... publisher has now closed, and can not be contacted. Designed and hosted by Knowledge Computing Other links Science Frontiers On Line Browse or search over 2100 free reports, and discover the unusual in archaeology, astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, geophysics, mathematics, psychology and physics. Search site for: Science Frontiers: The Book and Science Frontiers II An indexed compilation of the first 86 issues of our Science Frontiers newsletter, and a great collection of naturally occurring anomalies and curiosities. An entertaining read! [ Book Index ] The Sourcebook Project The Catalog of Anomalies. These Sourcebooks, Handbooks and Catalogs are compiled from 40,000 articles from the scientific literature. Refer here for details about each of the books, and prices and ordering information. Sorry, all Sourcebook Project publications are now out of print. To acquire copies, it is recommended that you visit addall.com (and search for author = William Corliss) William Roger Corliss (1926 - 2011)It is with much regret that I have learned of the death of Bill Corliss on 8 July 2011, age 84. I first purchased some of his Sourcebook Project books back in the late 1970s, followed by his Strange Science manuals. Subsequently, his Web site was one of the first I produced, and one of the first on the Web, in 1997 (qv. archive.org ), becoming a UK Web Awards Nominee. I have managed his website, www.science-frontiers.com ever since. For more details, see: July 13, Bill Corliss's death notice at ...

... may lead some to new scientific solutions through questioning the phenomena presented", Science Books and Films Publishing details: 356 pages, paperback, $18.95, 417 illus., subject index, 1994. 1500+ references, LC 93-92800 ISBN 0-915554-28-3 , 8.5 x 11. Order From:The Sourcebook Project P.O . Box 107 Glen Arm, MD 21057 USA Tel: + 1 (410) 668 6047. Ordering information Prices are in U.S . dollars. Canadian dollars and pounds sterling are accepted at prevailing exchange rates. U.S . customers should add $2 for each order under $30. Foreign customers should add $12.00 per book for airmail mail. Preface from the Book Sorry, out of print Sorry, out of print Science Frontiers II More Anomalies And Curiosities Of Nature Same format as Science Frontiers (Vol. 1) Paperback: 338 pages ISBN: 091555447X $21.95 U.S . customers should add $2 for each order under $30. Foreign customers should add $12.00 per book for airmail mail. Contents Preface List of Project Publications Chapter 1. ARCHEOLOGY Ancient Engineering Works Small Artifacts Epigraphy and Art Diffusion and Culture Chapter 2. ASTRONOMY Planets and Moons Solar System Debris Stars Cosmology Chapter 3. BIOLOGY Humans Other Mammals Birds Reptiles Amphibians Fish Arthropods Invertebrates Plants and Fungi Microorganisms Superorganisms Genetics Origin of Life Evolution Chapter 4. GEOLOGY Topography Stratigraphy Inner Earth Geological Miscellany Chapter 5. GEOPHYSICS Luminous Phenomena Weather Phenomena Hydrological Phenomena Exotic Seismic Signals Anomalous Sounds Atmospheric ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 128: MAR-APR 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Burps of Death Not only did the poor dinosaurs have to contend with an asteroid impact and a lurch of the poles, but also with the possible ignition of voluminous methane burps. 65-million years ago. This was the time of the well-publicized, but still hypothetical, asteroid impact. It is said to have wreaked havoc on our wounded planet and, especially, the dinosaurs. Volcanos spewed out vast lava fields and filled the air with greenhouse gases and dust. It was a bad time for many life forms. Actually, It may have been far worse than generally advertised. In addition to the volcanic activity and climate change, the shock of the asteroid impact could have been sufficient to destabilize the immense amounts of methane hydrate that have long been locked up, frozen and dormant, in oceanic sediments all over the world. According to this scenario, once the shock of the asteroid impact released the methane from its icy prison, it rose to the surface of the oceans in a world-wide burp. Methane, unfortunately for the dinosaurs and many other life forms, is highly flammable. Lightning could have ignited it almost immediately if it was concentrated enough. A colossal firestorm might have then enveloped the entire planet. The whole atmosphere could have been afire. This, according to B. Hurdle and colleagues at the Naval Research Laboratory, who speculate that the dinosaur hegemony may ended suddenly in flames rather than ...

... and real blood flows. Our first item is not invasive but interesting nonetheless. Placebo acupuncture. Many physicians scoff at acupuncture. Placebo experiments could prove its efficacy. To this end, special placebo needles have been invented. Like the fake daggers used on the stage, the points are blunt and retractable. The acupuncture patient feels a pinprick and thinks he or she sees the needle penetrating the skin, but it's all fakery. At the University of Heidelberg, 52 people with rotator cuff tendinitis were split into two groups; 25 were punctured with real needles, the rest just thought they were. In this experiment, the first group showed much greater improvement than those treated with the fake needles. Real acupuncture was more powerful than the placebo effect. Now if we can only figure out how real acupuncture works! (Lawton, Graham; "Needle Match," New Scientist, p. 10, December 4, 1999.) Placebo surgery. Because of the ethical questions, placebo surgery went out of style 40 years ago. A revival is now underway. One promising treatment for Parkinson's disease requires the drilling of holes in the patient's forehead and injecting fetal cells deeply in the brain. This is certainly a far cry from the fake acupuncture needles! One patient, who knew she was involved in a placebo experiment, was lightly sedated during the real drilling. After the holes were completed, she heard the surgeon ask for the fetal-cell implants. Because of this, she was certain she had received the complete procedure. Afterwards, she ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 135: MAY-JUN 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Modelling Exceptional Human Experiences (EHEs)Just about everyone has had an EE (Exceptional Experience): a transcendental insight, an out-of-body experience (OBE), a sudden religious conversion, a near-death experience (NDE), ecstasy, or similar "peak" experiences. Scores of such highly subjective phenomena have been described and cataloged in the psychological literature. This vast body of anecdotal knowledge is still formless and deserves to be systematized and modelled in some way. In this spirit, we reproduce below (with permission) the abstract of a long paper that presents a preliminary model of this realm of irregular, subjective, and often-vague phenomena. Hard scientists used to the quantitative definition of variables and reams of instrument readings will be entering a different world -- a qualitative world. The language and concepts are so different. But, EEs and EHEs (Exceptional Human Experiences) are so ubiquitous in human life that they should not be ignored. One supposes that they must have some meaning and evolutionary value. The Exceptional Human Experience (EHE) process is a unique, dynamic, progressive, reiterative, evolving pattern of human consciousness development initiated by an anomalous experience and evidenced by expanding levels of reported inner and outer transpersonal awareness. This paper is based on a review of hundreds of experiencer first-person written narratives solicited by Rhea White and the EHE Network over the past decade. It presents ...

... of electrons to flow simultaneously both ways around a superconducting ring with a non-superconducting notch in it, a gizmo known as a superconducting quantum interference device, or SQUID. This is all pretty weird but it just one more paradoxical phenomenon allowed by quantum mechanics. You see, in quantum mechanics, an object can exist in two or more states at the same time. This is, of course, a statement of fact rather than an explanation appealing to one's common sense -- a common occurrence in the quantum world. (Cho, Advising "Physicists Unveil Schroedinger's SQUID," Science, 287:2395, 2000) Heat flowing from cold to hot. The revered Second Law of Thermodynamics seems to tell us that heat always flows from hot to cold. But out in space, under special conditions, physicists seem to hedge a bit. The groundbreaking experiment was carried out onboard the Mir space station last year as part of the French-Russian Perseus mission. By warming a copper-and sapphire-walled cell filled with a drop of liquid sulfur hexafluoride and one tiny bubble of gaseous sulfur hexafluoride in near-zero gravity, scientists triggered a slight compression of the bubble. That gentle squeeze raised the temperature of the gas above that of the cell walls. For this to happen, heat must have been transferred from the cooler walls to the hotter gas, scientists report in the 1 May Physical Review Letters. This weird phenomenon can be tossed off as a "transient temperature overshoot." The Second Law didn't really apply because the system ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 138: NOV-DEC 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Unconsciousness And Its "Zombie Agents"We all harbor so-called "zombie agents" that rapidly and automatically perform actions without our conscious mind being aware of the stimulus and physical response. Normal people experience this in dancing, fencing, etc. Extreme examples include sleepwalkers who can even drive cars and carry out other complex actions without remembering what they have done! Of course, sleepwalking is not a normal condition; nevertheless, rigorous experiments demonstrate that normal people will respond to scary pictures of snakes and spiders even though they are not consciously aware of them. The zombie agent is acting autonomously. Zombie agents are characterized as on-line systems that act at speeds that far outpace conscious reactions. Since the zombie agents incorporated in our unconsciousness work so well, why did consciousness ever evolve? Conscious actions take milliseconds longer to calculate and activate. Consciousness would, therefore, seem to be a bad evolutionary gambit. But, C. Koch and F. Crick may have an answer. They speculate that: It may be because consciousness allows the system to plan future actions, opening up a potentially infinite behavioural repertoire and making explicit memory possible. (Koch, Christof, and Crick, Francis; "The Zombie Within," Nature, 411:893, 2001.) Questions. Could our zombie agents, primitive though they may be, be the source of those flashes of genius that appear out of nowhere, or perhaps ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 129: MAY-JUN 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects If Fingerprints Don't Lie, Neither to Toe Prints J. Chilcutt is a highly regarded finger-print expert for the Conroe, Texas, Police Department. In his spare time, he collects fingerprints and toe prints from other primates. Working with zoo officials, who were naturally skeptical at first, Chilcutt has amassed a collection of about 1,000 nonhuman primate prints. He has discovered that print characteristics differ markedly from one species to another. When Chilcutt learned that J. Meldren, a professor of anatomy at Idaho State University, had accumulated 100 or so casts of Bigfoot prints, he had to check out their dermal whorls and arches. Some of Meldren's casts turned out to be obvious fakes upon which human fingerprints had been impressed. But a few specimens surprised him. The print ridges on the bottoms of five castings -- which were taken at different times and locations -- flowed lengthwise along the foot, unlike human prints which flow from side to side. "The skeptic in me had to believe that (all of the prints were from) the same species of animal," Chilcutt said. "I believe that this is an animal in the Pacific Northwest that we have never documented." (Rice, Harvey; "Is Something Afoot with Bigfoot? Print Expert Thinks So," Houston Chronicle, February 20, 2000. Cr. D. Phelps.) From Science Frontiers # ...

... Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The 8 Greatest Mysteries of Cosmology Such is the title of a lengthy article in the June 2001 issue of Astronomy. It is always dangerous to employ superlatives; "greatest" is particularly hazardous. Anyway, it is useful to review what mainstream astronomers consider to be their major unsolved problems. Naturally, we shall add a few that we think should have been on the list. How multidimensional is the universe? For example, gravitons, which are believed to exist in a fifth dimension, are supposed to transmit gravitational force. This dimension is barely separated from our well-known four. The thin barrier separating us from the graviton universe seems to leak a bit therebyallowing gravity, the weakest of all our universe's forces, to exist. Sounds pretty far-out, but not as bizarre as string theory which requires many more dimensions! How did the universe begin? The cosmic microwave background is much too smooth. If it was smoothed out by a sudden expansion of the universe (so-called "inflation"), what caused the inflation? Why does matter fill the universe? in other words, where is all the antimatter that we think must have been created in equal amounts? (This equality is a human philosophical requirement. The universe can do anything it wants!) How did galaxies form? What is cold dark matter? This "substance" seems to be filaments threading the surfaces of cosmic bubbles (voids). It seems to be slow-moving and cold (no electromagnetic radiation), but no one really knows ...

... has finished laying the clutch and has begun incubation. If a parasite lays its egg after incubation has commenced, then it would be unlikely to hatch, hence the potential parasite would benefit from heeding such a warning signal, if it could then find an alternative host nest where incubation had yet to commence. The signaling host would also benefit from avoiding the costs of warming an extra egg [the parasite's ] for some of the incubation period, costs that can be considerable, as well as the possible cost of having to rear an extra chick. G.D . Ruxton et al have used game theory to show that Yom-Tov's speculation has considerable merit. However, there are nonadaptive explanations. The females in the species that lay pale last eggs may simply run out of egg pigment, or they may change physiologically as the egg-laying phase nears its end. (Ruxton, G.D ., et al; "Are Unusually Colored Eggs a Signal to Potential Con-specific Brood Parasites?" American Naturalist, 157:451, 2001.) Comment. We will not quarrel with game theory but hasten to point out that the evolution of interspecies signalling requires: (1 ) A population of hosts in which some females, for one reason or other, lay pale last eggs; and (2 ) A population of parasites in which, for one reason or another, some individuals have an aversion to laying eggs in nests with a pale egg. It takes two to signal! From Science Frontiers #137, SEP-OCT 2001 ...

... that the dream correctly identified the thoughts of someone in external reality at the time of the dream. Mutual dreams are those in which the dreamer and someone else report similar dreams on the same night. Clairvoyant dreams concern distant events about which the dreamer had no ordinary way of knowing. In precognitive dreams, information is reported about an event that had not taken place at the time of the dream. A past-life dream concerns past events in which the dreamer participated but with a different identity than characterizes his or her current life. Initiation dreams introduce the dreamer to a new worldview, or to a new mission in life. In visitation dreams, the dreamer is visited by ancestors, spirits, or deities, and is given messages or counsel by them. Lucid, healing, and out-of-body dreams were also deemed anomalous but were not defined in the abstract. In fact, lucid dreams were the most common type of anomalous dream. Out-of-body dreams came next. Precognitive dreams were third in frequency. (Krippner, Stanley, and Faith, Laura; "Anomalous Dreams: A Cross-Cultural Study," Society for Scientific Exploration paper, 2000.) Comments. Lucid dreams are especially vivid and, in addition, under the direct control of the dreamer. Actually, all dreams are anomalous in the sense that it is difficult to understand how dreaming evolved. How can a series of small, random mutations introduce these often bizarre images that drift through the not-so-quiescent, sleeping brain? How could dreaming have had enough ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 138: NOV-DEC 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Drifting, Glowing Fog January 29, 2001. Avening, Gloucestershire, England. Testimony of M.J . "McLaughlin as reported by C. Roland. On Monday, January 29, I took a ride out Stroud way and decided to walk around Woodchester Park. It was a nice day and what better place to take advantage of the weather. I had not been [there] for a couple of years. Everything was going as normal until I got down into the park. I took the "red" path which takes you right round the lakes. I had walked down to the old kennels when I saw what I can only describe as a glowing fog. I thought it must be some sort of peculiar weather phenomenon. I carried on skirting the lake but the "glow" was still there. I looked around for someone to confirm this odd scene with me but I was alone. I must admit I began to feel a little unnerved by it. I quickened back; the glow could still be seen except it had drifted out over the lake. It was about six feet (two metres) high and three feet (one metre) wide -- although not a column. Indeed, at one point I almost thought it looked like a figure. I have never seen such a peculiar sight in all my days, and only wish someone else had seen it, too. (Roland, ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 130: JUL-AUG 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Epiphanies as Vascular Anomalies!Emanuel Swedenborg, the 18th century scientist and visionary, recalls Saul of Tarsus. Each underwent a crisis of vocation and religious out-look, and in both instances the critical event was a single episode that could be characterized as convulsive. Saul became the apostle Paul. His blinding conversion on the road to Damascus transformed the zealous advocate of Jewish tradition into the equally persevering Christian preacher and martyr. Swedenborg's conversion occurred at age 56, in 1744, when he was troubled by dreams, heard strong winds, felt a powerful trembling, and was thrown from his bed. During the following weeks his sense of contrition and desire for righteousness approximated the spirit of penthos described by orthodox contemplatives. Subsequently, he discovered his visionary ability to communicate with spirits and devoted his remaining days to visiting the spirit world where he gathered information sufficient to establish a new religion and to write the several books composing the Arcana Coelestia. After analyzing Swedenborg's visions and trance states, D.T . Bradford suggests that he only had had a "vascular .anomaly in the posterior area of the left cerebral hemisphere." (Bradford, David T.; "Neuropsychology of Swedenborg's Visions," Perceptual and Motor Skills, 88:377, 1999.) Comment. Must we accept that all epiphanies, revelations, and transcendental experiences are pathological? Strokes of genius will be next! Normality is very ...

... All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Don't Stomp on Ball Lightning!Mid-December 1991. Brixham, Devon. Two young men aged about 22/23, Mr. Andrew Clark and friend, were inside Mr. Clark's cottage when a storm of lightning and thunder began. Suddenly, an orange fuzzy airborne blob, the size of a football but not perfectly spherical, came through the wall -- so it was said -- and hovered at a low level. His friend lept on to a settee; Andrew Clark jumped on to the lightning ball. This burnt the plastic sole of one of his training shoes and melted a hole some 50 to 70 mm across. The lightning ball was disrupted and "a part of it" went sideways and burnt out the transformer of his C.B . radio (to which was attached a radio mast fixed on the roof outside). The total duration of the event had been about five seconds. Andrew's foot was quite badly burned and he had to go to the doctor for treatment. (Anonymous; "Ball Lightning at Brixham in 1991," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 26:22, 2001.) From Science Frontiers #135, MAY-JUN 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 ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 132: NOV-DEC 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Hold that Mega-Megalith Those huge standing stones (the tombs of the Genii), located in a remote region of eastern Asia ( SF#131 ), just might be natural after all. We have found a copy of the original 1860 source, and its author does not claim them to be artificial. In fact, his accompanying illustrations of some of the rock formations in the area indicate regular patterns of jointing that could yield blocks similar to the mega-megalith. The Genii, it turns out, were "powerful spirits". More of this later as investigation proceeds. (Atkinson, Thomas Witlam; Travels in the Region of the Upper And-Lower-Amoor, New York, 1860.) From Science Frontiers #132, NOV-DEC 2000 . 2000 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. 105: May-Jun 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Is matter infinitely divisible?Just over a year ago, particle physicists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) announced that they had at last found the top quark, the final particle needed to flesh out the so-called Standard Model of subatomic physics. Then, all seemed serene in the world of quarks and gluons. Quarks, you see, are held to be the smallest building blocks of matter and now they had all been found and cataloged. The collection was complete. But a storm cloud has now appeared on the event horizon, casting a shadow on the solidity of the quarks themselves. Are they really fundamental; that is, indivisible? Fermilab scientists now wonder, for when they crash protons into antiprotons head-on at very high energies, the resulting debris clouds display an anomaly. Some of the supposedly indestructable quarks seem to have fragmented, too. The collision energies seem high enough penetrate the integument of the quarks if they are divisible. There may be other explanations of the deviation from theory, but right now quarks seem a bit more fragile than they did just a few months ago. (Wilczek, Frank; "A Crack in the Standard Model?" Nature, 380:19, 1996. Also: Walker, Gabrielle; "The Secret Heart of a Quark," New Scientist, p. 17, February 17, 1996) Comment. If quarks can be split, perhaps ...

... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 133: JAN-FEB 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Ubiquitous Bird-and-fish Motif Pre-Columbiana, a new journal, promote the popular but "out-on-the-fringe" theory that all our planet's oceans were crossed repeatedly before Columbus (an the Vikings, too). One type of evidence adduced to prove such Precolumbian cultural diffusion is the widespread appearance of motifs that are so specific and unusual that one is forced to admit that independent invention seems very unlikely. In the latest issue of Pre-Columbiana, G. Farley has collected examples of the singular "bird-and-fish" motif from Asia, Africa, both Americas, and the Middle East. As you can see from the illustrations, the similarities are striking, and the bird-fish "contact" highly specific. Bird-and-fish motifs. Clockwise from upper left: Mimbres culture, New Mexico; ancient Egyptian hieroglyph; Chimu culture, Peru; ancient China. (Farley, Gloria; "World-Wide Occurrence of a Bird-and-Fish Motif," Pre-Columbiana, 1:187, 1999.) Comment. Yes, we do know that the birds involved are all fish-eaters, but the "kisses" seem more symbolic than pre-consumption. Also, the fish portrayed are often too big to swallow. From Science Frontiers #133, JAN-FEB 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of ...

... "squeezed" from a 29,000-year-old Neanderthal skeleton found in the northern Caucasus differs by 3.48% from the mtDNA of a 40,000-year-old Neanderthal skeleton from (fittingly) Germany's Neander Valley. Furthermore, both mtDNA samples differ from that of modern humans by a substantial 7%. These two innocent-appearing, widely publicized numbers have far-reaching implications: Modern humans and Neanderthals are only very distantly related, and they certainly never interbred, as suggested in many recent, popular articles; and Since neither Neanderthal mtDNA sample is closer to that of modern Europeans than it is any other modern human population, the so-called "multiregional" theory of human evolution and dispersion is unlikely to be correct. Thus, the out-of-Africa theory is favored;. These data and their implications stimulate several observations and comments; only one of which is mentioned in the references given below. F.H . Smith, an anthropologist from Northern Illinois University and a supporter of the multiregional theory, opines that 30,000-40,000 years ago the mtDNA of the early humans, who were mixing it up with the Neanderthals, was certainly very different from what it is today. Since mtDNA mutates rapidly, way back then human mtDNA might have been much more like that of the Neanderthals. (Ovchinnikov, Igor V., et al; "Molecular Analysis of Neanderthal DNA from the Northern Caucasus," Nature, 404:490, 2000. Bower, B.; "Salvaged DNA adds ...

... and burn up. The smaller ones are completely consumed. A few bigger ones reach earth and are renamed "meteorites." So far, all of this is well-understood. But when meteors begin to burn up much above 100 kilometers, a problem arises. The air there is normally much too thin to cause incandescence and burn-up. Observational anomalies are abundant. Two Leonid fireballs were seen glowing at 160 kilometers by Japanese scientists. In 1998, a Dutch team in China detected bright Leonids at 200 kilometers! In addition, some Russian reentering space-craft began glowing well above 100 kilometers. ANAL is a solid phenomenon. Of course, the density of the upper atmosphere does increase somewhat when solar activity is high. Atmospheric gravity waves can also cause the atmosphere to bulge out. But these effects are inadequate to explain all observations. R. Spalding, at Sandia National Laboratories, ventures that ions in the upper atmosphere are electrostatically attracted to meteors and create light when they collide with them. A. Ol'khovatov suggests that "plasma instabilities" may be involved. To learn more about these, go to the latter's web site at: www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Cockpit/3240/ (Ol'khovatov, Andrei; "Anomalous High Altitude Luminosity," Meteorite!, 6:18, May 2000.) Comments. AHAL remains unexplained. Interestingly enough, ANAL occurs at the same high altitudes where some meteors are heard on the ground, even though the air at these altitudes is too thin to transmit sound! These ...

... It was round, 20 centimeters across, and "seemed to come down like a toy balloon", vertical, soundless, without rotation. It was brilliant white, a steady light, and had "something like a smoke trail". Only 20 to 30 meters to the right of the tractor and of the road, after 4 to 6 seconds, the object hit the surface of a green summer barley field, flashed up and "exploded with a loud, very high pitched bang". Mr. Fuehrer said "this was no thunder", and noticed no heat or pressure wave. However, what he felt caused panic--a tingling, and his hairs stood on end on his head, neck, even on his hands. Ile urged his father: "Get out of here, the next one will kill us!", who also felt the electrostatic effect in the driver's cab. The diesel tractor continued to function normally. Arriving home, the Fuehrers still wondered what had happened and they went back to have a look on the same evening. They found a circular patch about 6 meters across in the impact area where green barley plants had been reduced to ashes and smoke, "as with a cutting torch". The burn effect was strongest in the center. The soil had not been moved. (Keul, Alexander G.; "Two Exceptional Ball Lightning Cases," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 24:178, 1999.) From Science Frontiers #128, MAR-APR 2000 . 1997 William ...

... by upturned strata and grains of shocked quartz. The other two could be volcanic say the skeptics. It will take an expedition to Chad to clarify things. (Kerr, Richard A.; "Impact Craters All in a Row?" Science, 272:33, 1996) A final comment -- at last! All impactcrater chains are relevant to the claim of H.R . Shaw that even the earth's largest impact structures are found in swathes (chains). In his wonderfully heretical book Craters, Cosmos, and Chronicles: A New Theory of the Earth, Shaw mentions several such swathes. One of his chains includes Chicxulub (beneath Yucatan), Manson (Iowa), Avak (Alaska), and three more in Russia. These are giant craters stretched out over much of the planet, not pipsqueak craters athwart a couple states! 50 years from now. In 2050, perhaps someone will wonder why Shaw's vision was rejected so emphatically today. Reference. Impact craters and other topographic anomalies are cataloged in ETC in the catalog: Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds. Ordering information can be found here . From Science Frontiers #106, JUL-AUG 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... rings at the University of Maryland. The ring temperatures are low but not in the superconducting range. Magnetic induction of electricity is of course perfectly allowable in physics. What is not theoretically permitted is for tiny currents to persist long after the magnetic field has been turned off. The currents are small, only 10-6 of an ampere; but, they are there, and they shouldn't be. (Lipkin, Richard, and Travis, John; "Electric Currents That Merely Flow," Science News, 149:126, 1996) Comment. If you conceive of electrical currents as mists of palpable electrons circulating around inside those gold rings, the situation does resemble perpetual motion. The referenced item is brief and not forthcoming on such mat ters. Do the currents eventually die out? Will any metal work? Does the phenomenon appear at room temperature? From Science Frontiers #105, MAY-JUN 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...

... of the matter: Do biophotons really transmit information to neighboring cells and thereby affect their functions? Bolstering his claims, Van Wijk cites confirming modern experiments with seeds, neotrophil cells, dinoflagellates, and fireflies. (Fireflies employ bio-photons internally in addition to their external flashes.) (Van Wijk, R.; "Bio-Photons and BioCommunication," Journal of Scientific Exploration, 15:183, 2001.) Comments. Most of Van Wijk's references are European. He was apparently unaware of V.B . Shirley's positive review of the subject in a 1990 issue of Physics Today. (See SF#73 for our digest.) For a mainstream review of the complexities of intercell chemical signalling, see: Downward, Julian; "The Ins and Outs of Signalling," Nature, 411: 759, 2001. From Science Frontiers #137, SEP-OCT 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. ...

... . Sunlight reflected from Martian clouds cannot be the total answer, though. An area called Tithonius Lacus, for example, is the source of many flares, but it is too cold in this part of Mars for clouds of water-ice crystals to exist. No closed book here! (Dobbins, Thomas, and Sheehan, William; "The Martian-Flares Mystery," Sky & Telescope, 101:115, May 2001. Anonymous; "Source of Flashes of Light Found," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 24, 2001. Cr. D. Phelps.) Comment. The Martian-flare phenomenon is reminiscent of the "Perseus-flasher" discussions in 1987. (SF#53) The frequently observed flashes of light seen in the constellation Perseus turned out to be sun glinting off an artificial satellite. From Science Frontiers #137, SEP-OCT 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. 136: JUL-AUG 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bacon Bits Roger Bacon may have been involved with the Voynich Manuscript described in SF#135, but it was Francis Bacon who, some claim, wrote some of the plays commonly attributed to Shakespeare. We apologize for this slip-up and thank all who pointed it out. As for the possibility of a cipher in Shakespeare's plays, this idea was promoted by that trouble-maker I. Donnelly. His book, The Great Cryptogram (1875). was proof, Donnelly asserted, that it was really Francis Bacon who penned what is now erroneously attributed to Shakespeare. Donnelly was a great collector of anomalies. From his vast researches came Atlantis: the Antediluvian World, a book that sparked worldwide interest in that lost city, and the equally seminal Ragnarok: the Age of Fire and Gravel, that introduced Velikovskian catastrophism 67 years before Worlds in Collision. From Science Frontiers #136, JUL-AUG 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. ...