... , or severely worn. It was obvious that the Ukhaa Tolgod animals had been very suddenly engulfed by a "tidal wave" of sand. It was a catastrophic event of some sort. But what kind of catastrophes occur on desolate, riverless deserts? Wind is always blowing sand about and dunes creep along in deserts, but healthy animals easily avoid burial. Of course, there are rare, sudden downpours even on the Gobi. But one would expect this rain to be quickly absorbed by the sand. Intrigued by the evidence of unexpected catastrophism in the Gobi, scientists from the American Museum of Natural History first took a look at Nebraska's strange Sand Hills. These Sand Hills stretch for thousands of square miles, reach heights of 400 feet, and are believed to be of aeolian origin during the Pleistocene. (See ETM7 in Carolina Bays ) Being a modern analog of the ancient Gobi, the Nebraska Sand Hills might provide some insights as to what happened long ago in the Gobi. An important clue occurs during the summer, when heavy thunderstorms sometimes trigger avalanches of wet sand called "debris flows". These sandslides may be 900 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 4 feet deep. Although they have occasionally partly buried ranch buildings, they are too slow and small to endangerlivestock and wild animals. But what if they were much larger and faster? Back on the Gobi, geologists remarked that the rich fossil deposits were found in structureless sandstone; i.e ., there was none of the cross-bedding seen in sandstones elsewhere in the region. Furthermore ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 134: MAR-APR 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Speaking of ALH 84001 Among the various magnetic grains comprising ALH 84001 are some nanometersized, hexagonal prisms that are "indistinguishable" from those excreted by terrestrial magnetotactic bacteria: Just when scientists in general were convinced that ALH 84001's "worms" had a mineralogical (i .e ., non-biological) origin, along comes this revelation. The ALH-84001 controversy is not over yet. (Kerr, Richard A.; "Tiny Magnets Point to Martian Life," Science, 290:2242, 2000.) Comment. In terrestrial magnetotactic bacteria, these magnetic crystals are strung together to make a sort of compass needle that helps orient the organism in muck and other lightless and lowly habitats.) From Science Frontiers #134, MAR-APR 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 137: SEP-OCT 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Fuzz In The Climate Record Climatologists have bet heavily on their analysis of cores extracted from the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. Their trace impurities are believed to accurately record the earth's climate over the last several hundred thousand years. The temporal accuracy of this record is based upon the assumption that these impurities have not migrated vertically from where they were deposited. This assumption is now under severe stress with the discovery of anomalous diffusion within ice plus a phase phenomenon called "premelting," both of which result in the transport of the climate-marking impurities far from their original layer of deposition. A.W . Rempel et al write below (in the jargon of climatologists): .. .under conditions that resemble those encountered in the Eemian interglacial ice of central Greenland (from about 125,000 to 115,000 years ago---impurity fluctuations may be separated from ice of the same age by as much as 50 cm. This distance is comparable to the ice thickness of the contested sudden cooling events in the Eemian ice from the GRIP core. Translation: The accepted picture of the earth's climate history over the last few hundred thousand years may be seriously distorted. (Rempel, A.W ., et al; "Possible Displacement of the Climate Signal in Ancient Ice by Premelting and Anomalous Diffusion," Nature, 411:568, 2001.) Comment. This discovery could impact ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 39: May-Jun 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Saturn's rings may be young When the Voyager spacecraft swept past Saturn, they radioed back photos of a complex, very dynamic system of rings -- thousands of rings. Studies of these rings have led some astronomers to wonder if they are really as old as Saturn itself. Two lines of thinking suggest a recent origin: (1 ) The rings are composed of both light material (very likely water ice) and dark material (probably rocks and dust). The rocky fragments, according to the prevailing nebular theory, should have condensed early in solar-system history, and then been swept gravitationally into the planet as they were slowed by friction with the uncondensed nebular material. Yet, dark material is still in the rings. (2 ) The incessant bombardment of the rings by meteorites should have pulverized the rings, sending fragments and vaporized material in all directions. In just 10 million years the rings should have been largely erased. They are still there. (Cuzzi, Jeffrey N.; "Ringed Planets: Still Mysterious -- II," Sky and Telescope, 69:19, 1985.) Comment. Assuming the rings are young, where did they come from? What happened to Saturn in "recent" times? Reference. Several lines of evidence point to the youth of Saturn's rings. See: ARL16 in our catalog The Moon and the Planets. Ordering information here . From ...

... Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Australian Pyramids "Standing in the bushland some distance from the town of Gympie in southern Queensland, is a crudelybuilt, 40-metre-tall terraced stone pyramidal structure which, I believe, will one day help to alter the history of Australia -- to prove that, 3,000 years ago, joint Egyptian and Phoenician mineral-seeking expeditions established mining colonies here." Thus runs the lead paragraph of an article in a popular Australian publication. This purported pyramid boasts 18 recognizable terraces. The bottom 14 terraces are built from rather small stones; but the top four consist of slabs weighing up to 2 tons. Trees as old as 600 years poke up through the stones, attesting to a pre-European origin. Another much larger pyramid inhabits dense scrubland near Sydney. The claim that these admittedly crude structures are Egyptian is based upon the discovery of artifacts in the area with Egyptian and Phoenician characteristics; i.e ., a stone idol resembling a squatting ape, an onxy scarab beetle, and cave paintings with Egyptian symbols. Aborigine legends also tell of "culture heros" arriving at Gympie in large ships shaped like birds. (Gilroy, Rex; "Pyramids of Australia," Australasian Post, August 30, 1984. Cr. A. Jones.) Comments. Professional archeologists are very wary of anything R. Gilroy claims. Further, our Australian readers warn that Australian newspapers are not always as skeptical as they should be about radical claims. Underside of a stone scarab dug up ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 42: Nov-Dec 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Missing Sunspot Peak The following is also an abstract from the publication Cycles. "An analysis of the mean annual sunspot numbers is made with particular emphasis on cycles have periodicities near 21 years. The results are compared not only with the original sunspot data but also with long-term geomagnetic and economic data. It is concluded that the '11-year' solar cycle periodicity increased during the 19th century, during which time there were only 8 peaks when 9 might have been expected. Doubt is cast on the reality of a 22-year sunspot cycle during the past three centuries, and the likelihood is shown that the reliable 21.2 -year sunspot cycle is also the Hale magnetic cycle and that several of its harmonics are present in the economic data." (Robbins, Roger W.; "The Case of the Missing Sunspot Peak," Cycles, 36:53, 1985.) From Science Frontiers #42, NOV-DEC 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 44: Mar-Apr 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Northwest indian tradition of a large-scale sea inundation Science, quite wisely, places little value on legend and tradition. The authors of this article stess the pitfalls of using data handed down verbally from generation to generation. With these caveats, they reproduce an Indian tradition originally set down by Judge James Swan back in 1888: "' A long time ago,' said my informant, 'but not at a very remote period, the water of the Pacific flowed through what is now the swamp and prairie between Waatch village and Neeah Bay, making an island of Cape Flattery. The water suddenly receded leaving Neeah Bay perfectly dry. It was four days reaching the lowest ebb, and then rose again without any waves or breakers, till it had submerged the Cape, and in fact the whole country, excepting the tops of the mountains at Clyoquot. The water on its rise became very warm, and as it came up to the houses, those who had canoes put their effects into them, and floated off with the current, which set very strongly to the north.'" The authors of the present article wonder if the above could be an account of a massive tsunami! They admit that the 4-day recession is inconsistent with tsunami action and that the warm water is hard-to-explain. The height reached by the inundation -- some 400 meters -- is also incredible. (Heaton ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 45: May-Jun 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Wrong-way primate migration Scientists have long assumed that the primates originated in Africa, spread to Europe, and then jumped to North America. This hypothesis may be over turned by the discovery of fossils of early primates in Wyoming. The revised route would be Africa-Asia-North America, the reverse of the prevailing theory. This item also remarks that "Remains of early 'true' primates have not been uncovered in Africa." The reason is that the deposits that should contain them have all been eroded away. (Bower, B.; "Wyoming Fossils Shake Up Views of Early Primate Migration," Science News, 129:71, 1986.) Comment. One wonders about the "missing" African strata and fossils. Perhaps they never existed. Here is an in-stance where theory requires certain data, as with evolution's missing links. Sometimes "missing" data is really missing! From Science Frontiers #45, MAY-JUN 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... culture in which a geocentric theory of biology is seen as the norm." The quotation above heads a revealing discussion by F. Hoyle and N.C . Wickramasinghe as to why their conclusions about cosmic life have not been accepted by the scientific community. Stimulating this article was a statement by J. Maddox, Editor of Nature, to the effect that the labors of Hoyle and Wickramasinghe were not convincing very many scientists because they ". .. had become caught up in the eccentric doctrine of panspermiology, a doctrine for which there was said to be little or no evidence." Hoyle and Wickramasinghe deny their eccentricity and affirm that their ideas have been acquired through observation and the generally accepted methods of deductive science. Basically, Hoyle and Wickramasinghe maintain that evidence supports the concept of life originating, evolving, and being transported from place to place in outer space. We have published many of their results in past issues of SF and see no need to cover the same ground again. Rather, we wish to dwell on the scientific reception of their work. We do this with two quotations from their Nature article. These quotations are embedded in their review of the infrared evidence for biological material in outer space: "Still persuing the infrared problem, we eventually found that among organic materials polysaccharides gave the best correspondence to the astronomical data, and it was exactly at this point in our work that we began to experience hostility from the referees of journals and from the assessors of grant applications at what was then the Science Research Council. We realize now that because polysaccharides on the ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 51: May-Jun 1987 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology When were the americas peopled? How many migrations were there? Astronomy Supernova problems Were titius and bode right? A LARGER SUN DURING THE MAUNDER MINIMUM Biology First yeti photos? Giant fish reported in china The mite pockets of lizards Evolution through mergers Geology Forests frozen in time A QUESTIONABLE 200-MILLION-YEAR HIATUS Geophysics Shake no quake REMARKABLE PHOTOGRAPH OF THE MARFA LIGHT ANTARCTIC OZONE HOLE HAS COMPLEX STRUCTURE Psychology Glossolalia: possible origins RARE BUT THERE: HYPNOTIC ENHANCEMENT OF EIDETIC IMAGERY ...

... 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 Men in black (mibs)A.K . Bender seems to be one of the first humans contacted by MIBs. In 1953, just after he had written a letter to a friend stating that he had learned the origin and ultimate goal of extraterrestrial visitations to earth, he was approached by three men dressed in black suits. They had his letter! After this contact, Bender ceased all his UFO-related activities. So goes this classic MIB tale. "MIB activity flourished with the increased sightings of UFOs during the 'flap' of 1966-67, and numerous UFO researchers claimed MIB experiences. MIB have been reported to arrive unannounced, sometimes alone or in twos, traditionally in threes, at the homes or places of employment of selected UFO witnesses and investi gators or their research assistants, usually before the witness or researcher has reported the UFO experience to anyone; or in the case of some investigators, before they have even undergone a UFO experience of any kind. People have reported that MIB know more about them than the average stranger could 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." ...

... 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 Is the earth seeding the rest of the solar system?We begin with the lead paragraph from a recent letter to Nature from H.J . Melosh; "Recent evidence that the SNC meteorites originated on Mars raises the question of whether large impacts on Earth may eject rocks that could fall on Mars (or other planets in the Solar System) and, if so whether they might contain spores or some sort of viable microorganisms that would 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 ...

... 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 Mysterious Stone Rings After worrying so much above about possible scientific blunders, it is pleasant to relax with a minor geological (perhaps "archeological") anomaly. In Green Ridge State Forest, in Western Maryland, are found 150-200 annular piles of sandstone rocks. All lie on the western slope of Polish Mountain. No one seems to have a good explanation of their origin. Archeological digs have not unearthed any human artifacts. From a photograph of one ring, we estimate an outer diameter of 15 feet, and an inner hole 5 feet in diameter. The height of the rock ring is perhaps 2 feet. The sandstone rocks are generally slab-like. A popular theory states that the rocks were piled up to protect apple trees. (Anonymous; "Rings of Stone Pose Mystery in Md.," Washington Post, June 26, 1988. Cr. J. Judge.) Comment. We have classified this item under GEOLOGY because these rings could be periglacial phenomena; that is akin to patterned ground. Periglacial structures are occasionally found in the Appalachians. From Science Frontiers #60, NOV-DEC 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... 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 Libyan Desert Glass Pieces of Libyan Desert Glass weighing as much as 16 pounds are found in an oval area measuring approximately 130 by 53 kilometers. The clear-to-yellowish-green pieces are concentrated in sand-free corridors between north-south dune ridges. The origin of this immense deposit of glass has been attributed by some to ancient nuclear explosions and alien activities, but investigating scientists have always been satisfied with a meteor-impact hypothesis. A recent study (abstract below) also opts for this explanation, although no one has found a crater of suitable size or other supporting evidence. "Libyan Desert Glass (LDG) represents 1.4 x 109 g of natural glass fragments scattered over about 6500 km2 of the western Desert of Egypt. We made a systematic study (employing INAA, microprobe and mass spectrometry techniques) of several varieties of LDG and locally associated sand and sandstone to provide insight into the nature and formation of these enigmatic glass fragments. These studies indicate that: Although the LDG has restricted major element compositions (97.98 wt% SiO2 ; 1-2 wt % Al2 O3 ) their trace element contents (ppm) (Fe, 490-5200; Co, 0.2 -1 .2 ; Cr, 1.2 -29 and Sc. 0.462.5 ) vary by as much as a factor of 5 to 30. The LDG fragments exhibit a factor of ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 69: May-Jun 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Megawalls Across The Cosmos "The universe is crossed by at least 13 vast 'walls' of galaxies, separated by about 420 million light years, according to a team of British and American researchers. The walls seem to be spaced in a very regular way that current theories of the origin of the universe cannot explain." "Walls" of galaxies emerge when galaxy separation distance is plotted against the number of galaxies possessing specific separation distances. (128 million parsecs = 420 million light years). The astronomers have collected observations of galaxy redshifts along a linear "borehole" through the universe 7 billion light years long centered on the earth. If the redshifts are assumed to be measures of distance (as mainstream thinking demands), one gets the clumping effect seen in the accompanying illustration. (Henbest, Nigel; "Galaxies Form 'Megawalls' across Space," New Scientist, p. 37, March 19, 1990.) Comment. Not mentioned in the above article are the papers by W.G . Tifft on quantized redshifts. (See SF#50, for example.) It will be interesting to learn if "boreholes" pointed in other directions will encounter the same megawalls. If they do, the earth will be enclosed by shells of galaxies, much as some elliptical galaxies are surrounded by shells of stars. Wouldn't it be hilarious if the earth were at the center of these concentric ...

... ONLINE No. 69: May-Jun 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Spontaneous order, evolution, and life In our thinking, one of the most remarkable articles ever to appear in Science bears the above title. Most re markable of all is the use of the word "spontaneous" without philosophical comment. The stimuli for the research described are such observations as: (1 ) life exists; (2 ) life evolves; (3 ) the fossil record displays stasis, extinctions, and great gaps between phyla and lesser classifications; and (4 ) disordered molecules move smoothly and surely into the order manifest in the living cell. The question asked in the article is whether science has missed something in its description of the origin and development of life. Just what makes molecules coalesce into cells and humans? The answer given is: spontaneous self-organization ! In other words, there is no guiding external force. Molecules do this spontaneously. There are even computer models being developed, based on a branch of mathematics called "dynamical systems," that describe how this all happens - spontaneously, of course. (Waldrop, M. Mitchell; "Spontaneous Order, Evolution, and Life," Science, 247:1543, 1990.) Comment. When water molecules spontaneously cluster together to form a snowflake, with all its symmetry and order, science explains the process in terms of the properties of water molecules. The same must be true when molecules merge to form life forms. But why do atoms ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Successful Predictions Mean Little In Science Many maverick scientists make the pages of Science Frontiers because they are the ones who deviate from the mainstream. They pursue those Anomalies that the Sourcebook Project filters from the great river of scientific literature. But enough fluvial allusions! The maverick here is, again, H. Alfven. We first met Alfven in SF#59,where we commented on his paper "Memoirs of a Dissident Scientist." Alfven is still a dissident, a scientist who has the temerity to claim that cosmic rays have a local rather than galactic origin. Even more heretical is his assertion that electromagnetic forces have shaped the universe rather than the Big Bang! The subject of this entry is not so much Alfven's conflicts with accepted scientific views, but rather whether correct scientific predictions really influence the scientific community's acceptance of theories. This, after all, is what science is all about. It turns out that Alfven has made many correct scientific predictions. (He even shared a Nobel Prize in 1970.) But, as S.G . Brush has related in a detailed article in Eos, being correct is not the same as being accepted. "According to some scientists and philosophers of science, a theory is or should be judged by its ability to make successful predictions. This paper examines a case from the history of recent science - the research of Hannes Alfven and his colleagues on space plasma ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 76: Jul-Aug 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects An ancient egyptian ship in australia?The illustration, right, was taken from a newspaper, The Australian . It is a computer-enhancement of a badly faded painting found on Booby Island off the coast of Australia. R. Coleman, the Queensland Museum's curator of Maritime History and Archaeology, was quoted in the paper as saying: "Using this technique we are able to selectively neutralize confusing background virtually making the original image pop out of the background...this system... will add tremendously to our knowledge of those cultures prior to European set tlement." (Anonymous; "An Ancient Egyptian Ship in Australia?" Epigraphic Society, Occasional Papers , 19:211, 1990.) Comment. The vessel in the sketch does seem to have Egyptian lines. However, as our friends in Australia often remind us, we must be wary of what we read in Australian newspapers. From Science Frontiers #76, JUL-AUG 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... No. 81: May-Jun 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Rhythms In Rhythm "We are currently living in the last quarter-century of the fifth 500-year cycle, which began with the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century. All the harmonies we hear today were developed in this last cycle." So begins the final section of a recent reprinting of W.D . Allen's sweeping 1951 overview of the human fascination with music. But what's this about a 500-year cycle in music? It turns out that not only is there a 500-year pulse in musical creativity, but nested within the long swings are 100-year subcycles! Allen's article, as it appeared originally in the Journal of Human Ecology (1 :1 , 1951), ran 41 pages. We can hit only a few high notes here. And, since we are concerned mainly with anomalies, we shall concentrate on this unexpected periodicity in musical creativity. Allen describes how musical theorists have proposed both supernatural and evolutionary explanations for this periodicity, which commenced some 2,500 years ago with the Ancient Greeks. He is not convinced by either class of explanations. Instead, Allen has been beguiled by the long-period tones of environmental cycles: "Now we have knowledge of a constantly operating cyclic factor in our cosmos, scientifically based on a mass of inductive evidence that goes beyond recorded history into the tree-ring records from centuries B.C . For the first time, ...

... TRANSFER Ordinary Telepathy Twin Telepathy Long-Distance Mass Telepathy Experiments Transfer of Physical Sensations Transfer of Emotions (Not Folie a Deux or Mass Hysteria) Dream Telepathy Remote Viewing Telepathy Affected by Magnetic Fields Role of Quantum Mechanics in Telepathy Ganzfield Experiments Animal Telepathy Telepathy under Hypnosis Atavistic Nature of Telepathy Geomagnetic Enhancement of Telepathy Psychic Odor/Taste PI INFORMATION PROCESSING PIB INPUT/OUTPUT ANOMALIES Word Blindness Dyslexia Autism Typing Skills Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon Mirror Script Braille and the Brain Optical Illusions Generation of Random Numbers Cocktail-party effect Stuttering Difficulty of Learning English Brain Modularity Attentional Blink Revelation Intuition PIC ANOMALOUS INFORMATION PROCESSING Mathematical Savants Calendar Calculators Musical Prodigies Mechanical Savants Subconscious Time-Reckoning Mental Processing during Sleep Chess Prodigies Accelerated Mental Processes Mnemonists PIG MYSTERIES OF GENIUS AND CREATIVITY Early Appearance of Genius Genius and Mental Illness Origin of "Strokes of Genius" Periodicity in Creativity Humor and Creativity Genius and Season of Birth Aesthetics and Creativity Dream Creativity PII EIDETIC AND AFTER IMAGES Eidetic Imagery Vivid Afterimages Eidetic Imagery and Retardation Eidetic Imagery and Hallucinations Recovery of Eidetic Imagery through Hypnosis PIK CONSCIOUSNESS Consciousness and Hypnosis Nature of Consciousness Free Will Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics [BHT22] PIM ANOMALIES OF MEMORY Capacity of the Human Brain Emotional Enhancement of Memory Learning and Memory under Anesthesia Hypnosis and Memory Pseudomemory Hypnotic Misrecall Mnemonics Photographic Memory Prenatal Mental Life Inherited Memories False-Memory Syndrome Memory-Processing Bottlenecks Memory Regression [PHP] Cryptonesia PIP ODDITIES OF PERCEPTION Synesthesia Optical Illusions [PIB] PL HALLUCINATIONS AND ILLUSIONS PLD NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES Near-Death Experiences NDEs in Non-Threatening Situations Involuntary Memories during Illness and Injury PLF HYPNAGOGIC AND HYPNOPOMPIC ILLUSIONS Hypnagogic ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 3: April 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Strange Hillocks And Ridges On Mars On the northwestern flanks of the huge Martian volcano Arsia Mons are countless hillocks of undetermined origin. Mostly 100 to 500 meters in diameter, the hillocks cover the edge of the volcano flank. In addition, the outer edge of the flank is surrounded by dozens of parallel ridges that stretch lengthwise for hundreds of kilometers, A peculiar feature of the ridges is that they have not been disturbed by craters or flow features; there are not even any variations in surface brightness. One explanation suggests that both hillocks and ridges were created in a huge landslide. (Anonymous; "Strange Hillocks and Ridges on Mars," Science News, 113:43, 1978.) Comment. The hillocks resemble the much smaller terrestrial Mima Mounds. Reference. Martian topographical anomalies are cataloged in Section AME in The Moon and the Planets. Further information on this book is located here . From Science Frontiers #3 , April 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Exploring The Suberranean World Of Life Examining fluid inclusions in hydrothermal quartz crystals obtained from a drill hole in Yellowstone National Park, K.E . Bargar and his colleagues from the U.S . Geological Survey noted many rodlike and threadlike particles that closely resembled bacteria. Although these partiles move, as if alive, they are only in Brownian motion. But even in death, they tell us that life forms can prosper deep underground at very high pressures and temperatures. The crystals that ultimately grew around the fluid particles came from fractures in Pleistocene rhyolite hundreds of feet below the surface. The authors concluded: "Thermophilic microorganisms may hold the key to an understanding of several biological and geochemical processes, including the origin of life. The discovery of possible microorganisms in these fluid inclusions from the Yellowstone volcanic area enlarges the range of potential environments over which subsequent investigations should be conducted." (Barger, Keith E., et al; "Particles in Fluid Inclusions from Yellowstone National Park -- Bacteria?" Geology, 13:483, 1985.) Comment. It is appropriate to note that similar "organized elements" have been noticed in meteorites for over a century. From Science Frontiers #43, JAN-FEB 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... alligators for the period 18431973, including one 5.5 -foot specimen found frozen to death in Wisconsin in 1892. Only one in the 77 is a sewer specimen, but it is from New York City. The New York Times of February 10, 1935, reported a 125-pound alligator, almost 8-feet long, pulled out of a snow clogged sewer on East 123rd Street. Obviously half-frozen from the cold, the animal snapped weakly at its captors. "Let 'im have it!" the cry went up. The only known sewer alligator perished un der flailing snow shovels. No one could explain how the alligator got into or survived in a New York sewer. (Coleman, Loren; "Alligators-in-the-Sewers: A Journalistic Origin," Journal of American Forlkore, 92:335, 1979.) From Science Frontiers #9 , Winter 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... the University of Cologne, fed the bacterial virus M13 to a mouse, snippets of the M13's genes turned up in cells taken from the mouse's intestines, spleen, liver, and white blood cells. Most of the alien DNA was eventually rejected, but some was probably retained. In any event, alien DNA in food seems to make its way to and survive for a time in the cells of the eater. (Cohen, Philip; "Can DNA in Food Find Its Way into Cells?" New Scientist, p. 14, January 4, 1997.) Comment. We are only half-kidding when we ask if food consumption could affect the evolution of a species. After all, our cells already harbor mitochondria, which are generally admitted to have originally been free bacteria that were "consumed" by animal cells. The process even has a name: "endosymbiosis." See: SF#47/189. From Science Frontiers #112, JUL-AUG 1997 . 1997-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 10: Spring 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Long-delayed radio echoes J. Hals first observed long-delayed radio echoes in 1927. During the following half-century, scientists have been studying this perplexing problem, but it has been the amateurs who have accumulated the bulk of the data. Over 100 reports exist where echoes of radio transmissions were received seconds later at the original transmitting station. Since light travels 186,000 miles per second, any simple radio-wave reflector would have to be well beyond the moon's orbit. A wide variety of natural phenomena (interplanetary matter) and even artificial devices (alien space probes) have been postulated to explain the long delays. Muldrew's article is first of all an excellent summary of the long and fascinating history of this effect. His bibliography is extensive and apparently nearly complete. Muldrew next examines the various ionospheric mechanisms that might cause long delays. The ionosphere is a complex structure with ducts in which radio signals can get trapped. Delays of a second or so might be due to such trapping but the longer delays require some other explanation. Muldrew favors a rather complex interaction between signals from separate transmitters that (theoretically at least) can create a long-lived electrostatic wave that travels in the ionosphere -- a sort of natural memory device. The coded signals could then be read out much later when the proper natural conditions developed. Delays of up to 40 seconds might be possible with this "ionospheric memory ...