2 results found containing all search terms. 623 results found containing some search terms.
... debate, plus a little editorializing Passions run higher in archeology than in most fields of scientific endeavor. Favored hypotheses mesmerize some, despite contradictory data and cogent arguments. In this respect, much science verges on religion. The foregoing "kernel of real truth" was occasioned by letters written to Science News in response to B. Bower's article on the probability of human artifacts -- as old as 100,000 years -- having been found at the Calico site in California. (See SF#51.) First, J.G . Duvall, III, attacked Bower's article, asserting that the human origin of the Calico "artifacts" had long ago been shown to be untenable. For a reference, he cited an article by himself and W.T ... Venner in the Journal of Field Archaeology. Duvall's major point was that the Calico "tools" did not resemble proven Paleoindian tools. Responding to Duvall, G.F . Carter first pointed out that the Duvall-Venner paper was "almost instantly shown to be erroneous" by L.W . Patterson in the pages of the very same journal. As for the differences in artifacts, Carter asked why one should expect 12,000-year-old Paleoindian artifacts to look like 200,000-year-old artifacts from an entirely different culture. (Duvall, James G., III; "Calico Revisited," Science News, 131:227, 1987. Carter, George F.; "Calico Defended," Science News, 131:339, 1987 ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 48 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf052/sf052a02.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 53: Sep-Oct 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Tsunami And A Peruvian Cultural Glitch We quote from the abstract of a paper by R.M . Bird from American Antiquity. "While investigating the archaeological background of early maize on the coast of Peru, I realized that several factors affect interpretation. The estimated date for the start of common use of maize there is close to the apparent dates of a large tsunami, the abandonment of many coastal sites, and the start of occupation at Chavin de Huantar in the highlands. While investigating the possible relations between the principal pretsunami coastal culture and Chavin, I discovered that depictions of a monstrous head link the two cultures." The "monstrous head" is thought by the Bird to be a stylized representation of a tsunami wave. Not mentioned at all in the abstract are the physical evidences of tsunami damage along the Peruvian coast. This article portrays the possible effects on the ancient manmade structures in the region as well as the widespread deposits of sand, cobblestones, and other sediments. (Bird, Robert McK.; "A Postulated Tsunami and Its Effects on Cultural Development in the Peruvian Early Horizon," American Antiquity, 52:285, 1987.) Profile of a north-south site trench at a a site on the Peruvian coast, showing thick strata that may have been deposited by a tsunami. From Science Frontiers #53, SEP-OCT 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 42 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf053/sf053a01.htm
... drawing of the mammoth "looks like" it was copied from an accepted European engraved tusk; and The shell from which the Holly Oak pendant was made "looks like" shells found in other archeological sites with more recent dates; and so on. The only "hard" evidence that the pendant is a fake comes from radiocarbon dating, which suggests that the shell is only 1530 110 years old. The authors state that since mammoths positively did not survive that recently, the pendant must be a fraud. Griffin et al thus dump the Holly Oak oendant into the archeological wastebasket of "proven" frauds. This rather large wastebasket, they say, also contains the Calaveras skull, the Davenport elephant pipes, the Lenape stone, and the Nampa Image! (Griffin, James B. ... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 61: Jan-Feb 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Mammoth Fraud In Science The Holly Oak pendant, shown in the accompanying sketch, reveals a mammoth incised on a piece of seashell. Said to have been discovered in 1864 at a Delaware archeological site, it has been employed to "prove" two different theories: That humans were in North America as the Ice Ages waned and when mammoths still roamed the continent; and The the mammoth survived in North America well into the Christian era. In an article in American Antiquity, J.B . Griffin et al marshall considerable evidence implying that the Holly Oak pendant is a fraud. Much of this contrary evidence seems weak: The discoverer ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 39 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf061/sf061a02.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 62: Mar-Apr 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Recent Martian Rivers Erode Alba Patera Most of the Martian surface is thought to be more than 3.8 billion years old. This portion is densely cratered from a period pf heavy meteorite bombardment. It is also carved by many channels that are thought to have been cut in ancient times by flowing water, water which quickly escaped into space or combined chemically with Martian minerals. The present atmosphere of Mars, in consequence, contains little water vapor. But some of the Martian landscape, notably Alba Patera, raises questions about the above scenario. The anomalous characteristic of Alba Patera is its relative smoothness and scarcity of impact craters. This Martian real estate is believed to be 2 billion years younger than the rest of the planet. Even so, it, too, is marked by "fluvial" features that resemble stream beds. Question #1 . How did Alba Patera get smoothed out or "reworked"? In other words, what happened to the ancient craters that must have pocked its surface, as they do everywhere else? Question #2 . Where did the water come from to cut Alba Patera's stream beds if all of the Martian water disappeared 2 billion years earlier? One line of thought maintains that "fluvial" does not mean "pluvial," and that Martian water has come from below rather than as rain from the atmosphere. Both fluvial episodes, in this view, occurred when something caused the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf062/sf062a04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 55: Jan-Feb 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Archeological Stonewalling And Shadow Science In past issues of SF, we have presented considerable evidence for the existence of humans in America well before 12,000 years ago -- the "acceptable" limit. For example, in SF#54, we mentioned the 300,000-BP site in Brazil. There are many more. Of course, controversy hangs over all these sites and the dates assigned to them. The controversies about the specifics are good; but now the archeological establishment seems to be trying to enforce the 12,000-year dogma through authoritarian pronouncements in key publications. By way of illustration, we have P.S . Martin's article in Natural History, entitled "Clovisia the Beautiful!", bearing the subtitle: "If humans lived in the New World more than 12,000 years ago, There'd be no secret about it." Now, some archeologists are even trying to roll forward the 12,000-year date. See, for example, R. Lewin's review in Science (referenced below), which is subtitled: "In recent years anthropological opinion has been shifting in favor of a relatively recent date (not much more than 11,500 years ago) for the first human colonization of the Americas." In all of these articles, anomalous data are simply labelled "erroneous." (Martin, Paul S.; "Clovisia the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf055/sf055p01.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 53: Sep-Oct 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The perseus flasher: mystery solved!So goes the title of an item in Sky and Telescope. Instead of ending with an exclamation point, a question mark would have been more appropriate. The Perseus Flasher, a recurring flash of light in Perseus described in SF#39 and #49, is a topic upon which astronomers also wish to "close the book." So, we must ask ourselves how accurate the above title is. Photographic records of the Perseus Flasher site show no flashes at all in 3,288 hours of monitoring. In fact, a Harvard plate, which was being exposed at the same time that a 0-magnitude flash was reported by naked-eye observers, revealed nothing! The passages of some artificial satellites through the Perseus site have been correlated with naked-eye-observed flashes, suggesting that the flashes are only sun glints. One meteor observer, N. McLeod, claims that there is a background level of flashes from other parts of the sky which can also be attributed to satellite glints. The Sky and Telescope item concludes: "So the mystery is solved!" (Anonymous; "The Perseus Flasher: Mystery Solved!" Sky and Telescope, 73:604, 1987.) Comment. So, science in its relentless, inerrant progress has positively solved still another mystery. (Triumphal background music here!) In case you haven't noticed, the three ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf053/sf053a05.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 57: May-Jun 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Yeti evidence too hard!In SF#51, we printed a news item about photographs taken in the Himalayas by A.B . Wooldridge that were thought to show a Yeti. The latest issue of Cryptozoology contains a letter from Wooldridge in which he tells of his return, in 1987, to the site where the 1986 photos were taken. The bush in the 1986 photos was still there; the Yeti wasn't ; the snow was somewhat deeper. Wooldridge and some companions took more pictures of the site: "Stereo pairs of photos taken in 1987 have been used to produce a threedimensional map of the terrain near the bush. When this is used to derive an absolute scale for pairs of photos from 1986, it shows that, whatever I photographed in 1986, lies below the snow level in the 1987 photos. The object is leaning slightly uphill, and no movement can be detected when comparing photos taken at different times in 1986. The apparent change in position relative to the bush in some photos taken from different camera positions is caused by parallax. This evidence demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that, what I had believed to be a stationary, living creature was, in reality, a rock." (Wooldridge, Anthony B.; "The Yeti: A Rock After All?" Cryptozoology, 6:135, 1987.) Reference. More information on the Yeti is available in BHU7 in the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf057/sf057b10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 54: Nov-Dec 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Egyptian pyramids actually made of synthetic stone?The assertion of the title above has been around for a while, but now it has been detailed in a paper before the American Chrmical Society. "An authority on ancient building materials reported evidence Friday that the Egyptian pyramids were built of a remarkable synthetic stone that was cast on the site like concrete. "The new theory challenges the widely accepted belief that the pyramids were built from natural stone obtained from quarries and laboriously moved to the site on wooden rollers. "Dr. Joseph Davidovits said that the synthetic pyramid stone was made with cement far stronger than modern portland cement, which binds together the rock and sand in concrete. Portland cement has an average span of about 150 years, he said, but cements like those used in the pyramids last thousands of years. .. .. . "Davidovits said that a new deciphering of an ancient hieroglyphic text now provides some direct information about pyramid construction and supports his theory that synthetic stone was the construction material. .. .. . "Davidovits said the cement used in the pyramids binds the aggregate and other ingredients together chemically in a process similar to that involved in the formation of natural stone. "Portland cement, in contrast, involves mechanical rather then molecular bonding of the ingredients. Thus, pyramid stone is extremely difficult to distinguish from natural stone. "He cites a number of other pieces of evidence to support his ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf054/sf054a02.htm
... t boundary Just a few years ago, many scientists, especially physicists and astronomers, considered the Book of Science to be closed in the matter of what happened at the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K -T ) boundary, 65 million years ago, and why the dinosaurs met their end. It was declared, rather imperiously, that a large asteroid had impacted the earth, causing much physical and biological devastation. Many scientific papers are still being written on this singular period in the earth's history, and the situation is no longer so clear-cut. We select for brief review four papers, each with a different perspective. Occurrence of stishovite. Stishovite, a dense phase of silica, is widely accepted as an indicator of terrestrial impact events. It is not found at volcanic sites. Now, J.F . McHone et al report its existence at the K-T boundary, at Raton, New Mexico. (McHone, John F., et al; "Stishovite at the CretaceousTertiary Boundary, Raton, New Mexico," Science, 243:1182, 1989.) A plus for the pro-impact side. The impact of an asteroid can initiate basaltic flooding and trap formation. Evidence of a global fire. Soot appears at the K-T boundary at many sites, but where did it come from? Chemical analyses of these soots show an enhanced concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons over soots above and below the boundary. This is strong evidence of pyrolytic action at the K-T boundary; i.e ., widespread fires. ( ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 26 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf063/sf063g13.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 64: Jul-Aug 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Halley: a young, combusting, alien interloper Can this be the comet Halley of the textbooks? Comets are supposed to be as old as the solar system itself (4 .6 billion years), born of solar-system stuff when a gaseous cloud condensed. Above all, comets do not "burn" or combust! The vision of a "burning" comet was advanced by recent observations that the velocity and temperature of the gases escaping from Halley are higher than one would expect from the sublimation of ices under solar radiation. Also, the concentration of expelled material in large, hypersonic jets carrying large quantities of fine dust further ... the cometary ices to contain, apart from the hydrocarbons, nitrogen-containing compounds, etc., also of free oxygen (about 15 wt. %) . Under these conditions, burning should occur in the products of sublimation under deficiency of oxidizer accompanied by the production of 'soot,' 'smoke,' etc. The burning should propagate under the surface crust and localize at a few sites. "The presence of oxygen in cometary ices follows from a new eruption theory assuming the minor bodies of the Solar System to have formed in explosions of the massive ice envelopes saturated with electrolysis products on distant moon-like bodies of the type of Ganymede and Callisto." (Drobyshevski, E.M .; "Combustion as the Cause of Comet P/Halley's Activity, ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 26 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf064/sf064a03.htm
... clouds of stars and clusters of galaxies, may be mimicked by cellular automata (i .e ., fractals). Imagine the universe as a cubical lattice, and start in one corner, adding one layer of cubes after another. Galaxy distribution could be simulated by using a rule telling us which of the added cubical cells had galaxies in them and which did not. "The rule actually used supposes that the question whether each point in a newly added layer will (or will not) be occupied by a galaxy is mostly determined by the occupancy of the five nearest neighbors in the previous layer, but for good measure, there is a random variable to introduce an element of white noise to the system. To make the process a little more interesting, the determination whether a new site is occupied depends on whether a number characteristic of that site, and calculated by simple arithmetic from the corresponding number for the five nearest neighbors in the preceeding layer, exceeds an arbitrarily chosen number." Comparing this fractal simulation with the observed universe is startling. The agreement is "spectacularly successful." (Maddox, John; "The Universe as a Fractal Structure," Nature, 329:195, 1987.) Comment. In biology, too, fractal modelling can be very impressive. But, doesn't it all verge on numerology? The existence of a galaxy at a point in space is simply dependent on its neighbors; and the law of gravitation is not even mentioned. Are the physical laws that we usually assume as controlling the dynamics of matter now "hidden ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 25 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf054/sf054a05.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 60: Nov-Dec 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects How Genius Gets Nipped In The Bud At once amusing and tragic, the article bearing the above title treats the reader to the musings of a university researcher who has a brilliant new idea -- or so it seems to him. At first he is ready to rush to the literature and check out the idea's originality and feasibility. But wait, this groundwork will take considerable time, and the idea may turn out to be old hat. Is it all worth the risk? Will the university support research on this new untried idea? This would be unlikely since funds are thin, the idea is not part of the overall research plan, and worse yet, an enemy sits on the research fund committee. Getting external funds is impossible unless one can show that your university has enough confidence in the idea to support it financially. A way out is to publish the idea at a conference in hopes of raising interest and money. Hold it, the referees will ask why a few obvious points have not been checked out in the lab. "Suddenly you realize that there is a far more serious problem. The current scientific system is based on the assumption that there is no such thing as a radically new idea. Each new paper is required to climb on the back of a plethora of earlier published papers, and does little more than add another layer of gloss to the cited references. Genuinely new ideas no ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf060/sf060p18.htm
... be no secret about it." This was from an article in which archeologists (some of them at least) were trying to roll forward the date at which humans entered the Americas from 12,000 to 11,500 years ago. In just a few months, we have collected four new items from the general scientific literature (not the U.S archeological literature!) that seem to be swimming against the current. The Meadowcroft Rockshelter . J.M . Adovasio and R.C . Carlisle, in a letter to Science, argue that better dating techniques have consistently pushed the date at which humans arrived in the New World. Using their own work at the Meadowcroft Rockshelter, in Pennsylvania, they cite many radiometric dates earlier than 12,000 years. At this Pennsylvania site, the six deepest dates definitely associated with cultural material indicate that humans were here 13,955 to 14,555 years ago. (Adovasio, J.M ., and Carlisle, Ronald C.; "The Meadowcroft Rockshelter," Science, 239:713, 1988.) Kansas River skeletal remains . Using electron-spin resonance to date a piece of a human skull, W. Dort and L.D . Martin affirm a date of 15,400 years before the present. (Bower, B.; "Skeletal Aging of New World Settlers," Science News, 133: 215, 1988.) A Review of the Paleoindian Debate . W. Bray recounts in Nature what happened at a meeting at the Smithsonian last September. Various controversial sites were discussed ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf057/sf057a01.htm
... might reasonably, have been expected to describe atoms or atomic nuclei or both, not more exotic objects formed from two nuclei. The Rutherford-Bohr model of the atom was formulated after they had finished most of their work on MPAs. Yet none of its features can be found in their publications (this, indeed, is the main problem that Occult Chemistry presented to scientists for seventy two years). How can one, therefore, account for the remarkable research of these two people except by admitting that they did, truly, observe the microscopic world by means of ESP?" (Phillips, Stephen; "ESP of Atoms?" Theosophical Research Journal, 3:93, December 1986. Cr. G. Oakley) Comment. Can any of the above be true? The old published works of Besant and Leadbeater are there for any one to leaf through. Theosophists cer tainly see connections between their visions, acquired through ESP, and modern models of the microscopic world. Unfortunately, we will probably never get any modern physicist to even look at this occult material, much less venture an opinion. As in the case of "evolution" (see earlier discussion under Biology), one's philosophical predilections have a lot to do with what one sees and believes in a collection of data. Note the similarities between the old Besant-Leadbeater ESP-derived model of hydrogen (left) and today's dibaryon "bag model". From Science Frontiers #54, NOV-DEC 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf054/sf054p18.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 61: Jan-Feb 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Interproximal Grooving Of Teeth The following illustration appeared recently in a respected science journal. No, it was not a dentistry journal, nor was it an ad for a new toothpaste. It was Current Anthropology. It seems that some human and near-human skeletons possess teeth with the peculiar grooves shown in the sketch. The skeleton-age range is huge: 1.84 million years to comparatively modern bones 10,000 years old. These teeth are found on several continents. Some archeologists say simply that ancient humans just picked their teeth a lot in order to remove trapped food particles. But the grooves do not seem to be correlated with dental-decay problems. This fact has led to the so- called "cultural" theory, which holds that the picking of teeth was just another bad human habit, probably a sort of stereotype behavior having nothing to do with food caught between the teeth. (Formicola, Vincenzo; "Interproximal Grooving of Teeth: Additional Evidence and Interpretation," Current Anthropology , 29:663, 1988. Also: Anonymous; "Ancient Tooth Grooves: Take Your Pick," Science News , 134:237, 1988.) Comment. Could tooth-picking have been a religious rite? Are there cave drawings showing humans picking their teeth? Well, you can see from the Science News title that this publication also had fun with this item. Yet, the geographical and temporal reach ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf061/sf061a01.htm
... of geology, have been struck by how slavishly some mainstream scientists worship the Residue Fallacy. Briefly, this "fallacy" states that a single type of discrepant observation should not be considered viable if it contradicts a large body of well-established, internally consistent observations. In geology, the Residue Fallacy is employed to dismiss the precursorless polonium halos found by R.V . Gentry, as well as some other radiometric discordances. These scientists seem to have forgotten about the anomalous advance of Mercury's perihelion and a few other obvious residues that ultimately stirred up revolutions in our thinking. Anyway, it is now satisfying to find the Editor of Nature, mainstream science's preeminent journal, acknowledging the value of anomalies. The stimulus in this case is the morethan-a -decade-old inability of astronomers and physicists to explain the missing solar neutrinos. Two new, more sophisticated, neutrino detectors have come on line, in Japan and the U.S ., and they have confirmed the results obtained in the huge vat of cleaning fluid in the Homestead Mine, in South Dakota. For some reason, everyone measures only about one-third the number of solar neutrinos expected. Either something is wrong with our model of the sun's (and other star's ) energy-producing mechanism or our knowledge of nuclear physics is faulty. Recently, the solarneutrino anomaly has been complicated by the fact that the Homestead Mine detector seems to "see" more neutrinos during violent solar flares, although the two newer detectors find no such connections. J. Maddox, ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf062/sf062a03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 50: Mar-Apr 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects On The Trail Of The Fifth Force Well publicized lately has been the modern reanalysis of the old Eotvos balance experiments. Some think they show the presence of that famous "fifth force" which is supposed, according to some theories, to modify Newton's Law of Gravitation, and become measurable at distances of about 100 to 1000 meters. The Eotvos results may also be explicable in terms of laboratory air currents. But the fifth force may be showing up in geophysical experiments. "One of the most comprehensive geophysical experiments so far has been conducted by Frank Stacey at University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and his colleagues. Working in two metal mines, the researchers have measured a gravitational constant that is 0.7 percent greater than that measured in the laboratory -- suggesting the presence of a fifth force." (Weisburd, Stefi; "Geophysics on the Fifth Force's Trail," Science News, 131: 6, 1987.) From Science Frontiers #50, MAR-APR 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf050/sf050p23.htm
... Jun 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects How many migrations were there?One way of determining the directions and strengths of human migrations is through language analysis. People carry words along with them and, even after centuries of modification, traces of their original languages survive. In 1492, an estimated 30- 40 million Native Americans spoke more than 1,000 different languages. Can anyone discern patterns in such a hodgepodge? Careful study reveals many similarities. For example, all New World languages can be classified into three groups: The Eskimo-Aleut or Eurasiatic group, which is related to Indo-European, Japanese, Ainu, Korean, and some other languages. The Na-Dene family, related to a different set of Old World languages, such as Sino-Tibetan, Basque, (North) Caucasian, and others. The Amerind family. "The origins of the Amerind family are the most baffling, but there are a number of apparent cognates with language families of Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Oceania. For example, the root 'tik,' meaning 'finger, one, to point,' is found in Africa, Europe, and Asia, as well as in the Americas. The Amerind words for 'dog' bear a striking resemblance to the Proto-Indo-European word..." Can the language analysts answer the question in our title above? Based upon the above grouping, they say: "No more than three." (Ruhlin, Merritt ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf051/sf051a02.htm
... Subjects A MAMMOTH TALE!In the discussion of the genuineness of the Holly Oak pendant in SF#61, the possibility was raised that mammoths might have survived in North America until just a few centuries ago. Such survival is contrary to all mainstream thinking. Thus, when a datum comes along, even though it appears rather far-fetched, that testifies for the recent survival of mammoths, we must at least examine it. The datum in question (and it really is questionable) comes from the The Na tional Tombstone Epitaph , hardly part of the scientific literature! The article develops the theme that Chinese explorers landed in North America several millennia ago. The basis for such speculation is an ancient Chinese work called the Shun-Hai Ching , which is reputed to be about 3500 years old. In it, the Chinese explorers mention encounters with several strange animals. One is easily recognized as the collared peccary, known only in the New World, thus establishing the reality of a transPacific contact. Now, here is the piece de resistance: "Here we met a creature as tall as three men and so great that the earth trembled as he walked. He had a voice as loud as thunder. He was red like fire. From his mouth he spat spears of pearl, and he had but one long arm. He was wont to take up men in his hand and dash their brains out against rocks." Could this creature be anything but a mammoth? Incidentally, the frozen Siberian mammoths are reported to be covered with reddish hair. (Eckhardt, C ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf062/sf062b07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 51: May-Jun 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Remarkable Photograph Of The Marfa Light The century-old fame of the Marfa, Texas, nocturnal light was greatly enhanced some months ago, when it was written up in the Wall Street Journal, of all places! We now have at hand a time-exposure photograph showing the typical erratic motion and flickering nature of this "spook" light. The photo was taken by James Crocker in September 1986. The location was 10 miles deep in Mitchell Flats, southbound from Highway 90. A single-lens reflex camera mounted on a tripod was used. Exposure was less than 3 minutes, at f/1 .8 , 50 mm lens, EL 400 color film. Three additional observers were present. It is interesting that the light's motion resembles that of some observations and photos of ball lightning. The lights in the upper right, just above the right loop of the Marfa light, are thought to be car lights on Route 67, about 10 miles distant. Unfortnately, the photo is too difficult to reproduce here. See our book: Science Frontiers: Some Anomalies and Curiosities of Nature for a good reproduction. Ordering information here . Time-exposure photograph of the famed Marfa Light in Texas. See text for details (c ) James Crocker. From Science Frontiers #51, MAY-JUN 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf051/sf051g13.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 52: Jul-Aug 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Supernova Confusion And Mysteries Just a few weeks ago, IN SF#51, we reported some of the anomalies surrounding supernova 1987A, the first nearby super nova since 1604 AD. 1987A's nearness has given astronomers the opportunity to identify just which star exploded. (Other supernovas have been much too far away.) The prime suspect was the star Sanduleak -69 202. But then it was claimed that old -69 202 was still alive and well. This presented a quandry because no other star in the area was large enough to go supernova. But now it seems there was a mistake, and it was Sanduleak -69 202 all along that detonated. (Waldrop, M. Mitchell; "Supernova 1987A: Notes from All Over," Science, 236:522, 1987.) Comment. Naturally all of astronomy heaved a sigh of relief over this. Unfortunately, the relief was short-lived, and a second dose of antacid now seems required! Just a few days after the above, researchers reported in the New York Times some discomforting news: "According to Dr. Robert W. Noyes of Harvard-Smithsonian (Center for Astrophysics), the observations gathered by an extraordinarily sensitive camera show that the bright exploding star, or supernova, is actually two points of light, very close together, one about 10 times brighter than its companion. Since neither was present before the explosion, astronomers ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf052/sf052a06.htm
... other "geoglyphs" are to be found elsewhere in South America. Plan view of some Santa Valley geoglyphs from Peru. The scale at the lower left represents 10 meters. The vertical double line is not a geoglyph but rather the azimuth heading 280-degrees. It is hard to imagine how such underground drawings could be used for rituals. "For example, several areas that contain crosscrossing lines and figures similar to those of Nazca have recently been studied on the central coast [of Peru] between the FortalezaPativilca and Rimac valleys. Additional lines have been reported for Viru Valley, on the north coast, and for the Zana Valley, over 1,000 km to the north of Nazca. Interestingly, most coastal ground drawings that can be dated tentatively, either by associated ceramic remains and sites or by their similarity to diagnostic pottery motifs, fall in the earlier part of the Early Intermediate period (ca. 350 B.C . to A.D . 650) - i.e ., to a time following the establishment of irrigation agriculture as the primary subsistence focus, but prior to the rise of state societies. .. .. . "As is well known, several studies have been conducted that involved mapping and computer analysis of the Nazca lines to examine the hypothesis that they were related to astronomical phenomena. This theory is now discounted, at least as it applies to the great majority of the lines which do not appear to have been oriented toward the sky. More recent studies dealing with the lines have provided convincing arguments. primarily through comparison with lines ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf063/sf063a01.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 53: Sep-Oct 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Strange Craters We have just found the following item from the Australian Post . Can any of our Australian readers elaborate? "For more than 10 years, scientists and geologists have been baffled by the discovery of some 30 strange craters between Bundaberg and Gin Gin (Qld.). Made of sandstone, siltstone, and red ochre, and at least 25 million years old, the craters contain unidentifiable markings which could be manmade! "The holes were discovered by a farmer clearing his land and they have now been opened to the public who offer a multitude of theories about their origin, ranging from natural formations -- although the craters are not of volcanic origin -- to the work of visitors from outer space." (Anonymous; "Strange Craters," Aus tralasian Post , July 31, 1986. Cr. R. Collyns via L. Farish.) From Science Frontiers #53, SEP-OCT 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf053/sf053a03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 54: Nov-Dec 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The insects' revenge Plants may fool some insects with their mimicry and deter others with toxic chemicals, but the insects have their tricks, too, as seen in the following item from Science: "Many mandibulate insects that feed on milkweeds, or other latex-producing plants, cut leaf veins before feeding distal to the cuts. Vein cutting blocks latex flow to intended feeding sites and can be viewed as an insect counteradaptation to the plants' defensive secretion." (Dussord, David E., and Eisner, Thomas; "Vein-Cutting Behavior: Insect Counterploy to the Latex Defense of Plants," Science, 237:898, 1987.) Comment. Right now, even as we write this, the plants are evolving counterploys -- high-voltage veins perhaps! But this may not work. See the final item in this section. From Science Frontiers #54, NOV-DEC 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf054/sf054b10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 55: Jan-Feb 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Curious sand-filled cavities in the great pyramid "Japanese and French experts are investigating a new mystery at the 4,000-year-old pyramids -- why the pharaohs built geometrical cavities inside the Great Pyramid of Cheops and filled them with mineral-enriched sifted sand. .. .. . "From the outside, the pyramid appears to be built of solid blocks of limestone. But two French architects, Gilles Dormion and Jean Patrice Goidin, discovered cavities which could total 15 to 20 per cent of the structure. .. .. . "The French team used an instrument which measures differences in gravity to find the internal spaces. They then drilled small holes through the 1.0 -metre blocks and found sand -- but not ordinary sand from the nearby desert. "Laboratory tests showed it came from another part of Egypt and was sifted and enriched with minerals before being placed inside the pyramid by the ancient architects." (Fouad, Ashraf; Vancouver Sun, March 7, 1987. Cr. G. Conway via L. Farish.) The French results were subsequently confirmed by a Japanese team. (Buccianti, Alexandre; "Des Scientifiques Japonais Confirment les Traveaux de la Mission Francaise,: Le Monde, p. 18, February 4, 1987. Cr. C. Mauge.) From Science Frontiers #55, JAN-FEB 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf055/sf055p02.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 55: Jan-Feb 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Glitch In The Evolution Of Whales S.A . McLeod, a paleontologist at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, has been studying the bones of a 10-million-year-old whale found in a backyard in Southern California. It is claimed that these bones "will fill an im portant gap in (the) knowledge of the evolution of whales." Actually, the opposite seems to be the case. "One of the interesting things about the discovery is that it appears 'this guy didn't follow the same evolutionary path as living whales,' McLeod says. Sperm whales today have well-developed teeth only in the lower jaw, whereas the fossil whale shows evidence of very large, very welldeveloped teeth in both upper and lower jaws." (Tyndall, Katie; "A Whale's Legacy," Insight, 49, June 15, 1987. Cr. C. Stiles.) Comment. One would think that a full mouth of teeth would serve sperm whales better, especially in their battles with the giant squid they prey upon. Is evolution reversing for whales? From Science Frontiers #55, JAN-FEB 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf055/sf055p11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 58: Jul-Aug 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Maize In Ancient India Conventional wisdom is clear on two accounts: Maize originated in the New World. There were no cultural, maizebearing contacts between the New and Old Worlds in the lengthy period between the (hypothetical) dash across the Bering Land Bridge circa the waning of the (hypothetical) Ice Ages and the (hypothetical) Viking incursions into North American waters. But C.L . Johannessen is certain that the ancient Indians (that is those in India) were enjoying corn-on-the-cob at least as early as the Twelfth Century BC. He writes: "Goddesses and gods in sculptuted soapstone friezes in Hoysala temples of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries BC near Mysore, India, hold in their hands representations of maize ears. There are more than 63 of these large ears at Somnanthpur, and maize is represented at three other temples I have visited. "In the Hoysala tradition, worshippers must have used maize as a golden-coloured and many-seeded fertility symbol in their religious rites. That the ears are modelled on maize is shown by the ear length-todiameter ratio, the ear sizes in relation to parts of the human figures, and the wide variation of anatomical detail in the carvings that all belong to maize: the ears have either parallel, highly tapered or bulging sides, their tips are pointed, and their axes may be straight or warped, depending on the moisture at the time ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf058/sf058a01.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 58: Jul-Aug 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Do right-handers live longer?" Several findings suggest that lefthandedness may be associated with reduced longevity. For instance, Porac and Coren reported that 13 per cent of 20-year-olds are lefthanded but only 5 per cent of those in their fifties and virtually nobody of 80 or above. We believe that this absence of left-handers from the oldest age groups reflects higher biological and environmental risk." To investigate this asymmetry further, D.F . Halpern and S. Coren repaired to The Baseball Encyclopedia , where longevity and handedness are duly recorded for many players. Here again, they found that, although mortality is about the same up to age 33, thereafter about 2% more right-handers than lefthanders survive at each age. Halpern and Coren suggest a few possible causes: (1 ) prenatal and perinatal birth stressors are more probable in left-handers; (2 ) the immune systems of lefthanders may be reduced by ge netic effects and intra-uterine hormones; and (3 ) left-handers may suffer more accidents in a world designed for righthanders! (Halpern, Diane F., and Coren, Stanley; "Do Right-Handers Live Longer?" Nature, 333:213, 1988.) Reference. A variety of handedness phenomena are cataloged in BHB20-23 in Biological Anomalies: Humans I. To order this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers # ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf058/sf058b07.htm
... now being challenged. Investigators are finding that in many ways an individual bacterium is more analogous to a component cell of a multicellular organism than it is to a free-living, autonomous organism. Bacteria form complex communities, hunt prey in groups and secrete chemical trails for the directed movement of thousands of individuals." J.A . Shapiro, author of the preceding quote, attributes the simplistic picture of bacteria to medical bacteriology, in which disease-causing bacteria are classically identified by isolating single cells, growing cultures from them, and then showing that they cause the disease in question. In the microscopic real world, bacteria virtually always live in colonies, which possess collective properties quite different and much more impressive than those of the single-cell-in-a -dish! That old human urge for reductionism has led us astray again. Shapiro seeks to remove the blinders of reductionism in a wonderful article in the June, 1988, issue of Scientific Amer can . We have room here to mention only the Myxobacteria, many of which never exist as single cells in nature. Even those that do are "social" in the sense that, when two cells meet, they align themselves side by side and go through ritual motions that seem foreign to such "simple" organisms! (Where is this "dance" encoded in the single cells? Do they have 'memories'?) Movements within colonies of Myxobacteria are highly coordinated. "Trails of extracellular slime are secreted and serve as highways for the directed movement of thousands of cells, rhythmic waves pulse through the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf058/sf058b09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 58: Jul-Aug 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects From Forteanism To Science The famous Moodus Noises have long been a Fortean staple -- at least since 1923 when good old Charley mentioned them in his New Lands . Recently, perhaps mostly because there is a nuclear power plant right across the Connecticut River, there has been a concerted scientific effort to find out just what is going on in south-central Connecticut. A brief glimpse of the phenomenon was provided by W. Sullivan in the New York Times: "From last Sept. 17 to Oct. 22, more than 175 small earthquakes occurred near the town of Moodus, Conn. Many were accompanied by sounds like gunshots; the strongest vibrated a van. The phenomenon was another swarm of Moodus quakes that have puzzled generations of earth scientists. The earliest was recorded in 1568 and Indians knew of them long before then: Moodus is an Indian word meaning 'place of noises.'" Sullivan's article was derived from a spate of scientific papers delivered at the Spring meeting of the American Geophysical Union. (Sullivan, Walter; "A Connecticut Mystery Still Defying Scientists," New York Times, May 22, 1988. Cr. P. Huyghe, D. Stacy, R.M . Westrum) Abstracts of all the scientific papers presented at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union appeared in Eos. Here are excerpts from one of them: "Since the installation of a six-station microearthquake network in ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf058/sf058g13.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 60: Nov-Dec 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Global fire at the k-t boundary The worldwide deposit of iridium at the K-T (Cretaceous-Tertiary) boundary has been considered very strong evidence that a large astronomical object (asteroid or comet) devastated our planet some 65 million years ago. Some scientists, however, propose that the iridium layer was instead deposited through widespread volcanic activity. The proponents of an astronomical mechanism should be heartened by a recent paper in Nature, by W.S . Wolbach et al. Here is their Abstract: "Cretaceous-Tertiary (K -T ) boundary clays from five sites in Europe and New Zealand are 102 -104 -fold enriched in elemental C (mainly soot), which is isotopically uniform and apparently comes from a single global fire. The soot layer coincides with the Ir layer, suggesting that the fire was triggered by meteorite impact and began before the ejecta had settled." The composition of the hydrocarbons in the sediments points to the earth's biomass (mainly surface vegetation) as the source of the soot. The total quantity of K-T soot is equivalent to that which would be produced by burning 10% of all present terrestrial plant material. (Wolbach, Wendy S., et al; "Global Fire at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary," Nature, 334:665, 1988.) Comment. Unmentioned in the above article is the possibility that extensive wildfires might have been ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf060/sf060p11.htm
... actual impact craters giving rise to the tektites might actually be on the moon instead of the earth. Looking over the literature, one sees that this debate has been characterized by much invective and scientific infighting. Today, most scientists concur that some tektite strewn fields are definitely associated with specific, although distant, meteor craters on the earth's surface. Unfortunately, the large separations of craters and strewn fields add a circumstantial flavor to the evidence. However, some tektite-like objects are to be found in the immediate vicinities of terrestrial craters, but not in far-flung strewn fields; viz., the Aouelloul Crater in Mauritania, and the Zhamashin Crater in the USSR. Another example has now come to light: the Lonar Lake Crater, a 50,000-year-old impact crater, in the Deccan flood basalts in India. From the paper's abstract: "Homogenous, dense glass bodies (both irregular and splash form) with high silica contents ( 67% SiO2) occur in the vicinity of Lonar Crater, India. Their lack of microlites and mineral remnants and their uniform chemical composition virtually preclude a volcanic origin. They are similar to tektites reported in the literature....Our geochemical data are consistent with these high silica glass bodies being impact melt products of two-thirds basalt and onethird local intertrappean sediment (chert). The tektite-like bodies of the impact craters Lonar, Zhamanshin, and Aouelloul are generally similar. Strong terrestrial geochemical signatures reflect the target rock REE patterns and the abundance ratios and demonstrate their terrestrial origin resulting ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf053/sf053g12.htm
... 000 years ago in both Australia and North America - but that their invasion paths were confined to the low coastal areas. Then, as the Pleistocene ended and the ice sheets melted, the sea level rose to obliterate the signs of earliest occupation. Therefore, if archeological digs could be conducted under a few hundred feet of water along the continental shelves, the artifact gap could be filled! (Bodnarik, Robert G.; "On the Pleistocene Settlement of South America," Antiquity, 63:101, 1989.) Comments. Dredges have brought up elephant teeth from the continental shelf of earthern North Ameriva, but we are not aware of any human artifacts. The continental shelf along North America's west coast is hardly a thoroughfare, for it is very narrow. *Very old signs of human activity have now (1997) been found in northern Australia. (SF#110) Also in 1997, Clovistype projectile points were reported from eastern Siberia. The situation is still in a state of flux. From Science Frontiers #63, MAY-JUN 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf063/sf063a03.htm
... Frontiers ONLINE No. 63: May-Jun 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Some Editorial Pedantry If you glance back quickly at the last three items on "astronomy," you will see that all three discoveries were made with computers using numerical simulation - not through direct observation. Since such simulations are built upon a foundation of accepted physical laws, to say nothing of various mathematical approximations and computer software, the discoveries made are only as good as the laws and methodology. As. A. Korzybski used to say: "The map is not the territory." Forgetting this has led experts to predict that heavier-than-air craft could never fly and that the earth could not be more than a few million years old. From Science Frontiers #63, MAY-JUN 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf063/sf063a99.htm
... continued: "Having said all this, while conducting hydrogeological fieldwork in Colorado, I was involved in 'dowsing' the exact location of buried metal pipes using two L-shaped metal rods, which were balanced on the fingers (not clutched at all). Surface and subsurface pipes gave clear deflection of the rods. I was led to conclude that the rods operated as a crude magnetometer." B.W . Skelcher originally did not believe that any variation in the magnetic field or any other natural force would cause a hand-held stick to move. But: "One day, on the undeveloped plot of land adjacent to my abode, I spied a 'nutter' pacing to and fro with hazel in hand. When the fellow assured me that he was seriously checking the site for hidden water mains, power cables, and so on, I expressed my grave doubts. At this he handed me the twigs and after a brief instruction goaded me to try. After a few paces I was astonished to feel the two bent twigs move in my hands. I am not skeptical any more, I know it works." (Younger, Paul L., and Skelcher, B.W .; "Dowsing-Sense," New Scientist, p. 62, April 9, 1987.) Comment. Such testimonial evidence, abundant though it is, will not be accepted by the scientific community. In stead they point to their controlled experiments, which are strongly negative. Why do so many individuals experience psi phenomena casually, but when controls are applied ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf052/sf052p20.htm
... have the opportunity to colonize Mars." After some computations Melosh concludes: "It seems likely that the impacts that produced craters on Earth that are greater than 100 km in diameter would each have ejected millions of tons of near-surface rocks carrying viable microorganisms into interplanetary space, much in the form of boulders large enough to shield those organisms from ultraviolet radiation, low-energy cosmic rays, and even galactic cosmic rays. Under such circumstances spores might remain viable for long periods of time." (Melosh, H.J .; "The Rocky Road to Panspermia," Nature, 332:687, 1988.) Comment. Next we need a reasonable mechanism that spreads life through interstellar space. Light pressure, that's it; and the idea is over a century old! Incidentally, SNC is short for Shergottites, Nakhalites, Chassignites; all rare classes of meteorites. From Science Frontiers #58, JUL-AUG 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf058/sf058a03.htm
... is yes, according to biology professor Gerard Leduc, who says he has found evidence of sundials in four different locations in the Laurentians and Eastern Townships." .. .. . "The stone complexes, comprising a centre stone and others radiating toward the east and west, may have been used as calendars whereby farmers could, for example, have known when to plant and harvest crops." Leduc also claims to have discovered: Unexplained stone walls two to three feet high that begin and end with no apparent purpose, and which are not associated with the fields of farmers. Grass circles showing up as yellowish rings in green grassy fields, caused by a different type of vegetation. These grass circles are perfect in shape and associated with stone structures. Trilithons, located at the sundial sites, consisting of three closely grouped rocks. (Morrissy, John; "Stonehenge in Quebec," Stonehenge Viewpoint, no. 79, p. 3, Winter 1988.) From Science Frontiers #57, MAY-JUN 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf057/sf057a03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 64: Jul-Aug 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Who left these artifacts in burrows cave?Burrows Cave artifacts. Right are pictured two artifacts extracted from a controversial site in Illinois called Burrows Cave. A large quantity of epigraphic material has been found there, and it certainly doesn't seem to be fare digestible by mainstream archeologists. The artifacts are somewhat reminiscent of the Davenport, Iowa, and Wilmington, Ohio, tablets, both of which are also of doubtful authenticity. (Anonymous; Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Epigraphic Society, Occasional News letter , no. 2, May 1, 1989.) References. The Davenport and Wilming-ton tablets mentioned above are described in our handbook Ancient Man. To order, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #64, JUL-AUG 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf064/sf064a02.htm
... of this introductory paragraph, P. Davies, asks, as we all do, "What is the origin of this creative power?" In groping for an answer, he presents first a common example of "blind" organization: the hexagonal convection cells in a pan of heated water. Using for a stepping stone the cooperative action of atoms in a laser, he leaps to the development of an embryo from a single strand of DNA! All such systems are "open"; that is, energy can flow in and out. They are also nonlinear, which means that chaotic, unpredictable action may occur. Davies implies that such action can be "creative," almost as if they possessed free will! His final example is that of the network with large numbers of interacting sites or nodes. With random inputs, large networks do exhibit self-organization. Network theory is now very popular in the field of artificial intelligence. (Remember the computer Hal in 2001?) Davies's conclusion: ". .. Neo-Darwinism, combined with the mathematical principles emerging from network theory and related topics, will, I am convinced, explain the 'miracle' of life satisfactorily." (Davies, Paul; "The Creative Cosmos," New Scientist, p. 41, December 17, 1987.) The superorganism. One week later, O. Sattaur expanded on the Gaia concept. He quotes J. Lovelock's definition: ". .. the physical and chemical condition of the surface of the Earth, of the atmosphere and of ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf056/sf056g16.htm
... .B . Morris, an authority on prehistoric rock art, has contributed an article comparing the cup-and-ring motif, as found in Great Britain, with that found in North America. Since this stereotype motif decorates the rocks of all continents, save Antarctica, and since the hey-day of cup-and-ring engraving was 3-5 millennia ago, this unique design suggests the worldwide diffusion of culture thousands of years ago. A cup-and-ring engraving consists of a hollow or cup anywhere from 4 to 30 inches in diameter, surrounded by 1 to 9 rings. The rings may be gapped, with a narrow groove running through the gaps from the outside. (See the illustration,) Cups-and-rings have been found at over 700 sites in Great Britain. Most date between 2200 and 1600 B.C . The cup-and-ring is much rarer in the States. A few are known from Alabama, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Texas, and doubtless other states. In contrast to the British cups-and-rings, the American ones are upgapped, though otherwise indistinguishable. What is the significance of the motif? Of course, no one can say for sure. Many in Britain are near copper and gold workings. Other are associated with burials and astronomical alignments. Some European archeologists think they represent the sun or sun god. For the anomalist, the cups-and-rings hint at an ancient worldwide culture that left its signature on rocks just about everywhere. (Morris, Ronald W. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf062/sf062a01.htm
... visited Florida knows that it differs in several ways from the rest of North America. Now we find that Florida doesn't even belong to North America; it is an interloper, an "exotic terrane." How does one know this? Three facts hint that Florida doesn't belong: When pre-Cenozoic land masses are fitted together, assuming the truth of continental drift, an awkward overlap arises that suggests that Florida was not always where it is today; The latest paleomagnetic measurement of Florida's Paleozoic latitude is consistent with it being part of Gond wanaland rather than at its present latitude; Radiometric dating of zircons retrieved from a core extracted from Northern Florica yield an age of 16501800 million years. There are no known source rocks in the southeastern U.S . that old; Africa and South America are likely sources of such zircons. "These (latter) two new lines of geologic data provide strong evidence confirming previous suggestions that Florida was part of Gondwana during the early Paleozoic and that its current configuration is that of an exotic terrane sutured to North America during the fragmentation of Pangea." (Opdyke, Neil D., et al; "Florida as an Exotic Terrane: Paleomagnetic and Geochronologic Investigation of Lower Paleozoic Rocks from the Subsurface of Florida," Geology , 15:900, 1987.) Comment. Other exotic terranes have been found in western North America, making the continent a veritable pastiche. From Science Frontiers #57, MAY-JUN 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf057/sf057g13.htm
... Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Cometary scars on the moon?More information has surfaced on the enigmatic lunar swirl markings (Category ALE5 in our catalog: The Moon and the Planets. These whitish blotches are not only visually incongruous, being obviously different from the debris spla shes around craters, but they also exhibit curious magnetic properties. J.F . Bell and B.R . Hawke, of the University of Hawaii, have acquired near-infrared spectra of the swirl designated Reiner Gamma. They report that the composition of the swirl material does not match the crater ejecta; and, also, that a previously undetected reddish halo surrounds the swirl. Best guess at present: The swirls are the scars of comets -- probably less than 100 million years old. (Anonymous; "Cometary Scars on the Moon," Sky and Telescope, 75:11, 1988.) Comment. Does nearby earth also bear cometary scars? Some think that the 1908 Tunguska Event was a cometary impact. (See ETC2 in our catalog: Caro lina Bays, Mima Mounds .) Also see the the item below under GEOLOGY about comets and the earth's oceans. Reference. Both catalog volumes mentioned above are described here . From Science Frontiers #56, MAR-APR 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf056/sf056a05.htm
... ) Over 7,000 of these remarkable dry-stone edifices exist -- a concentration of monumental stone architecture unparalleled in Europe. "' Nuraghe' derives from the prehistoric Sardinian root 'nur' which means both 'hollow' and 'heap.' But the nuraghi are neither hollow nor are they haphazard heaps of stone. The nuraghe interior often presents a complex plan of chambers, winding staircases, dead-end corridors, concealed rooms with trap doors, and a variety of niches and compartments. Standing up to three stories high with magnificently corbelled domes one on top of the other, some structures have as many as 18 subsidiary towers attached to the main keep. Large complexes were sometimes completely enclosed by enormous stone walls punctuated with still more towers." Ocer 3,000 years old, the nuraghi have withstood the depredations of weather and later humans by virtue of their excellent design and construction. As with many other such ancient structures, one is impressed with the size of the stones used. How were they moved? How were the stones -- usually hard basalt -- cut and dressed by artesans with no metal tools harder than copper or bronze? And what was the purpose of the nuraghi? A quick answer to the last question is that they were fortresses, but they might also have been dwellings or storehouses. (Gallin, Lenore; "The Prehistoric Towers of Sardinia," Archaeology, 40:26, September/October 1987.) Reference. The nuraghi and similar megalithic stonework are covered in more detail in our handbook: Ancient Man. This ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf055/sf055p03.htm
... possibly know, and thus MIB can posses an omniscient air." The central thesis of this lengthy article is the close relationship of MIBs and the ancient figure of the Devil. Also treated are the similarities between older folklore traditions and the UFO/ MIB phenomena. The author also notes that UFO percipients also often see Bigfoot-like creatures and other "monsters." (Rojcewicz, Peter M.; "The 'Men in Black' Experience and Tradition: Analogues with the Traditional Devil Hypo thesis," Journal of American Folklore, 100:148, 1987.) Comment. Little is said in this item about the objective reality of MIBs, UFOs, and the Devil, but the reader is left with the impression that all these phenomena are aspects of a continuum of experience as old as the human race. From Science Frontiers #53, SEP-OCT 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf053/sf053p16.htm
... scalar Yukawa potential, the coupling parameter is alpha = 0.023, the range is lambda = 280 m, and the Newtonian Gravitational Constant is G = (6 .52 0.01) x 1011 m3 kg-1 s-2 . We do not yet have adequate resolution to discriminate this scalar model from a scalarvector model." (Eckhardt, D.H ., et al; "Experimental Evidence for a Violation of Newton's Inverse-Square Law of Gravitation," Eos, 69:1046, 1988.) "In the late summer of 1987, an ex periment was performed to determine the value of the Newtonian gravitational constant, G, by measuring the variation of the earth's gravity, g, with depth in the Greenland icesheet. The site for the experiment - the radar station at Dye-3 , Greenland - was selected because of the existing 2000- m-deep ice borehole there. Previous analysis of ice-cores from the borehole indicate that the ice density can be accurately modeled. Gravity measurements were made to a depth of 1673 meters in the ice, the sub-ice topography was mapped with high-precision radar echo sounding over a 10-km-diameter region, and a series of 24 locations in a 32-km-diameter network around the hole were surveyed with gravity, leveling, and GPS positioning. "When corrected for the sub-ice topography, a gravity anomaly that accumulated to nearly 4 mGal in 1.4 km was observed. We find measured anomalies can be taken as evidence ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf062/sf062p13.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 53: Sep-Oct 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Hypnotic Mars As we tried to convey in SF#52, scientists (and most people, in fact) have a strong innate urge to "close the book on problems"; that is, come up with final, absolute solutions. Apparently nature -- Mars, at least -- is not cooperating. When the Mariner and Viking spacecraft found no traces of Martian canals, most astronomers "closed the book" on the century-old Martian canals. Percival Lowell and all the other able astronomers who also saw the canal networks were obviously deluded. Wouldn't you know it, those canals haven't gone away! Consider this testimony of I. Dyer: "As staff photographer and observer at Lowell Observatory during the 1960-61 apparition of Mars, I spent several nights scrutinizing the planet's surface through the 24-inch Clark refractor. At instants of steady seeing I saw, and attempted to photograph, an apparent network of fine lines. Unfortunately, I was unable to duplicate clearly what I saw. Still, several of the more visually distinct 'canals' can be traced on my original prints. each is a composite of the finest four to eight images out of 49. Such prints suppress grain, remove artifacts and enhance detail." The canals thus photographed match some of lowell's well, although some of his detail is lacking. (Dyer, Ivan; "Martian Canals ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf053/sf053a04.htm
... In fact, the latest issue of the NEARA Journal (NEARA = New England Antiquities Research Association) contains two articles dealing with supposed Ogam writing and other crude drawings in the Anubis Caves of western Oklahoma. The presence of true Ogam writing in Oklahoma would be traumatic for mainstream American archeology, for it would imply that far-wandering Celts had passed through long before Columbus made landfall. Later in the same issue of the NEARA J., G. Carter describes a tablet in the possession of a South African Zulu, which pictures a giraffe and a zebra along with inscriptions in Egyotian, Arabic, and Ogam! Carter writes: "I put below of picture of a giraffe with Ogam alongside. The Ogam letters are RZRF. Add vowels and this becomes: Rai Za Ra Fa; old Arabic for 'behold the giraffe.' Alongside a zebra figure one finds Ogam letters ZBDB, which in Arabic reads 'painted ass.' These animal figures are usually considered to date to the Upper Paleolithic. Apparently Arabic speakers added the inscriptions much later. But when, pray, did the Arabs write in Ogam? Those Celts certainly did get around! Has anyone found Ogam in South America or Australia? (Leonard, Phillip M., and McGlone, William R.; "The Anubis Caves," NEARA Journal, 22:51, 1988. Carter, George F.; "Before Columbus," NEARA Journal, 22:61, 1988.) Reference. Details on Ogam and its presence in unexpected places can be found in our handbook Ancient Man. Ordering ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf060/sf060p01.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 51: May-Jun 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Mite Pockets Of Lizards "Many lizards are infested by chig gers, the larvae of trombiculid mites, which feed on tissue fluid and cell debris. Surprisingly, lizards seem to go out of their way to attract the chiggers -- they have special mite pockets that provide a protected, warm and humid site. In many cases, the skin of the lizard also has smaller scales than normal and a good blood supply in the pocket, which enables the parasites to feed more readily." There does not seem to be any advantage to the lizards providing plush accommodations for the chiggers. The chiggers can wreak havoc on their hosts in the form of skin lesions, allergic reactions, secondary infections, and the transmission of diseases. Nevertheless, some 150 species in 5 distinct lizard families possess mite pockets, which are often located in different places in different lizard species. Apparently, the mite pockets evolved separately several times. But why? (Benton, Michael J.; "The Mite Pockets of Lizards," Nature, 325:391, 1987.) Comment. Why haven't the lizards evolved thicker skin or some sort of chemical defense instead of reducing their fitness with mite pockets? Or, are other factors operating? From Science Frontiers #51, MAY-JUN 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf051/sf051b08.htm
... biotites (micas), sans any detectable precursory uranium or halos thereof. Since the half-lives of the polonium isotopes are 138.4 days, 0.000164 second, and 3.04 minutes, respectively, it is certainly perplexing how the polonium halos got where they are! According to geological thinking, the igneous rocks containing the biotites must have been molten for a good deal longer than 138 days, thus destroying halos of short-lived isotopes. R.V . Gentry, a creationist, thinks that the polonium isotopes are primordial -- created by God some 6,000 years ago, in situ and without precursors. The rocks displaying the halos would, therefore, be among the oldest rocks on earth. What Wakefield does is exxamine the geology of some of the sites from which Gentry obtained his biotite samples. Basically, he finds that the supposedly primordial rocks are often just dikes and veins that were formed much later than the earth's oldest rocks. Wakefield comments, "This fact alone tells us that the rocks bearing Gentry's halos, even if instantly created, have no bearing on the origin and age of the earth." But does Gentry's "Tiny Mystery" vanish? Not at all -- unlike the Cheshire cat's grin. The polonium halos, seem ingly without detectable precursors, are still there. Wakefield states with all honesty, "Still, we must give Gentry his due. Nothing in geology fully explains the apparent occurrence of the polonium halos as described by Gentry. They do remain a minor mystery ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf058/sf058g11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 59: Sep-Oct 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Did an asteroid impact trigger the ice ages?Asteroids and comets are being blamed these days for more and more of our planet's catastrophism -- biological, meteorological, and geological. What a turnabout in scientific thinking in just a decade. F.T . Kyte et al have now provided additional details on meteoritic debris they first described in 1981. On the floor of the southeast Pacific, about 1400 kilometers west of Cape Horn, about 5 kilometers down, they found high concentrations of iridium in Upper Pliocene sediments about 2.3 million years old. Since the proposed projectile hit in very deep water, no crater was dug out. What did survive is called an "impact melt." This is debris rich in noble metals, such as iridium, and contains particles typical of a low-metal mesosiderite. Some 600 kilometers of the ocean floor received this debris. Kyte and his associates estimate the size of the impacting object at at least 0.5 kilometers in diameter. No biological extinctions are correlated with the 2.3 -million-year date, but there appears to have been a major deterioration of climate at about this time. There was a shift in the marine oxygen isotope records and, more obvious, the creation of the huge loess (sandy) deposits in China. What the impact may have done is to vaporize enough water into the atmosphere to increase the earth's albedo, ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf059/sf059p12.htm
