... 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 ... 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 ...

... live to tell about it. R.S . Hall did; and what he saw is very strange. "The bottom of the rim was about 20 feet off the ground, and had doubtless a few moments before destroyed our house as it passed. The interior of the funnel was hollow; the rim itself appearing to be not over 10 feet in thickness and, owing possibly to the light within the funnel, appeared perfectly opaque. Its inside was so slick and even that it resembled the interior of a glazed standpipe. The rim had another motion which I was, for a moment, too dazzled to grasp. Presently I did. The whole thing was rotating, shooting past from right to left with incredible velocity. "I lay back on my left elbow, to afford ... a bright cloud, which shimmered like a fluorescent light. This brilliant cloud was in the middle of the funnel, not touching the sides, as I recall having seen the walls extending on up outside the cloud. "Up there, too, where I could observe both the front and back of the funnel, the terrific whirling could be plainly seen. As the upper portion of the huge pipe swayed over, another phenomenon took place. It looked as if the whole column were composed of rings or layers, and when a higher ring moved on toward the southeast, the ring immediately below slipped over to get back under it. This rippling motion continued on down toward the lower tip." Hall also reported a peculiar bluish light and blue streamers that appeared to consist of vapor. ...

... the still-enigmatic Tunguska event of 1908 -- customarily attributed to a celestial projectile of some sort -- and perhaps even those bizarre "cookie-cutter" holes found in the U.S ., Canada, Norway, and elsewhere. One of our Russian correspodents has summarized what is known about the Sasovo explosions, and we are pleased to be able to present part of his (lightly edited) letter here: "On April 12, 1991, a strange explosion took place near the Russian town of Sasova (350 km to the southeast of Moscow). After the explosion, a crater, diameter about 30 m and depth 3m, was found. At first, several ideas about its nature were proposed, but now almost all of them are abandoned, except one: ... damage had four lobes. But, on the other hand, a tree 10 m from the epicenter was undamaged. There was no damage on the ground level at a distance up to about 1 km from the crater (only ground swing and jerking), but several high suspended electric wires were torn off. At large distances, there was unusual damage at the ground level, and even water pipes at a distance up to 15 km from the epicenter were torn off. During the explosion, in closed and undamaged rooms, in most cases different things flew with soft landings, and even some people were transported by a unknown force. Hollow plastic toys and electric lamp bulbs exploded. Inner windows were smashed while outer ones were undamaged. At a distance of about 10 km from the main ...

... Divergent Mammal Populations BMA4 Hybrids and Mosaics BMA5 Mirror-Image Twins in Mammals BMA6 Atavism and Reversion in Mammals BMA7 Neoteny in Mammals BMA8 Albino Populations of Mammals BMA9 Unusual Mammalian Sex Ratios BMA10 Wolves Defy Bergmann's Law BMA11 Unusual Sexual Dimorphism in Mammals BMA12 Zebra Stripe Reversal BMA13 The Existence of Zebras with Vivid Stripes BMA14 Land-Mammal Hairlessness BMA15 The Greening of Sloths BMA16 Polar-Bear Hairs as Light Pipes BMA17 Sudden Blanching of Mammal Hair BMA18 Mammalian Callosities BMA19 Skin Masks BMA20 Extensive Scarification of the Skin BMA21 Microwave Emission from Mammals BMA22 Bat Faces: Remarkably Varied and Bizarre BMA23 Nictitating Membranes in Mammals BMA24 Eye Oddities among the Mammals BMA25 The Inheritance of Eye Injuries BMA26 Ear, Mouth, and Nose Valves in Mammals BMA27 Displaced Nostrils BMA28 Unexpected Functions of Noses and Nostrils BMA29 Nasal Features with Unknown ... BMA30 Curious Teeth and Dentitions BMA31 Marching Teeth BMA32 Microbats and Megabats Have Strikingly Different Dentitions BMA33 "Unperfection" in Strap-Toothed Whales BMA34 Questionable Utility of Mammalian Tusks BMA35 Toothlessness in Mammals BMA36 Questionable Utility of Some Horns and Antlers BMA37 Horns Correlated with Toes and Stomachs BMA38 Horn and Antler Curiosities BMA39 Remarkable, Usually Paralleled, Innovations in Mammalian Extremities BMA40 Parallelisms in Mammalian Extremities BMA41 The Existence of Functional Wings on Mammals BMA42 Atavism in Mammalian Extremities BMA43 Parallelisms and Lack Thereof in Prehensile Tails BMA44 Break-Off Tails BMA45 Propulsive Tails BMA46 Mammalian Dorsal Fins BMA47 The Remarkably Long Neck of the Giraffe BMA48 Curious Affinities in the Arrangements of Genitals BMA49 Unusual Pouches on Mammals BMA50 Spurs on Mammals BMA51 Odor Convergence BMA52 Whole-Body Vibrations of Mammals Fetal Elephants Have Aquatic Features Seal Whiskers Detect Water Movements Whale Beaks ...