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... future because the compound's "morphogenetic field" will "guide" the chemical processes along paths already established. Can you wonder why mainstream science advised that Sheldrake's book, A New Science of Life , be BURNT! Well, there was a lot of smoke but the theory survives. Nature, in fact, is full of observations, such as parallel evolution, that support the idea of morphic resonance. And in the laboratory, a few brave souls are conducting experiments that seem to confirm the theory more directly. "Using a novel laboratory approach, researchers at Yale University have been able to create a morphogenetic effect after stimulating only 100 subjects. They employed a series of trivial paper-and-pencil tasks (such as "Put an X in any one of the four boxes shown below"). Experimenters tallied how an initial group of 100 students responded to these tasks. Then they forced a second group of 100 students to respond to the tasks in a set manner (" Put an X in the third box below"). Finally, they presented the same tasks to a third group of 100 students, allowing them to complete them, as with the first group, however they wished." Results showed that in one task the third group had been unknowingly influenced by what the second group had been forced to do! This was interpreted as evidence of morphic resonance. (Anonymous; "New Evidence for Morphogenetic Field," Venture Inward , p. 10, September/October 1994.) Comment. There can be no doubt that morphogenetic ...
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... discover a recent issue of Selenology . In it, A.V . Arkhipov, a member of the Research Institute on Anomalous Phenomena, based in Ukraine, presents a paper headed by the following abstract: "The "invasions" of Earth's vehicles in certain lunar regions stimulate a statistically significant, real, temporary increase in the probability of lunar transient phenomena there. It could be used as an indicator of a hidden alien presence on the moon also." A transient, reddish glow (shaded area) seen in the crater Gassendi on April 30 - May 1, 1966. Alien activity? To illustrate, says Arkhipov, the impact of Luna 2 and its rocket stage on the moon on September 13, 1959, was accompanied by light flashes and cloudlike phenomena at at least four spots on the moon. Such LTPs (Lunar Transient Phenomena) seem also to be associated with the arrival of other terrestrial spacecraft in a few select regions of the moon, such as Mare Tranquilitatis and Gassendi. What generates these LTPs, and why only in certain areas of the lunar surface? Arkhipov's answer is in his above-quoted abstract. (Arkhipov, Alexey V.; "' Invasion Effect' on the Moon," Selenology , 13:9 , no. 1, 1994) We have never examined this journal. Comment. Reigning paradigms make the moon a barren, lifeless place. But readers of SF should be aware that the popular literature puts forth assertions that the astronauts found more than rocks on the moon, and that NASA is covering up these ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 98: Mar-Apr 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Can we explore hyperspace?Anyone who watches Star Trek knows that the universe has more than four dimensions (3 of space, 1 of time). Spaceships are always whisking off into hyperspace. But can we prove that more than three spatial dimensions exist? Shu-Yuan Chu, University of California at Riverside, has shown theoretically that in a five-dimensional world (4 of space, 1 of time) electric charge need not be conserved. This opens up an experimental avenue to test for an extra spatial dimension. For background, recall that physicists originally maintained that mass and energy had to be conserved separately. Then, Einstein came along to show that mass and energy could be interchanged, via E = mc2 , but that they had to be conserved together. In Shu-Yuan Chu's five-dimensional universe mass and charge can be interchanged, but their sum must be conserved. In other words, there exists an E = mc2 equivalent for mass and charge in five dimensions. We could look for this extra spatial dimension by looking for a particle that can be converted into another particle with the same mass+ charge, but made up of a different combination of mass and charge. If such reactions exist, we may be able to explore hyperspace in fact rather than in science fiction. (Gribbin, John; "Can Electric Charge Be Destroyed?" New Scientist, p. 16, October ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 92: Mar-Apr 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Jovian lightning or cosmic short circuit?In July, 1994, the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 is scheduled to meet a fiery end as it plunges into Jupiter's atmosphere. Since this cataclysm is predicted to occur on Jupiter's far side, the pyrotechnics will be largely hidden from our telescopes. Yet, if any of Jupiter's four large Galilean satellites are swinging behind Jupiter during the comet's impact, but still visible to us by virtue of their distances from Jupiter, we might see one or more of these moons suddenly brighten due to light reflected from the incineration below. This very well might happen, and something similar has happened before. On July 26, 1983, just 6 minutes after it emerged from behind Jupiter, the Galilean satellite, Io, suddenly brightened by 50% -- a "flash" that lasted 118 seconds. Now, Io is notoriously fickle brightness-wise. Its post-eclipse brightening has long puzzled astronomers, but this short, intense flash was even more anomalous than usual. H.B . Hammel and R.M . Nelson suggest that this 1983 flash might have been the reflection of some catastrophic event occurring on the hidden half of Jupiter -- possibly the impact of some large object -- or, even more intriguing, Jovian lightning. (Hammel, H.B ., and Nelson, R.M .; "Bright Flash on Jupiter ...
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... to the Santa Marie Islands. As related by First Officer N.A . Pierson: "We had just taken off from Presque Isle, Maine, and had been in cruise power for 50 minutes, when a large thunderhead cumulus was observed directly on course. Lightning could be seen around the edges and inside the thunderhead. All cockpit lights were on and the instrument spotlight was full on, with the door open. I had just finished setting the power and fuel flows for each engine. As the ship approached the thunder-head, there was a noticeable drop in horsepower and the airplane lost from 180 mph airspeed to 168 mph, and continued to lose airspeed due to power loss as we approached the thunderhead...A few seconds before the lightning bolt hit the airplane all four engines were silent and the propellers were windmilling. Simultaneous with the flash of lightning, the engines surged with the original power...The Captain and I discussed the reason for all four engines cutting simultaneously prior to the lightning flash and could not explain it, except for the possibility of a magnetic potential around the cumulus affecting the primary or secondary circuits of all eight magnetos at the same time." (Fisher, Franklin A., and Plumer, J. Anderson; "Lightning Protection of Aircraft," NASA Reference Publication 1008, October 1977. Cr. J.S . Denn) From Science Frontiers #91, JAN-FEB 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 81: May-Jun 1992 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology LONG BEFORE THE VIKINGS AND POLYNESIANS BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR TWO VERY EARLY NEW WORLD CONTACTS Computer confirms crossing! The latte stones Astronomy Galaxy spins wrong way That's the way the universe bounces Indigestible supernova leftovers Biology More mouse engineering Plants of the apes Rhythms in rhythm Shc or h/t homicide? Eusocial beetles Geophysics Rayed ball lightning hits plane Auroral sounds Unidentified light explained? Four luminous spinning vortices Psychology The tyranny of the [normal] senses Folie a deux involving a dog! Chemistry & Physics MUTANT MOLECULES FIGHT FOR FOR SURVIVAL Deep-sixing 666s ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 91: Jan-Feb 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The earth's biosphere, 'tis no thin veneer A recurring theme in SF is the three-dimensionality of terrestrial life. Customarily, life is considered confined to a thin spherical shell of air, water, and earth. But the bits of drillers have demonstrated that life prevails as far down as we can pierce the planet's integument. Now, K.G . Stetter et al: ". .. report the discovery of high concentrations of hyperthermophiles [viz., bacteria] in the production fluids from four oil reservoirs about 3,000 metres below the bed of the North Sea and below the permafrost surface of the North Slope of Alaska. Enrichment cultures of sulphidogens grew at 85 C and 102 C, which are similar to in reservoir temperatures." Stetter et al favor the theory that these hyperthermophiles were injected into the reservoirs through: (1 ) drilling and secondary-recovery operations; and/ or (2 ) natural penetration via faults and seeps. They pointedly distance themselves from the idea, championed by T. Gold, that subterranean bacteria are actually permanent ancient residents of a deep subterranean biosphere. (Stetter, K.O ., et al; "Hyperthermophilic Archaea Are Thriving in Deep North Sea and Alaskan Oil Reservoirs," Nature, 365:743, 1993.) On the other hand, in their comments on the above paper, J. Parkes and J. Maxwell do ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 62: Mar-Apr 1989 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The cup-and-ring motif in america Vikings in south america? Astronomy THE "RESIDUE FALLACY" DOES NOT APPLY TO ALL RESIDUES! RECENT MARTIAN RIVERS ERODE ALBA PATERA Dancing to the comets' tune Biology Measles epidemics: noisy or chaotic? A MAMMOTH TALE! A HAIR-RAISING PHENOMENON Geology THE COOKIE CUTTER STRIKES AGAIN -- FOUR TIMES - IN NORWAY Geophysics Visual sightings of vortices in britain WHAT IS EXPLODING 400 MILES BENEATH OUR FEET? Psychology Researches in reincarnation Physics MORE CHALLENGES TO NEWTON'S LAW OF GRAVITATION ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 36: Nov-Dec 1984 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Who Mapped Antarctica in Pre-medieval Times? The Mallia Table The Great Wall of the Incas Astronomy Galactic Shell Game Order From Disorder? Biology Four 'Clever' Adaptations Brains Not Hardwired Evolution of Man and Malaria Is A Dog More Like A Lizard Or A Chicken? Geology The Case Against Impact Extinctions Subterranean Electric Currents The Magnetic Jerk Problem Geophysics Spiked Ball Lightning Whirlwind Spirals in Cereal Fields: Quintuplet Formations More Mysterious Hums Psychology Hypnotically Accelerated Burn Wound Healing Mental Control of Allergies Why Most People Are Right-handed Chemistry & Physics Zeta Not A Higgs: Too Bad! ...
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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. 1: September 1977 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology First Writing May Have Been Three-dimensional Ancient Iberian Jars Recovered Off Maine Coast Geology New England Seamounts Once Near Surface Astronomy Four Extragalactic Sources Expand Faster Than Light Biology Australian Mistletoes Mimic Their Hosts Motion Sickness Difficult to Explain in Terms of Evolution Addiction to Placebos Cattle Mutilations Called Episode of Collective Delusion Geophysics Animal Behavior Prior to the Haicheng Earthquake Lightning Superbolts Detected by Satellites ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 126: Nov-Dec 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Towering Shafts Of Light Ice crystals in the atmosphere can dazzle us with bright haloes, sundogs, and similar optical phenomena -- as long as the sun or moon are shining. Sometimes, though, human light sources will create remarkable displays using the same ice crystals. The first of the two examples below is notable for its extreme height; the second provides the accepted explanation. August 24, 1998. South China Sea. Aboard the m.v . Oriental Bay , Hong Kong to Singapore. "Four shafts of narrow vertical light were observed reflected in the sky. Upon consulting the chart it was revealed that they were 'reflections' of the four flares of the Kakap Natuna oil terminal, which at this point was 75 n mile away. "As indicated in the sketch, the shafts of light were visible above a lower layer of stratocumulus cloud, and, when measured by sextant, their upper tips were calculated to be nearly 13 km high. The shafts appeared to be reflected in a thin layer of cirrostratus and, as the vessel approached to 60 n mile from the terminal, the glow from the flares was also visible on the horizon." (Peterson, J.L .; "Optical Phenomenon," Marine Observer, 69:110, 1999.) Tall light pillars rise over the South China Sea February 4, 1999. Toyama Bay, Japan. The caption quoted below is located beneath ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 126: Nov-Dec 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Vegetable Connection Within the human brain, probably quite close to the number module, there must be a "vegetable module"; that is, a few brain cells that recognize and process information about vegetables. Furthermore, there must be cross-talk between the vegetable and number modules. This is obvious from the following query posted in New Scientist. "Why is it that when you repeatedly ask someone addition problems that all add up to six (such as two plus four, one plus five) for a number of minutes and then ask them to think of a vegetable, 90 per cent of people will say "carrot"? "The person you are asking must have no knowledge of what you are asking them or why. The questions should be asked rapidly, encouraging the person answering to answer them quickly with little thought." (Versteegen, Adam; "Carrot Brains," New Scientist, p. 97, Jule 24, 1999.) From Science Frontiers #126, NOV-DEC 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 Bizarre Physiological Effects Of Lightning July 1969. Lawson, Missouri. Lightning is unpredictable and produces many weird effects, but the following case pushes the weirdness envelope. An electrician was driving home through an intense rainstorm that was accompanied by severe lightning. He parked his truck outside his house. Then it happened: "As I started up the drive, I took about three or four steps, and then it was as though I had stepped into a very soft cotton ball. My whole body felt as if my head was behind my shoulders and being pulled down between my shoulder blades." When he awoke, he was about 50 feet away on the other side of a fence and on his neighbor's property. His boots had been knocked off. The coins in his pocket and his belt buckle had melted. A visit to a doctor proved that he had been struck by lightning, and that his spine had been severely damaged. Much stranger was his reaction to the ambient temperature. He was now impervious to cold. He was most comfortable between -10 and 0 F. His normal body temperature was low, just 95.2 , not terribly far from normal. He just didn't feel the cold. He never wore a coat and was comfortable working that way even at -23 F! The electrician is far from being disabled. He even poses for photographs in the snow wearing just shorts and ...
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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 Ach Du Lieber Himmel I. Docherty decided to try out a computer translation service. He took the first four lines of a well known poem by Wordsworth and had it translated into German by the service. Next, he had the German translated back into English. Sorry about this, Wordsworth. Input "I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills When all at once I saw a cloud, A host of golden daffodils;..." Output "I was surprised lonely as a cloud Swims on high o'er vales and hill, When in a course I saw a mass, A central processor of the golden daffodils;..." (Anonymous; "Feedback," New Scientist, p. 96, January 31, 1998.) Comment. Perhaps computers have a sense of humor after all! From Science Frontiers #122, MAR-APR 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... . Coming in to land, it seemed that something was wrong with my eyesight as there seemed to be faint flickers in the air itself, only a dozen feet or so above the ground. Taxiing and parking, I found when my wife and I got out of the plane that there were clear straight lines in the air itself. My wife saw them too. So did half-adozen fellow pilots whom I routed out of the bar to act as witnesses. .. .. . "These sky-lines were quite characteristic. There were a least half-adozen in the air, apparently starting close to the ground and fading away twenty or thirty feet up. They were all inclined slightly to the vertical, were of a dirty-brown colour, slightly blurred, roughly four inches wide, several feet apart, of some depth. This was apparent when I walked backwards and forwards across them because they appeared to move towards and also away from me, an event which seemed to indicate that they were slightly curved. If they were more than a hundred or so feet away, they were lost sight of." (Crowder, Robert; "The Strange Case of Angled Lines in the Atmosphere: A Thunderstorm Effect?" Journal of Meteor ology, U.K ., 24:220, 1999.) From Science Frontiers #127, JAN-FEB 2000 . 1997 William R. Corliss ...
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... of the earth there is much more water and carbon than can be ascribed to the weathering of the earth's rocks. For example, the amount of carbon tied up in rocks (carbonates, etc.) is 600 times that now found in the combined atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. Where did all this extra carbon come from? The same question can be asked about the earth's water inventory. Geologists have long assumed that this excess water and carbon came from the outgassing of volcanos. But recent quantitative estimates tell us that the volcanic sources are grossly inadequate. So are all other possible terrestrial sources. Therefore, some scientists, such as D. Deming, University of Oklahoma, have been looking spaceward. Deming ventures that extraterrestrial sources of water and carbon may be four or five orders of magnitude greater than suspected. Obviously, a steady bombardment of icy comets might fulfill Deming's requirements. Down the long eons of geological time, they could have filled the oceans and showered all that excess carbon onto the planet's surface. Deming ups the stakes in the icy-comet controversy when he links these fluffy snowballs to the well-known vagaries of life on earth. "The extraterrestrial influx rate may also act as the pacemaker of terrestrial evolution, at times leading to mass extinctions through climatic shifts induced by changes in accretion rates with concommitant disruptions of the carbon and nitrogen cycles. Life on earth may be balanced precariously between cosmic processes which deliver an intermittent stream of life-sustaining volatiles from the outer solar system or beyond, and biological and ...
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... in profusion in some specially favored surface deposits (Antarctica and Australia's Nullarbor Plain), there are very few records of any being found in the immense volumes of coal, gold ores, and other geological materials that have been mined down the centuries. Of course, many meteorites escaped the notice of miners who were looking for something else. Nevertheless, few have been reported from strata more than a few thousand years old. (See ESI8 in Neglected Geo logical Anomalies.) It is therefore surprising that a veritable lode of fossil meteorites has been found in a limestone quarry at Kinnekulle, in southern Sweden. "During the sawing of a few thousand cubic meters of Ordovician limestone into 2-3 cm thick slices, 25 fossil meteorites have been found. All meteorites, except, four, have been found in a 60 cm thick bed called the Archaeologist. This bed represents a few hundred thousand years and contains several hard ground surfaces...Many of the Archaeologist meteorites are prominently angular in shape whereas others are round. This seems difficult to reconcile with an atmospheric breakup of a single large meteorite." B. Schmitz and M. Tassinari, the authors of this paper, suggest that this rare concentration of fossil meteorites represents an unusual event in the solarsystem history, possibly a major collision in the asteroid belt. (Schmitz, Birger, and Tassinari, Mario; "Early Ordovician Meteorites: How Many Falls?" Eos, 79:F50, 1998.) Comment. It should be added that tektites and microtektites (impact debris) are likewise found mainly ...
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... artifacts older than Clovis points. Dated at 10,800-11,200 radiocarbon years, Clovis points supposedly marked the earliest arrival of humans in the Americas. Digging deeper at the Topper site would have been a waste of time. In 1998, however, Goodyear had second thoughts. This was the time when the nothing-older-than-Clovis paradigm was being challenged by finds at Monte Verde, Chile. (SF#120) Goodyear decided to take his trowels back to the Topper site. "After some 40 cm of essentially barren deposits, the excavators began finding small flakes and microtools. The lower level, exposed over 28 square meters, has yielded some 1,000 waste flakes, 15 microtools (mostly microblades), and a pile of 20 chert pebbles plus four possible quartz hammerstones." Goodyear thinks that chert pebbles were being processed at Topper 12,000-20,000 years ago. Apparently, North America has its own Monte Verdes! (Anonymous; "Pre-Clovis Surprise," Archaeology, 52:18, July/August 1999.) Comment. Shouldn't Goodyear keep on digging at Topper? Should we be satisfied with Relativity, the Big Bang, Plate Tectonics, Neo-Darwinism, etc.? A Clovis fluted point. The digging stops here! From Science Frontiers #125, SEP-OCT 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 126: Nov-Dec 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Number Module B. Butterworth, author of the new book The Mathematical Brain , proposes that your brain boasts a tiny module of cells -- just over your left ear -- that endows you with a sense of number. These cells allow you, for example, to grasp instantly "fourness," say the number of corners on a square without counting them one-by-one. Unfortunately, this capability usually does not exceed fiveness. If there were 10 people on a corner, you would have to count them individually -- if you are normal. But some people are abnormal. Recall from SF#125, the savant who could tell at a glance that 111 matches littered the floor without counting each individually. He grasped 111-ness! At the other end of the scale, Signora Gaddi cannot even distinguish that 20 is greater then 10. She cannot use the telephone or catch numbered busses. Facts involving numbers above four are a mystery to her. Even when there are four or fewer objects, she must count them one-byone. Nevertheless, Gaddi's intelligence and social skills are normal. She lost her number-savvy when she suffered a stroke that apparently short-circuited that number module over her ear. Are other mammals equipped with number modules? No one knows. And what forces encouraged the human brain to sprout a few extra cells on the inferior parietal lobule; that ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 123: May-Jun 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mysterious Mountain Deaths Occasionally, young, healthy hikers are discovered lying dead in the mountains without a mark on them. The answer to this mystery may be in the magnetic pulses created by close lightning strikes. Most deaths from lightning are from direct strikes, side flashes, or ground currents. The ground currents kill by passing up one leg and down the other. Cows sheltering under trees are even more susceptible than humans because they contact the ground in four places! People and animals electrocuted by these phenomena bear burn marks and other clues pointing to the cause of death. As for those "mysterious mountain deaths," M. Cherington and colleagues at the Lightning Data Center, Denver, suggest that these unlucky individuals may have been zapped magnetically. Lightning strikes can create electrical currents as high as 100,000 amperes in rocks and soil. These, in turn, create intense magnetic pulses that induce small electrical currents in nearby objects, such as hikers. Although small, these internal currents are sufficient to stop heart action -- without leaving tell-tale signs. (Anonymous; "Mystery Mountain Deaths and Lightning," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 23:230, 1998.) From Science Frontiers #123, MAY-JUN 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... And before the settlers plowed them up, there were travel-worn trails six feet deep in the earth of Iowa. Now, we learn that, indeed, the Hopewell Culture may have built a long road mainly for ritual processions. It is called the Great Hopewell Road, and it is thought to connect the Hopewell centers at Newark and Chillicothe -- a distance of 60 miles through the heart of Ohio. In 1862, the first 6 miles of this controversial road, marked by parallel earthen banks, were surveyed by two brothers, C. and J. Salisbury. They noted that the road extended much farther in the direction of Chillicothe. B. Lepper, a present-day champion of the Great Hopewell Road, claims that there are still traces of the road remaining at four additional places along the 60-mile line connecting Newark and Chillicothe. Skeptics do not question that the sophisticated Hopewell Culture (circa 200 B.C . to 400 A.D .) was capable of constructing such a road, nor do they contest the 1862 survey covering the first 6 miles. They doubt the existence of the last 54 miles. (Hicks, Ronald; "The Great Hopewell Mystery," Archaeology, 52:76, November/December 1999.) From Science Frontiers #127, JAN-FEB 2000 . 1997 William R. Corliss ...
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... Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Earth Hums More Loudly In The Afternoons It has been known for almost a century that large earthquakes set the earth to ringing like a bell. In SF#118, we reported that the planet also "hums" when there have been no earthquakes. Just what forces stimulate this seismic humming of the earth-as-a -whole is still a matter of conjecture. Actually, "hum" is a poor choice of words. The period of these vibrations ranges from 3 to 8 minutes, which puts them in the range of infrasound. Recently, N. Suda of Nagoya University has found a clue suggesting that thunderstorms may excite these very-lowfrequency vibrations. Suda and his colleagues analyzed the seismic records at four seismically quiet locations around the globe and discovered that the hum is loudest between noon and 8 PM local time. The quietest period is from midnight to 6 AM. These are the same time frames when thunderstorms are most active and quiet. It's circumstantial evidence, but it makes sense. (Kerr, Richard A.; "Earth Seems to Hum along with the Wind," Science, 283:321, 1999.) Comment. Infrasound in the atmosphere may originate from storms thousands of miles away and from strong winds blowing across mountain crests. It appears that the earth is an immense, spherical aeolian harp! From Science Frontiers #122, MAR-APR 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... speculation about the 1908 Tunguska Event assumes an external cause: a meteor, a comet, an asteroid, or even the accidental explosion of an alien spaceship. A recent meeting of Tunguska experts in Russia looked down rather than up for Tunguska's initiating phenomenon. In this open-minded review, two little-publicized but highly pertinent Tunguska observations were discussed. The catastrophe had five centers of destruction rather than one. At the Tunguska site are many large root stumps, not yet rotted away, that cannot be linked to any pits associated with their origin. These stumps were apparently blown out of the ground and hurled dozens of meters from where they stood prior to the Event. Next to be considered were the unappreciated similarities between the Tunguska Event and the 1883 explosion of Krakatoa. The four bright nights in Europe and western Asia, straddling 30 June 1908, are remimiscent of the 1883 Krakatoa outburst, they ask for transient scatterers in the upper atmosphere, above 500 km, at heights which only methane and hydrogen are light enough to reach in sufficient quantity. Fast-rising natural gas has been repeatedly detected in recent years, in the form of "mystery clouds"---by airplane pilots---and indirectly as pockmarks on 6% of the sea floor. In other words, Tunguska might well have been---not an extraterrestrial impact---but a simultaneous outburst and detonation of natural gas from five closely spaced vents. The report continues with pro-andcon discussions, concluding that this outrageous hypothesis cannot be dismissed! (Kundt, Wolfgang ...
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