128 results found.
... 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 Flashy Fish The Amazonian angel fish, popular in aquariums, employs a Star Wars-like weapon in battling invaders of its territory. The flat sides and silvery scales of this species make highly efficient mirrors. These fish have learned how to maneuver their bodies so as to reflect bright flashes of sunlight directly into the eyes of their opponents. These intense bursts of light are often enough to burst blood vessels in the eyes of the target fish -- sometimes even stunning it. Pairs of Amazonian angel fish have been observed flitting about in "light-fights" as they attempt to zap each other and avoid optical counterattacks. (Anonymous; Creation/Ex Nihilo , 21:7 , March-May 1999. Attributed to Sydney Morning Herald , October 13, 1998.) Comments. The use of light as an offensive weapon is reminiscent of those dolphins that stun their prey with powerful pulses of sound. Creation/Ex Nihilo is an Australian Creationist publication. It is easy to see why creationists focus on these lightfighting fish. Their weapons required the coevolution of flat sides, silvery scales, and the complex instinctive behavior needed for orienting their bodies relative to both the sun and their opponents. From Science Frontiers #123, MAY-JUN 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 125: Sep-Oct 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Tyrannies Of The Tiny Because we cannot see them with the naked eye, we tend to forget that the earth's atmosphere, its oceans, and the solid crust to unknown-but-great depths are colonized in profusion by minute biological entities -- mainly bacteria and viruses. Only when we get the flu or infected finger do these entities impinge upon our consciousness. Below we will learn that there are many more of them than you think. Do viruses control the oceans? You may avoid the beaches after you learn that one teaspoon of seawater typically contains 10-100 million viruses and onetenth that many bacteria. Obviously, most are harmless to humans. However, the viruses do infect the bacteria and phytoplankton, destroying them, and thereby releasing their nutrients. By doing this, they keep the oceans' biological engines running. Further, the viruses act as genetic engineers as they transfer DNA from one individual to another. The oceans may be viewed as vast test tubes in which biodiversity is maintained by teeming, invasive viruses. (Suttle, Curtis A.; "Do Viruses Control the Oceans?" Natural History, 108:48, February 1999.) We are only 10% human! The average human body contains 100 trillion cells, but only 1 in 10 of these cells is your own. The remaining 90% are bacteria. These alien organisms coat your skin and pave your inner passageways from mouth ...
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... A Pre-Archaeopteryx Bird? BBE4 Unresolved Nature of Archaeopteryx BBE5 The Apparent Absence of Transitional Forms of Feathers BBE6 Fossils of Ostrich Ancestors in the Northern Hemisphere BBE7 Controversial Feathers of the London Archaeopteryx Fossil BBE8 Giant Fossil Eggs BBF BODILY FUNCTIONS BBF1 The Avian Respiratory System: Unique, Complex, Sophisticated BBF2 Avian Bodily Functions: Some Oddities BBG GENETICS BBG1 Species mtDNA More Diverse Than Morphology BBG2 Discordance in the Date of Divergence of Modern Birds BBG3 Discordances between Phylogenies Established from Morphology and DNA Analysis BBG4 Dearth of Introns in Birds BBI INTERNAL STRUCTURES AND SYSTEMS BBI1 Avian Magnetoreceptors: Hard to Find BBI2 Curious Internal Structures BBO ORGANS BBO1 Complexity and Sophistication of Some Owl Ear-Brain, Sound-Localization Systems BBO2 Regeneration of Brain Neurons BBO3 Curiosities of Avian Brains BBO4 The Pecten: A Unique Structure in the Avian Eye BBO5 Curiosities of Avian Eyes BBO6 High Complexity and Sophistication of the Avian Eye BBO7 Remarkable Tongue Adaptations BBO8 The Loss and Reduction of Reproductive Organs BBT UNUSUAL TALENTS AND FACULTIES BBT1 Infrasound and Atmospheric Pressure-Change Detection BBT2 Utility of Ultraviolet Vision in Birds BBT3 Echolocation: Parallel Evolution in Birds BBT4 Navigational Feats during Migration BBT5 Homing: Release Experiments BBT6 Curious Migration Phenomena: Navigation Errors? BBT7 Complexity and Sophistication of Avian Navigation BBT8 Inheritance of Migration Data BBT9 The Existence of Avian Migration BBT10 Sensitivity to Impending Weather and Earthquakes BBT11 Possible Unrecognized Senses BBT12 Remarkable Feats of Flight BBT13 The Origin of Avian Flight BBT14 Unanswered Questions Concerning Flightlessness BBT15 Some Curiosities of Avian Flight BBT16 Deep-Diving Capabilities BBT17 Vocal Mimicry in Birds BBT18 Birds That Vocally Mimic Only in Captivity BBT19 Vocal Mimicry of Hosts by Parasitic Species BBT20 ...
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... ANTHROPOLOGY MAA PHYSICAL APPEARANCE Polynesian Features Not Asian Blond Eskimos White Africans White Indians in Panama (San Blas, Darien Tribes) Welsh Indians Mandan Origin Red-Haired Nevada Indians Redmen in Africa and Madagascar Amerinds in China White Indians in New Mexico and Northwest Bearded Indians in Brazil Semitic New Guineans Ainu Origin Yellow race in Africa Living Neanderthals [BHE, Human-Neanderthal Hybrids] Chinese Characteristics of the Maya Asamanukpai: the Gold Coast Dwarfs The Maya Sacral Spot [BHA] New World Dwarfs Samurai Origin Whites in Polynesia Melungeon Origin Maoiri Origin Pre-Maori New Zealanders Polynesians in South America Long-Ears on Easter Island, the Maldives, and Elsewhere Whites in the Maldives Beothucks: Norse in Newfoundland? White Inca Aristocracy Toltecs: Carthaginian Origin? Basque Origin Sea Peoples Origin Berbers with Blond Hair, Blue Eyes White Pygmies in Paraguay Guanche Origin Blacks in America [MGT, Olmec Stone Heads] Titans: Who Were They? MAC CUSTOMS, GAMES Similarity of Jewish and Zulu Customs Asian Customs in Central and North America Polynesia (Maori) Customs in South and Central America Neanderthal Burials Money-Cowrie in New World Chinese Customs of the Maya Aztec Backgammon Africans in South America Board-Game diffusion MAD BIOCHEMISTRY Maori Blood-Group Anomalies Blood Types and Diffusion: Global Anomalies Zuni Blood-Type Enigma DNA: Out-of-Africa Theory DNA and New World Settlement Polynesian DNA in New World DNA and Human-Diffusion Anomalies Basque DNA Differences Polynesia/Easter Island Biochemical Anomalies Japanese DNA in South America African DNA in China DNA and Polynesian Origins MAF FOSSILS, MUMMIES, CORPSES American Extinction of Megafauna Denied Grooving ...
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... GWS2 Correlation of Lunar Phase and Thunderstorms GWS3 Thunderstorms Correlated with Solar Activity GWS4 Effects of Meteors on Weather GWS5 Correlations between Solar Activity and Weather GWS6 Influence of Lunar Phase on Atmospheric Ozone GWS7 The Lunar Temperature Effect GWS8 Purported Effect of the Planets on the Weather GWS9 Comets and the Weather Eclipse Wind Stratospheric Winds Correlated with Solar Activity Weather Correlated with the 18.6 -Year Cycle GWT THE IDIOSYNCRACIES OF TORNADOS AND WATERSPOUTS GWT1 The Tornado as an Electrical Machine GWT2 Burning and Hydration during Tornados GWT3 Tornados and Waterspouts with Horizontal Funnels GWT4 Multiwalled Waterspouts GWT5 Anomalous Historical Incidence of Tornados GWT6 Reversal of Rotation in Waterspouts GWT7 Pranks of the Tornado GWT8 Tornado Incidence Correlated with Magnetic Variation GWT9 Landspouts or Dustspouts GWT10 Waterspouts between Clouds GWT11 Forked Waterspouts GWT12 Abnormally Thin Waterspouts GWT13 Waterspout Funnel-Knots GWT14 Bull's -Eye Squalls Destructive Downbursts (Microbursts) Tornados Correlated with Automobile Traffic GWW WHIRLWINDS AND DUST DEVILS GWW1 Explosive Onset of Whirlwinds GWW2 Pranks of Whirlwinds and Dust Devils GWW3 Steam Devils GWW4 Electrical Properties of Whirl winds and Dust Devils GWW5 Energetic Miniature Vortices Aircraft Trailing Vortices Whirlwind Families 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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... the Japanese people in general, for the latter take great pride in their Jomon heritage. Complicating this picture is the fact that analysis of Jomon skeletons suggest that the Jomon did not closely resemble most modern Japanese. "Instead, they had features that made them look more like Caucasians and they seem to have resembled the Ainu, an ethnic group that still lives in tiny numbers in northern Japan. In the museum here in Aomori, Japanese tourists wandered by exhibits about the Jomon and gazed affectionately at pictures of what their Jomon ancestors are believed to have looked like -- even though the only one in the room who looked much like the pictures was an American." The Japanese population, in fact, is not as homogeneous as advertised. The natives of northern Japan tend to have rounder eyes, more body hair, and wider faces; that is, more of the Jomon characteristics. In the south, the Japanese have more Korean and Chinese characteristics. (Kristof, Nicholas D.; "Out of the Mist Looms, Maybe, the First Japanese," New York Times International , April 2, 1999. Cr. M. Colpitts.) Comment. From this starting point at Aomori, our tour moves north past Hokkaido, where remnants of the mysterious Ainu still hang on, to the Kuril Islands. From Science Frontiers #124, JUL-AUG 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... was discovered by Army officer Zhao Guobiao in a desert region of Yugur autonomous county, it said." Unpowered vehicles, too, are said to roll up this mysterious slope, just as they seem to at Spook Hill, Florida, and many other places. (SF#99 and earlier) Physics professor Fang Xiaoming from Lanzhou University, who investigated the phenomena, speculated that geomagnetism or changes in air pressure might explain the contrary flow of the water!! (Anonymous; "Water Flows Uphill on Gansu Slope," Singapore Sunday Times , November 8, 1998. Cr. C. Ginenthal) Comments. The gravity-defying phenomena at Spook Hill and all "magnetic vortices" that have been carefully investigated are definitely illusory. The road at Spook Hill slopes downward despite what our eye-brain computer tells us. Also pertinent is the uphill flow of water in irrigation channels. A sight to be seen in the American west. Of course the water loses some kinetic energy in the process. From Science Frontiers #125, SEP-OCT 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 122: Mar-Apr 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A REALLY MEANINGFUL COINCIDENCE "When Valdimir Gusiyev [a pseudonym] walked his dog each morning, he took a shine to a young woman he saw taking her small son to a nursery. The got talking, and within months the three were living together. "Then friends began to comment on how little Misha was the splitting image of his new father, and the local optometrist remarked that the boy had inherited his minor eye condition. Their words set Mr. Gusiyev's mind racing -- and apparently led to the discovery that there really was a family resemblance. He had fathered the child by donating sperm at the local fertility clinic in the town of Yaroslav." Gusiyev's new girl friend was a divorcee who had been married to an impotent man. She and her former husband had agreed to the artificial insemination before their divorce. A likely story? Genetic fingerprinting proved that Gusiyev was indeed the father of the child. As for the happy ending, Gusiyev and girl friend were soon married. (Blundy, Anna; "Fatherhood Takes on New Meaning for Sperm Donor," London Times, December 31, 1998. Cr. A.C .A . Silk.) From Science Frontiers #122, MAR-APR 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 4: July 1978 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Stone Alignments in Subsaharan Africa Good-bye to the Bimini Wall and Road? Astronomy What Caused the Grooves on Phobos? A New Cosmic Heresy Biology The Four-eyed Fish Sees All A Sinuous Line of Sea Snakes Geology Echo Sounder Outlines Strange Patches Over Underwater Peaks Is the Earth A Giant Methane Reservoir? Geophysics Bioluminescence and Spurious Radar Echoes Curious Patches of Light on the Horizon Meteoric Night-glow Psychology Out-of-the-body Traveller Exerts No Influence Category X South of the Bermuda Triangle ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 14: Winter 1981 Supplement Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The China Syndrome in Archeology Ancient Camp Found 40 Feet Below Colorado Surface Astronomy Venus: Highly Radioactive Or Just Cooling Down? Radial Spokes in Saturn's Rings There's More Than Gold in the Kolar Mines Biology Beetles Make Scents Eyes of Deep-sea Fish Have Spare Parts Worms with Inside-out Stomachs Geophysics More Phosphorescent Boomerangs Do Lightning Channels Accelerate Matter? The Most Identical of Identical Twins Does the Moon Really Faze People? Psychology Innate Knowledge ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 21: May-Jun 1982 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Strange Megalithic Monuments in the Central Sahara The Hueyatlaco Dilemma More on Those Chinese Anchors in California Waters Astronomy The Earth's Other Moons Flattened Sun Means Trouble for Einstein Natural Lasers in the Terrestrial and Martian Skies? Magnetic Tune Played on Saturn's Rings Biology Don't Build Von Neumann Machines Artificial Panspermia on the Moon Geology Bull's Eye Pattern of Magnetic Anomalies What's Ok in the Mediterranean is Verboten in the Atlantic and the Pacific Geophysics Anomalous Sky Flash Psychology Oh Magic, Thy Name is Psi ...
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... do what they're told A few people can dream and, in their dreams, know that they are dreaming, and then take charge of their dreams, directing them to unfold according to their wishes. This all sounds occultish, to say nothing about far-fetched. It is called "lucid dreaming." F. van Eeden, a Dutch psychiatrist, defined lucid dreaming in this way: ". .. the reintegration of the psychic functions is so complete that the sleeper reaches a state of perfect awareness and is able to direct his/ her attention, and to attempt different acts of free volition. Yet the sleep, as I am able confidently to state, is undisturbed, deep and refreshing." Lucid dreams are real dreams. They occur during REM (Rapid Eye Movements) sleep, usually in the early morn ing, and they last 2-5 minutes. High levels of physical and emotional activity during the preceding day can encourage lucid dreaming. When lucid dreaming occurs, there are pauses in breathing, brief changes in heart rate, and changes in the skin's electric potential. There is even a recipe for triggering lucid dreaming. If you awake from a normal dream in the early morning, wake up fully but don't forget the dream. Read a bit or walk about, then lie down to sleep again. Imagine yourself asleep and dreaming, rehearsing the dream from which you awoke, and remind yourself: "Next time I'm dreaming, I want to remember I'm dreaming." Lucid dreaming, it ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 101: Sep-Oct 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Dragon fish see red Most fish that make a living in deep, dark ocean waters have eyes that are most sensitive to the blue part of the sun's rays (470-490 nanometers). These are the rays that penetrate to the greatest depths in the sea. This adaptation to blue light means that deepsea fish have evolved visual pigments different from those of surface fish and land animals. Visual pigments are complex chemical compounds, and one must suppose that many, many random mutations took place before deepsea fish were able to manufacture visual pigments different from their relatives living near the surface. (Or did deepsea fish come first?) But there is more to this story. Many dwellers in the black abysses generate their own light. They sport bioluminescent organs so they can be seen by others of their own species and, in addition, illuminate prey for easier capture. In another remarkable example of evolutionary convergence, these bioluminescent organs emit light spectrally matching the eye sensitivity of deepsea fish! So far, though, this story is not any more amazing that many others woven into evolution's fabric. But suppose that a deviant species of deepsea fish upset this cosy status quo by evolving visual pigment and bioluminescent organs operating in a part of the electromagnetic spectrum that other deepsea fish could not perceive. It would be as if this species had radar but the others did not! Well, three genera of dragon fish do ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 99: May-Jun 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects When Scents Make No Sense A kestrel (sparrow hawk) with ultra-violet-sensitive eyes and an appetite for voles (below) A vole is hard to see in its grassy habitat, but it leaves behind an ultra-violet-dark urine trail for the kestrel (above). The universe of voles -- small, mouse-like rodents -- is one of odor. They communicate with one another and navigate through their world of grass and vegetation by laying down trails of scent-laden urine. The world of kestrels -- eaters of voles -- is one of sight. Now, voles are hard to see in the grass far below a hunting kestrel, but evolution has come to the aid of the kestrels by giving them the capability to see in the ultra-violet portion of the spectrum. Can it be only coincidence that the urine trails of the voles happen to absorb ultra-violet light strongly? Kestrels can see these trails as dark streaks in the grass below and zero in on their prey. Finnish scientists, led by E. Korpimaki at the University of Turku, have demonstrated the above ultraviolet connection by somehow acquiring enough vole urine to lay out artificial trails in voleless areas. Sure enough, hunting kestrels were attracted to the experimental site and searched and searched the artificial vole highways -- volelessly. (Aldous, Peter; "Vole's Urine Is Their Downfall," ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 101: Sep-Oct 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The algorithmic beauty of seashells Most will admit that many seashells are pretty, but how did all those colors and geometrical markings arise? Perhaps a more profound question is: Why do sea-shells need to be pretty in the first place? After all, most (but not all) of the shell owners do not have eyes with which to appreciate their handiwork! However, mathematicians and computer modellers do have eyes. They have also had a lot of fun and some success in devising algorithms (mathematical methods) for the generation of seashell markings. In fact, our title above is also the title of a new book by H. Meinhardt, which suggests how a suite of simple biochemical processes can create those shells coveted by collectors. Meinhardt has devised equations that describe chemical factors that turn pigment-generating cells on and off. In its simplest form, a mathematically modelled seashell is a two-dimensional sheet that grows along only one edge. Cells on this edge may or may not secrete pigment depending upon chemical "influences." B. Hayes describes how this sort of model operates: The triangular pattern on Cymbiola innexa suggests the presence of a "global control element" that turns the pigment-secreting cells on and off in the correct order -- something like a computer-controlled loom! "Given this generating mechanism, some shell patterns are easy to understand. A series of vertical stripes -- that ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 95: Sep-Oct 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects This was the big one, but where did it come from?October 15, 1991. American Southwest. Photomultipliers in the Fly's Eye telescopes 100 kilometers southwest of Salt Lake City recorded the havoc wrought in the upper atmosphere by the most energetic cosmic-ray particle ever measured. When this tiny subatomic particle slammed into air molecules, the ensuing debris caused the surrounding atmosphere to fluoresce. The amount of light produced indicated that this cosmic ray had an energy of 3 x 1020 electron volts -- that's equivalent to the energy of a bowling ball dropped from waist level. Now that's a lot of energy for a subatomic particle! Because cosmic rays normally lose energy as they collide with photons in their cosmic wanderings, astrophysicists believe that "the big one" had to have a recent, nearby origin in order to still be so energetic. But no one has any idea where it could have come from or how it might have acquired so much energy. Somewhere out there in nearby space there may be a natural particle accelerator orders of magnitude more powerful than our biggest earthbound atom smashers. (Anonymous; "The Deepening Mystery of Cosmic-Ray Origins," Sky and Telescope, 87:12, May 1994.) Comment. Actually, the source of "the big one" need not have been nearby and recent. All anomalists will recognize that this is an assumption based upon the particle ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 106: Jul-Aug 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Looking Up Into A Tornado Funnel January 21, 1992. Near Cripple Creek, Colorado. Shortly after 2 PM, while fishing at Skagway Reservoir, D. Mc Gown spotted an ominous cloud formation developing in the west. A horizontal, black cloud rolled toward him. Suddenly, it lifted to reveal a huge, twisting funnel advancing directly at him. He threw himself to the ground, but got a good look up into the interior of the funnel. "The outside of the tornado was spinning so fast my eye couldn't follow it, but the inside was rotating almost lazily. I could see a thousand feet up inside it. Tiny fingers of lightning lined the hollow tube." Passing over him, the funnel bounced across the lake, ripped up some trees, and was gone. (McGown, Dennis; "Letters," Time, 147: 8, June 10, 1996) Comment. The "tiny fingers of lightning" are of great interest to anomalists, because most meteorologists deny that electricity plays any part in tornado activity. Of course, there is often plenty of ordinary lightning in the accompanying storms. An observation very similar to McGown's occurred in Kansas, in 1928. (GLD10-X2 in Lightning, Auroras. For information on this book, visit here .) Today, American meteorological journals are mostly filled with articles on the computermodelling of weather systems, satellite-imaging ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 95: Sep-Oct 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Blondes In Ancient China Authorities on ancient Chinese civilization have usually considered it to have been completely isolated from European influences for millennia -- a homegrown culture characterized by unique cultural and technological innovations. This classical picture of ancient China will have to be modified after the recent unearthing of mummified Caucasians up to 4,000 years old in China's northwestern province of Xinjiang. These dried corpses have the long noses, deep-set eyes, and long skulls typical of Caucasians. Some even have blonde hair! Some 113 such corpses have already been excavated at Qizilchoqa, one of four sites discovered so far. It is clear that we are dealing with permanent settlements and not merely a few lost Europeans. "Besides the riddle of their identity, there is also the question of what these fair-haired people were doing in a remote desert oasis. Probably never wealthy enough to own chariots, they nevertheless had wagons and well-tailored clothes. Were they mere goat and sheep farmers? Or did they profit from or even control prehistoric trade along the route that later became the Silk Road? If so, they probably helped spread the first wheels and certain metal-working skills into China." V. Mair, a professor of Chinese at the University of Pennsylvania, has been spearheading the research on these mummies for the U.S . He asserts that, contrary to the general belief, there was a substantial two- ...
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... later in Canada and Alaska, carried thousands of miles by prevailing currents. Well, it's happened again. This time, eleven steel containers fell off a cargo vessel in the North Pacific near the International Dateline. The containers released 29,000 bath toys: duckies, turtles, froggies, and beavers. Ten months after the spill (January 10, 1992), the first yellow duckies washed ashore in Canada. These spills are useful in charting ocean currents but, except for wry Fortean content, are of little import to anomalists. However, there is one prediction of the computer models that is worth noting: Some of these bath toys may make it through the Bering Strait, across the Arctic Ocean, down past Greenland, and onto Atlantic shores. So, keep your eyes open at the beach! (Anonymous; "Rubber Ducky Armada Crosses Pacific," Science News, 146: 254, 1994. Carlton, Jim; "Tub Toys Are Ducky Ocean Researchers," Wall Street Journal, September 30, 1994. Cr. J. Covey) From Science Frontiers #97, JAN-FEB 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... on a 3,000mile voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti in a way we might call "psychic.". In the doldrums, the sky is often overcast and the seas leaden, expunging the usual cues. This particular navigator, Nainoa Thompson, entered the doldrums on a black night, with 100% cloud cover. The wind was switching around and the waves cueless. Nainoa's own words were: "It was like I just got so exhausted that I just backed up against the rail, and it was almost as if, and I don't know if this is completely true, but there was something that allowed me to understand where the direction was without seeing it. And it was almost like when I just gave up fighting to try to find something with my eyes. I just settled down and then all of a sudden it was like this warmth came over me...When I sat back and leaned against the rail, I felt this warmth come over me and all of a sudden I knew where the moon was. But you couldn't see the moon it was so black, and then I directed the canoe with all this total confidence at a time when I had already convinced myself prior to the voyage that I would have no confidence in knowing where to go. And I turned the canoe to this particular direction, got things lined up, felt very, very comfortable in this cold, wet, rough environment and then there was a break in the clouds and the moon was there." (Finney, Ben; ...
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... -- in a sense visually resurrecting the lost limb. In this way, scientists can explore the effects of vision upon the multitude of very strange "phantom-limb" phenomena reported by amputees. V.S . Ramachandran et al have described some of their findings in Nature. "Nine arm amputees were studied. A tall mirror was placed vertically on the table, perpendicular to the patient's chest, so that he could see the mirror reflection of his normal hand 'superimposed' on the phantom. In the first seven patients, when the normal hand was moved so that the phantom was visually perceived to move in the mirror, it was also 'felt' to move; that is, a vivid kinaesthetic sensation emerged. (These sensations could not be evoked with the eyes closed.) In patient D.S ., kinaesthetic sensations were evoked even though he had not experienced movements in the phantom for the preceding 10 years." Several patients that experienced pain in their phantom limbs (pain that can be excruciating) found that the pain disappeared when they could "see" their phantom limb in the mirror. Those who complained of the so-called "clenching spasms" in their phantom hands (compared to fingernails digging into the phantom) found the spasms eliminated upon "seeing" their phantom hands. In some patients, touching the normal hand evoked touch sensations at the same spot on the phantom hand. In others, though, the amputees felt nothing unless the phantom hand was also seen to be "touched" simultaneously. Even more curious, ...
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... 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-APR 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... The unexpected intensity of the vent glows also asks some provocative questions of the biologists: Is the glow strong enough to sup port photosynthesis? Quite likely, seems to be the answer. Are life forms in the vicinity of the vents employing photosynthesis? We don't know yet, but some bacteria do photosynthesize. Might not life and perhaps photo synthesis, too, have originated at the vents rather than on the planet's surface? This is an attractive possi bility, because very early in the earth's history the surface was con tinually blasted by meteorites, comets, etc. -- a very inhospitable place. The above questions are so fascinating that we might easily neglect another vent anomaly; one involving those blind shrimp. Like many cave creatures, these shrimp dispensed with eyes long ago. This being so, how do they find the vents, those rich oases of energy and food on the otherwise bleak sea floor? Rather than re-evolve their eyes, they "somehow" grew light-sensitive patches on their backs. Apparently, these patches guide the shrimp to the vents. (Monastersky, Richard; "The Light at the Bottom of the Ocean," Science News, 150:156, 1966) Comments. Anomalists instinctively recognize that the "somehow" in the above paragraph glosses over formidable problems. We suppose that a few eyeless shrimp originally blundered into a deepsea vent, and those that were lucky enough to be favored by the long sequence of random mutations that led to the light-sensitive patches on their backs outcompeted their unlucky companions ...
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... light well, so when a tomato plant's pigments detect a lot of infrared, the plant "thinks" that it may be crowded out by competing vegetation. The tomato plant responds aggressively by growing more rapidly. The red plastic mulch between the rows also reflects a lot of infrared light, and it thereby tricks the tomato plant into accelerating its growth. (Raloff, Janet; "When Tomatoes See Red," Science News, 152:376, 1997.) Fire-detecting beetles. The beetle Melanophila acuminata seeks out forests that have just been ravaged by fires so that it can lay its eggs in the nutritious, freshly burnt wood. These insects are capable of detecting fires up to 32 kilometers (20 miles) distant. They do not see the fire with their eyes but instead detect the thermal (infrared) radiation with a special organ on their chests. (Schmitz, Helmut, et al; "Infrared Detection in a Beetle," Nature, 386:773, 1997.) Knees "see". Well, sort of, and then only the backs of the knees. Human circadian clocks can be shifted by shining visible light on the skin on the backs of the knees. It is theorized that the light penetrates the skin and causes chemical changes in the blood, implying that human blood contains "chronobiological photoreceptors." (Oren, Dan A., and Terman, Michael; "Tweaking the Human Circadian Clock with Light," Science, 279:333, 1998. Also: Campbell, Scott S., and Murphy, ...
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... be their undoing. References Ref. 1. Anonymous; "Deflating the Biological Big Bang," Science News, 150: 335, 1996. Ref. 2. Perlman, David; "Origin of Animals -- 1.2 Billion Years Ago," San Francisco Chronicle, October 25, 1996. Cr. J. Covey. Ref. 3. Wray, Gregory A., et al; "Molecular Evidence for Deep Precambrian Divergences among Metazoan Phyla," Science, 274:568, 1996. Homology vs. DNA. Until the molecular biologists recently arrived on the scene, evolutionary family trees were based upon similarities in appearance; that is, homology. Animals that look alike must be closely related. But molecular biologists have discovered that some animals that seem identical to the eye differ significantly in their DNA complements. Thus, the Pacific skinks may undermine homology. Inhabiting many, far-separated Pacific islands, these small lizards all look pretty much alike externally. For many years, biologists assumed that they all belonged to the same species. Recently, scalpels in hand, they found that the skink innards differed enough to define two species: Emioa cyanura and Emioa impar . Next, the molecular biologists 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 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 107: Sep-Oct 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects More Sparks On The Beach Sharp eyes often pick out unusual phenomena in very usual places. From California, A. Hastings writes: "I also had an experience with 'Sparks on the Beach' as in SF#104/4 . This was on the Pacific Ocean Beach at San Gregorio, south of San Francisco, several years ago. I was walking on fairly wet sand, just above the tide line. As I stepped, the sand around my feet lit up with small bright dots of phosphorescence. I would not have said that the color was blue, but it could have been like blue-white, like the star Rigel. I found that if I stepped hard or stamped my foot, the lights flashed brighter and the lit area went out farther from my foot. I could see the movement expanding out. After a stamp or two, they did not light up as much. I assumed that this was caused by some organism that lit up when it felt pressure, and 'wore out' after it had done this a few times -- a refractory period probably occurred." (Hastings, Arthur; personal communication, March 21, 1996) Comment. This is probably a pressureinduced biological phenomenon, but we have no idea what kind of organism produces the lights. Footsteps do produce a rapidly expanding pressure wave on damp sand, which whitens the sand as it moves outward. But we ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 114: Nov-Dec 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Redefining Science The rules of today's science are rigorously objective, with no place for subjective or consciousness-related factors. These are eliminated by requiring that all experimental results be reproducible by all normal people. Otherwise, every UFO sighting by any individual and each claim of telepathy would be legitimate scientific evidence. Such stringent requirements have made it difficult for parapsychologists to get their experimental results, no matter how carefully acquired, to be taken seriously by mainstream science. How, then, can parapsychology be "legitimized" in the eyes of all scientists? Easy! By redefining science. This is what R.G . Jahn and B.J . Dunne have proposed in a long, philosophical article in the Journal of Scientific Exploration. They define a "neo-subjective" science, which retains the "logical rigor, empirical/theoretical dialogue, and cultural purpose" of present-day "rigorously objective" science, but would: Allow a proactive role for consciousness Be more explicit and profound in the use of interdisciplinary metaphors Permit more generous interpretations of measurability, replicability, and resonance (4 ) Reduce onotological aspirations Permit an "overarching teleological causality. R.J . Jahn heads the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) Laboratory, which over the years has conducted some 50 million experimental trials, mostly in the search for psychokinetic effects on the behavior of a wide variety of mechanical, electrical, and other types of ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 116: Mar-Apr 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Plant Life On Mars?" Strong evidence that plant life exists on Mars was advanced today by Earl C. Slipher, American astronomer, after observation of the planet, which is closer to the earth this month than at any time since 1924. .. .. . "His theory is founded on an apparent change in the planet's surface, regarded as his most important discovery. "The huge dark spot (Solis Lacus) or the Great Eye of Mars, seems to have assumed a shape not observed for fifty years, if ever before. Mr. Slipher indicated that this was strong evidence that plant life existed on the planet, and suggested that the change was due to fresh vegetation over an area roughly the size of the United States." (Anonymous; "Evidence of Plant Life on the Planet Mars Is Announced by an American Astronomer," New York Times, July 21, 1939. Cr. M. Piechota.) Comment. What a difference 59 years make! Could those tiny structures in ALH 84001 be fossilized pollen grains? From Science Frontiers #116, MAR-APR 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... fossils reveals a progressive loss of some physical attributes and the acquisition of other characteristics. One wonders why evolution has been remodeling the human form in what often seem to be nonadaptive ways. A curious, superficially frivolous test may offer some insights, some of which may be profound. Drawings and photographs showing humans with various physical traits were prepared and shown to 495 subjects, who were asked to select the most attractive characteristics. In disfavor were: short shins, short legs, bowed legs, large and pointed canines, gums showing above the teeth, short thumbs, long palms, curved fingers, jutting jaws, short necks. These are all primitive features still seen in apes and monkeys. Favored were: tallness, long legs, slim waists, long necks, curved red lips, large eyes, square shoulders, straight teeth, straight fingers, smooth and hairless skin, nonsloping foreheads, flat abdomens. These are all features "derived" during evolutionary history. A look at a photograph of a Barbie doll, which accompanied the article, proves that Barbie epitomizes these favored characteristics. Apparently, human males have been selecting their mates for these traits. The fossil record indicates this Barbie trend over millions of years. In effect, humans are selectively breeding themselves with Barbie as a goal for women. Interestingly, dolls with more of the primitive traits have never been able to compete with Barbie in the marketplace. (Magro, Albert M.; "Why Barbie is Perceived as Beautiful," Perceptual and Motor Skills , 85:363, 1997.) Comments. The article ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 117: May-June 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Light Makes Bright As revealed in SF#116, the backs of our knees are strangely sensitive to light. Illumination of these regions somehow encourages our pineal glands to release melatonin. D. Jones has suggested a more direct way in which light can reach the pineal gland -- through our ears! The pineal gland, which is believed to be the relic of the third eye that our distant reptilian ancestors possessed, is now buried deeply in our brains. But, it is possible that light could reach it through the ears by diffusing through the soft, translucent tissues that lead into our skulls. A commercial opportunity arises here. Jones notes first that melatonin is a mood enhancer and stimulant. We all have read how depressed far-northern peoples become during their long winter nights; and we know first-hand how exuberant we are on bright spring days. Why not, asks Jones, manufacture "earlights" mounted on headbands? These would direct red light (which diffuses better through tissue) into the ears and thence to the pineal gland. People could thereby be made cheerful and enthusiastic whatever the season, weather, or time of day. We could dispense with all those mood-enhancing pills. (Jones, David; "The Seeing Ear," Nature, 391:541, 1998.) From Science Frontiers #117, MAY-JUN 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... . As customary in these newsletters, there is a "however"! Some even more ancient North American bones are telling an even older tale. Besides Kennewick Man (SF#109), that well-preserved Caucasoid skeleton found recently in Washington state, there are a half dozen or so other well-dated North American skeletons that do not appear to be Asiatic. These skeletons are 8,000 or more years old and resemble those recently discovered in Asia. Collectively, they indicate that early Caucasians were farranging indeed. (Also, the Ainus now living in Japan have some Caucasian features.) It is possible that Caucasians preceded or accompanied Asian peoples across that famous Bering Land Bridge. They may even have helped found some of the Native American populations. (Recall the blue-eyed Mandans?) Despite the political incorrectness of Caucasians in "America B.C ." some scientists seem ready to accept the testimony of the bones, even while rejecting later epigraphic evidence. D. Stanford, at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, muses: "I think we're going to see the whole complexion of North American prehistory change real fast." (Rensberger, Boyce; "First Settlers to Reach America May Have Been Caucasoids," Columbus Dispatch , May 5, 1997. Cr. J. Fry via COUD-I .) Comment. Our title refers to B. Fell's controversial book America B.C . . From Science Frontiers #113, SEP-OCT 1997 . 1997-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 120: Nov-Dec 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Acoustical "vision" underwater When we (and all eyed animals) see an object, we are detecting light reflected from that object. When underwater, though, our vision is limited because light does not travel far. Sound, however, does; and sound is reflected from objects just as light is. This is of course the basis of underwater sonar, in which a sound source replaces the sun or a diver's floodlight. But even without an active sound source, the ocean is full of sound. Waves, rain, and the sounds made by marine animals create a background of noise that "illuminates" objects, not directly, but from the environment in general. Using only this enveloping background sound, it is possible to create acoustical images of objects. "Vision" of this sort is equivalent to "facial vision" in blind humans, who can hear objects using the environmental sound reflected from them. J. Potter and his colleagues at the National University of Singapore have constructed an array of underwater microphones that detects "slices" of the acoustical environment around it. When processed by a computer, images of objects emerge by virtue of the background noise reflected from them. This group has also estimated the ability of dolphins to detect and process background noise. They suggest that dolphins should be able to "see" objects at least 25 feet away without even using their active sonar; that is, ...
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... another, even if the second particle is cruising along in another galaxy. That's quantum weirdness all right, but this weirdness can also produce effects we can see and hear. All you have to do is cool helium down to almost absolute zero. It will liquify but, unlike most other gases, it will not freeze. You are surprised at this, of course. Now, if you spin a bowl of this liquid helium around, you will be astounded. The liquid remains absolutely stationary in its spinning container -- no centrifugal effects, no friction with the contained wall, nada!. However, the strangest part comes when you: "Draw a cupful out of the bowl, suspend it a few centimeters above the remaining liquid, then stand back and rub your eyes -- the fluid in the cup will cheat common sense by pouring itself, drop by drop, back into the bowl. A drop climbs up the inside of the cup, then runs down the outside. When it falls, another begins climbing, and the magic continues until the cup is dry." (Brooks, Michael; "Liquid Genius," New Scientist, p. 24, September 5, 1998.) From Science Frontiers #120, NOV-DEC 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... out of sight. Even if the patient observer is rewarded by a green flash, he may really have been deceived, for there are "false" green flashes. A. Young, San Diego State University, reported at a recent meeting of the American Astronomical Society on a peculiar type of optical illusion that can afflict observers of the setting sun. It seems that the intense red light of the sun near the horizon can bleach the red-sensitive receptors in the retina so that an intent observer becomes temporarily color blind to red. When this happens, the observer sees the yellow part of the dispersed solar spectrum as being green (yellow minus red = green). The true green flash may never have appeared at all. (Seife, Charles; "Don't Let Your Eyes Deceive You," New Scientist, p. 5, June 5, 1998.) Comments. You are right! Blue lies beyond green in the spectrum. Much rarer than green flashes are blue flashes. Jules Verne even wrote a novel involving this famous phenomenon: Le Rayon Vert . Reversing the sequence, red flashes are sometimes observed as the bottom edge of the sun dips below a sharply-defined cloud deck. (From: Rare Halos...) From Science Frontiers #119, SEP-OCT 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... .) Sheldrake proposes extending the "observer effect" to biology. In effect, he suggests replacing the state of an atom with the state of the neurological connections within the human brain. All this technical jargon breaks down to a simple question: Can a person tell if he or she is being stared at? Before you leap ahead to the next item, which we assure you is not as highly charged with controversy, consider that Sheldrake has conducted thousands of tests that do seem to show the reality of the observer effect in biology. Sheldrake separates starer from staree by a glass window. The staree faces away from starer and is blindfolded. Prompted by a random-number generator, the starer stares or does not stare. The staree responds positively if he feels the starer's eyes locked on to the back of his head. The starees are right more than 50% of the time. In fact, some starees are particularly sensitive to stares and respond correctly up to 90% of the time. Interestingly, even the best performers cannot tell when they are not being stared at! That's reasonable, if there is no signal, why should there be a response? Those scientists who have reviewed Sheldrake's data agree that some sort of observer effect seems to be present. Just what is the "signal" linking starer and staree? What kind of "force" can alter the neurological connections in the staree's brain, eliciting a positive reponse? Sheldrake suggests that the act of staring generates a "field" similar to gravitation and other ...
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... which faced a large building across the way...The early morning appeared warm, humid, and overcast. The explosive "thunderclaps" happened again, a whole series of them, and they seemed to originate up in the air and to my right, but I could detect no flashes of light, and the blasts seemed to come at random points in the sky (which was not very visible to me because of the big building looming across the lawn). I couldn't figure out where the storm cloud was that was producing these blasts, since everything was uniformly overcast, and there was no darkness moving in or evident in my field of view. From the sound of the blasts, which were very impressive, powerful noises, I pictured in my mind's eye that huge cloud-to-ground bolts of lightning must be erupting somewhere aloft and to the right and out of sight of my position at the window. But they seemed too scattered about, and then one boomed to the rear of my position, and that was soon followed by a blast slightly to the left of that one and way to the left of all the previous ones. Yet, there was no flash of lightning and no dark mass of cloud moving from right to left. "About 2 hours later, a young man who frequents that region told me that what had woken me up was not thunder but what the locals called 'Lake farts'." (Kuchar, George; personal communication, August 1996) Comment. Both the Cayuga and Seneca Guns have ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 145: Jan-Feb 2003 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Viking-introduced biological diversity in North America Who first mapped the West Coast of South America Astronomy Venus: telescopic shape-shifter Do some comets just go "poof" Cosmological voyeurism Biology Eyes: Adaptable, multimasked, and untasked Sperm transporters Knee light not effective? Geology Tunguska Confusion Mining for cosmic coal Geophysics Giant Australian marine incursions Amomalous Geysers Psychology Mind over blood Physics Element 0 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 148: Jul-Aug 2003 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Who or What Exterminates the Pleistocene Megafauna? Illinois's Ancient Maginot Line A Cold Barrier to Internal Parasites Astronomy Are there no other Earths out there? Where's the Fuzz? Biology Snakes Aloft Woman's Barr Bodies The Eyes have it A Major Problem for Darwinism Geology Why are old Mountains High? Subterranean Ecosystems Geophysics Milky-sea Phenomenon Is the Min Min Light a Fata Morgana (mirage)? Pre-Quake Anomalies Psychology Correlations of Brain Activity Physics A Revolution in Electrostatics Mathematics Ordering a Piece of Pi Prime Squares ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 150: Nov - Dec 2003 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Australians First in the New World? Origin of Clovis Culture Disputed A "Magic Number" Encoded in Three of the World's Major Pyramids Astronomy Mapping and Analyzing Dark Matter Biology Frog Poison Factory Puffin Tongue Trick? Human-chimp DNA Dissimilarities Four-Dimensional Biology A Squid's Eyes that Look Up and Down Tuberculosis and the Extinction of the Megaforna Dark Matter in our Genome Unknown Source of Animal Diversity Communication among Bacteria Geology When the Earth Gets Cracking Subduction Doesn't Check Out Chicxulub Didn't Do It! Geophysics Squishy Ball Lightning Far-Floating Fowl Psychology Natural-Born Readers Physics Mixed Anomalies ...
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... luminous apparitions, among others." The paper then goes directly into a review of specific observations. We shall have to be satisfied here with just one of the many examples: "D .D . Home was reported to produce many striking luminous phenomena. In one seance Dunraven observed that one of Home's hands 'became quite luminous,' and that two persons 'saw tongues or jets of flame proceeding from Home's head.' On another occasion: 'He was elongated slightly.. and raised in the air, his head became quite luminous at the top, giving the appearance of having a halo round it. When he was raised in the air, he waved his arms about, and in each hand there came a little globe of fire (to my eyes blue)...' (Alvarado, Carlos S.; "Observations of Luminous Phenomena around the Human Body: A Review," Society for Psychical Research Journal, 54:38, 1987.) This paper concludes with 5 pages of references, illustrating the great extent of the parapsychological literature. Comment. D.D . Home, to provide a bit of background, was a famous English medium. One of his favorite "stunts" was self-levitation. We have seen sketches of him floating high with his head nearly touching the ceiling. It is perhaps a bit snide to remark that if one can conquer gravity, producing luminous phenomena should be easy. Reference. Other examples of visible radiation emitted by the human body may be found in BHA22 in our catalog ...
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... 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects DID A HALF MILLION METEORS FALL ON THE CAROLINAS?The Carolina Bays get scant notice in the literature these days, but E.R . Randall has rescued them this undeserved obscurity. "For years, people living along the Carolina coast have marveled at a series of strange, oval-shaped depressions in the ground called 'Carolina Bays.' "From the air these shallow, marshy bogs created a landscape that resembles the pockmarked surface of the moon. They crisscross each other in a chaotic tapestry, but at ground level are hardly noticeable because of thick forests and semitropical swamplands. "Highways and modern housing developments have all but obliterated thousands of the bays, leaving them visible only to trained eyes. "Still, it is estimated that no fewer than 300,000 such bays, ranging from a few feet across to almost two miles in diameter, dot the East Coast landscape from southern New Jersey to northeastern Florida. One source places the number at more than half a million." Map showing areas of abundant Carolina Bays and frequent meterorite finds. However, meteorites are rare in the areas of the bays. Floyd continues with a brief history of the Carolina Bay region and then reviews some of the theories of origin that have been proposed. Two now-discarded mechanisms of formation invoked: (1 ) immense schools of spawning fish; and (2 ) icebergs stranded as the Ice Ages waned. In presenting today's favorite theory, Floyd quotes from H. Savage ...
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... Frontiers ONLINE No. 82: Jul-Aug 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects AN UNUSUALLY COMPLEX MARINE LIGHT DISPLAY May 6, 1991. Straits of Hormuz. Aboard the m.v . Zidona , enroute from Muscat to Ruwais. "At 1805 UTC a blue-white pattern of fast-moving light was seen around the ship. Initially, it was thought to be a reflection in the bridge windows of the Didimar lighthouse, but on going to the bridge wing, the observers saw an amazing display of flashing lights taking place over 8090 per cent of the surface of the water. The whole ship was surrounded by a mass of blue and white light forming complex patterns that were visible in all directions as far as the eye could see. Looking almost like an 'electric mist', it moved with such speed and ease, as if it were alive. "At the peak of the activity, there appeared to be two central points of spiralling, each about 150 m off either side of the ship about midships. From these points there seemed to be emerging highly confused patterns of spiralling spokes moving in an anticlockwise direction on the port side and clockwise on the starboard side of the ship. It was difficult to estimate accurately how many spokes were present in each circle, but it was thought that there were three or four at any one time, moving very fast and curving to produce what could only be described as a 'whirlpool' effect. "At the same time, there were pulsating rings ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 4: July 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The four-eyed fish sees all Anableps, the four-eyed fish, frequents the rivers and estuaries from southern Mexico to northern South America. Ac-tually, this curious fish has only two eyes, but each is divided in half horizontally; that is, each eye had two separate optical systems, each with its own focal length. The top half is for seeing in the air; the bottom half is for underwater. Thus equipped, Anableps can see prey and predators above and below the surface at the same time and increase its opportunities to get meals as well as escape from its enemies. (Zahl, Paul A.; National Geographic Magazine, 153:390, 1978.) Comment. Nature is full of such "marvelous" adaptations, but it is hard to see how fish bifocals could develop gradually, given the intolerance of optical systems to minute changes in dimensions, position, and refractive index. From Science Frontiers #4 , July 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 1: September 1977 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects New England Seamounts Once Near Surface Exploration of the New England Seamount chain by the research submarine Alvin confirmed that some of these peaks, now all a kilometer or more below the surface, were once at or above the surface of the ocean. This undersea mountain chain contains more than 30 major peaks and stretches 1,600 miles southeast from the New England coast. Deep-sea dredging has previously brought up Eocene limestone of shallow-water origin from the submerged mountain tops, but the Alvin explorations resulted in the first eye-witness accounts of dead coral (which grows only near the surface) and rock samples containing strands of dead algae that grows only within 100 meters of the surface. The New England Seamounts have therefore either subsided on the order of a kilometer since Eocene times or sealevel has altered drastically. The Alvin dives also discovered a series of very striking and perplexing buttes obviously the results of erosion (see drawing on cover). The buttes are apparently composed of volcanic rock and are only a few meters high. Some unexplained, extremely vesicular (holefilled) rocks seen on the sea floor during the dives seem to be identical to samples occasionally dredged up and formerly classified as cinders jettisoned from old steamships. The underwater surveys suggested that these "cinders" have a natural (still mysterious) origin. (Heirtzler, J.R ., et al; "A Visit to the New England Seamounts," American Scientist, ...
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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 Eyes of deep-sea fish have spare parts The sunlight that filters down into the depths of the sea is exceedingly weak. It is so dark down there that one would expect deep-sea fish to be blind like many cave-dwelling animals. They are not blind; rather many have eyes of fantastic size and novel construction. An unusual feature of some deep-sea eyes is a layered retina. In the conger eel, five layers of photoreceptors are plastered on top of one another. Yet, experiments with conger eel eyes reveal that only one layer of photoreceptors is active at any one time. R. Shapley and J. Gordon, who carried out these experiments at the Plymouth Lab., surmise that the extra retinal layers are being held in reserve, much like the rows of spare teeth found in sharks' mouths. If so, deep-sea fish are the only animals that have evolved spare stores of visual pigments. (Anonymous; "The Mystery of the Non-Functioning Receptors," New Scientist, 88:366, 1980.) Comment. Why haven't cave-dwelling fish taken the same evolutionary route? From Science Frontiers #14, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Neumann) machines. Since we can detect neither kind of colonist, we must be the first and only intelligent civilization. Essentially Tipler was criticizing the prevailing notion that, from a statistical point of view, there must be many other civilizations among the numberless stars and galaxies. Tipler's thoughts evoked a richly provocative group of letters, some of which were published in the March 1982 issue of Physics Today along with a closely related article by Ornstein. Ornstein tackled the problem of estimating the probability that intelligent life would evolve on other planets from a biologist's perspective. Whereas some physical scientists have set this probability at about 1.0 , Ornstein inclines toward 10-9 , believing that intelligent life is probably unique to the earth. But concludes Ornstein, the 15 separate developments of eyes among disparate terrestrial organisms may infer some unrecognized directing factor in evolution that would force him to revise his estimate upwards drastically. On the other hand, those 15 eyes might indicate a common, but still undiscovered, eye-possessing ancestor far back along evolution's track. The fossil record might be mute on this matter because eyes are soft tissues that are rarely preserved or perhaps because many eyes were jettisoned because the organisms didn't need them, as cave dwellers are wont to do with surprising rapidity. Some of the letters responding to Tipler questioned whether an intelligent civilization would be stupid enough to build self-reproducing von Neumann machines for galactic exploration. Wouldn't it be far more fun to go in person rather than by proxy? And, some pointed out, von ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 21: May-Jun 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bull's eye pattern of magnetic anomalies In SF#20, concentric rings of gravity anomalies centered in Canada are described. A similar patter of magnetic rings has shown up in the Yucatan peninsula. The inner ring is 60 kilometers across; the second, 180 kilometers. The rocks causing the magnetic anomalies are about 1100 feet down. Since these rocks are probably Late Cretaceous in age, this potential impact feature may be the eagerly sought scar of the asteroid impact that some think wiped out the dinosaurs and left an iridium-rich layer all over the world. (Anonymous; "Possible Yucatan Impact Basin," Sky and Telescope, 63:249, 1982.) From Science Frontiers #21, MAY-JUN 1982 . 1982-2000 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 More Phosphorescent Boomerangs July 10, 1979. The Arabian Sea. Aboard the m.v . Strathelgin. "At 1200 GMT large patches of milkygrey bioluminescence were observed; the patches appeared to form circular patterns resembling cartwheels, some of the configurations, however, did not have the central hub, see sketch. The patches pulsated at regular intervals (3 or 4 times per second). They moved in an anticlockwise direction until about 3 points abaft the beam where the direction of movement was reversed. On the beam they appeared to be at eye level, at all other times they were just above the surface of the water. The average size of the 'wheels' was 35 metres." (Penman, B.; "Bioluminescence," Marine Observer, 50:114, 1980.) Comment. A similar case of spinning boomerangs was reported in Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights, where the display was stimulated by switching the ship's radar on and off. Here, one must also ask how a bioluminescent phenomenon can exist at "eye level" many feet above the sea surface. To order the above-mentioned book, go to: here . From Science Frontiers #14, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 23: Sep-Oct 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Remarkable Engineering Design In Nature Two unusual examples of inspired design in nature have been described recently: (1 ) The swordfish possesses special tissues rich in mitochrondria and cytochrome-c that generate heat for the animal's eye and brain. Not only do these heating elements keep the swordfish eye and brain significantly warmer than the surrounding water but they also keep these organs warm and thus more effective during deep dives into the cold ocean depths. (Carey, Francis G.; "A Brain Heater in the Swordfish," Science, 216:1327, 1982.) (2 ) Plants, it seems, developed light pipes long before humans. Certain plant tissues (etiolated or dark-grown) act as multiple bundles of optical fibers and coherently transfer light over distances of at least 2 cm. Optical tests show that these natural light pipes are much more effective transmitters of light than media that simply scatter light. This unsuspected sophistication of Nature's design may require significant revisions in photobiology, which did not allow for such ingenuity. (Smith , Harry; "Light-Piping by Plant Tissues," Nature, 298:423, 1982.) Comment. Since some plants are known to emit light, we would not be surprised, the way things are going, to learn of natural plant lasers! From Science Frontiers #23, SEP-OCT 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 10: Spring 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Luminous Ripples Move Through The Night Sky A.W . Peterson, during his studies of nighttime airglow in the infrared, has reported three events also invisible to the naked eye. The most spectacular event occurred on the night of April 4-5 , 1978, when luminous ripples were observed at about 90 kilometers altitude moving at 91 meters/second, with a crest-to-crest wavelength of 16 kilome ters. The precise source of the visible light is still in doubt as is the identity of the stimulus causing the glowing ripples. Peterson has noted some correlation between the ripples, both visible and infrared, and the lunar high tide in the atmosphere. Gravity waves could thus be the stimulus creating the ripples. (Peterson, Alan W.; "Airglow Events Visible to the Naked Eye," Applied Optics, 18:3390, 1979.) Comment. Peterson's work may lead to explanations of the auroral "meteors" and the many reports of "banded sky" from astronomers. From Science Frontiers #10, Spring 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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