Science Frontiers
The Unusual & Unexplained

Strange Science * Bizarre Biophysics * Anomalous astronomy
From the pages of the World's Scientific Journals

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About Science Frontiers

Science Frontiers is the bimonthly newsletter providing digests of reports that describe scientific anomalies; that is, those observations and facts that challenge prevailing scientific paradigms. Over 2000 Science Frontiers digests have been published since 1976.

These 2,000+ digests represent only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The Sourcebook Project, which publishes Science Frontiers, also publishes the Catalog of Anomalies, which delves far more deeply into anomalistics and now extends to sixteen volumes, and covers dozens of disciplines.

Over 14,000 volumes of science journals, including all issues of Nature and Science have been examined for reports on anomalies. In this context, the newsletter Science Frontiers is the appetizer and the Catalog of Anomalies is the main course.


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Compilations of back issues can be found in Science Frontiers: The Book, and original and more detailed reports in the The Sourcebook Project series of books.


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Search results for: evolution of flight

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8 results found containing all search terms.
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... BBB35 Siblicide BBB36 Information Processing in Migratory Behavior BBB37 Uncommon Groupings of Birds BBB38 Flock Synchrony BBB39 Flight Formations BBB40 Avian "Courts" and "Funerals" BBB41 Avian Graveyards BBB42 Huddling and Stacking BBB43 Bird Battles BBB44 Miscellaneous Curiosities of Avian Behavior BBC CHEMICAL PHENOMENA BBC1 Palatable Eggs More Vulnerable to Predation BBC2 Conspicuous Plumage Advertises Unpalatability BBC3 Why Did Stinking Birds Evolve? BBC4 Poisonous Birds and Poison Dart Frogs: Convergent Evolution? BBC5 Are Ratites More Primitive Than Flying Birds? BBC6 Did Australian Songbirds Evolve Earlier than European Songbirds? BBC7 Are Birds More Closely Related to Mammals Than to Reptiles? BBC8 The Inability of Some Birds to Synthesize Ascorbic Acid BBD DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS IN SPACE AND TIME BBD1 Discontinuous Populations of Birds BBD2 Uncolonized Areas: Unfilled Niches BBD3 Land Birds Observed Far at Sea BBD4 Late Survival of Moas and ... Other Species and the Environment BBA31 Remarkable Convergences of Appearance and Habits BBA32 Frightmolt BBA33 The Hollow in the Back of the Young Common Cuckoo BBB AVIAN BEHAVIOR BBB1 Avian Intelligence BBB2 Complexity and Sophistication of Avian Mental Processes BBB3 Enigmas of Instinct BBB4 Anomalous Altruism: Hard to Find BBB5 The Aesthetic Sense in Birds BBB6 Calculated Deception: Birds That Cry "Wolf" BBB7 Avian Play BBB8 Anomalous Aerial Tumbling and Erratic Flight BBB9 Leks: Why Did They Evolve? BBB10 Cooperative Displays on Leks BBB11 Enigmatic Dancing, Flying, Singing BBB12 Anting BBB13 "Hangers"; Upside-Down Birds BBB14 Curious Automatisms BBB15 Handedness (" Footedness") in Birds BBB16 Unusual Aerial Transportation Techniques BBB17 Unusual Forms of Terrestrial Locomotion BBB18 Unusual Hunting Strategies BBB19 Cooperative Hunting BBB20 Prey-Handling Puzzles BBB21 Avian Prey and Food: Some Misconceptions ...
Terms matched: 2  -  Score: 375  -  15 May 2017  -  URL: /cat-biol.htm
... Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Are fruit bats primates?The profound differences between the fruit bat (megabats) and echo-locating, insect-eating bats (microbats) were mentioned above. The primate-like eye-brain system of the fruit bats suggests two possibilities: 1. Primitive bats first developed flight and then the fruit bats developed their primate-like eye-brain systems through "convergent evolution"; or 2. The fruit bats inherited their eye-brain system from closely re lated primates and then developed flight through "convergent evolu tion." R.D . Martin, a physical anthropologist and author of this article, has reviewed the morphological characteristics of the fruit bats and primates. On this basis, he doubts that the fruit bats are pri-mates. Furthermore, ... : Jul-Aug 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Are fruit bats primates?The profound differences between the fruit bat (megabats) and echo-locating, insect-eating bats (microbats) were mentioned above. The primate-like eye-brain system of the fruit bats suggests two possibilities: 1. Primitive bats first developed flight and then the fruit bats developed their primate-like eye-brain systems through "convergent evolution"; or 2. The fruit bats inherited their eye-brain system from closely re lated primates and then developed flight through "convergent evolu tion." R.D . Martin, a physical anthropologist and author of this article, has reviewed the morphological characteristics of the fruit bats and primates ...
Terms matched: 2  -  Score: 200  -  15 May 2017  -  URL: /sf046/sf046p09.htm
... 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 Fossil Feathers Fly A. Feduccia's cartoon of the bug-catching phase of bird evolution Our alliterative title is apt on two counts: (1 ) Recent research on the famous Archaeopteryx fossils suggest that this animal could indeed fly and was arboreal rather than terrestrial; and (2 ) The paleontologists and ornithologists are still fighting (sometimes emotionally) over how Archaeopteryx fossils should be interpreted. The scientific acrimony centers on whether this ancient bird really evolved from small theropod dinosaurs. Prevailing theory has it that these dinosaurs first evolved feathers to keep warm and then used their feathered "arms" to help capture insects, and so on, with ... aimless flapping, to the attainment of true flight. A rival, officially frownedupon theory has it that birds evolved from tree-dwelling reptiles that evolved feathers to break their falls while jumping from branch to branch! [Somehow, neither theory strikes a realistic chord. Why couldn't feathers have evolved solely for the purpose of flight? Answer: because evolutionists cannot countenance purpose in nature. WRC] One reconstruction of Archaeopteryx. There is a remarkable superficial resemblance to the living South American hoatzin. Young hoatzin even sport claws on their wings. Anyway, the latest fusillade in the Archaeopteryx wars was fired by A. Feduccia in Science. Feduccia demonstrated that the claws of Archaeopteryx are sharp and curved like those of modern arboreal birds and quite unlike either terrestrial birds or theropod dinosaurs. In concluding ...
Terms matched: 2  -  Score: 181  -  15 May 2017  -  URL: /sf087/sf087b06.htm
... " eyebrain connection. This deep division in the bat family -- mega/micro, vegetarian/carnivorous, sight-dependent/echolocating -- suggests that mammal flight has developed at least twice. (Pettigrew, John D.; "Flying Primates? Megabats Have the Advanced Pathway from Eye to Midbrain," Science, 231: 1304, 1986.) Reference. The problems of bat evolution can be found at BME1 in our catalog Biological Anomalies: Mammals II. Ordering information here . From Science Frontiers #45, MAY-JUN 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 2  -  Score: 176  -  15 May 2017  -  URL: /sf045/sf045p08.htm
... Project Sourcebook Subjects Feathered Flights Of Fancy Some more salvos have been fired in an endlessly fascinating controversy (at least it is that to us). First, F. Hoyle and C. Wickramasinghe, hardly strangers to these columns, have published Archaeopteryx, The Primordial Bird: A Case of Fossil Forgery. The book elaborates their theory that the Archaeopteryx fossils, much ballyhooed as "proofs" of evolution, are outright forgeries. Second, T. Kemp, a zoologist on the staff of the University Museum, has returned the fire with a mean-minded review. He states that Hoyle and Wickramasinghe "exhibit a staggering ignorance about the nature of fossils and fossilization processes." Kemp concludes his review with an admission that the possibility of forgery should indeed be investigated. "But it should ... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 50: Mar-Apr 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Feathered Flights Of Fancy Some more salvos have been fired in an endlessly fascinating controversy (at least it is that to us). First, F. Hoyle and C. Wickramasinghe, hardly strangers to these columns, have published Archaeopteryx, The Primordial Bird: A Case of Fossil Forgery. The book elaborates their theory that the Archaeopteryx fossils, much ballyhooed as "proofs" of evolution, are outright forgeries. Second, T. Kemp, a zoologist on the staff of the University Museum, has returned the fire with a mean-minded review. He states that Hoyle and Wickramasinghe "exhibit a staggering ignorance about the nature of fossils ...
Terms matched: 2  -  Score: 176  -  15 May 2017  -  URL: /sf050/sf050p17.htm
... particular frogs plummet to earth in uncontrolled, unchecked free fall after (presumably) being lofted by whirlwinds. But there are frogs that are aerodynamically more sophisticated; these creatures glide and parachute through the dense tropical forests. S.B . Emerson and M.A .R Koehl have inquired into (even resorting to models in wind tunnels) the morphological and behavioral changes that have accompanied the repeated evolutions of these airworthy amphibians. "This paper reports an examination of the shift from aboreal to 'flying' frogs where we evaluate the the aerodynamic performance consequences of both a behavioral and morphological change. 'Flying' frogs have evolved independently several times among the 3,400 species of anurans. Although the particular nonflying sister species to each flying form remains unknown, in all cases flyers are distinguished ... related, nonaerial, aboreal frogs by a similar suite of morphological characters: enlarged hands and feet, full webbing on the fingers and toes, and accessory skin flaps on the lateral margins of the arms and legs. 'Flying' frogs are not capable of powered flight, but do travel considerable horizontal distances during vertical descent. They are technically classified as gliders because they can descend at an angle less than 45 to the horizontal. Interestingly, aboreal frog species lacking particular morphological specializations (= nonflying frogs) drop from vertical heights as well. These animals descend at glide angles greater than 45 and are, by definition, parachuting." (Emerson, Sharon B., and Koehl, M.A .R .; "The Interaction of Behavioral and Morphological Change in the Evolution of ...
Terms matched: 2  -  Score: 172  -  15 May 2017  -  URL: /sf076/sf076b08.htm
... across, swept free of nebulosity." Feibelman rules out photographic effects, such as halation, but has no ready explanation for socket stars. M.W . Castelez (Allegheny Observatory) has added to the mystery by pointing out that many socket stars show excess infrared emission. He considers this strong evidence that socket stars are surrounded by shells of dust and may represent an unrecognized stage of stellar evolution. (Anonymous; "Socket Stars," Sky and Telescope, 79:476, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #70, JUL-AUG 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 2  -  Score: 152  -  15 May 2017  -  URL: /sf070/sf070a03.htm
... biologists doubt that springtails should be classified as true insects. In any event, these ancient springtails are considered too specialized to be the ancestors of modern winged insects. The next insects in the fossil record appear suddenly in the Upper Carboniferous (300 million years ago) with fully developed wings. There exists an embarrassing 50-million-year gap between the fossil springtails and the more specialized insects. Evolution requires that this gap be filled with many random experiments at insect construction, including the first attempts at fashioning wings. Whalley admits the gap and the total mystification of paleontologists about how insects and biological flight first developed. Perhaps, he surmises, wings may have been the natural extrapolation of flap-like outgrowths required for body cooling. Random mutations would have added the muscles needed to orient the ... and move them to improve circulation! (Whalley, Paul; "Derbyshire's Darning Needle," New Scientist, 78:740, 1978.) From Science Frontiers #5 , November 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 2  -  Score: 152  -  15 May 2017  -  URL: /sf005/sf005p10.htm

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