569 results found.
... 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 Antipodal Hotspot Pairs Hotspots are isolated areas of the earth's crust where there is an unusually large amount of basaltic volcano activity. At present, over 120 hotspots are recognized by geophysicists -- and they are not distributed randomly about the globe. In fact, many seem to be diametrically opposite one another, as described by M.R . Rampino: "The observed number of antipodal hotspot pairs depends on the maximum allowable deviation from exact antipodality, At a maximum deviation of 700 km, 26% to 37% of hotspots form antipodal pairs in the published lists examined here, significantly more than would be expected from the general hotspot distribution. Two possible mechanisms that might create such a distribution include: (1 ) symmetry in the generation of mantle plumes; and (2 ) melting related to antipodal focusing of seismic energy from large-body impacts." (Rampino, Michael R.; "Antipodal Hotspot Pairs on the Earth," Geophysical Research Letters, 19:2011, 1992.) Similar Phenomenon. On the moon, the magcons (magnetic concentrations) seem to be located diametrically opposite large lunar impact basins. See ALZ3 in The Moon and the Planets. This catalog volume is described here . From Science Frontiers #88, JUL-AUG 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 80: Mar-Apr 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Dinosaur Flatulence And Climate Changes "Fossilized dinosaur dung contains evidence that flatulence from the giant creatures may have helped warm the Earth's climate millions of years ago, scientists said yesterday. "The researchers detected chemical signs of bacteria and algae in known and suspected dinosaur droppings. That indicates that plant-eating dinosaurs digested their food by fermenting it, a process that gives off methane." We all know that methane is a "greenhouse gas," so it seems that the dinosaurs may have self-destructed. (Anonymous; "How Dinosaurs May Have Helped Make Earth Warmer," San Francisco Chronicle, October 23, 1991. Cr. D.H . Palmer) Comment. We are not being facetious here, for it is seriously proposed that much of the greenhouse gas produced today comes from cattle, sheep, and other animals that ferment their food. From Science Frontiers #80, MAR-APR 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... on the glaciated terrains indicate that the final glacial epoch occurred late in Martian history. Thus, Mars may have had a relatively warm, moist climate and dense atmosphere much later than previously believed." (Kargel, Jeffrey S., and Strom, Robert G.; "Ancient Glaciation on Mars," Geology, 20:3 , 1992.) If Mars was warm and wet not too long ago, as implied above, perhaps life did gain a foothold there through either independent invention or, perhaps, through seeding by template-carrying comets or meteorites. P.J . Boston et al have investigated one possible Martian ecosystem: "We have reexamined the question of extant microbial life on Mars in light of the most recent information about the planet and recently discovered nonphotosynthetic ecosystems on Earth -- deep sea hydrothermal vent communities and deep subsurface aquifer communities. On Mars, protected subsurface niches associated with hydrothermal activity could have continued to support life even after surface conditions became inhospitable. Geochemical evidence from the SNC meteorites and geomorphological evidence for recent volcanism suggest that such habitats could persist to the present time...We suggest a possible deep subsurface microbial ecology similar to those discovered to depths of several kilometers below the surface of the Earth." (Boston, Penelope J., et al; "On the Possibility of Chemosynthetic Ecosystems in Subsurface Habitats on Mars," Icarus, 95:300, 1992.) Comment. Although Boston et al speak in terms of microscopic Martian life, there is no reason why chemosynthetic life forms could not be large -- perhaps even ...
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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 Galactic Shell Game W.G . Tifft, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, has maintained for some two decades that the redshifts of the galaxies do not fall on a smooth curve as one would expect. Instead, Tifft asserts, redshifts are bunched at intervals of 72 kilometers/second and at onehalf and one-third that value. Mainstream astronomers insist that redshifts be interpreted as Doppler shifts due to the expanding universe. Quantized redshifts just don't fit into this view of the cosmos, for they imply concentric shells of galaxies expanding away from a central point -- earth! Even though more recent redshift data have supported the notion of quantized redshifts, cosmologists find them undigestible, even pathogenic. But replication and non-replication are the essence of science, so B. Guthrie and W.M . Napier, at the Royal Observatory at Edinburgh, undertook another study. They selected 89 nearby spiral galaxies that had not been incorporated in any of the previous surveys. These galaxies had very accurately measured redshifts and were distributed all over the celestial sphere. "As expected, the galaxies' redshifts showed a smooth distribution. Clearly, no quantization was being introduced by the radio telescopes or the data reduction process. But after Guthrie and Napier corrected each redshift to account for the Earth's motion around the center of the Milky Way -- a different correction for each location in the sky -- out popped ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 85: Jan-Feb 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Biogeology It is accepted that every cubic centimeter of the topsoil beneath our feet seethes with thousands of microorganisms. It is less well known that life's domain extends down much further. The hard rocks and strata of earth's crust -- seemingly sterile and inert -- are continuously being transformed by bacteria and other life forms. In fact, it was easy to find three examples of such processes from the literature collected from the past two months. Although the discoveries reported below may seem dull to anomalists ued to more exciting fare, it may well be that life from "inner space" has been and will be more important to humankind than life from "outer space," as implied in third item! Bacteria and placer gold. "Lacelike networks of micrometresize filiform gold associated with Alaskan placer gold particles are interpreted as low-temperature pseudomorphs of a Pedomicrobium -like budding bacterium. Submicron reproductive structures (hyphae) and other morphological features similar to those of Pedomicrobium occur as three-dimensional facsimiles in highpurity gold in and on placer gold particles from Lillian Creek, Alaska." In short, bacteria help create placer gold deposits. The author believes that bacterioform gold is widespread. (Watterson, John R.; "Preliminary Evidence for the Involvement of Budding Bacteria in the Origin of Alaskan Placer Gold," Geology , 20:315, 1992.) Microorganisms and iron deposits. At least 500 million years ago ...
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... much less dramatic and often scaled down to minute proportions -- threadlike worms, tiny snails, delicate, transparent clams. Yet, the diversity of animals in the cold abyssal muds, it now appears, may rival the celebrated biodiversity of the tropical rain forests." We now know virtually nothing about this fauna, how it survives, and how it evolved. Millions of undescribed species may be awaiting discovery by research submersibles and deep dredging. (Van Dover, Cindy Lee; "Depths of Ignorance," Discover, 14:37, September 1993.) Comment. Preconceptions about life and its talents have often blinded science as to the extent of life's domains. More revelations are sure to come when biologists begin looking at crevicular life -- those multitudinous species prospering in the earth's deep pores and crevices, where they draw energy from the earth's heat and chemicals. From Science Frontiers #90, NOV-DEC 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 81: May-Jun 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Unidentified light explained?The strange optical phenomenon reported in SF#80 may have been the consequence of a barium release from a NASA satellite. At 9:17 PM EST, on January 13, 1991, the Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) detonated a small canister of barium over South America. The greenish glow was visible from the U.S . southeast coast in the southwestern sky. (Suplee, Curt; "NASA Light Show 'Paints' Earth's Magnetic Field," Washington Post, January 14, 1991. Cr. D. Kreinbrink) Comment: The observation reported in SF#80 was logged as occurring at 0210 UTC, January 13, so there is a time discrepancy that needs to be resolved here. From Science Frontiers #81, MAY-JUN 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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 "ALREADY, NOW, WE ARE FORGOTTEN ON THOSE STELLAR SHORES" *Humans have many ways to predict the future: animal entrails, Tarot cards, and the Copernican Principle. The Copernican Principle, in particular, leads to all sorts of profound prophecies. The Copernican Primciple states that the earth does not occupy a special place in the cosmos. To this we add Darwinism, which asserts that, in the realm of biology, human origin is not special either; i.e ., we enjoy no special place among life forms. Building upon these two general "beliefs," J.R . Gott, III, proceeds to estimate the longevities of various observables, such as the lifetime of a particular species. What follows is a long, highly technical computation of various probabilities, such as the evolution of intelligent life in the universe. All this (and there is a lot of it) leads to the following: "Making only the assumption that you are a random intelligent observer, limits for the total longevity of our species of 0.2 million to 8 million years can be derived at the 95% confidence level. Further consideration indicates that we are unlikely to colonize the Galaxy, and that we are likely to have a higher population than the median for intelligent species." Why won't we colonize the Galaxy? Not because we are not able to, Gott says, but because " ...
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... this old, but apparently the Apex chert escaped most of the fossil-destroying metamorphism afflicting most Precambrian formations. Even more remarkable is the diversity of these suspected bacteria. J.W . Schopf reports finding no less than eleven different kinds so far--and our planet was only a few hundred million years old at the time the Apex chert was formed. Schopf's discoveries generate at least three questions: How could life have originated and diversified to such an extent in just a few hundred millions years? Why after such rapid diversification did these microorganisms remain essentially unchanged for the next 3.465 billion years? Such stasis, common in biology, is puzzling. If these microorganisms are really cyanobacteria, they would have released oxygen to the atmosphere. Is the standard assumption that the earth's atmosphere lacked oxygen until 2.2 billion years ago correct? (Schopf, J. William; "Microfossils of the Early Archean Apex Chert: New Evidence of the Antiquity of Life," Science, 260:640, 1993. Also: Pendrick, D.; "Fossils Show Early Diversity of Life," Science News, 143:276, 1993.) From Science Frontiers #88, JUL-AUG 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... two years ago .. ., one of us (R .E .L .) noticed an anomalous alignment of oblong rimmed depressions (4 km x 1 km) on the otherwise featureless farmland of the Pampas of Argentina. We argue here, from sample analysis and by analogy with laboratory experiments, that these structures resulted from lowangle impact and ricochet of a chondritic body originally 150-300 m in diameter." There are ten gouges in all, strung out along 50 kilometers. The scars are young, perhaps only a few thousand years old, well within the time of human habitation. Schultz and Lianza also found pieces of meteoritic rock and glassy fragments of impact melt. (Schultz, Peter H., and Lianza, Ruben E.; "Recent Grazing Impacts on the Earth Recorded in the Rio Cuarto Crater Field, Argentina," Nature, 355:234, 1992. Also: Monastersky, R.; "Meteorite Hopscotched across Argentina," Science News, 141:55, 1992.) Comments. Note the similarities to the much more numerous Carolina Bays. See ETB1 in our catalog: Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds, Submarine Canyons. For ordering information, see: here . More recently, doubts have been raised concerning the meteoric origin of these scars. From Science Frontiers #80, MAR-APR 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 87: May-Jun 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Late Survival Of Mammoths Many a sensational article has been written about how the Siberian mammoth population was deep-frozen by a sudden climate change due to a shift in the earth's poles or some other catastrophic event circa 10,000 years ago. But now, Russian scientist A. Sher and two colleagues claim that a dwarf version of the wooly mammoth survived on Wrangel Island, 120 miles off the Siberian coast until about 3,700 years ago. The Wrangel Island dwarf mammoths stood only about 2 meters high and weighed 2 tons. The British mammoth expert, A. Lister, said he was not really surprised at this discovery, because many islands supported dwarf versions of mainland animals during the Ice Ages. (Crenson, Matt; "A Mammoth Discovery," Dallas Morning News, p. 22A, March 25, 1993. Cr. L. Anderson. Also: Bower, B.; "' Dwarf' Mammoths Outlived Last Ice Age," Science News, 143:197, 1993.) Comment 1. If the full-size Siberian mammoths really met their demise because of a catastrophic climate change, how did the dwarf mammoths occupying the same region escape? Comment 2. Lister's remark about other dwarf island inhabitants brings to mind the dwarf elephants of Santa Rosa, off the Californian coast, which apparently were the main course in early human feasts. But, curiously, island isolation also ...
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... tricks of vision. Their meteor-like behavior suggested that perhaps these events might be caused by clouds of exceedingly small meteoroids, visible only because of their numbers and compact grouping. Because such a formation would be unlikely to be maintained long in space, it appeared necessary that the particles involved must have maintained some weak physical contact until just prior to becoming visible. Perhaps some type of 'cosmic dust bunny,' disrupted by air resistance, might be the cause of these events." These moving patches of light also resemble the "auroral meteors" cataloged under GLA3 in Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights. Physically, they might be related to the small, icy comets postulated by L.A . Frank to account for the transient "holes" seen in satellite ultraviolet images of the earth. (See SF#60 and #72 for more.) (Gallagher, John S.; "Diffuse Luminous Objects Having Angular Velocities Similar to Meteors," Strolling Astronomer , 36:115, 1992. Cr. P. Huyghe) References. The above phenomenon is cataloged in AYO8 under "Nebulous Meteors" in our book: The Sun and Solar System Debris. Ordering information for this book and Lightning, Auroras (mentioned above) may be found here . From Science Frontiers #86, MAR-APR 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... of stalactites and stalagmites. Within its "walls" they found a piece of burnt bear bone that was later carbondated as at least 47,600 years old. A burnt bone and a geometrical structure certainly suggest the work of an intelligent creature, as does the site's great distance from the surface. Torches would have been a necessity that far in. That 47,600-year figure, though, presents a problem. The first Cro-Magnons didn't filter into western Europe until about 35,000 BP. According to the accepted anthropological schedule, only those subhuman Neandertals inhabited that part of France in 47,600 BP. So, we must conclude that the Neandertals knew well the sophisticated use of fire. They also had enough curiosity to venture deep into the earth, where for some unknown purpose they piled together an enigmatic structure. All this also seems to require more information transfer than possible with a few "ughs"! (Balter, Michael; "Cave Structure Boosts Neandertal Image," Science, 271:449, 1996) There is always the possibility that those mysterious Cro-Magnons, who seem to have appeared out of nowhere, got to western Europe ahead of schedule. They are probably the artists who made those 31,000-year-old cave paintings at Grotte Chauvet in southern France. Even though of slighter build and smaller brains, the Cro-Magnons are thought to have quickly replaced the Neandertals. Complicating the picture is abundant fossil evidence of so-called "archaic" Homo sapiens in Europe commencing some 500, ...
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... habitats?...Are these microorganisms directly descended from bacteria that were trapped during the formation of the oil, or accompanied its migration through tens to hundreds of millions of years? Did they arrive in the oil field later as a consequence of aquifer activity? What is their mode of maintenance and development in their environment?" (Magot, Michel; "Similar Bacteria in Remote Oil Fields," Nature, 379:681, 1996) Comment. Bacteria have also been extracted from mineral-charged fluids circulating in drill holes over 12 kilo meters deep and also in deep aquifers. There must be an unexplored universe of life thriving not only beneath our feet but also - quite possibly - beneath the forbidding surface of Mars. Reference. Examples of life thriving at great depths in the earth may be found in ESB9 in our catalog: Anomalies in Geology. For a description of this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #105, MAY-JUN 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 90: Nov-Dec 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Alien Meteors Meteors or shooting stars are usually considered to be small fragments that have been broken off the asteroids plying orbits between Mars and Jupiter. If this belief is correct, meteors darting into the earth's upper atmosphere would have speeds less than 260,000 kilometers per hour. Any objects with significantly higher velocities must come outside the solar system. It has, therefore, been unsettling to find that quite a few meteors hit our atmosphere at speeds much higher than 260,000 km/hr. Radar measurements of 160,000 meteors by A. Taylor and colleagues, at a New Zealand site, found that about 1% (1500 meteors) struck the atmosphere with velocities greater than 350,000 km/hr. These speedsters must come from beyond the solar system. The question arising is: Whence all this interstellar debris? One hint comes from the fact that the aliens appear to come from the direction in which the sun and its family of planets are traveling through interstellar space. Evidently, this interstellar medium is far from a vacuum; it is strewn with flotsam and jetsam -- but from what smashed planets, moons, and asteroids? (Samson, Alan; "Radar Traps Visitors from Outer Space," Dominion Sun Times (Wellington), April 25, 1993. (Cr. P. Hassall) From Science Frontiers #90, NOV-DEC 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. ...
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... its own. As in biological Darwinism, these are the "selected" universes. Some universes may fail to reproduce at all. Thus, with the help of small mutations occurring during each bounce, the metauniverse and its constituent universes are evolving like biological life -- but towards what? (Gribbin, John; "Evolution of the Universe by Natural Selection?" New Scientist, p. 22, February 1, 1992.) Comments. There do seem to a few black holes in our own universe (the Milky Way), perhaps many of them. So, universes like ours could well be highly successful in the cauldron of cosmological evolution. Since life and humans are possible in our type of universe, humanity seems to be favored not only by the evolutionary forces existing on earth but also by those permeating the metauniverse. What we do not know is: (1 ) Whether other life forms (or entities) are even more favored in their universes; (2 ) Whether meta-metauniverses exist; and (3 ) Who or what is "Master of the Show." Whoever or whatever evidently plies its trade at the molecular level, too. See "Mutant Molecules" at the end under PHYSICS & CHEMISTRY. From Science Frontiers #81, MAY-JUN 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 90: Nov-Dec 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Einstein Questioned Aberration: The apparent angular displacement of the position of a celestial body in the direction of motion of the observer, caused by the combination of the velocity of the observer and the velocity of light. ( McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms ) An Abstract. Stellar aberration, discovered nearly three centuries ago by Bradley, was immediately recognized as a phenomenon owing to the velocity of the earth in its orbit around the sun. Einstein provided an explanation of aberration in his famous 1905 paper using his new relativity theory, and his explanation remains essentially without modification in many modern textbooks. Herein, we show that his explanation is very much in disagreement with measurement. (Hayden, Howard C.; paper to be published in Galilean Electrodynamics , vol. 4, no. 5, 1993.) A Comment. The essence of Prof. Hayden's main argument is that, if stellar aberration depended on the relative velocity between source and observer (as Einstein maintained), then each component of a spectroscopic binary star would have drastically different stellar aberration, contrary to observation. (Van Flandern, Tom; Meta Research Bulletin, 2:29, 1993.) From Science Frontiers #90, NOV-DEC 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Odd Growths Found On Satellite We cautiously classify the following phenomenon as "biological," although it might well be inorganic in nature -- perhaps something akin to "whisker growth" seen in metals under some conditions. "Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are scratching their heads over how a tiny patch 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 . ...
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... 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 different angles with respect to the magnetic field when they were illuminated by either short (about 450 nm) or long-wavelength light (about 500 nm). When tested under 475-nm light ...
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... probing of the depths. Three specific surprises are worth mentioning: Temperatures in the drill hole rose far faster than predicted. The expected boundary (" suture") between two old tectonic plates thought to exist at 3 km according to surface geology had not yet appeared at 7.5 km. Most interestingly, crevicular structure (crevices and pores) existed at almost all depths, even though theory said they could not because of intense pressures. And these voids were filled with fluids. P. Keher, a KTB scientist, was amazed at what the drill found: "When I started 25 years ago, the idea was that the deeper you go into the crust, the drier it gets." (Kerr, Richard A.; "Looking -- Deeply -- into the Earth's Crust in Europe," Science, 261:295, 1993.) Comment. Deep-living bacteria were not mentioned in the above article, but Soviet scientists claim to have pumped them up from 12 km down! Outer space may not be our final frontier despite the introductory blurb to Star Trek! From Science Frontiers #90, NOV-DEC 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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 Fluid Injection Causes Luminous Phenomena "The first recorded sighting of earthquake lights (EQL) dates from 373 BC in Greece. The same report mentions extensive underground rivers, but it has taken over 2300 years and the development of statistical methods to suggest a connection among fluid pressure, earthquakes, and geophysical luminosities. Many of the sightings are treated as mystical experiences, depending on local cultural values. In Denver and Rangely, Colorado, and Attica, New York, these sightings correlate with earthquakes and injection of fluid into the earth for waste disposal or secondary oil recovery. In the New Madrid, Missouri, area, luminosities are highly correlated with flooding on the Mississippi River and tend to occur 9 months after high water. Enough luminosities, and radio emissions in the ULF band, are observed weeks to months before earthquakes to suggest that they be tested as a possible forecasting tool for the select places where they occur. The pattern of occurrence may delineate the progress of tectonic strain and so indicate the direction or even location of a future epicenter. Fluid moving through developing cracks may be the source of electrical energy which powers the EQL. A number of potential mechanisms should be considered, involving tectonic strain, exoelectron emission, streaming potential, EM excitation of water droplets, and the fault zone as an EM waveguide." (Derr, John S., and Persinger, Michael A.; "Fluid Injection Causes Luminous Phenomena," ...
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... 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 Un Oggetto Misterioso April 22, 1966. Genova and Novi di Modena, Italy. We have just learned of this "mysterious object." Translation provided by P. Cortesi. "Near the star Alfa Hydrae (see illustration) appeared a perfect bright sphere, about 5 apparent diameter; it became largest in a few seconds, then it grew thinner and appeared like a line. In 45 minutes, its brilliance diminished progressively, and it disappeared at the western horizon. "From astronomical observations by some amateur astronomers were calculated the following data: The object's altitude was between 600 and 650 kilometers above the earth's surface; at its biggest dimension, the object was 95 kilometers wide; it was over the Mediterranean Sea, in a place between Algiers and the Balearic Islands. "No astronomer was able to explain the phenomenon, and the university astronomical review Coelum denominated it 'un oggetto misterioso' (a mysterious object)." (Anonymous; Coelum , 34:36, May-June 1966. Cr. P. Cortesi.) From Science Frontiers #88, JUL-AUG 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 90: Nov-Dec 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Lines Of Maser Spots Masers work like lasers, except they radiate microwaves instead of visible light. Natural masers have been found in the atmospheres of both earth and Mars as well as in interstellar space. They form in space when electromagnetic radiation falls upon dense molecular clouds, which then reradiate the energy at frequencies characteristic of the molecules, Armed with radio telescopes, astronomers can "see" masers as bright spots (" maser spots") in the radio sky. R. Norris and J. Whiteoak et al, at the Australia Telescope National Facility, while surveying just 16 regions of the Milky Way between 5,000 and 30,000 light years, detected a dozen intense methanol masers (6 .7 -12.2 gigahertz) arranged in lines. Early thinking is that these maser spots decorate the discs of gas clouds surrounding nascent stars. In other words, maser spots could be protoplanets. Given the small area of the sky sampled by Norris and Whiteoak, maser spots may be very common. (Dayton, Leigh; "Microwaves May Mark Position of Protoplanets," New Scientist, p. 16, July 10, 1993.) Questions. Whence all this interstellar methanol? And where does it all go when the protoplanets coalesce into planets? Could these molecular clouds also contain those other organic compounds necessary for the creation and development of life? If so, we can speculate that life may originate often and ...
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... , Richard A.; "Magnetic Ripple Hints Gaspra Is Metallic," Science, 259: 176, 1993.) At the low end of the density spectrum, we now find that Pluto's moon, Charon, and some of Saturn's moons have very low densities (1 .2 -1 .4 ), meaning they are probably mostly water ice. Such density figures come from direct observation of these objects' volumes combined with mass estimates from their orbital dynamics. (Crosswell, Ken; "Pluto's Moon Is a Giant Snowball," New Scientist, p. 16, November 21, 1992.) Comment. How did this curious mix of ice and iron objects originate? Did some ancient collision demolish a planet with an iron core (like the earth"s ) and an icy exterior? From Science Frontiers #86, MAR-APR 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... ten times more energy than any other burst ever observed. It was one hundred times stronger than any known constant source of gamma rays. Even so, careful searches with ground-based telescopes found nothing visible in the direction of the burst. Scientist B. Dingus remarked: "It's clear that it is unique event that liberates more energy in a few seconds than any other process in the Universe." Gamma-ray bursts remain one of the outstanding mysteries of astronomy. The depth of the mystery is underscored by the belief that the gamma rays must be confined to a narrow beam by their sources, rather than being emitted in all directions. No one knows how this focussing might be accomplished. Also, since we detect only those bursts that happen to be aimed at the earth (at a rate of about one per day), there should be a colossal number of bursts that we are unaware of. Yet, we cannot divine what these common, immensely powerful energy sources are. (Kiernan, Vincent; "Blasted by a Beam Weapon on the Edge of Space," New Scientist, p. 13, May 8, 1993.) From Science Frontiers #88, JUL-AUG 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The karoo: the greatest vertebrate graveyard In SF#104, we mentioned a vast bone bed consisting mainly of fish remains. Now, an exchange of letters in a creationist journal gives us the opportunity to present a few facts about a giant bone bed of terrestrial vertebrate fossils: the Karoo Supergroup of southern Africa. The point being discussed by the creationists is the source of the estimated 800 billion vertebrate fossils contain ed in the Karoo deposits. Whence this astronomical number of mainly swampdwelling reptiles? And whence the immense volume of sandstones and shale that contains their bones? The Genesis Flood model favored by creationists requires that all 800 billion animals be drowned at the same time and swept into South Africa and fossilized. But, they ask themselves, could the entire earth ever have supported so many swamploving reptiles at the same time? Is the Flood model threatened? (Froede, Carl R., Jr.; "The Karoo and Other Fossil Graveyards: A Further Reply to Mr. Yake," Creation Research Society Quarterly, 32:199, 1996. A response by Bill Yake followed this letter.) Comment. The figure of 800 billion fossils appears in several authoritative works, although concern is expressed about its magnitude and assumptions employed in calculating it. Once thing that is certain is that the Karoo deposits are immense and packed with bones. Even after decades of fossil collecting, bones are still sticking out of the ground. Composed mainly of sandstones and shales deposited in shallow water, the Karoo can be 20,000 feet thick. The ...
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... 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 Will earth's rings return?" In the past, the Earth had a ring system just like Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, according to a Danish astronomer. He has gone so far as to say that our planet boasted rings on 16 separate occasions in the past 2800 years. "Kaare Rasmussen of the National Museum in Copenhagen carried out a survey of all reports of meteorite falls, fireballs and showers of shooting stars from 800 BC to 1750 AD. He then carried out a statistical analysis of the data. He discovered that there were many distinct periods of intense activity." Rasmussen found that the active periods, during which he believes a ring existed about the earth, began with a peak of high meteoritic activity as the ring formed, as a consequence of the earth's capture of a comet or asteroid. This was typically followed by a decrease of activity indicating ring stability. Finally, the ring broke up as its particles were decelerated by the earth's upper atmosphere, leading to another peak of activity. Thus, the plot of me-teorite activity is U-shaped, as in the figure, with the bottom of the U a bit higher than the normal background. (Gribbin, John; "Will the Earth's Rings Return?" New Scientist, p. 19, April 6, 1991.) From Science Frontiers #76, JUL-AUG 1991 . 1991- ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 68: Mar-Apr 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Quiet sun: violent earth When R.B . Stothers, at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, decided to look into the possible correlation of solar activity and terrestrial volcanism, he fully expected to find no connection at all. After all, what force generated by small changes in the sun's output could stir up the earth's magma from a distance of 93 million miles? Stothers was surprised. "Stothers analyzed two immense catalogs, published in the early 1980s, that list more than 55,000 known eruptions since the year 1500. Concentrating on several hundred of the moderate-to-large eruptions, he found statistically significant patterns in eruption frequency that match the solar cycle. Eruptions seemed most numerous during the weakest portions of the solar cycle." Further, there was a 97% confidence that the correlation was not a statistical accident. The only cause-and-effect explanation offered by Stothers was negative and indirect. During periods of abundant sunspots, increased solar emissions jar the earth's atmosphere slightly. Communicated to the crust, these slight taps trigger tiny earthquakes that relieve stresses beneath volcanos, thus delaying their eruptions until solar acitivity dies down. Not especially convincing! (Anonymous; "Volcanos on Earth May Follow the Sun," Science News, 137:47, 1990.) Comment. Down the years, many scientists and laymen have tried to correlate sunspots and earthquake frequency ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 69: May-Jun 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Gravity-defying gyros come down to earth It didn't take long for physicsts to rush into their labs to repeat the Japanese gyroscope experiments. The thought that a spinning mass might lose weight was just too horible to contemplate. Two replications of the Japanese experiment have been reported so far. "James E. Faller and his colleagues at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics in Boulder, Colo., repeated the Japanese experiment by looking for signs of weight loss in a spinning gyroscope consisting of a brass top about 2 inches in diameter sealed in a small plastic chamber. 'We conclude that within our experimental sensitivity, which is approximately 35 times larger than needed to see the effect reported...there is no weight change of the type...described.'" (Anonymous; "An Absence of Antigravity," Science News, 137:127, 1990. Cr. F. Hanisch) "Now T.J . Quinn and A. Picard of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Sevres Cedex, France, have repeated the experiment. They find changes in the apparent mass of their gyroscope that depend on the speed and sense of rotation, but they amount to only about 5 per cent of the effect reported by Hayasaka and Takeuchi." (Anonymous; "Experiments Weaken Japanese Gyro Claim," New Scientist, p. 32, March 3, 1990.) The French scientists think ...
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... Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Continuity At The Conrad Discontinuity From the study of seismic waves, geophysicists have determined that between 7.5 and 8.6 kilometers below the surface there exists a clear-cut "discontinuity." Practically speaking, this means that above this layer seismic waves travel at a markedly different velocity than they do below it. This discontinuity is so widespread, occurring beneath all of the continents, that it has received a special name: the Conrad Discontinuity. Ordinarily, a geophysicist would expect to find a significant change in rock type when drilling through such a strong discontinuity. It was widely expected that, at the Conrad Discontinuity, drillers would find the granitic rocks typical of the continents changing suddenly into basalt, which is thought to make up the lower reaches of the earth's crust. However, when Soviet drills pierced the Conrad Discontinuity below the Kola Peninsula, they found no such switchover to basalt at all. In fact, they hadn't even found it when they penetrated to 12 kilometers. This was a shocker. Now, no one knows what the Conrad Discontinuity represents. It doesn't signal a change in rock type; neither is there a fault or boundary of any kind. It is important to find out what is wrong here, because much of modeling of the unseen structure of the earth's crust depends upon a realistic interpretation of seismic records. (Monastersky, Richard; "Inner Space," Science News, 136:266, 1989.) Reference. Large-scale structural anomalies of the earth's ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 78: Nov-Dec 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Terraforming Mars The concept of terraforming a planet is an old standby of science fiction; it is the process by which a technologically advanced race manipulates the surface and atmosphere of an uninhabitable planet so that it becomes inhabitable. We humans know to our dismay that we have the capacity to modify the earth's environment, but could we perhaps exercise better judgment and terraform Mars? C.P . McKay et al have looked into this possibility: "From our analysis, one could propose the following sequence of events: production of CFCs (or other greenhouse gases) starts on Mars and the surface temperature warms up by about 20 K. The regolith and polar caps release their CO2 and the pressure rises to 100 mbar. One of two things could then happen. If there were large regolith and polar CO2 reservoirs, the pressure would continue to rise on its own. If these were absent, the CO2 pressure would stabilize, and additional CO2 would have to be released from carbonate minerals. At this point (perhaps between 100 and 105 years) Mars may be suitable for plants. If there was a mechanism for sequestering the reduced carbon, these plants could slowly transform the CO2 to produce an O2-rich atmosphere in perhaps 100,000 years. If sufficient N2 could also be released from putative soil deposits, and the CO2 level kept low enough, then a human- breathable atmosphere could be produced. (McKay, ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 69: May-Jun 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Megawalls Across The Cosmos "The universe is crossed by at least 13 vast 'walls' of galaxies, separated by about 420 million light years, according to a team of British and American researchers. The walls seem to be spaced in a very regular way that current theories of the origin of the universe cannot explain." "Walls" of galaxies emerge when galaxy separation distance is plotted against the number of galaxies possessing specific separation distances. (128 million parsecs = 420 million light years). The astronomers have collected observations of galaxy redshifts along a linear "borehole" through the universe 7 billion light years long centered on the earth. If the redshifts are assumed to be measures of distance (as mainstream thinking demands), one gets the clumping effect seen in the accompanying illustration. (Henbest, Nigel; "Galaxies Form 'Megawalls' across Space," New Scientist, p. 37, March 19, 1990.) Comment. Not mentioned in the above article are the papers by W.G . Tifft on quantized redshifts. (See SF#50, for example.) It will be interesting to learn if "boreholes" pointed in other directions will encounter the same megawalls. If they do, the earth will be enclosed by shells of galaxies, much as some elliptical galaxies are surrounded by shells of stars. Wouldn't it be hilarious if the earth were at the center of these concentric ...
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... Frontiers ONLINE No. 79: Jan-Feb 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Martian Riddle Adaptation of J. Channon's sketch of the "Face on Mars" emphasizing its similarities to the Sphinx. (From: Pozos, Randolfo Raphael; The Face on Mars , Chicago, 1986, p.50) Once again we return to cold, desertlike Mars, which still clings to a thin, oxygen-less atmosphere and where, some say, the artifacts of a long-dead intelligent race may be seen. A livable Mars in past eons is not a physical impossibility. Some scientists argue that Martian geological and geochemical data: ". .. are consistent with past conditions on Mars that were favorable to earth-like life forms: Abundant liquid water and an atmosphere that was dense and warm, and possibly rich in oxygen." That life -- intelligent life -- once thrived on Mars is suggested by photos taken of the Martian surface by Viking spacecraft: "Images of the surface of Mars showing, at several sites what appear to be three carved humanoid faces, of kilometer scale, and having similar anatomical and ornamental details between all three. Appearing with these objects are numerous other objects and suface features that resemble Earth-like archaeological ruins, of a Bronze Age culture, with no evidence of advanced technology or civilization." The Martian faces, pyramids, and cities are the foundation of the Cydonian Hypothesis: "That Mars once lived as the Earth now lives, and that ...
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... 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 Mercury: the impossible planet Mercury, largely hidden in the sun's glare, also conceals beneath its baked, cratered surface: (1 ) far more iron than solar-system theory allows; and (perhaps) (2 ) a dynamo that should not exist. Let us take the excess-iron problem first. Mercury's density is 5.44 (compared to earth's 5.52), so that it very likely contains much iron. Our moon, which resembles Mercury in size and external appearance, only has a density of 3.34, implying an altogether different origin. In the currently accepted theory of solar-system formation, all of the planets and their satellites condensed from a primordial disk of dust sur rounding the just-formed sun. The planets closer to the solar inferno lost more of their easily vaporized constituents due to the sun's heat. The cooler, outer planets were able to retain large amounts of ices. In this scenario, we would expect Mercury to be rich in iron and rocks. This seems to be the case, but it has too iron to fit the theory. Astronomers have tried to save the theory by supposing that a large asteroid sideswiped Mercury tearing off part of its outer layer of lighter rocks, leaving the heavier iron core untouched. The theory doesn't say what happened to the debris from this colossal collision. As for Mercury ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 74: Mar-Apr 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Gaia on mars?H.L . Helfer, University of Rochester, noting the absence of extensive cratering on the northern plains of Mars, suggests that some 2-3 .5 billion years ago these plains were covered with oceans. These ancient seas, perhaps as much as 700 meters deep, protected the plains from direct impacts. Further, crater density counts for Chryse and the Martian highlands imply that Mars possessed a fairly dense atmosphere until about 1.5 billion years ago. In his Abstract Helfer speculates as follows: "With both early Earth and early Mars having similar atmospheric compositions and not too dissimilar atmospheric structures, it is reasonable to suppose that the warm Martian oceans, like the ancient oceans of Earth, would develop anerobic and aerobic photosynthesizing prokaryotes and structures like stromatolites. Their development might have changed the Martian atmosphere. Their fossils might be found along the fringes of the old oceans, the northern lowland plains." (Helfer, H.L .; "Of Martian Atmospheres, Oceans, and Fossils," Icarus, 87:228, 1990.) Comment. The Gaia influence is seen in the molding of the Martian atmosphere into something more conducive to the development of life. One can also speculate that, if life did develop on Mars, it could have seeded the earth via bits of debris blasted off by meteorite impacts. Several meteorites picked up in Antarctica are thought to have come from Mars ...
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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 Mercury's polar caps and icy minicomets Mercury, closest planet to the sun, should be baked bone dry, seeing that equatorial temperatures reach 800 F. When Mariner 10 flew past Mercury in 1974, its camera eye reinforced the baked-cinder model. To everyone's surprise, recent radar images obtained with powerful earth-based antennas, revealed a highly reflective patch at Mercury's north pole. Could it be ice, for ice reflects radar waves well? Quite possibly, for when Mercury's polar temperatures are calculated, away from the sun's direct glare, they plunge to -235 F. This means that some of the water vapor in the planet's thin atmosphere might freeze out in the poles, creating ice or frost caps. Wouldn't Mariner 10 have seen such a remarkable deposit? Not necessarily, for the spacecraft viewed only half the planet and, if the 640 x 300-kilometer ice patch were covered with dust, it could have been invisible to the camera. But it would still be a bright patch on terrestrial radar scopes, because radars see through thin dust layers. So, polar ice is not physically impossible on Mercury, although it is defi nitely surprising so close to the sun. All that is needed is a little water in the planet's atmosphere. Mainstream thinking is that "passing comets and asteroids" might bequeath Mercury some of their H2O ...
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... the ambient magnetic field and orienting themselves. Similar bacteria have recently been discovered living in ordinary soil in Bavaria. It is near-certain that they will now be found just about everywhere. J.W .E . Fassbinder et al, who reported the Bavarian bacteria, conclude their Abstract with: "We suggest that the magnetic bacteria and their magnetofossils can contribute to the magnetic properties of soils." (Fassbinder, Jorg W.E ., et al; "Occurrence of Magnetic Bacteria in Soil." Nature, 343:161, 1990.) Comment. It is easy to reach great heights of speculation given the facts that: (1 ) magnetic bacteria exist; (2 ) bacteria in general are exceedingly abundant; and (3 ) bacteria are found deep inside the earth's crust and, seemingly, just about anywhere one cares to look. Now, let's see how ridiculous one can get: Magnetic bacteria and/or their fossils contribute heavily to the magnetic properties of sedimentary rocks and unlithified sediments, such as deep-sea sediments. In fact, magnetostratigraphy and paleomagnetism in general may be based upon bioartifacts and be suspect. Magnetic bacteria and/or their fossils are present in such immense numbers deep in the crust that they contribute significantly to the earth's magnetic field. They "might" even be responsible for most of it, including its his torical behavior. Magnetic bacteria, as agents of Gaia, actually constructed the earth's magnetic field for the specific purpose of erecting a shield against space radiation, and thereby allowing ...
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... much smaller "microtektites" appear in deapsea de posits in the adjacent oceans. Radiometric and fission-track dating indicate that the tektites solidified about 700,000 years ago. Yet, their geological age, as measured by the age of the terrestrial sediments in which they are found, is only a few thousand years. This great disparity in age engendered a confrontation between geologists and geophysicists. The latter insisted on their 700,000-year figure; the former said "maybe so" but the tektites are still found only in very young, superficial sediments. The point here is that time-of-solidification may not be the same as time-of-fall. At stake is the prevailing theory, now dogmatically proclaimed, that tektites are created when a large asteroid impacts the earth, ejecting molten droplets of rock which shower back to earth as solidified tektites. No one has ever found a suitably large crater ( 200 miles in diameter) assignable to the Australasian tektite strewn field. Nevertheless, the impact model prevails; and the young geological age of the tektites is dismissed as erroneous. A Soviet scientist, E.P . Izokh, has recently proposed a radically different scenario that would produce both the young and old dates. If a moon, or Jupiter, or some similar body, explosively ejected the glassy tektites, embedded in an icy cometary body some 700,000 years ago, the tektites could, after cruising through space for millenia, have fallen to earth recently and over a wide area. Thus, both geologists and geophysicists would be satisfied! ( ...
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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 Black gold -- again The Siljan Ring and T. Gold are back in the news again. A few years ago, at Gold's instigation, private investors and the Swedish govenment put up money to drill for oil and gas at the Siljan Ring, some 200 kilometers northwest of Stockholm. This granitic region is a meteor-created, shattered scar on the earth's crust. It is in just such a spot that Gold expects to find abiogenic petroleum and methane seeping upward from deep inside the earth, where they have resided since the earth was formed. Con-ventional petroleum geologists have roundly ridiculed the Siljan Ring project; after all, everyone knows that oil and gas derive from buried organic matter. Three years ago, at a depth of 6.7 kilometers, the "misguided" Swedish drillers pumped 12 tons of oily sludge from the granite rock. "Just drilling fluids and diesel-oil pumped down from the surface," laughed the experts. This autumn (1991), more oil was struck in a new hole only 2.8 kilometers deep. This time, only water was used to lubricate the drill. How are the skeptics going to explain this? Well, about 20 kilometers away, there are sedimentary rocks; perhaps the oil seeped into the granite from there. Rejecting this interpretation, the drillers are going deeper in hopes of finding primordial methane. (Aldhous, Peter; ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 73: Jan-Feb 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Win $2000: challenge einstein H. Hayden and P. Beckmann are offering $2000 to anyone who can cite, not necessarily perform, an experiment proving that light travels westward at the same velocity that it travels eastward on the earth's surface (to an accuracy of 50 meters/second). If the speeds are indeed the same, then Einstein's assumption that the speed of light is the same in all directions regardless of the motion of the observer will be proven. Then skeptical scientists like Hayden and Beckmann, will rest easier. But suppose the east and west velocities of light are different? Then Special Relativity would collapse. Hayden and Beckmann do not dread this at all. In fact, they (and others) point out that some of the vaunted experimental "proofs" of Special Relativity can be explained in other ways. For example: (1 ) The bending of starlight passing close to the sun can easily be accounted for using Fermat's Law; and (2 ) The advance of Mercury's perihelion was explained by P. Gerber, 17 years before Einstein's 1915 paper on the subject, using classical physics and the now accepted assumption that gravity propagates at the speed of light. As for the famous Michelson-Morley experiment, Michelson (an unbeliever in Relativity) believed that he and Morley failed to detect ether drift because the ether was entrained with the earth as ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 68: Mar-Apr 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Impact Delivery Of Early Oceans Where did the earth's oceans come from? For decades the stock answer has been: from the condensation of vapors escaping from the planet's cooling crust; that is, "outgassing." The possibility that some terrestrial water might have ar rived from extraterrestrial sources after the earth's formation has been discounted. The major reason behind this neglect was the expectation that the erosive effects of large-scale impacts of water-carrying comets and asteroids would preclude any net accumulation of volatiles, and could even reduce any existing inventories of surface water. C.F . Chyba has recently reexamined this question of cometary water influx vs. impact-caused water losses using the latest estimates of comet/asteroid fluxes during the period between 4.5 and 3.5 billion years ago, when bombardment of the inner solar system was thought to be especially severe. Rather than the expected net loss, Chyba computes that the earth would really have gained more than 0.2 - 0.7 ocean masses in that billion-year period. Venus would have fared equally well, but Mars, more sensitive to impact erosion, would have accreted "only" a layer of water 10-100 meters deep over the whole planet! (This Martian water is now mostly below the surface supposedly.) (Chyba, Christopher F.; "Impact Delivery and Erosion of Planetary Oceans in the Early ...
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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 We Live Atop A Chemical Retort Far down there beneath our feet, the earth's chemicals are bubbling away, aided often by bacteria and other life forms. It's a dark world, but it's also hot, permeated by fluids, and possibly the abode of organisms we haven't dreamed of. Three hints of this nether world follow. Quick oil. Rather than ripening in deep strata for millions of years, as per prevailing theory, some oil is being created in only a few thousand years in the vicinities of ocean-bottom chimneys. Dimesized oil globules have been sighted floating near these chimneys. Analysis of chunks broken off the chimneys by research submersibles reveal the presence of petroleum-like hydrocarbons that are less than 5000 years old. It is thought that high-temperature fluids percolating up through the sediments convert buried organic matter into oil very rapidly. (Monastersky, R.; "The Quick Recipe for a Soup of Black Gold," Science News, 136:295, 1989.) Comment. Not mentioned in this article is T. Gold's theory that oil is actually derived from primordial carbon deep in the crust. Gassy water. Some water wells in Texas also produce much methane. This methane is apparently not related to any oil or gas wells in the region. Rather, surmise has it that bacteria deep in the crust are converting buried organic material into methane and ...
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... 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 Chemical surprises at the k-t boundary The presence of high iridium concentrations at the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K -T ) boundary, some 65 million years ago, has led to the widely accepted notion that an extraterrestrial projectile slammed into the earth at that time, wreaking geological and biological havoc. But the K-T boundary is anything but simple chemically and paleontologically. To illustrate, J.L . Bada and M. Zhao have found unusual amino acids in sediments laid down before and after this geological time marker. "They find that Danish sediments spanning the narrow boundary layer contain two amino acids, alpha-aminoisobutyric acid and isovaline, that are relatively uncommon in biological materials but abundant in the organicrich meteorites. They suggest that the body which collided with Earth 65 million years ago and left the telltale iridium residue may have been organic-rich, perhaps like a C-type asteroid or a comet. Such a possibility has interesting implications for the extinction and related atmospheric effects, and supports the idea that impact events could have supplied the Earth during a much earlier period with the raw materials for organic chemical evolution." Actually, the above quotation is pretty much in line with present mainstream thinking. Perhaps so, but Bada and Zhao identified two troubling anomalies. First, the amounts of amino acids found were surprisingly high. How could these complex molecules survive the searing temperatures engendered by high-velocity impact? Second ...
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... 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 The Gruyerizaton Of Switzerland An impressive and equally inexplicable variety of the cookie-cutter holes has been reported in Switzerland. In these excavation phenomena, all the material removed from the holes has disappeared instead of being translated intact and set down gently nearby. "The Swiss holes were first observed in 1972. They always occur at night and no one has ever seen them forming. They are circular, drilled deep into the earth, and are created by the total removal of vegetation and soil. A large fleet of lorries would be needed to move the quantities of earth involved, but there are no vehicle marks around the holes. The grass and plants around them exhibit none of the minor damage which would inevitable be caused by any normal process of drilling. The holes have all been excavated directly from above, at an angle of 90 degrees to the surface." Six Swiss holes have been reported from the environs of Lake Geneva. The two largest are at Begnins (December 17, 1982; 18 feet across, 24.5 feet deep) and Confignon (February 3/4 , 1990; 33 feet across, 40 feet deep). Obviously, we are not dealing with minor earth-moving operations here. (Anonymous; "The Gruyerization of Switzerland," The Cerealogist , no. 3, p. 26, Spring 1991. The Cerealogist is a British publication focussing on the crop-circle phenomenon.) ...
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... 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 Subterranean "circles"As if we didn't have enough problems with crop circles on the earth's surface, it now seems that whatever agency (or "entity") that is responsible for them also plies its craft underground! "Sets of concentric rings, similar to those found last summer in British wheat fields, have been discovered in a Japanese subway tunnel. .. .. . "Many sets of concentric rings were found drawn in dust that accumulated on the ground and walls inside the tube. The metro versions of the mystery circles are much smaller -- up to 8 centimeters in diameter -- than the British ones, the largest of which measures scores of meters." Y. Otsuki, a professor of physics at Waseda University, discovered the rings and believes that plasma generated in the air creates them. Subway tunnels, he says, create conditions similar to those in the plasma generators he uses in his fireball research. A photo of the rings accompanying the article shows six neatly-formed, concentric rings around a central crude circle. (Anonymous; "' Mystery Circle' Found in Tunnel," Asahi Evening News (Tokyo), April 5, 1991. Cr. Y. Matsumura via L. Farish) Speculations. Apparently, plasmoids can be of any size: crop circles may be 100 feet in diameter of just a foot or two, and now we may have centimeter ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 71: Sep-Oct 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects WHAT'S ANOTHER DIPOLE OR TWO?" Planetary exploration by deep space probes in recent years has shown that the dipole moment of some mag netized planets has a surprisingly large inclination angle with respect to the rotation axis. It is argued that the inclined dipole thus obtained may not be physically realistic. Applying the method we have developed for the source surface magnetic field of the sun (a spherical surface of 2.5 solar radii), it is suggested that the main dipole of the earth and the magnetized planets is actually axial (the magnetic moment is parallel or antiparallel to the rotation axis), and that two or three smaller dipoles near the core surface are responsible for the apparent inclination of the main dipole." (Akasofu, S-I ., and Saito, T.; "Is the Earth"s Dipole Actually Inclined with Respect to Its Rotation Axis?" Eos, 71: 490, 1990.) Comment. In SF#70, we see that the magnetic field of Uranus is inclined a whopping 60 to its axis of rotation. Can a few, small additional dipoles distort the main field so much? And just what are these small dipoles anyway -- physically and electrically? From Science Frontiers #71, SEP-OCT 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... mainstream science thinks of them, UFO observations continue to pile up -- by the tens of thousands! In fact, like the crop-circle events, UFO reports are increasing in number and strangeness. It doesn't matter that the UFOs and their alleged occupants may be physically real. There are tens of thousands of people who think that they have observed something strange -- even after all hoaxes and misinterpretations of natural phenomena have been culled out. Most of those who are willing to accept UFOs as valid phenomenon think they are real hardware piloted by extraterrestrials. J. Vallee, a computer scientist and prolific writer on the subject, demurs, and he gives five reasons why: "( 1 ) Unexplained close encounters are far more numerous than required for any physical survey of the earth; (2 ) The humanoid body structure of the alleged 'aliens' is not likely to have originated on another planet and is not biologically adapted to space travel; (3 ) The reported behavior in thousands of abduction reports contradicts the hypothesis of genetic or scientific experimentation on humans by an advanced race; (4 ) The extension of the phenomenon throughout recorded history demonstrates that UFOs are not a contemporary phenomenon; and (5 ) The apparent ability of UFOs to manipulate space and time suggests radically different and richer alternatives." If not extraterrestrial hardware, what are the UFOs? Vallee has three suggestions: (1 ) they are "earth lights" a la P. Devereux; that is, an unappreciated terrestrial phenomenon that impresses mental images on the minds of observers; (2 ...
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... 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 Heavy bombardment of southeast asia 700,000 years ago Tektites are found all over much of Australasia -- an immense area. The tiny, often-illustrated teardrop- and button-shaped tektites clearly seem to have been formed when an extraterrestrial object smashed into the earth, melted terrestrial rock and soil, and splashed the fluid droplets over thousands of kilometers of Australia and Southeast Asia. Solidifying in flight, these par-ticles fell by the millions. Aerodynamically sculpted Australasian tektite But another type of tektite is also found in Southeast Asia. These are the layered or Muong-Nong tektites, which are not aerodynamically sculptured. They come instead in large, irregular masses, 3-20 centimeters thick, weighing up to 24 kilograms. Their layered appearance is thought to result from flow and stirrings as they solidified in small pools of melted rock and soil splashed from nearby impact craters. These irregular chunks of solidified melt could not have traveled great distances like their streamlined brothers. They lie at most only a few crater diameters from their parent craters. Since layered tektites are found over an area 800 x 1140 kilometers in extent, and they are not far-travelers, Southeast Asia must have been peppered with many small cosmic projectiles 700,000 years ago (the disputed age of the event). Whereas geologists have been searching diligently for a single huge crater (perhaps 100 kilometers in diameter) to explain the Australasia strewn field, ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 71: Sep-Oct 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Pennsylvanian time-scale problems The advent of radiometric dating seemed to solve once and for all the problem of assigning dates to the key events in the earth's history. Indeed, all of the reference books confidently label charts with firm dates for the appearance of fishes, the demise of the dinosaurs, and so on. Alas, things are not quite as certain as they appear. Radiometric dating is not all that precise; errors may be large indeed. Take the Pennsylvanian period for example. It is part of the Carboniferous period, when many of the great coal deposits were laid down. The classical duration of the Pennsylvanian -- used in many texts -- is 34 million years. A meticulous new study of central European stratigraphy now pegs the Pennsylvanian as spanning only 19 million years. Now that's a 44% change! This new figure for the duration of the Pennsylvanian has already cast doubt on the origin of the famous Pennsylvanian cyclothems (repetitive strata) in North America. It had been thought that these seemingly cyclic deposits were correlated with sea level changes forced by variations in the earth's orbit (the Milankovitch periods). With this substantial compression of Pennsylvan-ian time, this correlation falls apart. The cyclothems, which are of impressive area and thickness, now seem to have been created by some other, still unrecognized phenomenon. (Klein, George deV.; "Pennsylvanian Time Scales ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 75: May-Jun 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The first food: tholin "You've just had a hard day evolving into the first life-form on your primitive planet, and you're ready to chow down. Problem: What can you eat? A quick survey of the food chain isn't promising; you're it. Do you simply starve to death, ending your world's brief experiment with life? Not if a rust-colored substance called tholin is within reach. Tholin may have served as breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the first life on Earth." The tholins are hard, red-brownish substances made of complex organic compounds. They do not exist naturally on earth, because our present oxidizing atmosphere blocks their synthesis. However, tholins can be made in the lab by subjecting mixtures of methane, ammonia, and water vapor to simulated lightning discharges. Conditions like this probably exist many places in the universe. In fact, the icy moons of the outer solarsystem planets appear ideal places for tholin manufacturing. What would eat such stuff? Lab tests show that many kinds of bacteria love it and thrive on it. (Chaikin, Andrew; "First Foods," Discover, p. 18, February 1991.) Comment. A purposeless universe that just happens to create a substance for primitive life? Strange that things should be this way! From Science Frontiers #75, MAY-JUN 1991 . 1991 ...
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