the famous slabs of Libyan Desert Glass and also the Darwin glass found in Australia. More curious are the peculiar glassy clinkers of fused wood ash found in hollow snags in trees after intense forest fires. This is called "combustion metamorphism." Combustion metamorphism is also common where undergound coal seams have caught fire and burn for decades. Humans get into the act, too. The ancient Scots piled up trees around their rock forts and fused the stones together with fire. (Why they bothered is unknown.) However, a different sort of natural glass has been found in east-central Botswana. There, archeologists have found 5-inch-thick layers of glassy slag interleaved with ashy soil in ancient middens (garbage dumps). These middens are not associated with pottery kilns or iron smelting. It is hard to imagine what could have melted layers of garbage, including pottery, plant material, and other biomass. Analysis of the slag indicates that temperatures of 1155-1290 C were required to fuse the garbage. Open fires could not have attained the necessary temperature. The slag layers encompass several hundred square meters, ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 49: Jan-Feb 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Optical Bursters For years astronomers have been puzzling over the significance of "bursters"; i.e ., short bursts of radiation from various spots in the heavens. With sophisticated terrestrial and satellite-borne instruments, they have detected gamma-ray, X-ray, and infrared bursters. The visible portion of the spectrum has been neglected because of the slow development of sensitive, high-time-resolution detectors capable of monitoring large areas of the sky. Of course, the human eye is an excellent instrument for searching for optical bursters, but professional naked-eye astronomers are few and far between nowadays. It has fallen to amateur astronomers to pioneer this field, as first mentioned in SF#39, where we introduced those optical flashes seen in Perseus. At last, the professional astronomers are taking more interest in this class of bright, unexplained flashes in the night sky. Those amateur astronomers, with their "primitive" instrumentation, have actually had a paper published in the highly technical Astrophysical Journal. Their abstract follows: "Between 1984 July and 1985 July, 24 bright flashes were detected visually near the Aries-Perseus border by eight different observers at a total of 12 sites across Canada. One flash was photographed, and another was seen by two observers at different locations. Their duration was usually less than 1 s. The estimated positions of 20 of the events and another seen in 1983 were close enough ...
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... of which there is plenty), but we do have: (1 ) A new theory which shows how noncosmological redshifts can occur; and (2 ) Laboratory demonstrations of "spectral noninvariance" that show how a non-Doppler component can be added to light's redshift. The physicist behind this new research is E. Wolf, at the University of Rochester. His theoretical work was re-ported in the March 3l, 1986, issue of Physical Review Letters. There he showed how quasars and so-called "superluminary" astronomical sources might emit light with a spectrum that evolves as it travels through space. Scientists have always assumed that once light left its source its spectrum remained unchanged. But Wolf shows how spectral changes are "sort of coded into the light due to correlations in the source." Meanwhile, two of Wolf's colleagues have backed up his theory in the lab. The consequences of Wolf's work would in effect shrink the universe, because objects would not be as far away as we now calculate from their redshifts. The size of the universe might contract "by a factor of 100 or more," says Wolf. If this much deflation is accepted by other scientists (It could be quite a fight!), then the age of the universe will also shrink, since it is based in part on our observations of the outer fringe of the universe and the speed of light. (Amato, I.; "Spectral Variations on a Universal Theme,: Science News, 130:166, 1986.) Comment ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 47: Sep-Oct 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects How The Cheetah Lost Its Stotts "Faced with a predator, for example, a cheetah, many deer, antelope and other bovids turn tail and run. But they also go in for a very curious display, before and during the run. They bounce up in the air, keeping all four legs straight. Stotting, as the display is known, must make the animal visible, and presumably also vulnerable to the predator. It certainly attracts the human observer's attention, and there has been no shortage of 'explanations' for this strange behavior." Actually, at least 11 hypotheses have been proposed. T. Caro has observed Thomson's gazelles stott on more than 200 occasions, usually in response to a cheetah or himself. Caro thinks that adult gazelles stott to proclaim to the cheetah that it has been detected and no longer has surprise in its favor. Cheetahs often do give up after stotting. Further, stotting gazelles have never been seen to be caught -- so far. (Anonymous; "How the Cheetah Lost Its Stotts," New Scientist, p. 34, June 19, 1986.) Reference. More information on stotting and other unusual mammalian behavior, see BMB32 in our catalog: Biological Anomalies: Mammals I. Ordering information here . A springbok stotting or 'pronking' From Science Frontiers #47, SEP-OCT 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Even the sun, which is undeniably hot (at least on the surface!), may be fusing light elements in ways we have yet to grasp in our stellar models. After all, no one has yet explained that deficit in solar neutrinos! There will be egg on a lot of faces if our notions of stellar energy generation are widly in error. We may be overreacting here; but we predict with confidence that the future will bring a good many scientific papers that begin with those all-toofamiliar words, "We now know that..." If physicists must now develop a new appreciation of electrochemistry, should not the biologists, too? At the risk of going too far, we recall that L.C . Kervran talks at length about his findings that the human body converts one element into another. See his book Biological Transmutations . Could he possibly have something? The scientific world utterly rejects Kervran - with some justification. This is being written in mid-April (1989). By the time it is received, the situation may be radically changed. In any event, it is good to see important work accomplished without huge machines, billions in Federal funds, and a phalanx of white-coated technicians. From Science Frontiers #63, MAY-JUN 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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 Early Chinese Voyages To Australia Dr. Alan Thorne, at the Australian National University, after studying early human fossils from both Australia and China, concludes that there was a significant movement of people from the Chinese coast to North Australia at least 10,000 years ago. He hypothesizes that the Chinese built sea-going rafts of bamboo and explored Indonesia as well as the Australian coast. (Anonymous; "Chinese 'First to Australia'," Melbounre Sun, August 14, 1982. Cr. G.D . Thompson.) Comment. The China-to-Australia trip is simplified by island-hopping, but the existence of an early Chinese sea-faring capability has later significance for the Americas, too. From Science Frontiers #24, NOV-DEC 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... other hand, these effects have so far proven qualitatively and quantitatively irreplicable, in the strict scientific sense, and appear to be sensitive to a variety of psychological and environmental factors that are difficult to specify, let alone control. Under these circumstances, critical experimentation has been tedious and frustrating at best, and theoretical modeling still searches for vocabulary and concepts, well short of any useful formalisms." (Jahn, Robert G.; "The Persistent Paradox of Psychic Phenomena: An Engineering Perspective," IEEE, Proceedings, 70:136, 1982.) Comment. The quotation above could just as well apply to UFO research, some aspects of cryptozoology, and other anomaly research. Clear-cut, reproducible ESP experiments are as rare as captured UFOs and Sasquatches! One entire section of human experience seems to be -- well -- cagey, sneaky, and beyond logic. How far does this magic land extend, if it exists at all? From Science Frontiers #23, SEP-OCT 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Doppler Effect), rather than revamping space-time concepts. In short, Ives thought he had proved Special Relativity untenable experimentally and an un-necessary distortion of science's worldview. (Barnes, Thomas G., and Ramirez, Francisco S.; "Velocity Effects on Atomic Clocks and the Time Question," Creation Research Society Quarterly, 18:198, 1982.) Comment. Why do the textbooks neglect to mention the Ives experiments and why should a review of Ives' work appear in a creationist publication? The answers are easy: Special Relativity now has the status of scientific dogma, which one questions at his own peril. The creationists, on the other hand, vehemently reject relativitism in favor of absolute standards in space-time as well as other features of human existence. It would be amusing if the real world conformed to neither model, both of which are defended so passionately. From Science Frontiers #22, JUL-AUG 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Atmospheric Light Phenomenon Between 1981 and 1985, hundreds of strange lights have appeared in a small valley in central Norway. Named after the valley, the lights have been named: The Hessdalen Phenomenon. A research station was set up in the valley in 1983. During January-February 1984, eight different kinds of instruments were in use, with the following results: Camera with grating : Three pictures showed a continuous spectrum. No spectral lines were seen on any picture. IR-viewer: This instrument was used too little to drawn any conclu sion. Spectrum-analyzer: Sometimes there were electromagnetic signals with harmonics of about 80 MHz. Seismograph : No local seismographic activity was measured. Magnetograph : The magnetic field did sometimes change when the lights showed up. There also seemed to be a correlation with the mag netic pulsation. Radar : The lights could be seen on radar. The speed varied all the way from 0 to 30,000 km/hour. Sometimes the radar saw something moving at a low speed, but no lights were seen by eye. Clearly, there was something there, but only the radar showed it. Laser : A laser-beam was directed toward the light, and the behavior of the light changed. Geiger-counter : No radioactive radi ation was detected. But the source was 1 km away when this instrument was used. (Strand, Erling; "Project Hessdalen -- A Field Investigation of an Unknown Atmospheric Light Phenomenon," Journal of Scientific Exploration, 8:581, 1994.) From Science Frontiers #98, MAR ...
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... 100 million years, but theory suggests that they were much more frequent in the past. As a consequence, by the time intelligent life evolves anywhere and figures out how to build spaceships, they are zapped by a GRB. Perhaps some do begin exploration of their galaxy, but they don't get very far. (Matthews, Robert; "Sorry, We'll Be Late," New Scientist, p. 16, January 23, 1999.) Comment. Any reader of science fiction can come up with other explanations: (1 ) ETs have been here but find nothing of interest and leave; (2 ) ETs were here and helped build Atlantis, the Great Pyramid, the Face on Mars, etc.; (3 ) ETs are here now but avoid human contact; and (4 ) ETs are here now but look so much like us that we cannot tell the difference! You are free to make up your own explanations! Yes, we live in a favored galaxy, because life on earth has not been GRBsterilized for at least 3 billion years -- 30 times the average period between GRBs. Are we simply lucky? From Science Frontiers #122, MAR-APR 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 123: May-Jun 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Focused group energy (fge)Anyone who has played a team sport can appreciate FGE. The team resonates and seemingly can do no wrong. The following quotation conveys this sense of "group attunement." "Every so often we hear of a group of people who unite under extreme pressure to achieve seemingly miraculous results. In these moments human beings transcend their personal limitations and realize a collective synergy with results that far surpass expectations based on past performance. Anyone hearing a fine symphonic or jazz group hopes for one of those "special" concerts that uplift both the audience and the performers. Perhaps less frequent, but more spectacular, are examples in sports, such as the 1980 U.S . Olympic Hockey Team, a group of talented amateurs who stunned the world by winning the gold medal against the vastly more talented and experienced, virtually professional Russian and Finnish teams. These occurrences, although unusual, are much more frequent in American business than is commonly suspected."* Assuming that FGE is a real phenomenon, can it be measured objectively? Yes, says W.D . Rowe, and he tells how it has been done. The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research group has developed a random number generator that produces an unbiased series of bits such that a large sample will average 50% 1s and 50% 0s. PEAR normally uses this machine in psychokinesis experiments in which an individual mentally attempts to skew the statistically expected ...
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... greater heights every 11-or-so years. Right now, near the peak of the present cycle, the earth is being bombarded by extra-high fluxes of X-rays, ultraviolet light, and other energetic radiation. A century ago, no one would have noticed or cared, but today our technological infrastructure is suffering. K.H . Schatten has listed some of the "sunburn symptoms" in a recent article in Nature. Fade-outs of over-the-horizon radio communications Greater aerodynamic drag on satel lites and earlier reentry Glitches and outright damage in satellite electrical systems Anomalous induced voltages in elec trical power systems and long-line communications Blackouts of high-frequency polar communications oInduced errors in VLF (Very Low Frequency navigation systems Occasional radiation levels that are hazardous to humans in high-flying aircraft. (Schatten, Kenneth H.; "The Sun's Disturbing Behavior," Nature, 345:578, 1990.) Comment. It would be interesting to learn whether the "computer errors" we encounter so frequently follow the sunspot cycle. One phenomenon, at least, seems anticorrelated with solar activity: The number of solar neutrinos measured here on earth falls as sunspots multiply. This is particularly puzzling because neutrinos are presumably generated in the solar core, whereas sunspots are supposed to be manifestations of solar-surface activity. One phenomenon "should not" affect the other. (Waldrop, M. Mitchell; "Solar NeutrinoSunspot Connection Found," Science, 248:444, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #71, SEP-OCT ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 123: May-Jun 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mysterious Mountain Deaths Occasionally, young, healthy hikers are discovered lying dead in the mountains without a mark on them. The answer to this mystery may be in the magnetic pulses created by close lightning strikes. Most deaths from lightning are from direct strikes, side flashes, or ground currents. The ground currents kill by passing up one leg and down the other. Cows sheltering under trees are even more susceptible than humans because they contact the ground in four places! People and animals electrocuted by these phenomena bear burn marks and other clues pointing to the cause of death. As for those "mysterious mountain deaths," M. Cherington and colleagues at the Lightning Data Center, Denver, suggest that these unlucky individuals may have been zapped magnetically. Lightning strikes can create electrical currents as high as 100,000 amperes in rocks and soil. These, in turn, create intense magnetic pulses that induce small electrical currents in nearby objects, such as hikers. Although small, these internal currents are sufficient to stop heart action -- without leaving tell-tale signs. (Anonymous; "Mystery Mountain Deaths and Lightning," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 23:230, 1998.) From Science Frontiers #123, MAY-JUN 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... . (Arkhipov, Alexey V.; "' Invasion Effect' on the Moon," Selenology , 13:9 , no. 1, 1994) We have never examined this journal. Comment. Reigning paradigms make the moon a barren, lifeless place. But readers of SF should be aware that the popular literature puts forth assertions that the astronauts found more than rocks on the moon, and that NASA is covering up these discoveries. Some see artificial constructions in close-up photos of the lunar surface. There are even entire books devoted to an "alien presence" on the moon! Mainstream selenologists attribute the thousands of recorded LTPs -- all legitimate scientific phenomena -- to gas releases, meteor impacts, etc., but certainly not ETs. Nevertheless, Arkhipov's correlation of LTPs and spacecraft activity should be checked out. From Science Frontiers #99, MAY-JUN 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... , 28:66, 1982.) Comment. The Med's buried gorges are obviously close cousins of the many submarine canyons found around the world's continental shelves. Most geologists strongly resist any explanation of the submarine canyons involving subaerial erosion, because no one believes the oceans ever dropped thousands of feet. True, the Med's evaporites confirm a great reduction in water level there, but the flat-topped guyots in the Atlantic and Pacific do the same for the oceans -- or at least seem to. The guyot tops are now thousands of feet below the surface, just like the Mediterranean's evaporites. It is thought-provoking to notice that the Mediterranean (and the oceans?) began to dry up about 5 million years ago, just about when humans are supposed to have split off from the other primates. Reference. Flat-topped guyots are cataloged at ETH1 in Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds. Description of this book here . From Science Frontiers #21, MAY-JUN 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... to have come from the moon and perhaps Mars. Second, the trace elements in the Antarctic specimens differ substantially from those found elsewhere. Age is a third distinguishing parameter. The Antarctic specimens seem to have been residing on and in the ice for some 300,000 years. Almost all meteorites collected elsewhere are less than 200 years old, having been picked up soon after they fell. The implication is that those extraterrestrial projectiles that have accumulated in Antarctica had a different source. (Dennison, Jane E., et al; "Antarctic and non-Antarctic Meteorites Form Different Populations," Nature, 319:391, 1986.) Comment. A dedicated catastrophist would ask what extraterrestrial event occurred 300,000 years ago? Did it involve the moon? Was terrestrial life, including humans, affected? From Science Frontiers #45, MAY-JUN 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 44: Mar-Apr 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Signals In The Night Consider the figure below and the four sets of signals (plain blips) and responses (blips with circles over them). Are these from the radar screen of a fighter closing in on an enemy aircraft? Or perhaps the electrical signals generated by the fish mentioned in SF#43? Of course the answer is: None of the above. We have a different story to tell. These blips, representing queries and responses, are not generated by human-built radars or by electrical fish, but rather by animals much 'lower' on the evolutionary ladder -- fireflies. This illustration is Fig. 3 in a lengthy review article and carries the following unilluminating caption: "Examples of Entrainment of femme C's (see Table 3) Responses to Multiple Counterfeit Flashes." It seems that we have some sort of electronic warfare between the femme (predatory female fireflies that lure other fireflies with false signals) and the preyed-upon species. The many pages describe all sorts of feints, verification signals, and other stratagems. (Carlson, Albert D., and Copeland, Jonathan; "Communication in Insects," Quarterly Review of Biology, 60:415, 1985.) Comment. It is impossible to do justice to this paper in this short review, but two things should be mentioned: (1 ) Fireflies may be considered "low" on the evolutionary ladder, but ...
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... Frontiers ONLINE No. 125: Sep-Oct 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Our Untapped Talents Errol Kerr, an English lad of 3, has a photographic memory and can already count to 10 in five different languages. Even before he reached the age of 2, he could name every make of car he saw on the road. (Anonymous; "Boy Has Genius Figured Out at 3," London Times, March 1, 1999. Cr. A.C .A . Silk) Comment. Kerr is certainly precocious and in him we see the glimmerings of capabilities we may all have but cannot tap. Unlike so many "savants" and "calculating prodigies," Kerr is not deficient in "normal" human skills. He is just unusually smart. He has partially penetrated a sort of barrier that seems to prevent most of us from drawing from a reservoir of remarkable mental capabilities. In savants and calculating prodigies, this barrier is ruptured and these talents flow readily to the fore -- but usually at the cost of some "normal" talents. Two Australian scientists, A. Snyder and J. Mitchel, have studied the "savant syndrome" and have presented their findings in the Proceedings of the Royal Society (B266:587, 1999). The gist of their paper was reported by R. Highfield in the Chicago Sun-Times . "These savants are often autistic, a developmental disorder that leaves them with little ability to empathize with others. However, some possess astonishing skills ...
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... the collectors did was to fire projectiles with ropes over the high branches and then haul up canisters of a knockdown gas. Insects rained down -- a cloudburst of new species -- neatly collected on sheets spread out below. Such techniques led to the 30-million figure. As Wilson put it, "The pool of diversity is a challenge to basic science and a vast reservoir of genetic information." (Wilson, Edward O.; "The Biological Diversity Crisis," BioScience, 35:700, 1985.) Comment. Are there other "hot spots of diversity" waiting to be discovered? Probably, but they will be under our feet, in the deepest waters -- places we do not frequent or suspect. We do know of an ancient mudbank that gave birth to multitudes of new and fantastic creatures. See below. From Science Frontiers #43, JAN-FEB 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... control the development of terrestrial life must have evolved on a cosmic scale, where there has been more time and much more room for shufflings. (Hoyle, Fred, and Wickramasinghe, Chandra; "Where Microbes Boldly Went," New Scientist, 91:412, 1981.) Comment. Could not the "new" bacteria that appeared in the Mt. St. Helens area, as described in LIFE'S ORIGIN WITHIN THE EARTH? , have drifted down through the atmosphere into the lakes and ponds -- a sort of modern, ever-continuing panspermia? It is interesting to note here that even Hoyle, who has espoused the Steady State theory of the cosmos, seems to require the creation of life followed by evolution. This need for an origin of life is a human philosophical weakness. In principle, matter and life, too, could have always existed. From Science Frontiers #18, NOV-DEC 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Topper archeological site near Allendale, South Carolina. The dig was discovered back in 1981 when a local man, named Topper, led A. Goodyear (from the University of South Carolina) to a deposit of side-notched chert points. These artifacts are similar to 10,000-year-old points found elsewhere. Nothing anomalous so far! At depths of 80-100 centimeters, Goodyear came across fluted blanks from which the classic and distinctive Clovis points could be manufactured. This was the culmination of the dig; the archeologists picked up their trowels and headed for other sites. Why? Simply because everyone knew that there were no North American artifacts older than Clovis points. Dated at 10,800-11,200 radiocarbon years, Clovis points supposedly marked the earliest arrival of humans in the Americas. Digging deeper at the Topper site would have been a waste of time. In 1998, however, Goodyear had second thoughts. This was the time when the nothing-older-than-Clovis paradigm was being challenged by finds at Monte Verde, Chile. (SF#120) Goodyear decided to take his trowels back to the Topper site. "After some 40 cm of essentially barren deposits, the excavators began finding small flakes and microtools. The lower level, exposed over 28 square meters, has yielded some 1,000 waste flakes, 15 microtools (mostly microblades), and a pile of 20 chert pebbles plus four possible quartz hammerstones." Goodyear thinks that chert pebbles were being processed at Topper 12,000-20,000 years ago. ...
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... restrictions of space and time. For example, 'Remember that Our Side is vast in space, and outside physical/temporal dimensions, and many are here!'" (Grattan-Guinness, I.; "Real Communication? Report on a SORRAT LetterWriting Experiment," Journal of Scien tific Exploration, 13:231, 1999.) Comment. We have summarized a 26-page report complete with photos, tables, etc., published in a peer-reviewed journal published by the Society for Scientific Exploration, which is composed mainly of diploma-holding scientists. Of course, mainstream science journals wouldn't touch SORRAT with a 10meter pole. SORRAT even stretches the envelope of most parapsychologists a bit far. Nevertheless, it is only a short belief-step from a human mind affecting the motion of a pendulum to the "spirit messages" in the SORRAT envelopes. Where does one draw the boundaries of acceptable science? From Science Frontiers #125, SEP-OCT 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... and trap formation. Evidence of a global fire. Soot appears at the K-T boundary at many sites, but where did it come from? Chemical analyses of these soots show an enhanced concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons over soots above and below the boundary. This is strong evidence of pyrolytic action at the K-T boundary; i.e ., widespread fires. (Venkatesan, M.I ., and Dahl, J.; "Organic Geochemical Evidence for Global Fires at the Cretaceous/Tertiary Boun dary," Nature, March 2, 1989.) Fire could have been initiated by either volcanism or impacts. The evidence of the traps. Traps, like India's famous Deccan Traps, are extensive flood basalts. In this paper, basalt flooding has been correlated with mass extinctions of marine life during the past 250 million years. The Deccan Traps were formed right at the K-T boundary. Traps could, however, be initiated by asteroid impact, which could stimulate eruptions. (Rampino, Michael; "Dinosaurs, Comets and Volcanoes," New Scientist, p. 54, February 18, 1989.) The dinosaur angle. If dinosaurs were truly susceptible to extinction by either asteroid impact, widespread volcanism, or some combination of both, one would expect to find their numbers and diversity drastically curtailed during Mesozoic impact events. Instead, the dinosaurs not only survived these impacts but prospered. Their demise, which began before the K-T event, was probably not due to either impact or vol canism. (Paul, Gregory S ...
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... which lies between the two tallest stones. The recumbent at Easter Aquorthies is elaborated by two stones which project from its inner face to form an alcove. The stones in the circle also appear to have been chosen for their colour." Casual observers at Easter Aquorthies has had often remarked on curious echoes and reverberations heard inside the ring of stones. It seemed that the recumbent stone with its flankers and projecting stones were focussing sounds towards occupants of the ring. Easter Aquorthies is a recumbent stone circile with two sound-focussing stones projecting inwards. Circle diameter: about 10 meters. Watson and Keating decided to survey the circle and its surroundings acoustically, using an audio amplifier placed in the alcove. Measurements confirmed the focussing the sounds within the ring but did not record the subtle reverberations detected by humans. Sounds from the amplifier were almost totally confined to the ring. It seems that Easter Aquorthies was designed deliberately to enhance the acoustical and visual effects experienced by an audience within the ring. (Watson, Aaron, and Keating, David; "Architecture and Sound: An Acoustic Analysis of Megalithic Monuments in Prehistoric Britain," Antiquity, 73:325, 1999.) Comments. There are about 70 recumbent stone circles in Britain, mostly in northeastern Scotland. They are characterized by the single recumbent stone, which almost invariably appears in the southwestern part of the ring. No obvious astronomical phenomena, such as winter-solstice sunsets, can be seen over the prostrate stone, so its placement is an enigma. In addition to this mysterious recumbent stone, almost all RSCs have either ...
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... is some other destabilizing influence. Kimura is the author of the 1983 book The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution. Although Kimura has some experimental support, his theory is not widely accepted. (Motoo Kimura; "The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution," New Scientist, p. 41, July 11, 1985.) Comment. The intriguing part of Kimura's article concerns that steady hum of gene changes -- all to little or no avail when times are stable--but seemingly ready to provide the genetic pressure required to fill new niches. Why do these nonliving molecules have just those properties vital to life? It hardly seems sufficient to say that if nonlife did not have the properties it has we wouldn't be here. It raises again the question of whether the human blueprint is implicit in the electron and other simple particles. If so, what blueprints reside there still unrealized? From Science Frontiers #41, SEP-OCT 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... brain and replicate themselves to cause scrapie. With no genetic material of their own, how do the prions multiply? Recent laboratory work suggests that the prions subvert a gene that normally dwells in the brain. With the help of this gene, an endless stream of prions emerges, and the animal is sick. In hamsters, which are employed in laboratory research on scrapie, a gene demarcated PrP has been implicated in scrapie. PrP is present in both healthy and infected hamster brains, but no one knows what its normal function is, if indeed it has one. (Anonymous; "Prion Gene," Scientific American, 253:60, July 1985.) Comment. One can make an immediate connection between the traitorous PrP genes in the hamster brains and the excess genetic material in humans and all life forms. Biologists commonly call excess genetic material "nonsense DNA" which only means that they haven't devined its purpose. But, as already sugested, these unused blueprints may have had some past purpose or will be called into action in the future. The purpose may be insidious, as in the case of scrapie, or vital to the organism's survival in some unrecognized biological Armageddons. From Science Frontiers #41, SEP-OCT 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... are well and truly dependent on it does the bamboo deal its coup de grace. It flowers and seeds, thus ensuring its own survival as a species. And then, in an act of sweet self-sacrifice, it dies, taking its archenemy with it." If the pandas manage to survive after the 15-year bamboos have had a try at death-by-death, a time will come when 15- and 30-year bamboos will flow er simultaneously. In the mid-1970s, several species, with different periodicities, all flowered simultaneously in China. The panda population was decimated. (Shipman, Pat; "Killer Bamboo," Discover, 12:22, February 1990. Cr. R. Dorion.) The pandas may be saved by the human-conceived strategem of feeding plant hormones to bamboo shoots. Researchers in the lab have been able to break the lockstep bamboo cycle in this manner. (Johnson, Julie; "Hormonal Clue to Bamboo's Elusive Blossomings," New Scientist, p. 31, March 31, 1990.) Comment. The panda, it seems is not without its own evolutionary strategy. By evolving into a cute, cuddly, teddybear, it has so enthralled a third species, that this more advanced (? ) life form has found a way to save the panda from its cyclic dilemma via science! From Science Frontiers #70, JUL-AUG 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... existence of something beyond our ken: i.e ., transcendence. He puts it this way: "All we can ever know about the world is what our mind lets us know -- our perception and awareness of external reality are limited by our mind. We can never know more than the mind can assimilate and process, nor can we discuss any aspect of the world for which there is no language. The fact that our mathematical laws of nature explain the world is no miracle -- it can't be otherwise. The laws of nature describe the world we know and that world is a reflection of our thinking and our language -- of our mind." He goes on to maintain that the fruitfulness of math for physics hints more at the limitations of the human mind than the existence of a transcendent mind! (Portnow, Jay; "Letter to the Editor," American Journal of Physics, 53:299, 1985.) Comment. Apparently we'll be forever boxed in by the limitations of mathematics -- to say nothing of computer programs. From Science Frontiers #40, JUL-AUG 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... , some redshift measurements indicate a quadratic rather than linear relationship between redshift and distance. I.E . Segal's chronometric theory of the cosmos, however, does predict a quadratic relationship. In Segal's theory redshifts are due to the gravitational slowing of light rather than any gereral expansion of the universe. Even if most astrophysicists are finally persuaded that the quadratic relationship is real, they will be loath to abandon the philosophically appealing Expanding Universe. Not only is the Expanding Universe consistent with Relativity but it states unequivocally that the earth (and man) does not occupy a preferred place in the universe. (Hanes, David A.; "Is the Universe Expanding?" Nature, 289:745, 1981.) Comment. A geocentric theory would intimate a supernatural force favoring humanity. From Science Frontiers #15, Spring 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... actually created and its properties fine-tuned by nonsupernatural entities of superior intelligence living in another universe. [These beings apparently get a kick out of manufacturing other universes, or perhaps it's a religious imperative for them!] Before you crumple up this issue of SF and hurl it at very high energy into a wastebasket, consider these two paragraphs from the Times article. "' We are beginning to see how universes can be created,' Professor Harrison says. 'A small amount of matter -- roughly 10 kg -- at very high energy is forged into a black hole. Under the correct conditions, the interior of the black hole inflates into a new universe that endures for billions of years and contains billions of galaxies.' "At most, he argues, human intelligence is only one million years old. 'If we can already see how in principle universes can be created, then surely our descendants in the far future will have the knowledge and technology to design and create them.'" (Hawkes, Nigel; "Aliens May Have Created Universe, Says US Scientist," London Times, August 21, 1995. Cr. B. Greenwood via L. Farish, UFO Newsclipping Service, #2 Caney Valley Drive, Plumerville, AR 72127-8725) Comment. So, if we evolve further, as we must be doing, we can create new universes ourselves and truly be like gods! And we look down on the alchemists of yore. From Science Frontiers #104, MAR-APR 1996 . 1996-2000 William R ...
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... Aug 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Facing Up To Divebombers When spring arrives Down Under, the black-backed magpies divebomb everything that moves in the vicinity of their nests. No one is spared: kids, cats, politicians, and even ornithologists are fair targets. But the solution is simple: "The National Parks and Wildlife Service reminds blitzkrieged Aussies that the birds are less likely to attack if they believe they are being watched. So the chic and the sensible don hats with sunglasses propped on top -- facing backwards, of course." (Anonymous; New Scientist, p. 84, February 24, 1996) Comment. The same solution has been adopted by Indians who work in tiger country. They wear human face masks on the backs of their heads. Tigers don't like to be watched either. From Science Frontiers #106, JUL-AUG 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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 There's more than gold in the kolar mines When physicists installed nuclear-particle detectors deep in a mine in the Kolar Gold Fields in India, they hoped to measure particles created by highly penetrating neutrinos arriving from cosmic sources. They found instead immense showers of nuclear particles coming, not from above as expected, but from the sides and even below! These huge showers of 1,000 or more assorted particles are called "anomalous cascades." Neutrinos are the only known particles capable of penetrating the entire earth to create upwardly directed showers, but ordinary neutrinos do not seem to have enough energy to give birth to the anomalous cascades. (Anonymous; "Particle Shower Sprays Upward," Science News, 118:246, 1980.) Comment. Are there sources of unrecognized radiation deep within the earth? From Science Frontiers #14, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... . Strier, of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, is that some monkeys regulate their fertility by the judicious consumption of certain plants. Going even farther, K. Glander, Duke University, suggests that howler monkeys control the sex of their offspring through their diets. Glander divides howler monkey females into three groups. In the first are the high-ranking females that predominantly produce male offspring. This 'male-offspring' strategy favors these females because the males they produce tend to become dominant adults that will pass on more of the females' genes than would female offspring, who are limited in the number of infants they can engender in comparison to the males. Similar optimization strategies, according to Glander, induce middleranking females to produce mainly female progeny, and low-ranking females to birth almost all males. These howler monkeys seem to control the sex of their offspring pharmologically by selecting certain plants to eat. These plants, in turn, control the electrical conditions in the females' reproductive tracts to either attract or repel sperm carrying the male Y-chromosomes, which are thought to carry different electrical charges than the X-carrying sperm! (Lewin, Roger; "What Monkeys Chew to Choose Their Children's Sex," New Scientist, p. 15, February 22, 1992. Also: Gibbons, Ann; "Plants of the Apes," Science, 255:921, 1992.) Comments. It will take much more research to validate these startling assertions. We also have to ask how these instincts (or conscious, calculated strategies?) ...
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... 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 ...
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... dogs do bark American geophysicists have been slow to take unusual animal behavior prior to earthquakes seriously. Spurred by Chi-nese work, a network of observers has been set up in California in an earthquake-prone area. Most reports of strange animal behavior have been after-the-fact. Furthermore, the "strange behaviors" frequently turn out to be common during quake-free periods, but simply not remarked upon. Nevertheless, geophysicists did observe some clear-cut instances of animals super-sensitivity to quake phenomena. Studying aftershocks in the Mohave Desert in 1979, Donald Stierman and his colleagues often heard earthquake booms 4-l0 sec after feeling the shock and seeing their portable seismometers record the tremor. Two dogs nearby inevitably responded with a chorus of barking. Sometimes though, the human observers heard and felt nothing when the seismometers and dogs announced another aftershock. (Kerr, Richard A.; "Quake Prediction by Animals Gaining Respect," Science, 208: 695, 1980.) From Science Frontiers #11, Summer 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... of something managed to grow even though it was exposed to the harshness of outer space for nearly six years. "The mystery growth has been found in a toothpick-sized region on what is known as the Long Duration Exposure Facility. The bussized LDEF was launched in 1984 and was retrieved by a space shuttle in January 1990, a few weeks before its decaying orbit would have sent it crashing back to earth. .. .. . "NASA scientists in Huntsville, Ala., discovered the growth while examining a brownish discoloration on a Tefloncovered section of the satellite. "Using an electron scanning microscope, they saw tiny, stalactite-like structures on the Teflon. Tiny means the longest were about seven microns in size. That's about one-tenth the width of a human hair. "At first NASA scientists thought the growth might be a fungus or a mold that had contaminated the LDEF upon its return. However, their tests came up negative," (Anonymous; "Odd Space Growth on Satellite Baffles NASA," Arkansas Demo crat-Gazelle , September 9, 1992. Cr. L. Farish) From Science Frontiers #84, NOV-DEC 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... No. 108: Nov-Dec 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Are We Really Robots?We imagine ourselves to be different from inorganic nature -- flesh and blood -- certainly not hardware. But the real truth may lie beyond our ken. But can we really prove that we are not machines? G. Johnson has a few words to say on this subject in his book Fire in the Mind: Science, Faith, and the Search for Order. "Thinking in terms of bits has allowed us to develop the field of computer science, in which we learn how to represent the world with patterns of information. So successful are our endeavors that some physicists and computer scientists believe that perhaps information is not a human invention but something as real, as physical, as matter and energy. And now a handful of researchers have come to believe that information may be the most real of all. Simulated creatures would have no way of knowing they are simulations, the argument goes. And, for that matter, how do we know that we are not simulations ourselves, running on a computer in some other universe? "Nature, it seems, has honed us into informavores so voracious that some can persuade themselves that there is nothing but information." (As quoted in: Science, 273:443, 1996) Comment. If we really are simulations, that "computer in some other universe" has taken great pains to also simulate millions of other species and their fossil records! (Could ...
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... good eating, and they are at risk along the rocky shores of the Galapagos. But the marine iguanas have special card to play when approached by sharks armed with their supersensitive hearing. The iguanas voluntarily stop their hearts from beating. Otherwise, sharks as far away as 3-4 meters can home in on their heartbeats. Amazingly, marine iguanas can survive up to 45 minutes without functioning hearts. This represents a remarkable evolutionary adaptation in the perpetual warfare between prey and predators. But, to the west across the Pacific, in Indonesia, another reptile, the fear-some Komodo dragon, can also voluntarily stop its heart. Komodo dragons have no sharks to fear. In fact, they are the top predators on the islands they inhabit, dining on deer and, rarely, a human or two. Was this a purposeful adaptation? If so, to what threat? (Knight. Jonathan; "King of Hearts," New Scientist, p. 51, November 20, 1999.) 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 and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...
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... United States. The lengthy table detailing the finds and the long list of references are alone enough to make this article a classic. Epstein carefully scrutinizes each find with admirable dispassion. His conclusions: frauds, counterfeits, and recent losses of imported ancient coins suffice to explain all of the data. Supporting and disagreeing comments from researchers active in the field follow Epstein's article. The advocates of Pre-columbian diffusion naturally take issue with Epstein, claiming that there is a residue of cases not adequately explained. (Epstein, Jeremiah, F. et al; "Pre-Columbian Old World Coins in America: An Examination of the Evidence," Current Anthropology, 21:1 , 1980.) Comment. Shades of UFOs, sea serpents, the Kensington Stone and of course ancient humans in America. It is all so familiar. From Science Frontiers #11, Summer 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... The prevalent conception of the brain compares it to a hardwired computer in which all the wires and components are all permanently soldered together. An equivalent situation would prevail in the brain if all sensory pathways and cells had fixed duties and memories to handle. If the portion of the brain dedicated to speech were damaged, as in a stroke, it could never repair itself. This dogma is now being challenged. A pertinent line of brain research is now underway at the Coleman Laboratory of the University of California in San Francisco, where Michael Merzenich and his associates are studying the brains of monkeys. "Merzenich's findings challenge a prevailing notion that most sensory pathways in the nervous system are 'fixed' or 'hardwired' by the maturation of anatomic connections, either just before or soon after birth. They also address the puzzling question of what forces may be at work when stroke victims partly recover. Do 'redundant copies' of skills exist outside the damaged regions, or is physical damage within the brain repaired over time? Or can old skills be newly established in different, undamaged brain regions." Apparently the brain should really be compared with a reprogrammable computer. Perhaps the brain even stores duplicates of critical "programs"; i.e ., skills. Merzenich's findings go even farther. He finds that the parts of the brain associated with certain skills or data processing move and change shape spontaneously. The brain, it seems, continually reorganizes itself. Fading fast is the idea that each data point is recorded in a specific cell or neuron interconnection. ( ...
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... reaction more likely and in which large, stable spiral and ring-shaped structures appear spontaneously. At the macroscopic level, shock waves from supernovas can (at least in computer models) stimulate the formation of spiral arms in galaxies. The article concludes with a quote from astronomer David Layzer: "The universe is unfolding in time but not unraveling; on the contrary, it is becoming constantly more complex and richer in formation." (Tucker, Wallace, and Tucker, Karen; "Against All Odds: Matter and Evolution in the Universe," Astronomy, September 1984.) Comment. Now Layzer's statement seems a clear denial of the Second Law. It says, rather, that there is something intrinsic in the universe that creates order (spiral galaxies, amino acids, humans). We don't explain this tendency (assuming it really exists) just by identifying Belousov-Zhabotinsky reactions and saying, "That's the way things are." We can go one step further and say that the fundamental particles of physics have just the right properties so that they fall together into atoms, molecules, galaxies, and life forms. Can science go any further? From Science Frontiers #36, NOV-DEC 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Recent Survival Of The Elephant In The Americas Mayan "elephant motif". Elephants were supposed to have disappeared from the America about 10,000 years ago as the Ice Ages waned. This date is another of those "consensus" scientific facts that no one dares challenge if he or she wishes to get published or win research grants. Although this subject remains "closed off" in normal scientific intercourse, there remain tantalizing hints that elephants roamed the Americas until very recently - perhaps even a few hundred years ago! The following snippets are culled from two articles written by G. Carter, Texas A&M , now emeritus, but always heretical: Numerous folk memories of the elephamt were retained by American Indians. A mastadon was killed, cooked, and eaten by humans in Ecuador circa 1500 BC. Indians told Thomas Jefferson that elephants could still be seen in the region of the Great Lakes. In Florida, a cache of extinct animals, including elephants, was carbon-dated at 2000 BP. Elephant heads are prominent in art and sculpture from Mexico, Central American, and northern South America. (Carter, George F.; "A Note on the Elephant in America," and "The Mammoth in American Epigraphy," Epigraphic Society, Occasional Publications, 18:90 and 18:213, 1989.) Reference. The evidence for the recent survival of the mammoth is presented in BMD10 in our catalog: Biological Anomalies: Mammals II. Details here . From Science Frontiers #68, MAR-APR 1990 . 1990-2000 William ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 67: Jan-Feb 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Psychotherapy May Delay Cancer Deaths In previous entries, we have reported that imaging, positive thinking, and other psychological stratagems seemed to have some effect on the progress of cancer in humans. Such positive results have generally been pooh-poohed by the medical establishment. In fact, the results recently reported by Stanford psychiatrist D. Spiegel were obtained during an attempt to show that psycho therapy had no effect whatsoever on cancer. Thirteen years ago, Spiegel participated in a short-term program in which group therapy was given to 86 patients with advanced breast cancer. The goal was simply to make the patients feel better and "face their mortality." The result was that the patients became less anxious, less fearful, and more positive. They even learned to reduce their pain through self-hypnosis. That was the end of the program. Recently, Spiegel, fed up with claims that positive thinking could help control cancer, tracked down the patients who had received psychotherapy earlier. He expected to find no difference between their fates and those of a control group that had not received psychotherapy. Not so! Those in the control group had lived an average of 19 more months, compared to an average 37 months for those getting the psychotherapy. Spiegel said, "I just couldn't believe it." "What I am flat out certain of is that something about being in groups helped these women live longer. But what ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 84: Nov-Dec 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Hunt For The Magnetoreceptor When magnetite particles were found in organisms from bacteria to bats, it was assumed that here was the long sought magnetoreceptor which animals used for magnetic navigation. But so far, biologists do not have the slightest notion how such magnetite particles can be turned into a "magnetic sense," which sends the brain information on the direction of the geomagnetic field or, perhaps, draws a magnetic map of sorts. A completely different sort of magnetreceptor is now under investigation, one that humans may also unknowingly possess. It utilizes special photoreceptors that employ an electron-spin resonance process which is modulated by the geomagnetic field. Some of our very sensitive magnetometers use similar phenomena. The biological version of such a receptor would be connected to the brain, as the eye is, and send signals as to the direction of the earth's magnetic field. Sounds interesting, but is there any basis for thinking such a sophisticated gadget could have evolved? It seems that some experiments with newts by J.B . Phillips and S.C . Borland support the idea. The newts were first trained to orient themselves in a certain direction with respect to the geomagnetic field. "When tested under one of four artificial field alignments (magnetic north at geographic north, east, south or west), the newts kept their training directions constant relative to the magnetic rather than the geographic system of reference, but they selected ...
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... got into the act. They discovered that the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of the Guam and Kosrae skinks differed by an amazing 6%, even though both skinks were E. cyanura . Even worse, the Vanuatu skink ( E. impar ) differed from all other E. impar skinks around the Pacific by an astounding 13%. Yet, to the eye, they all looked alike. So much for homology -- unless there is something basically wrong with molecular biology. Biologists now suspect that there are many more "cryptic species": animals that look alike but possess substantially different DNA complements. (Cohen, Philip; "Lizards Keep Their Differences to Themselves," New Scientist, p. 17, July 6, 1996) Comment. The flip side can be seen in humans and chimpanzees. From the standpoints of anatomy and behavior, these species are rather divergent; but their DNAs differ by only 2%! There is something suspicious in all this. Three of the hundred or so basic body plans (phyla): jellyfish (Coelenterata), aphid (Arthopoda), eohippus (Chordata). The present fossil record indicates that all phyla appeared rather suddenly in early Cambrian times. From Science Frontiers #109, JAN-FEB 1997 . 1997-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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