682 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 8: Fall 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Rings of uranus: invisible and impossible?Now that they have discovered nine rings around Uranus, astronomers are having trouble explaining them. First, if they are made up of small chunks of matter, the laws of celestial mechanics dictate that they should quickly spread out radially into much wider rings in just a decade or two. In other words, if the rings are ancient they should not have maintained their present form. Second, the rings are invisible when one would expect them to be bright like Saturn's . Yet, they reflect less light than the blackest coal dust. T.C . Van Flandern proposes that each ring is actually a single satellite, so small that we cannot see it, and that it sheds gases as it orbits. This small solid body would make the celestial mechanics people happy, and the gases would be invisible to the eye but still absorb light, making the ring of gases detectable when Uranus occults a star. (Van Flandern, Thomas C.; "Rings of Uranus: Invisible and Impossible?" Science, 204:1076, 1979.) Comment. An alternative explanation is that the rings are recently acquired and will soon disappear. An 1847 observation of a ring around Uranus exists, but a datum this old carries little weight. See our Catalog: The Moon and the Planets for this old sighting. This book is described here . From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf008/sf008p06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 5: November 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Nine-tenths of the universe is unseen In a rather lengthy article on the disturbing discoveries of modern astronomy, Ivan King is quoted as follows: "The most serious problem in extragalactic astronomy today is the notorious 'missing mass.' There are rich clusters of galaxies where it is quite clear that the total gravitating mass is about ten times what we can account for in the conventional masses of the individual galaxies... "The other missing mass problem shows up in the outer parts of spiral galaxies, where the rotational curves have clearly never heard of Kepler... The rotation curves say there is a large amount of mass out there, [but] it emits no light by which we can study its nature. "The missing mass problem is extremely disquieting...We are talking about 90 percent of the mass of the universe, present but not speaking. Can we really claim to know anything about the nature of the universe if we don't know the properties, or even the nature, of 90 percent of its material?" (Anonymous; "The Extragalactic Ferment," Mosaic, 9:18, May/June 1978.) From Science Frontiers #5 , November 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf005/sf005p07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 11: Summer 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Hark, hark, the dogs do bark American geophysicists have been slow to take unusual animal behavior prior to earthquakes seriously. Spurred by Chi-nese work, a network of observers has been set up in California in an earthquake-prone area. Most reports of strange animal behavior have been after-the-fact. Furthermore, the "strange behaviors" frequently turn out to be common during quake-free periods, but simply not remarked upon. Nevertheless, geophysicists did observe some clear-cut instances of animals super-sensitivity to quake phenomena. Studying aftershocks in the Mohave Desert in 1979, Donald Stierman and his colleagues often heard earthquake booms 4-l0 sec after feeling the shock and seeing their portable seismometers record the tremor. Two dogs nearby inevitably responded with a chorus of barking. Sometimes though, the human observers heard and felt nothing when the seismometers and dogs announced another aftershock. (Kerr, Richard A.; "Quake Prediction by Animals Gaining Respect," Science, 208: 695, 1980.) From Science Frontiers #11, Summer 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf011/sf011p09.htm
... 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." (Muldrew, D.B .; "Generation of Long Delay Echoes," Journal of Geophysical Research," 84:5199, 1979.) References. More information on these curius echoes is located at GER1 in our Catalog: Rare Halos, Mirages. For a description of this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #10, Spring 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf010/sf010p12.htm
... geological periods. To enhance his case, Woodmorappe excluded data for such troublesome minerals as K-feldspar, which have unreliable records. The surviving discordances will certainly disturb anyone who has long accepted radioactive dating as the near-final word in geochronology. The lengthy text accompanying the table delves into the geological problems posed by the tabulated anomalies, primarily the severe distortions implied in the supposedly well-established geological time scale. Many attempts have been made to explain away these discrepancies, usually by asserting that the system must have been "open"; that is, contamination and/or removal of materials occurred. But a far more serious situation exists: the reluctance of researchers to publish radiometric dates that fly in the face of expectations. Data selection and rejection are epidemic. Some authors admit tossing out wild points; others say nothing. (Woodmorappe, John; "Radiometric Geochronology Reappraised," Creation Research Society Quarterly, 16:102, 1979.) From Science Frontiers #10, Spring 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf010/sf010p09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 20: Mar-Apr 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Gravity Anomaly Ripples Centered In Canada When scientists recently examined gravity anomaly data for North America, strange circular ripples appeared to surround a point near Hudson Bay. These ripples seem to have spread out like those from a pebble dropped into a pond, but here the ripples are actually ancient density variations in the earth's crust, now covered over by thick sediments. One hypothesis is that a 60-90 kilometer meteorite smashed into the earth some 4 billion years ago, wrinkling the young surface for several thousand kilometers in all directions around a colossal crater. Magma welling up in the crater solidified creating the nucleus of the North American continent. It is quite possible that the other continents began their existences in this way -- meteor impact. The gravity data that led to this hypothesis have been available for some time but apparently no one ever looked at them with continental patterns in mind. (Simon, C.; "Deep Crust Hints at Meteoric Impact," Science News, 121:69, 1982.) Comment 1: John Saul has discovered surface indications of immense ring structures in the American southwest. See ETC2 in our Catalog: Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds, which is described more fully here . Comment 2: If all our continents were initiated by meteor impacts, and if they were once clustered together in a supercontinent, as postulated by Continental Drift, then the incoming meteorites would have to have been focussed on ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf020/sf020p09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 9: Winter 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Purple Blobs In Texas In early September 1979, the Associated Press carried a story about three purple blobs found in a yard in Frisco, Texas. One blob evaporated away, while the remaining two were preserved for analysis by NASA. The blobs were warm when found and had appeared during the height of a meteor shower. At first, NASA scientists did not rule out the possibility that the jelly-like goo might be extraterrestrial, but an AP dispatch the next day (not as widely printed) inferred that the blobs were merely industrial waste! (Anonymous; "NASA Scientists to Prob Mystery of 2 Purple Blobs Found in Texas," Baltimore Sun, September 8, 1979.) Comment. The blobs closely resemble gelatinous meteors or pwdre ser reported rarely down the centuries. One instance of pwdre ser was reported in 1978 from England in the Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., and there are doubtless more that are swept under the rug. We may be sure that NASA will have nothing further to do with something as outrageous as pwdre ser. Many pwdre ser observations are cataloged at GWF7 in Tornados, Dark Days, Anomalous Precipitation. This volume is described here . From Science Frontiers #9 , Winter 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf009/sf009p12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 21: May-Jun 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bull's eye pattern of magnetic anomalies In SF#20, concentric rings of gravity anomalies centered in Canada are described. A similar patter of magnetic rings has shown up in the Yucatan peninsula. The inner ring is 60 kilometers across; the second, 180 kilometers. The rocks causing the magnetic anomalies are about 1100 feet down. Since these rocks are probably Late Cretaceous in age, this potential impact feature may be the eagerly sought scar of the asteroid impact that some think wiped out the dinosaurs and left an iridium-rich layer all over the world. (Anonymous; "Possible Yucatan Impact Basin," Sky and Telescope, 63:249, 1982.) From Science Frontiers #21, MAY-JUN 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf021/sf021p10.htm
... Experiments In Parapsychology R.G . Jahn, who is Dean of the School of Engineering/Applied Science at Princeton, has written one of the most important papers on parapsychology in recent years. Not the least significant factor is its publication in a top technical journal. This alone will insure wide discussion and debate within the scientific establishment. Probably the key feature of the Princeton work is its "high technology" content. This long, highly technical article is replete with circuit diagrams, photos of shiny equipment, charts, and the complete panoply of modern scientific research. In the section on psychokinesis, we read about Fabry-Perot interferometers, dual thermistors, glow-discharge experiments, Gaussian analog devices, etc. (There is a companion section on remote viewing experimentation!) To round out this overview, the section on historical/philosophical background and the superb bibliography must be mentioned. Although Jahn regards his work as only beginning, he does feel that the early results clearly show the existence of non-chance factors in psychokinesis and remote-viewing experiments. For example, interferometer fringes and straingauge readings seem to be changed by the application of "mental forces." But the experiments cannot always be replicated and subjects' abilities are ephemeral. The flavor of the Princeton findings are well put in these sentences from the summary paragraphs: ". .. it appears that once the illegitimate research and invalid criticism have been set aside, the remaining accumulated evidence of psychic phenomena comprises an array of experimental observations, obtained under reasonable protocols in a variety of scholarly disciplines, which compound ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf023/sf023p11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 19: Jan-Feb 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Rims Of Galaxies Spin Too Fast According to the physical laws governing orbital motion in a central force field, like that of our sun, distant objects should rotate more slowly than those closer to the central mass. Thus, the outer planets of the solar system swing around the sun more slowly than the earth and the other inner planets. Astronomers always expected that the stars rotating around the massive hubs of the galaxies would obey these laws in a like manner. No such luck! Doppler measurements of galaxy rotations made by Vera C. Rubin and her colleagues, at the Carnegie Institution, indicate that most stars out near the galactic rims rotate just as fast or faster than those closer to the hub. Astronomers suppose that this anomalous rotation may be due to halos of undetected burntout stars and/or gas fringing the galaxies. Such halos would dis-tort the inverse-square-law field, permitting the observed anomalous rotation. (Anonymous; "Fast-Spinning Galaxies," Science Digest, 89:18, November 1981.) Comment. No one has yet discovered these hypothetical halos of mass. The universe seems to be full of "missing mass." An unpopular alternative would be the admission that Newton's Law of Gravitation does not hold on the galactic scale. From Science Frontiers #19, JAN-FEB 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf019/sf019p03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 16: Summer 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Hooray, another "dangerous" book!The May 22, 1981, issue of Science devotes three entire pages to a discussion of the issues raised in the book Genes, Minds, and Culture, written by Edward Wilson and Charles Lumsden. The subject of this book is "gene-culture coevolution," which infers that human culture is controlled not so much by "free will" as by rapidly changing human genes. The authors propose that as few as 1000 years are sufficient for important genetic shifts. Such shifts might, for example, impel humans to break out of the Middle Ages and bring on the Industrial Revolution. The most controversial facets of the theory are: (1 ) The tight genetic control over human culture with little room for free will; and (2 ) The rapid blossoming of many cultures as genes shift about. As one scientist remarked, this book is "dangerous." Others describe it as marvelous. The Science article deals not so much with the book as with the reactions to it -- and the reactions have been powerful, both pro and con. (Lewin, Roger; "Cultural Diversity Tied to Genetic Differences," Science, 212:908, 1981.) Comment. The impression one gets from the synopsis of the book is that humankind is diversifying rapidly into new cultural configurations not through human volition but because of those imperious "selfish genes" we all carry. From Science ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf016/sf016p06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 18: Nov-Dec 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Offshore Booms Are Still With Us Although they don't get the publicity they did a few years ago, powerful booms still rock the U.S . East Coast and elsewhere. A recent example occurred on June 24, 1981, when the coastline of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia was hit by a house-shaking boom. No supersonic jets were in the area, seismographs recorded no earthquake, and no man-made explosions had occurred, according to a careful check. (Phillips, Jim; "What on Earth Was That? No One Knows: Theories Fizzle Out on the Upstate's Mysterious 'Big Bang,'" Greenville, SC, News, June 25, 1981.) Comment. The East Coast booms attract ed national attention in the late 1970s. Despite several government-sponsored investigations, there was no consensus of scientific opinion. The booms remain anomalies. We catalog these in GSD1 in Earthquakes, Tides. This book is described at: here . From Science Frontiers #18, NOV-DEC 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf018/sf018p12.htm
... "swamp" where life originated! The main evidence supporting their radical hypothesis consists of spectrograms, particularly in the infrared, which are difficult to account for on an inorganic basis, but which are fitted nicely by some organic materials, especially microbes. Hole and Wickramasinghe devote most of the present article to making a spectroscopic case for their theory, but near the end they shake the Temple of Science a bit: "Precious little in the way of biochemical evolution could have happened on the earth. It is easy to show that the two thousand or so enzymes that span the whole of life could not have evolved on the Earth. If one counts the number of trial assemblies of amino acids that are needed to give rise to the enzymes, the probability of their discovery by random shufflings turns out to be less than 1 in 1040000." They conclude that the genes that control the development of terrestrial life must have evolved on a cosmic scale, where there has been more time and much more room for shufflings. (Hoyle, Fred, and Wickramasinghe, Chandra; "Where Microbes Boldly Went," New Scientist, 91:412, 1981.) Comment. Could not the "new" bacteria that appeared in the Mt. St. Helens area, as described in LIFE'S ORIGIN WITHIN THE EARTH? , have drifted down through the atmosphere into the lakes and ponds -- a sort of modern, ever-continuing panspermia? It is interesting to note here that even Hoyle, who has espoused the Steady State theory of the cosmos, seems to require the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf018/sf018p07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 18: Nov-Dec 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Phoebe Not Locked To Saturn When Voyager 2 passed through the Saturn system a few months ago, it snapped pictures of Phoebe, Saturn's outermost moon. Phoebe is nicely rounded, 200 kilometers in diameter, and swings around Saturn in a retrograde orbit 550 days long -- nothing anomalous so far. Phoebe, however, turns out to be the only solar-system satellite whose axial period of rotation is not about equal to its period of rotation about its parent planet. All other moons, including our own, are gravitationally "locked" so that they always point the same hemisphere at the parent planet. (Anonymous; "Voyager's Fleeting Glimpse of Phoebe," New Scientist, 91:779, 1981.) Comment. One inference here is that Phoebe is a relatively recent addition -- and a good-sized one -- to the Saturn system, and just hasn't been there long enough to become "locked." From Science Frontiers #18, NOV-DEC 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf018/sf018p04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 4: July 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Out-of-the-body traveller exerts no influence Many out-of-the-body travellers describe remote scenes observed during their ad ventures and some are credited with registering their presences on instruments and animals. Tests with a subject using "human detector" instruments a quarter mile away showed no consistent results while the subject was "out-of the-body." A kitten in the area gave no sign of a presence. Although the subject described some of the remote targets accurately, the results did not differ from chance. (Morris, Robert L., et al; "Studies of Communication during Out-of-Body Experiences," American Society for Psychical Research, Journal, 72:1 , 1978.) From Science Frontiers #4 , July 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 93 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf004/sf004p12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 3: April 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Marsh gas or the planet venus?October 16, 1976. Aboard the m.t . Farnelia, Barents Sea fishing grounds. Observers, Skipper H. Powdrell and Mr. G. Christmas, Radio Officer. "At 2307 GMT while I was visiting the wheelhouse, the Skipper pointed out to me an object flying across the sky. It had already been in view for some five minutes or more and was first observed on a bearing of 140 T heading due North. I first sighted it on a bearing of 050 T. "Observation was constantly kept by myself and the Skipper with the aid of binoculars from the time I first sighted the object. It could be described as being a brilliant light travelling at a very high altitude, leaving a bright Vshaped trail of rays which could be likened to the sun's rays as they would appear from behind a cloud. However, they were very much smaller due to the height and were also horizontal. The object followed a course from south to north to be astern of us at 2308. It then commenced to come back along its course while losing altitude. I would point out here that there was no visual evidence of the object actually turning back but rather as though it had been put into reverse. "The appearance and shape of the object was now changed, becoming totally circular in shape, still losing height and coming closer. The outer edge of the circle ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf003/sf003p10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 4: July 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bioluminescence And Spurious Radar Echoes March 18, 1977. North Atlantic. Throughout the day, spurious echoes had been appearing on the radar screen aboard the m.v . Ebani. Resembling the echoes from small clusters of fishing boats, they would close to within 5 nautical miles and then disappear. At 2200, echoes appeared, closed to within 5.5 nautical miles, and then spread out around the ship in a circle, all the while maintaining a 5-mile range. At this time, the entire sea took on a milky appearance and a fishy smell was dected. The beam from an Aldis lamp revealed luminescent organisms in the sea. After 45 minutes, both milky sea and spurious radar echoes disappeared together. (Richards, A.W .; "Radar Echoes and Bioluminescence," Marine Observer, 48: 20, 1978.) Comment. Why should radar echoes and bioluminescence be connected? Does the "fishy smell" imply that the milky sea released something into the atmosphere that created a radar target? Other bioluminescent phenomena, including the famous "light wheels" are catalogued in Section GLW in Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights. For more information on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #4 , July 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf004/sf004p09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 4: July 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Curious Patches Of Light On The Horizon March 24, 1977. Aboard the m.v . Kinpurnie Castle. Captain M. Brackenbridge. Cape Town to Antwerp. Observers, the Master, Mr. C.A . Neave, 3rd Officer and Mr. T.J . Martel, Radio Officer. "At 0855 GMT the look-out observed what appeared to be a searchlight shining downwards for about 10 seconds on a bearing of 300 T and 20 above the horizon. This light was extinguished and was replaced by a luminescent patch of approximately one degree in diameter. A semi-circular area of over-all moderate luminosity formed about the luminescent patch. This took about three minutes to form and the dimensions are shown in the sketch. When this had formed, another luminescent patch was also observed above the semicircular area and after a total period of seven minutes the phenomenon dispersed completely. Weather conditions were as follows: dry bulb 19.0 C, wet bulb 17.0 C, barometer reading 1016.7 mb, good visibility, no cloud. Position of ship: 23 05'N , 17 25'W ." (Brackenbridge, M.; "Unidentified Phenomenon," Marine Observer, 48:21, 1978.) From Science Frontiers #4 , July 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf004/sf004p10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 4: July 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects What caused the grooves on phobos?Photographs from the Viking Orbiters show that the Martian satellite Phobos displays a heavily grooved surface. Enough high-resolution photos have been taken to prove that these grooves emanate from the large crater named Stickney and run around the satellite to its opposite side where they die out. This suggests that the origin of the crater and the grooves are related. Further, the widest and deepest grooves (700 meters wide and 90 meters deep) are located close to Stickney. On the other side of Phobos, grooves are consistently less than 100 meters wide. Despite these hints of impact origin, the grooves are not quite what one would expect from simple fracture by collision. Some show beaded or pitted structures. Other grooves are composed of irregularly bounded segments. Finally, some of the straight-walled sections seem to have slightly raised rims. Evidently, some internal forces, perhaps stimulated by the formation of Stickney, also played a part. (Thomas, P., et al; "Origin of the Grooves on Phobos," Nature, 273:282, 1978.) Reference. The grooves of Phobos and its other anomalies are catalogued at ALL2 and ALL3 in The Moon and the Planets. To order this book, go to: here . Map of the strange grooves on the Martian moon Phobos From Science Frontiers #4 , July 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf004/sf004p03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 3: April 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Modern Episode Of Offshore Booms Beginning in December 1977, offshore detonations heard along the Atlantic Coast from Canada to South Carolina captured the media's fancy. Newspapers and TV news programs all over the country described these unidentified explosions. However, not a word about the detonations appeared in most of the scientific publications we regularly monitor, with the exception of the British New Scientist and a recent article in Science, 199:1416, March 31, 1978. Comment. The detonations were rather strong, shaking houses and even causing picture windows to fall out. In some instances, flashes of light and other luminous phenomena were reported. The sounds were characterized as "air quakes" by some scientists because they did not always register on seismographs, although they were usually recorded on air-pressure monitoring equipment. One's first inclination is to attribute such detonations to supersonic aircraft and missles, but the U.S . military immediately denied they were to blame. Seismic noises come to mind next, but the frequent failure to register the events on seismographs suggested an atmospheric phenomenon. The National Enquirer (January 24, 1978) rather predictably linked the booms to UFOs. In the federal government, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) was assigned the task of tracking down the booms. In March, NRL reported that all of the 183 detonations they investigated were due to supersonic aircraft. That seemed to end the matter -- just as the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf003/sf003p08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 2: January 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Does man survive death?In this remarkable paper, published in one of the most important medical/psychological journals, the author surveys the history of research into the survival of bodily death. He identifies three historical periods that mirror the scientific thinking of their times. At one point, research waned as many investigators believed that living individuals with paranormal powers were responsible for all the evidence. Now, however, research again proceeds on a broad front; even though hampered by most scientists' outspoken disbelief in the whole business. The important types of evidence reviewed include the speaking of languages not normally learned, out-of-the-body experiences, and reincarnation memories. [Subjects that 99% of the scientific community would dismiss without examination. Ed.] The author, a professor of psychiatry, feels that this contempt is unwarranted and that most scientists are simply not aware of the vast amount of high quality data available. The long, well-documented paper concludes with the assertion that the data acquired so far do not actually compel the conclusion that life exists after death but that it certainly infers it strongly. (Stevenson, Ian; "Research into the Evidence of Man's Survival after Death," Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 185:152, 1977.) From Science Frontiers #2 , January 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf002/sf002p15.htm
... March 27, 1976. Position 10 N., 101 E. "At 1917 GMT, C.J .A . Cladingbowl, the Second Officer of the s.s . Benattow saw pulsating parallel bands of light rushing toward the ship from 045 T. After two to three minutes, the bands assumed a spoke formation with the center of rotation unseen but in the direction of 315 T. The spokes were about 22 m in width, with 22 m between each spoke. Rotating clockwise, the spokes swept past the vessel at ever increasing speeds, reaching two spokes per second maximum. By 1925, the display had reverted to the parallel band form. Then, the bands changed into a counterclockwise rotating wheel. The performance ended when the display again reverted to parallel bands and faded out altogether. The light from the spokes was white to light green and its intensity increased with the speed of rotation." (Cowie, R.E .; "Bioluminescence," Marine Observer, 47:17, 1977.) Reference. Lightwheels and other weird forms of bioluminescence are cataloged in Chapter GLW of Lightning, Auroras. For details, see: here . A = Locus of Center of spoke formation at beginning B = Ship's course C = Locus of center of spoke formation at end D = Advancing bands of light E = Direction of movement of spoke formation From Science Frontiers #2 , January 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf002/sf002p10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 2: January 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Blind Man Runs On Lunar Time A psychologically normal blind man, living and working in normal society, was found to have circadian rhythms of body temperature, alertness, cortisol excretion, etc., that were out-of-step with society's normal 24-hour schedule. The periods of these biological cycles were about 24.84 hours and indistinguishable from the lunar day. (Miles, L.E .M ., et al; "Blind Man Living in Normal Society Has Circadian Rhythms of 24.9 Hours," Science, 198:42l, 1977.) Comment. How are these lunar influences communicated, or are they innate? From Science Frontiers #2 , January 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf002/sf002p06.htm
... Sourcebook Subjects Cattle Mutilations Called Episode Of Collective Delusion During the past several years, farmers in the western states have been reporting dead cattle that seemed strangely mutilated. Soft, exposed parts, such as the ears and genitals, were apparently removed with surgical precision. Some corpses seemed bloodless. Local papers blamed satan worshippers and UFO occupants. This paper analyzes the 1974 mutilation "flaps" in South Dakota and Nebraska, with special attention to the rapid rise and equally rapid decline of public interest as measured by newspaper coverage. In the opinion of the author, these two episodes are classic cases of mild mass hysteria, similar to the occasional crazes of automobile window-pitting. In all cases where university veterinarians examined the corpses, the mutilations were ascribed to small predatory animals. The veterinarians also pointed out that blood coagulates in a couple days after death, accounting for the frequent "bloodless" condition. With such expert reassurances, the "mass delusions" subsided quickly. Cattle mutilation flaps are thus seen by the author as episodes when people interpret the mundane in bizarre new ways, due perhaps to cultural tensions. It is noted, however, that expert veterinarians examined only a few of the dozens of mutilations, and that some people rejected the above commonplace explanations. (Stewart, James H.; "Cattle Mutilations: An Episode of Collective Delusion," The Zetetic, 1:55, Spring/Summer 1977.) From Science Frontiers #1 , September 1977 . 1977-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf001/sf001p08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 3: April 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Stone Circles In Saudi Arabia Enigmatic circular stone formations reminiscent of those in Europe are found on remote hilltops and valleys throughout Saudi Arabia. The rings are 5 to 100 meters in diameter and are surrounded by stone walls a foot or two tall. Some of the rings have "tails" that stretch out for hundreds of meters. From the air, the patterns have a striking resemblance to designs etched in Peru's Nazca plateau. Little is known about the circles and virtually nothing about their purpose. (Anonymous; "Saudis Seek Experts to Solve a Desert Mystery," Kayhan International, p. 7, January 1, 1978.) Reference. Additional African megalithic sites are described in Ancient Man. This Handbook is described here . From Science Frontiers #3 , April 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf003/sf003p01.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 2: January 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Giant Ball Lightning June 8, 1977, Fishguard, Dyfed, West Wales. A brilliant, yellow green, trans-parent ball, the size of a bus with a fuzzy outline, floated down a hillside. Slowly rotating, it seemed to bounce off projections on the ground. It flickered out after 3 seconds. (Jones, Ian; "Giant Ball Lightning," Journal of Meteorology U.K ., 2:271, 1977.) From Science Frontiers #2 , January 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf002/sf002p14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 84: Nov-Dec 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects QUASAR REDSHIFT CLUSTERS AND (EVEN WORSE) MULTIPLE REDSHIFTS At the XIIIth Krakow Summer School of Cosmology, September 7-12, 1992, many of the world's top cosmologists experienced the disorientation that accompanies both earthquakes and shifting paradigms. Two of many cosmoseisms felt during the meeting in Poland are recorded below: "Halton Arp, Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics, spoke about his "Variable Mass" cosmology. He pointed out the need for cosmologies to explain why quasar redshifts cluster near 0.3 , 0.6 .. ., with the grouping just below z = 1.2 dominating all others; and why certain classes of stars have significant excess redshifts. He also pointed out the inconsistency that local galaxy groups seem to have velocity dispersions of less than 100 km/s , while distant groups seem to have members with dispersions up to 1000 km/s . "Jack Sulentic spoke about multiple redshifts seen in some quasars and AGNs. Line profiles come in all types; symmetric, double-peaked, and asymmetric. Relative shifts are both toward the red and the blue. Arguments against an accretion disk/black-hole model were reviewed. Apparently a non-Doppler redshift-blueshift mechanism is needed. For example, one broad line (in 1404+ 28) shifts back and forth by 1000 km/s relative to another narrow H-line, with an average offset of 2000 km/ ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf084/sf084a04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 84: Nov-Dec 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects ROCKET LIGHTNING PHOTOGRAPHED FROM SPACE SHUTTLE Rocket lightning observed over the South Atlantic in 1964 Scientific disbelief in this phenomenon recedes as observations accumulate. We present below a few short excerpts from a scientific report: "Video images from space showing a single upward luminous discharge into the clear night air above a thunderstorm were recorded for the first time during the space shuttle STS-32 mission, and later during the STS-31 mission and other missions using the shuttle's payload-bay TV cameras. .. .. . "Figure 1 [impossible to reproduce] shows the upward luminous discharge that was seen to move out of the top of a single thunderstorm during the flight of STS-31. This video image was taken at 0335:59 UTC 28 April 1990 while the shuttle was on its 55th orbit and passing over Mauritania, northwest Africa. .. .. . "The storm that had the luminous discharge was located at approximately 7.5 N, 4.0 E, and was about 2000 km from the shuttle's position. The lightning discharge was determined to be at least 31 km long. .. .. . "We are now trying to understand the significance in relationship to the earth's atmosphere and the global electric circuit." (Vaughan, Otha H., Jr., et al; "A Cloud-to-Space Lightning as Recorded by the Space Shuttle Payload- ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf084/sf084g11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 82: Jul-Aug 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects EVEN TODAY NATURAL SELECTION IS MOLDING HUMAN POPULATIONS Nauru is a remote Pacific atoll with a population of 5,000 Micronesians. Formerly, the Nauruans led energetic lives -- fishing, subsistence farming -- and they were slim and healthy. Then came colonization and phosphate mining; with these came wealth, imported caloriepacked food, sedentary lives, obesity, and, unhappily for this tropical paradise, diabetes. The incidence of diabetes mellitus shot up to 60%, an astounding statistic by world standards. On one of the wealthiest of the Pacific islands, the inhabitants have the shortest life spans! The same scenario is being played out in other parts of the world where life styles have changed drastically; for example, some Polynesians, American Indians, and Australian aborigines are similarly afflicted. Furthermore, an epi-demic of diabetes mellitus is anticipated as the "benefits" of civilization are brought to India and China. Two questions must be answered: (1 ) Why is the incidence of diabetes mellitus only 8% among American junkfood-eating couch potatoes? Probable answer: natural selection has already modified the American genotype by eliminating those who are supersensitive to diabetes mellitus under conditions of rich diets and sedentary lives. (2 ) Why are modern populations still living under Spartan conditions so sensitive to diabetes in the first place? Possible answer: the so-called "thrifty genotype" hypothesis. In this view, the genotype that is ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf082/sf082b10.htm
... its ups and downs. It is so easy to say that a group of organisms was done in by a temperature change or the fall of acid rain brought on by the impact of an asteroid. We always look for external forces, whereas the real cause of "crises" in the history of life may be intrinsic to life itself. With a tip of the hat to the Gaia hypothesis, let us think of life-as-a -whole as a most complex, interlinked system. What might be the dynamics of such a megasystem? From the mathematical point of view, many of the processes involved, as life copes with the environment, are doubtless nonlinear, which means that chaotic conditions may sometimes prevail. In fact, the graphs presented below could have been taken right out of a book on chaotic systems. Life's extinctions and explosions might have no connection to asteroids, Ice Ages, or global volcanism. If something as simple as a spherical pendulum can lapse into chaotic motion, life-as-a -whole should show occasional wild behavior, too. Take our planet's weather as another example. Idealists once thought that given enough observations and computer power, weather could be predicted. But, alas, our atmosphere has also turned out to be a chaotic system, and long-term predictions are next to impossible. So, too, with life and its development. Those extinction-explosion plots may be just the paleontological expressions of a chaotic system. From Science Frontiers #59, SEP-OCT 1988 . 1988-2000 William ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf059/sf059p08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 71: Sep-Oct 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects ASTRONOMERS COPE WITH BOTH CHAOS AND TOO MUCH ORDER IN THE UNIVERSE The solar system . The recent advent and fast rise in popularity of chaos theory is destroying some favorite, long-sworn-to notions of astronomers. One in particular is solar-system stability. Could any of the planets pop out of their orbits and embark upon wild and unpredictable trajectories? "We can't rule it out," stated J. Wisdom, an MIT planetary scientist. (Freedman, David H.; "Gravity's Revenge," Discover, 11:54, May 1990.) Comment. Well, OK, there is a tiny theoretical chance that such an event might occur in the future, but it certainly never happened in the past. To admit such a possibility would open that Pandora's Box of vigorously suppressed catastrophic scenarios. Reference. More information on solarsystem instability may be found in ABB1 in the catalog: The Sun and Solar System Debris. Ordering details here . The universe as-a -whole . The disovery of the Great Wall of galaxies (SF#67) and the regular clumping of galactic matter (SF#69) has greatly surprised astronomers, who have been emphasizing how uniformly distributed galactic matter should -- according to theory, at least. Now, D.C . Koo, at the University of California at Santa Cruz, says, "The regularity is just mind- ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf071/sf071a07.htm
... , Gail; "Ghostly Antibodies Baffle Scientists," New Scientist, p. 39, July 14, 1988. Also: Pool, Robert; "Unbelievable Results Spark a Controversy," Science, 241: 407, 1988. As a matter of fact, the second phase of the controversy has already begun. The July 28 issue of Nature reports that seven repetitions of the dilution experiment produced four positive and three negative results. The three negative experiments were the only double-blind versions of the basic experiment that have been performed so far. "Double-blind" means that "all test tubes had been randomly coded twice. The person measuring the cells' reaction to the antibodies could not have been influenced by a preconcieved idea of the results." These seven repetitions were carried out at the University of Paris-Sud laboratory of J. Benveniste. In a reply to the July 28 report in Nature, Benveniste complains that the three double-blind tests, the negative ones, "worked poorly mainly due to erratic controls." (Bell, L.; "Nature Douses Dilution Experiment," Science News, 134:69, 1988.) Comment. Closely related to the French dilution experiments with antibodies was a clinical trial of a homeopathic treatment for hay fever, carried out by D. Reilly, of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and published in The Lancet about two years ago. "In trials with double-blind controls, he and his colleagues found that a solution, so dilute as to contain no molecules of pollen from the original solution, ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf059/sf059p07.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 ALL ROADS LEAD TO CHACO CANYON Just last year, L. L'Amour came out with his novel The Haunted Mesa. It's all about the Anasazi, a remarkable people of the ancient Southwest, circa 900-1200 AD, who, as far as we can tell, disappeared rather suddenly. L'Amour has the Anasazi returning to a parallel world through a space warp in a kiva window. Archeologists have not yet found this remarkable kiva, so we must be content with the things they left behind, but these are impressive enough. A long article in Scientific American introduces us to the accomplishments of the Anasazi. We will concentrate here on their road system, but cannot let a few general statistics go by unnoticed. Of the nine Great Houses of the Anasazi in Chaco Canyon, in northwestern New Mexico, Pueblo Bonito is the best studied. It covers three acres and once rose to at least five stories, with some 650 rooms. Constructed of tightly fitting sandstone blocks, each Great House required tens of millions of cut sandstone slabs. For floors, the Anasazi carried logs from forests 80 kilometers away. The Chaco Canyon Great Houses required about 215,000 trees -- quite a problem in transportation. Strangely enough, the Great Houses seem to have been used only occasionally. In fact, Chaco Canyon was too poor agriculturally to support a large, permanent community. If this is so, what ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 17 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf059/sf059p02.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 AIDS: ANOTHER GREAT DECEIVER In most diseases, we can count on the presence of antibodies as proof positive of infection. Thus, the usual test for AIDS registers the presence of antibodies and not the virus itself. But, researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, in Baltimore, have discovered four AIDS victims in a group of 1000, who seem to have lost their AIDS antibodies but not the AIDS virus itself. Curiously, two of the four later lost the AIDS virus, too. It is possible that the AIDS virus is not really "lost" but merely hiding out somewhere, perhaps in the brain where tests of circulating blood cannot detect it. (Anonymous; "Antibodies Can Disappear from Infected People," New Scientist, p. 4l, June 9, 1988.) Comment. Another possibility, of course, is that of a spontaneous cure. Whatever the answer, AIDS is a tricky disease. Reference . The AIDS debate is covered in considerable detail in BHH14-BHH22 in our catalog: Biological Anomalies: Humans II. Details here . From Science Frontiers #59, SEP-OCT 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf059/sf059p09.htm
... grain structure that the flawed grains are quickly broken up during weathering, transportation, and deposition. By the time any sandstone is formed, only flawless bits of sand remain. Case closed. No anomalist worth a grain of salt would let this delightful phenomenon escape without a bit more study. Do young sandstones with identifiable granitic sources show more inclusions than older sandstones? Do desert sands, beach sands, and other unconsolidated quartz grains show any flaws? Has anyone really examined fresh quartz grains weathered from granite to determine how the number of flaws in a grain varies with the grain size? (Cox, Douglas E.; "Missing Mineral Inclusions in Quartz Sand Grains," Creationist Research Society Quarterly, 25:54, 1988.) Comment. Most geologists will complain that we are going out of our way to make trouble. But consider the possibility that some unflawed quartz grains in sandstones may have actually been precipitated from gases and fluids and not be granitic at all. And what about those sandstone dikes and other sand-stone intrusive bodies? Where did their quartz grains originate? Not all sandstone is sedimentary. From Science Frontiers #59, SEP-OCT 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf059/sf059p11.htm
... Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects MODERN TECHNOLOGY GETS SUNBURNED During the 400-or-so years we have been counting sunspots and taking other measures of solar activity, the sun has, on the average, been getting more and more rambunctious. The sunspot peaks have been ascending to greater heights every 11-or-so years. Right now, near the peak of the present cycle, the earth is being bombarded by extra-high fluxes of X-rays, ultraviolet light, and other energetic radiation. A century ago, no one would have noticed or cared, but today our technological infrastructure is suffering. K.H . Schatten has listed some of the "sunburn symptoms" in a recent article in Nature. Fade-outs of over-the-horizon radio communications Greater aerodynamic drag on satel lites and earlier reentry Glitches and outright damage in satellite electrical systems Anomalous induced voltages in elec trical power systems and long-line communications Blackouts of high-frequency polar communications oInduced errors in VLF (Very Low Frequency navigation systems Occasional radiation levels that are hazardous to humans in high-flying aircraft. (Schatten, Kenneth H.; "The Sun's Disturbing Behavior," Nature, 345:578, 1990.) Comment. It would be interesting to learn whether the "computer errors" we encounter so frequently follow the sunspot cycle. One phenomenon, at least, seems anticorrelated with solar activity: The number of solar neutrinos measured here on earth falls as sunspots multiply. This is particularly puzzling because neutrinos ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf071/sf071a05.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 123: May-Jun 1999 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Caves as musical instruments Sophisticated chemistry in ancient egypt Heads down! Out-henging stonehenge Astronomy Eclipse shadow bands Moonstone in orbit? The storm-swept cosmos Biology Nanobes Strange appetites Flash fish Throwing sand in the gears of molecular clocks Geology Copper pseudomorphs Geophysics Mysterious mountain deaths Puzzling shadows Psychology Phantoms of the brain Focused group energy (fge) Megamemories Unclassified They went a byte too far! ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf123/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 148: Jul-Aug 2003 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Who or What Exterminates the Pleistocene Megafauna? Illinois's Ancient Maginot Line A Cold Barrier to Internal Parasites Astronomy Are there no other Earths out there? Where's the Fuzz? Biology Snakes Aloft Woman's Barr Bodies The Eyes have it A Major Problem for Darwinism Geology Why are old Mountains High? Subterranean Ecosystems Geophysics Milky-sea Phenomenon Is the Min Min Light a Fata Morgana (mirage)? Pre-Quake Anomalies Psychology Correlations of Brain Activity Physics A Revolution in Electrostatics Mathematics Ordering a Piece of Pi Prime Squares ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf148/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 140: Mar-Apr 2002 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The Drowing of Ancient Lands Shell Rings of Southeastern North America Astronomy Mars: the Land of Broken Paradigms Subject Closed: There are no other Galaxies out there! Biology The Bio-Curiosity Corner The Intracellular Railway Geology Target: Australia Geophysics Images of Diverse Phenomena? Or are they of the same Entity? Ghostly Flames Rise from Penrhyn Lagoon Psychology Triskadekaphobia and Quatrephobia Mental gymnastics Why Must we Sleep Physics The Greatest Unanswered Questions of Physics ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf140/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 144: Nov-Dec 2002 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology A dirty story from Amazonia From door to door to what or -- perhaps -- to whom? Astronomy Mercury: Magnetic and sinistral Tunguskas forever Biology Animal antics Processionary sperm The Changeux paradox A statement we never thought we'd see Geology Something went 'splat' in Bolivia Death in the pits Geophysics Complex ball-lightning events Revisiting the Spanish hydro-meteors of January 2000 Psychology So out-of-body experiences originate in the brain? False recovered memories Unclassified Three reasons why ETs have not contacted us ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf144/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 150: Nov - Dec 2003 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Australians First in the New World? Origin of Clovis Culture Disputed A "Magic Number" Encoded in Three of the World's Major Pyramids Astronomy Mapping and Analyzing Dark Matter Biology Frog Poison Factory Puffin Tongue Trick? Human-chimp DNA Dissimilarities Four-Dimensional Biology A Squid's Eyes that Look Up and Down Tuberculosis and the Extinction of the Megaforna Dark Matter in our Genome Unknown Source of Animal Diversity Communication among Bacteria Geology When the Earth Gets Cracking Subduction Doesn't Check Out Chicxulub Didn't Do It! Geophysics Squishy Ball Lightning Far-Floating Fowl Psychology Natural-Born Readers Physics Mixed Anomalies ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf150/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 121: Jan-Feb 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Starlings Fall Out Of The Sky Late October, 1998. Tacoma, Washington. About 300 starlings dropped out of the sky on this date. Neither poison nor disease was the cause. The birds all suffered crunched chests and blood clots in hearts and lungs. Since starlings fly in tight formations, some speculated they had smashed into the side of a large truck (? ), or perhaps a wind gust had thrown them to earth violently. (Anonymous; "Bird Deaths Still Mystery," Houston Chronicle, October 31, 1998. Cr. D. Phelps. Also: Anonymous; "300 Starlings Drop out of Sky Dead," Scranton Times, October 31, 1998. Cr. M. Piechota.) Comment. A much greater avian catastrophe took place near Worthington, Minnesota, March 13-14, 1904. After a storm, dead and dying Lapland Longspurs were strewn over a wide area. A scientist from the Minnesota Natural History Survey marked off squares in the snow covering two frozen lakes and began counting and counting and counting. On the lakes alone, 750,000 Lapland Longspurs lay dead. It was estimated that 1,500,000 died just in the area around Worthington. The injuries of the longspurs were much like those suffered by the starlings. (Details in our latest catalog: Biological Anomalies: Birds) From Science Frontiers #121, JAN-FEB 1999 . 1999-2000 William ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 81 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf121/sf121p09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 107: Sep-Oct 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects More Sparks On The Beach Sharp eyes often pick out unusual phenomena in very usual places. From California, A. Hastings writes: "I also had an experience with 'Sparks on the Beach' as in SF#104/4 . This was on the Pacific Ocean Beach at San Gregorio, south of San Francisco, several years ago. I was walking on fairly wet sand, just above the tide line. As I stepped, the sand around my feet lit up with small bright dots of phosphorescence. I would not have said that the color was blue, but it could have been like blue-white, like the star Rigel. I found that if I stepped hard or stamped my foot, the lights flashed brighter and the lit area went out farther from my foot. I could see the movement expanding out. After a stamp or two, they did not light up as much. I assumed that this was caused by some organism that lit up when it felt pressure, and 'wore out' after it had done this a few times -- a refractory period probably occurred." (Hastings, Arthur; personal communication, March 21, 1996) Comment. This is probably a pressureinduced biological phenomenon, but we have no idea what kind of organism produces the lights. Footsteps do produce a rapidly expanding pressure wave on damp sand, which whitens the sand as it moves outward. But we ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 53 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf107/sf107p11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 117: May-June 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Two Catastrophe Scenarios We present below two reconstructions of major terrestrial catastrophes. Both are based on sound geological research: deep-sea cores, seismic profiles, and the like; but the reconstructions of the events are on the speculative side, particularly in matters of the magnitudes of the effects. Both events also purport to explain long-standing puzzles. Scenario #1 . The Bosporus silt plug blows. During the last Ice Age, sea levels dropped hundreds of feet exposing the continental shelves. The planet's great rivers cascaded over the edges in great waterfalls. The rocky sill at Gibraltar kept the Atlantic waters out of the Mediterranean, and this sea began to dry up. Farther to the east, the Black Sea was now cut off from the Mediterranean's salty water by the silt-choked Bosporus, that narrow strait separating Asia Minor from Europe. In consequence, the Black Sea became a vast fresh-water lake fed by Europe's rivers to the north. The Ice Age eventually waned, and the oceans and Mediterranean began to rise. About 7,000 years ago, the hydraulic pressure on the Bosporus silt plug became too great and it popped. Salty Mediterranean water poured into lowlands around the Black Sea. Scientists estimate that 50 cubic kilometers of water surged through the Bosporus each -- 200 Niagaras in one colossal waterfall. Falling some 150 meters, the thunder of falling water might have been heard ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 40 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf117/sf117p08.htm
... . Dimensions: 2-3 centimeters across and about half as deep. No one doubts that the Jinmium site is ancient. Judging from the sediments that cover the lowest circles, these engravings are about 60,000 years old. If this date survives scrutiny, the Jinmium carvings will be the oldest human art on the planet -- twice as old as anything found in Europe. No wonder the circles have created a stir. Actually, though, a larger issue is at stake. In the sediments around the engraved boulders, anthropologists have discovered what seem to be even-more-ancient signs of human activity: stone tools stratigraphically dated at 116,000 and 176,000 years. The problem here is that most anthropologists hold (rather fervently) that modern humans did not expand out of Africa until about 100,000 years ago. Paleoanthropologist R. Klein offered the following pertinent comment: "If it could be demonstrated [that] people were in Australia more than 100,000 years ago, we would have to rethink everything we thought we knew about the later phases of human evolution." (Ref. 1) If the Jinmium dates do hold up, they would bolster the unpopular "multiregional" hypothesis, which holds that modern humans arose from several protohuman populations -- not just that in Africa. The battle between the "Out of Africa" proponents and the multiregionalists has been a fierce one. The Jinmium artifacts may tilt opinion in favor of the latter. That is why this site is potentially so anomalous. But, everything hinges on accurate dating ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 38 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf110/sf110p14.htm
... run steadily and smoothly, sputters in a cyclic fashion? If an automobile engine did this, we would take it to the garage! (Holden, Constance; "More Neutrino Mystery," Science, 273:1663, 1996.) The problem deepens: The first 102 days of neutrino data from Japan's new Super-Kamiokande detector suggest that the solar neutrino flux is greater at night than during the day, and that it also varies during the year. (Anonymous; "First Data from New Neutrino Detector," Science News, 151:279, 1997.) Once we learn how to measure neutrinos really well, we can start looking for intelligent signals impressed upon them by advanced extraterrestrial civilizations. W. Simmons and colleagues at the University of Hawaii at Manoa point out that neutrinos are much better than electromagnetic waves for galaxy-wide communication. They are not blocked by dust nor are they smeared out by ionized gas. Any civilization clever enough to colonize the entire galaxy would want to send out neutrino signals if only to keep clocks in far-flung star systems synchronized. Simmons et al calculate that a neutrino detector containing a cubic kilometer of seawater could probably detect neutrino signals from artificial sources located within 3,000 light years of earth. A detector that might be able to do this is being installed in the ocean off the Hawaiian Islands. Naturally, it has an acronym: DUMAND = Deep Underwater Muon and Neutrino Detector. (Chown, Marcus; "Do ETs Phone Home with Neutrinos?" New Scientist, p. 19, December 3 ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 38 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf112/sf112p03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 116: Mar-Apr 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Eyeless Vision Tomatoes see red. And other colors, too! We touched on this subject over a decade ago. (SF#54) Then we described how the use of red plastic mulch greatly improves the yields of tomato plants. More recent research reveals that fruit quality and resistance to pests are also improved. How can this be? Plant leaves, it turns out, contain color sensors -- light-sensitive pigments similar to those it the human retina. Obviously, the plants do not "see," but the pigments provide environmental information. Here's the mechanism: plant leaves reflect infrared light well, so when a tomato plant's pigments detect a lot of infrared, the plant "thinks" that it may be crowded out by competing vegetation. The tomato plant responds aggressively by growing more rapidly. The red plastic mulch between the rows also reflects a lot of infrared light, and it thereby tricks the tomato plant into accelerating its growth. (Raloff, Janet; "When Tomatoes See Red," Science News, 152:376, 1997.) Fire-detecting beetles. The beetle Melanophila acuminata seeks out forests that have just been ravaged by fires so that it can lay its eggs in the nutritious, freshly burnt wood. These insects are capable of detecting fires up to 32 kilometers (20 miles) distant. They do not see the fire with their eyes but instead detect the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 35 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf116/sf116p07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 115: Jan-Feb 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The hilina slump a.k .a . "the big crack"Huge chunks of the Hawaiian Islands have been sliding into the Pacific Ocean for hundreds of thousands of years. (SF#101) Geologists classify these slides as either "slumps" or "debris avalanches." Slumps move just a few inches a year but are prone to bigger, jerky adjustments. Debris avalanches are fast cascades of rocks and soil. In Hawaii, both varieties of movement can involve massive blocks of real estate. In the huge Nu'uanu debris slide, stone blocks 6 miles across tumbled 30 miles out to sea. Both slumps and debris slides may create colossal tsunamis. (Tsunamis are miscalled "tidal waves," but they have nothing to do with tides and do not behave like tides or wind-driven waves.) When large pieces of the Hawaiian Islands slip into the ocean, the entire Pacific Rim is smashed by the resulting tsunamis. In New South Wales, Australia, there is geological evidence that part of this coast was scoured by a Hawaiigenerated tsunami 100,000 years ago. The postulated wave started out about 375-meters ( -mile) high in Hawaii. By the time is reached Australia, it was about 40 meters high. (SF#85) Worse waves may be on tap. A 4,760 cubic mile chunk of the Big Island (Hawaii) is breaking away at the rate ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 34 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf115/sf115p09.htm
... Relativity is the tiny advance of Mercury's perihelion. It was Mercury's miniscule orbital anomaly that helped overthrow Newtonian celestial mechanics. Now, quantum mechanics may, in turn, undermine Relativity. The gist of this introduction is that we have here tiny, hard-to-visualize phenomena that are so scientifically important that it is worthwhile trying to understand them. In the first abstruse phenomenon, quantum mechanical effects demonstrate that the laws of classical electromagnetism are flawed. According to the classical view, an electron cruising by an ideal solenoid (a tube with an internal magnetic field but none outside) should be unaffected; that is, the electron should not "feel" the confined magnetic field. But, in the quantum mechanical view, the "presence" of the electron is smeared out so that it penetrates the solenoid, and the electron is affected by the confined field. This has been demonstrated. A Los Alamos scientist, D. Ahluwalia, ventures that an analogous situation prevails with gravity. He notes that General Relativity predicts that a particle (or person) in free fall cannot distinguish this condition (weightlessness) from the situation in a hollow shell of matter, where the gravitational field is cancelled out. A person would feel weightless in both situations. But the strange part arises when one looks at the two situations from the perspective of quantum mechanics; that is, one puts gravity into Shroedinger's equation. Ahluwalia asserts that the particle's (or person's ) gravitational presence is smeared out, just like that of the electron outside the solenoid ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 34 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf119/sf119p03.htm
... Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Complexity And Mount Improbable In principle, the combination of random mutation and natural selection can account for any level of biological complexity you wish to have explained. R. Dawkins' Mount Improbable is never too high to scale with this Darwinistic mechanism -- if given enough time, of course. At times though, we have to wonder if there is not a cog railway or something similar to aid organisms as they ascend this Mount. Such thoughts arose when reading C. Koch's Nature article on neurons and their networks. Neurons are cells with three principal components: the cell body, the axons, and the dendrites. These cells and the networks underlie all of our perceptions, actions, and memories. The ways in which they store and process information has turned out to be much more complex and dynamic than previously supposed. Neural networks are so intricate that Koch was impelled to conclude his review of current research with this paragraph: "As always, we are left with a feeling of awe for the amazing complexity found in nature. Loops within loops across many temporal and spatial scales. And one has the distinct feeling that we have not yet revealed every layer of the onion. Computation can also be implemented biochemically -- raising the fascinating possibility that the elaborate regulatory network of proteins, second messengers and other signalling molecules in the neuron carry out specific computations not only at the cellular but also at the molecular level." (Koch, Christof; "Computation and the Single Neuron," Nature, 385:207, 1997.) Comment. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf114/sf114p05.htm
