682 results found.
... the top surface (the tapered wedge approach). In fact, all three solutions may apply; but there is no consensus so far. Each solution has problems. (Washington, Paul A., and Price, Raymond A.; "The Mechanical Paradox of Large Overthrusts; Alternative Interpretation and Reply," Geological Society of America, Bulletin, 102:529, 1990.) Comment. Note that scientific creationists consider large thrust faults as arrows in their quiver. If a "geological solution" cannot be found, the order of life's evolution might be at risk, for how else can we explain old rocks superimposed upon younger rocks, especially in those cases where there is little if any evidence of gross sliding? Happily, a "geological solution" does not seem out of reach. Reference. Thrust faulting and strata that are apparently out of sequence are discussed in depth in ESR3 in the book Inner Earth. Information on this book here . From Science Frontiers #74, MAR-APR 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf074/sf074g11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 78: Nov-Dec 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Meteoroid impacts: the other side of the story Astronomers have long puzzled over the origin of localized magnetic anomalies on the moon. These magnetic concentrations (called "magcons") are located precisely on the opposite side of the moon from the larger lunar basins. How could an impact on the moon magnetize the antipodal region? The impact of a large silicate meteoroid at speeds of 10 kilometers/second would not only blast out a big crater but it would also create a huge cloud of hot, partially ionized gas. This hot gas or plasma will conduct electricity and interact with lunar magnetic fields. As the plasma cloud spreads away from the impact site, it acts like a bulldozer, compressing the lunar magnetic fields ahead of it, as it envelopes the whole moon and rushes towards the antipodal point. It drives the compressed mag netic field into the surface, permanently magnetizing the rocks at the antipodal point. Voila! Magcons. (Hood, L.L ., and Huang, Z.; "Formation of Magnetic Anomalies Antipodal to Lunar Impact Basins: Two-Dimensional Model Calculations," Journal of Geophysical Research, 96:9837, 1991.) Comment. The earth also sports scars from the impacts of large meteoroids. Are there magnetic anomalies opposite these craters? Even more interesting to check out would be the holes blasted in the earth's biosphere by the converging masses of hot gases at the an tipodal points ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf078/sf078a04.htm
... .; "Blue Straggler Stars: A Cosmic Anomaly," The Explorer, 6:4 , Spring 1990.) Socket stars. "A picture book hardly seems a likely source of an astronomical discovery, especially in a world where mysteries of the universe usually tumble from sophisticated electronic instruments attached to huge telescopes. Nevertheless, while recently paging through Exploring the Southern Sky , by G. Madsen and R. West, Walter A. Feibelman (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) recognized something that had caught his attention decades before. High-resolution photographs of nebulae show large numbers of faint stars surrounded by circular or oval 'empty' regions, giving the impression that the stars are sitting in 'sockets,' a few arc seconds across, swept free of nebulosity." Feibelman rules out photographic effects, such as halation, but has no ready explanation for socket stars. M.W . Castelez (Allegheny Observatory) has added to the mystery by pointing out that many socket stars show excess infrared emission. He considers this strong evidence that socket stars are surrounded by shells of dust and may represent an unrecognized stage of stellar evolution. (Anonymous; "Socket Stars," Sky and Telescope, 79:476, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #70, JUL-AUG 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf070/sf070a03.htm
... over the world flower simultaneously. The various species flower at intervals of 15, 30, 60, or 120 years. (These 15-year multiples and the unknown clocks that determine them are anomalies in themselves.) After a species flowers, all plants die, leaving the fate of the species to a thick carpet of seeds. Until the next flowering, it will extend its domain via vegetative reproduction only. Ten years will pass before the bamboos have grown enough to be a viable pan-da food source. The pandas' only hope is to find a species of bamboo that did not flower. It is hard to think of a plant as malevolent, but here is how P. Shipman describes the situation: "Green and slender, deceptively innocent-looking, it spreads out slowly, year by year, until it has its victims surrounded. Meanwhile the pandas, poor patsies, are eating out of the bamboo's hand. Only when the pandas are well and truly dependent on it does the bamboo deal its coup de grace. It flowers and seeds, thus ensuring its own survival as a species. And then, in an act of sweet self-sacrifice, it dies, taking its archenemy with it." If the pandas manage to survive after the 15-year bamboos have had a try at death-by-death, a time will come when 15- and 30-year bamboos will flow er simultaneously. In the mid-1970s, several species, with different periodicities, all flowered simultaneously in China. The panda population was ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf070/sf070b05.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 69: May-Jun 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects New species emerging?" A San Diego science writer named Anne Cardoza is sending out flyers asking anyone who has given birth to a child by an extraterrestrial to submit a 3,000-word, first-person account. "She's compiling a book on breeding between humans and inhabitants of UFOs. She won't pay for the stories but she promises confidentiality." (Anonymous; "Talk about Mixed Marriages!" San Diego Tribune, January ?, 1990. Cr. D. Clements via L. Farish.) From Science Frontiers #69, MAY-JUN 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf069/sf069b07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 72: Nov-Dec 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects IS THE ARCTIC ICE COVER THINNING?" In May 1987 a British submarine carried out an ice profiling experiment in the Arctic Ocean in which the route closely approximated that of an earlier voyage in October 1976. Over a zone extending more than 400 km to the north of Greenland there is evidence of a significant decrease in mean ice thickness in 1987 relative to that found in 1976. This thinning amounts to a loss of volume of at least 15% over an area of 300,000 km2 ." (Wadhams, Peter; "Evidence for Thinning of the Arctic Ice Cover North of Greenland," Nature, 345:795, 1990.) In an accompanying discussion of the ice problem, A.S . McLaren et al note that since the late 1800s, Arctic researchers using drills have reported consistently that the Arctic ice thickness averaged 3-4 meters. U.S . subma-rine surveys concurred with these figures during cruises in 1960 and 1962. Satellite surveys of ice cover from 19781987 found no trends. In other words, other sources of data on the Arctic ice reveal little change. The new results, therefore, need further confirmation. (McLaren, A.S ., et al; "Could Arctic Ice Be Thinning?" Nature, 345:762, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #72, NOV-DEC 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf072/sf072g08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 66: Nov-Dec 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Biogenic Minerals We generally think of minerals as having been formed by purely inorganic processes. Only once, on p.000. where biogenic stalactites were described, have we persued the idea that minerals, including crystal forms, might be biogenic. We now have at hand a survey of biogenic minerals. It turns out that biogenic minerals are quite common - so common, in fact, that the Gaia concept is recalled, in which biological processes preside over much that happens upon this planet. Here follows a sampler of some biogenic minerals: Much, if not all, travertine (calcite and/or aragonite) and silicious sinter (opal) are deposited through algal action. Much pyrite and marcasite in sedimentary rocks comes from bacterial sulfate reduction. Bacterial breakdown of oil produces organic complexes that dissolve, transport, and precipitate quartz. The reknowned Herkimer "diamonds" may be of biological origin. Living cells synthesize isometric crystals of magnetite. Mitochondria manufacture crystals of hydroxylapatite. Better known are the apatite in bones and teeth and the aragonite, calcite, or fluorite in the vestibular systems of vertebrates. (Dietrich, R.V ., and Chamberlain, Steven C.; "Are Cultured Pearls Mineral?" Rocks and Minerals , 64:386, September/October 1989. Cr. R. Calais) From Science Frontiers #66, NOV-DEC 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf066/sf066g13.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 80: Mar-Apr 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects What fluid cut the styx?" One of the most bizarre features yet identified on Venus is a remarkably long and narrow channel that [the spacecraft] Magellan scientists have nicknamed the River Styx. Although it is only half a mile wide, Styx is 4,800 miles long. What could have carved such a channel in unclear. Water, of course, is out of the question. Flowing lava is a possibility, but it would have to have been extremely hot, thin, and fluid." Another suggested fluid is sulphur, but there is still room for speculating about exotic fluids, given Venus's high surface temperatures. Another point of interest: the River Styx does not run steadily downhill. It takes an up-anddown course. Either the Venusian topography has shifted since the Styx was cut, or the channel is not a river at all but rather some bizarre geological feature. (Chaikin, Andrew; " Magellan Pierces the Venusian Veil," Discover, 13:22, January 1992.) From Science Frontiers #80, MAR-APR 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf080/sf080a03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 66: Nov-Dec 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Rogue Waves "Shortly before dawn on Sunday, June 3, 1984, the 117-foot, threemasted Marques sailed into a fierce squall about 75 miles north of Bermuda. Heavy rain began to pelt the ship, and a furious wind sprang up out of nowhere. Squalls were nothing new to the Marques , one of 39 tall ships participating in a transatlantic race. But as a precaution, Stuart Finlay, the seasoned 42-year-old American captain of the ship, shortened the sails. The Marques was carrying a crew of 28 - half of whom were under 25. At the helm, Philip Sefton, 22, fought the angry waves that now confronted them. "Suddenly a heavy gust of wind pushed the Marques down on its starboard side. At the same instant 'a freakish wave of incredible force and size,' as Sefton later described it, slammed the ship broadside, pushing its masts farther beneath the surging water. A second wave pounded the ship as it went down. The Marques filled with water and sank in less than one minute. Most of the crew were trapped as they slept below deck. Only Sefton and eight shipmates survive." Accounts such as that above are part of sea lore. Waves 50-100 feet high have been frequently reported over the years. Most often, they are encountered in rough seas, but some walls of water have smashed ships in relatively calm waters ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf066/sf066g14.htm
... . They pursue those Anomalies that the Sourcebook Project filters from the great river of scientific literature. But enough fluvial allusions! The maverick here is, again, H. Alfven. We first met Alfven in SF#59,where we commented on his paper "Memoirs of a Dissident Scientist." Alfven is still a dissident, a scientist who has the temerity to claim that cosmic rays have a local rather than galactic origin. Even more heretical is his assertion that electromagnetic forces have shaped the universe rather than the Big Bang! The subject of this entry is not so much Alfven's conflicts with accepted scientific views, but rather whether correct scientific predictions really influence the scientific community's acceptance of theories. This, after all, is what science is all about. It turns out that Alfven has made many correct scientific predictions. (He even shared a Nobel Prize in 1970.) But, as S.G . Brush has related in a detailed article in Eos, being correct is not the same as being accepted. "According to some scientists and philosophers of science, a theory is or should be judged by its ability to make successful predictions. This paper examines a case from the history of recent science - the research of Hannes Alfven and his colleagues on space plasma phenomena - in order to see whether scientists actually follow this policy. Tests of five pre-dictions are considered: magnetohydrodynamic waves, field-alligned (' Birkeland') currents, critical ionization velocity and the existance of planetary rings, electrostatic double layers, and partial corotation. It ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf070/sf070g19.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Double Image Of Lunar Crescent A letter from R. Eason states that he, too, has observed this phenomenon, as reported in SF#68. "It was in the early evening a few years back. On seeing the double crescent, I called out my brother who was visiting. It looked like a double image to him, too. Then I got my binoculars for a better look. There was NO double image seen in the binoculars, so the effect was clearly physiological/psychological." (Eason, R.; personal communication, May 5, 1990.) Comment. Recently, on a trip to the American Virgin Islands, my wife and I observed a thin crescent moon. I saw a doubling of the ends of the crescent; she did not! Both of us agreed, however, that a thin, bright ring enclosed the dark part of the moon, and that the dark part of the moon was distincly brighter than the dark sky around the moon. From Science Frontiers #70, JUL-AUG 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf070/sf070g14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Natural gas explosion?February 28, 1990. Nowata, Oklahoma. On this date, residents of the Nowata area heard and felt an explosion. Its source was unknown until W. Mitchell checked to find out why Double Creek had backed up. He found a scene of curious devastation, which was then linked to the earlier explosion. "The explosion blasted up large shale rocks, some estimated to weigh more than a ton, and filled about 150 feet of creekbed with shattered stone. Trees were blown down and the creek was partly blocked. "The water level upstream from the site is 3 to 4 feet higher than below, although water is flowing under the rocks. .. .. . "' It looks like a giant mole went all under the ground,' Mitchell said, .. .' There is no telling how big a hole is under there. You can hear water falling. Gas was bubbling up all along the bank. In one place the water was shooting up a couple of feet yesterday, like a fountain, but it has gone down now.' "Large pieces of shale landed 20 to 30 feet from the creek bank, mud was blown outward from the explosion and pieces of shale as large as a big tennis shoe were found as much as 200 feet from the creek." (Smith, Charlotte Anne; "Nowata Creek Blocked after Apparent Explosion," Tulsa World ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf070/sf070g13.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Why aren't beach pebbles round?The next time you walk along an ocean beach, forget the greater anomalies of nature and pick up a few well-worn pebbles. Q.R . Wald collected 200 such at random and measured them with calipers. He found that their three axes tended toward the ratios 7:6 :3 . No, beach pebbles are not spherical, they are flattened ovoids. We would naturally expect that the ceaseless action of the surf would turn out nearly perfect spheres. So much for intuition! (Wald, Quentin R.; "The Form of Pebbles," Nature, 345:211, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #70, JUL-AUG 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf070/sf070g11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 67: Jan-Feb 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Dna On Cell Surfaces DNA attached to a cell's surface? Such a notion was shocking to scientific orthodoxy in the 1970s. At that time, observations of the phenomenon were rejected. Even worse, funding to continue the work was not forthcoming. Happily, other researchers have later stumbled onto cell-surface DNA; and this startling phenomenon has been rescued from conformity's wastebasket. Now that cell-surface DNA can be talked about, we can wonder aloud where it comes from and what its significance is. First, this out-of-place DNA -- thought to amount to about 1% of a cell's total DNA -- could come from either inside the cell itself or from blood-borne cellular debris. There is considerable argument on this point. Second, this cell-surface DNA does not appear to undergo replication nor does it perform any gentic coding function. Speculation is that it may somehow be involved in the immunological response of the body; for its position on the cell surface is ideal for such a role. Some researchers think that cell-surface DNA may aid in the drug treatment of T-cell lymphoma, a type of cancer. On the other side of the coin, it may mask those molecules on tumor cells that provoke immune responses. Such divergence of opinion indicates how much there is to learn here. (Wickelgren, Ingrid; "DNA's Extended ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf067/sf067b09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 74: Mar-Apr 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects An Unexplained Event September 6, 1990, 2029 UT. Horn church, England. "The sky was 'crystal clear' and there was brilliant moonlight, the Moon being 1 day past Full. An object approximately 0.5 -0 .75 the size of the Full Moon, but a dull, mottled red in colour, was observed to cross the sky from west to east in approximately 3 seconds. As it approached the area of the Moon it faded away, giving the impression of being drowned out by the moonlight. Mr. Scarlioli observed the object to be of an irregular shape and says that he could see it 'turning' as it moved along. No trail was left behind the object and there were no 'sparks' normally associated with the fragmentation of a fireball during the ablation process. No sound was heard from this object. There is currently no explanation for this event." (Anonymous; "Unexplained Event 1990 Sep 6, 2029 UT," Meteoros , 20:44, Autumn 1990.) From Science Frontiers #74, MAR-APR 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf074/sf074a03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 77: Sep-Oct 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Crop circles: daisy patterns and a red ball of light G.T . Meaden, in the second installment of his review of 1990 crop-circle research, singled out for special attention the so-called "daisy patterns." While these are not as intricate and mysterious as the spectacular nine-circle complex at Alton Barnes, the formation of one of the daisy patterns may have been accompanied by luminous phenomena. "Circles in a daisy pattern were reported from Devonshire and Somerset County: the first a centre circle with seven regular satellites, evenly spaced, from Bickington in June; the second a circle with six similar satellites from Butleigh Wootton, near Glastonbury in mid-July. "A third daisy-pattern system, one with ten ringed satellites surrounding a central ringed circle, turned up at the end of July in East Anglia. This last was formed on the night of 30-31 July, possibly in the late evening of 30 July at the time of the observation of a glowing ball of red light. It was seen by the farmer shining above his field at Hopton as viewed from his house on the edge of Gorleston (Norfolk). 'He looked at it through his binoculars and described it as a red central glow with a thinner red outer ring...By the time he had passed the binoculars to his son the thing had gone'" ( Eastern Daily Press ). ( ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf077/sf077g14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 73: Jan-Feb 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Five Reasons Why Ufos Are Not Extraterrestrial Machines Regardless of what mainstream science thinks of them, UFO observations continue to pile up -- by the tens of thousands! In fact, like the crop-circle events, UFO reports are increasing in number and strangeness. It doesn't matter that the UFOs and their alleged occupants may be physically real. There are tens of thousands of people who think that they have observed something strange -- even after all hoaxes and misinterpretations of natural phenomena have been culled out. Most of those who are willing to accept UFOs as valid phenomenon think they are real hardware piloted by extraterrestrials. J. Vallee, a computer scientist and prolific writer on the subject, demurs, and he gives five reasons why: "( 1 ) Unexplained close encounters are far more numerous than required for any physical survey of the earth; (2 ) The humanoid body structure of the alleged 'aliens' is not likely to have originated on another planet and is not biologically adapted to space travel; (3 ) The reported behavior in thousands of abduction reports contradicts the hypothesis of genetic or scientific experimentation on humans by an advanced race; (4 ) The extension of the phenomenon throughout recorded history demonstrates that UFOs are not a contemporary phenomenon; and (5 ) The apparent ability of UFOs to manipulate space and time suggests radically different and richer alternatives." If not extraterrestrial hardware, what are the UFOs ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf073/sf073g16.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 78: Nov-Dec 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Marcahuasi: a mystery in stone In her newsletter of October 1, J. Hunt publishes a letter from B. Cote that tells briefly of an eerie Peruvian site: "In June of 1989, a group of us traveled to Peru and visited a 12,500foot plateau called Marcahuasi. We spent only one night there, but what we saw was so exciting that we decided to go back and make a film of it. The entire plateau seems to be populated with hundreds of figures carved out ot stone, some of them 90 feet tall. Yet this unique spot is relatively unknown to the outside world. "What little is written about Marcahuasi indicates a certain reluctance on the part of archaeologists to say that the figures are man-made. Indeed, many of them are subtle and not always obvious to the viewer. But that is precisely what contributes to the mystery. There are so many recognizable forms there, that one is tempted to say they must be man-made, or else nature is having a great joke on us. "Daniel Ruzo, a 90-year-old archa eologist who lives near Mexico City, aided us. The figures we saw and filmed in 1989 were both strange and fascinating. We were first greeted by a 60-foot rock called by Ruzo The Monument to Humanity because several different races are recognizable on it. They overlap each other in a unique way, but ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf078/sf078a03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 69: May-Jun 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Lightning In The Family What follows is hardly a scientific report, but we have no reason to doubt its accuracy. On last Saint Patrick's Day. G. Patterson, of Phoenix, Maryland, north of Baltimore, was in bed sick during a hard rainstorm, when the bulb in her bedside lamp exploded. Lightning had struck her house. She got out of bed and rushed over to her daughter's house nearby to find a red ball of fire on the house's baseboard outlet. Her daughter's house had also been struck by lightning! Worse yet, the TV and VCR had been destroyed. Later on the same day, Patterson's daughter in Bel Air, northeast of Baltimore, called to say that the chimney of her house had been struck by lightning, scattering fireplace bricks all over the floor! (Simon, Roger; "After Lightning Strikes a Family Thrice, Call Priest," Baltimore Sun, April 9, 1997.) Reference. Lightning's "pranks" are cataloged in GLL11 in the catalog: Lightning, Auroras. Information on this book can be found here . From Science Frontiers #69, MAY-JUN 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf069/sf069g12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 78: Nov-Dec 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Degruyerizing Switzerland Some of those astounding "holes" in the integument of Switzerland have been made less mysterious by one of our Swiss readers. Two holes, which we did not mention specifically, have turned out to be a hoax and a mundane sinkhole. The hole at Confignon, which we did pinpoint, was actually 66 feet in diameter and 40 feet deep; but, according to the official geologist of the Geneva Canton, it was simply subsidence due to the drilling of a tunnel. Only the hole at Begnins (actually discovered December 15, 1982) retains an aura of mystery: "The case was investigated by the official geologist of the Vaud Canton, who found no rational explanation. He put forward the hypothesis of the existence of an old gallery for the harnessing of water. Unfortunately, the verification of his hypothesis would be too expensive, so the hole was filled up." (Mancusi, Bruno; personal communication, September 8, 1991.) From Science Frontiers #78, NOV-DEC 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf078/sf078g12.htm
... ONLINE No. 64: Jul-Aug 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The 1977 "wow" signal Anatomy of a "WOW" signal. Vertical ordinate represents intensity; horizontal axis is frequency in intervals of 10 kilohertz. Time axis runs into the chart with 12-second intervals. Over the years, several large radio astronomy antennas have listened for "intelligent" radio signals from outer space. The acronym SETI is customarily applied to such searches; SETI standing for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. There have been a few exciting false alarms during these listening periods, but most could be attributed to known natural radio sources or manmade interference. All in all, it has been rather disappointing to those who are sure someone else is out there. The major exception in the SETI record was the so-called "WOW" (like Egad!) signal picked up in 1977 by a radio telescope at Ohio State University, in Columbus. The bandwidth of the sig nal was narrower than those of most natural sources; there was also some evidence of periodic and drifting features. The signal never recurred, nor could it be correlated with any manmade or natural radio sources. (Eberhart, Jonathan; "Listening for ET," Science News, 135:296, 1989.) Comment. We can only speculate as to what alien intelligence might mean. Then, too, aliens have probably progressed far beyond primitive radio communication! From Science Frontiers #64, JUL-AUG 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf064/sf064g14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 76: Jul-Aug 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects An ancient egyptian ship in australia?The illustration, right, was taken from a newspaper, The Australian . It is a computer-enhancement of a badly faded painting found on Booby Island off the coast of Australia. R. Coleman, the Queensland Museum's curator of Maritime History and Archaeology, was quoted in the paper as saying: "Using this technique we are able to selectively neutralize confusing background virtually making the original image pop out of the background...this system... will add tremendously to our knowledge of those cultures prior to European set tlement." (Anonymous; "An Ancient Egyptian Ship in Australia?" Epigraphic Society, Occasional Papers , 19:211, 1990.) Comment. The vessel in the sketch does seem to have Egyptian lines. However, as our friends in Australia often remind us, we must be wary of what we read in Australian newspapers. From Science Frontiers #76, JUL-AUG 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf076/sf076a01.htm
... pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mercury's polar caps and icy minicomets Mercury, closest planet to the sun, should be baked bone dry, seeing that equatorial temperatures reach 800 F. When Mariner 10 flew past Mercury in 1974, its camera eye reinforced the baked-cinder model. To everyone's surprise, recent radar images obtained with powerful earth-based antennas, revealed a highly reflective patch at Mercury's north pole. Could it be ice, for ice reflects radar waves well? Quite possibly, for when Mercury's polar temperatures are calculated, away from the sun's direct glare, they plunge to -235 F. This means that some of the water vapor in the planet's thin atmosphere might freeze out in the poles, creating ice or frost caps. Wouldn't Mariner 10 have seen such a remarkable deposit? Not necessarily, for the spacecraft viewed only half the planet and, if the 640 x 300-kilometer ice patch were covered with dust, it could have been invisible to the camera. But it would still be a bright patch on terrestrial radar scopes, because radars see through thin dust layers. So, polar ice is not physically impossible on Mercury, although it is defi nitely surprising so close to the sun. All that is needed is a little water in the planet's atmosphere. Mainstream thinking is that "passing comets and asteroids" might bequeath Mercury some of their H2O cargos. (Cowen, R.; "Icy Clues from Mercury's ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf079/sf079a03.htm
... 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects America b.c . and even earlier The thought that the Atlantic might have been a thoroughfare long before Columbus and the Vikings has been ridiculed by most archeologists for decades. New England megaliths and B. Fell's translations of purported Celtic ogham inscriptions have met only with derision in the professional literature. But times are changing -- at least we hope so. The Red Paint People. Public TV recently aired a program on North America's Red Paint People, so-called because they added brilliant red iron oxide to their graves. It also seems they knew how to sail the deep ocean, as G.F . Carter now relates. "Decades ago, Gutorn Gjessing pointed out that the identical [Red Paint] culture was found in Norway. No one paid much attention to that, but more recent carbon-14 dating has shown that the identical cultures had identical dates, and people began to pay more attention. It is now admitted that this is a high latitude culture that obviously sailed the stormy north Atlantic and stretched from northwest Europe over to America. It seemingly extends from along the Atlantic coast of Europe to America and in America from the high latitudes of Labrador down into New York state. "The dates are mind-boggling: 7,000 years ago both in Europe and America. That is 2,000 years earlier than the Great Pyramids of Egypt. It is at least 4,000 years earlier than the Mound Builders of the Ohio ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf073/sf073a01.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 79: Jan-Feb 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects New Kind Of Cold Fusion Buried among other news items in R&D Magazine for November 1991, we find: A research team at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., Tokyo, claims to have created nuclear fusion at room temperature not by electrolysis, but by placing heavy hydrogen on the surface of a metal in a vacuum and discharging electricity for 14 hours. In five out of 14 tests, the team identified protons apparently emitted as a result of a nuclear fusion reaction. (" Chrysler, Cold Fusion, Steel," R&D Magazine, p. 5, November 1991. Cr. J.J . Wenskus, Jr.) From Science Frontiers #79, JAN-FEB 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf079/sf079c19.htm
... guiding external force. Molecules do this spontaneously. There are even computer models being developed, based on a branch of mathematics called "dynamical systems," that describe how this all happens - spontaneously, of course. (Waldrop, M. Mitchell; "Spontaneous Order, Evolution, and Life," Science, 247:1543, 1990.) Comment. When water molecules spontaneously cluster together to form a snowflake, with all its symmetry and order, science explains the process in terms of the properties of water molecules. The same must be true when molecules merge to form life forms. But why do atoms and molecules possess these properties that lead to bacteria, to humans, to who-knows-what's -next? "Spontaneous self-organization" is a cop out! From Science Frontiers #69, MAY-JUN 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf069/sf069g16.htm
... temperatures are several hundred degrees higher than in the surrounding areas. Actually, these hot spots are easy to understand; because, to a Mercurian, the sun comes to a stop in the sky over one of these points and then moves backwards to the other point 180 away. As the sun tarries over these two spots, it heats them preferentially. The strange apparent motion of the sun is due to the 3:2 ratio between Mercury's period of revolution around the sun (88 days) and its axial spin period (59.6 days). What is surprising is that the energy detected radiating from the two hot spots is all reradiated solar energy; that is, there seems to be no contribution at all from Mercury's core! If no heat is leaking out of Mercury's core, the core itself is very likely solid. If it is solid, it cannot establish convection cells and thus generate a magnetic field through dynamo action. But back in 1975, the Mariner 10 spacecraft radioed back that Mercury actually does possess a magnetic field, and a surprisingly large one at that. (Wilford, John Noble; "Theory of Mercury's Hot Poles Is Shown to Be a Fact," New York Times, June 13, 1990. Cr. J. Covey.) Comment. Something is clearly awry. This inconsistency could mean that the dynamo theory presumed to be responsible for planetary magnetic fields is incorrect. Reference. Mercury's anomalous magnetic field is cataloged in section AHZ in our catalog: The Moon and the Planets. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf071/sf071a06.htm
... name it! Although Greek pi and capital omega have turned up, butterflies and maths are clearly trying to impress people who utilize the Roman alphabet. After all, it is difficult enough to evolve an ampersand; generating Chinese characters would strain credulity too much. (Amato, Ivan; "Insect Inscriptions," Science News, 137: 376, 1990.) Comments. Incidentally, of what survival value are these wing symbols? Obviously, the butterflies and moths have not got their act completely together as yet. Words and phrases will come soon, we are certain. Look at the eggplants for example. They have specialized in Arabic. It has recently been reported in British newspapers and on BBC Radio 4 that when the Kassam family sliced up an eggplant, the patterns of seeds spelled out "Ya-Allah" (God is everywhere.). (Donnelly, Steve; "Egregarious Eggplants," The Skeptic, 4:4 , May/June 1990. The Skeptic is a British publication resembling The Skeptical Inquirer .) From Science Frontiers #71, SEP-OCT 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf071/sf071b08.htm
... pages of it, presents us with a wonderful compendium of ball lightning observations. It is un-fortunate that we have room for only a few of the many fascinating descriptions. Giant ball lightning. "The following display of ball lightning was observed by an officer at the coastguard station at Fishguard, Dyfed, West Wales, on 8 June 1977. The occurrence was at 0227 GMT, grid reference SM(12)895389. "The ball lightning phenomenon was very large and estimated to be about the size of a bus. It was described as a brilliant, yellow green, transparent ball with a fuzzy outline which descended from the base of a towering cumulus over Garn Fawr Mountains and appeared to 'float' down the hillside. Intense light was emitted for about three seconds before flickering out. Severe static was heard on the radio. The object slowly rotated around a horizontal axis, and seemed to 'bounce' off projections on the ground. It was noticed that cattle and seabirds in the immediate vicinity became disturbed." (Jones, Ian; "Giant Ball Lightning or Plasma Vortex," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 15:178, 1990.) Reference. Eighteen varieties of ball lightning are cataloged in section GLB in Lightning, Auroras. For more infor mation on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #71, SEP-OCT 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf071/sf071g17.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 73: Jan-Feb 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Science And Bubblegum Cards " Summary . -- 139 professional baseball players who appeared on Topps bubble gum cards (copyright 1987) were subjects. The players, whose printed eye colors could be identified from their photographs, were sorted into three categories of 45 dark-eyed white players, 27 light-eyed players, and 67 black players. The statistics on the backs of the cards were dependent measures and included: Games, At Bat, Runs, Hits, Second Base, Third Base, Home Runs, Runs Batted In, Stolen Bases, SLG, Bunts, Strike Outs, and Batting Average." The researchers then performed analyses of variance with these data. The most important findings were that black players scored more triples, stole more bases, and boasted better batting averages. Eye color did seem to be an impor tant factor!!" (Beer, John, Beer, Joe; "Relationship of Eye Color to Professional Baseball Players' Batting Statistics Given on Bubblegum Cards,: Perceptual and Motor Skills , 69:632, 1989.) Facetious Comment. Why must we spend billions on the Supercollider and Space Station when the equipment for important scientific research can be had for pennies at the corner store? From Science Frontiers #73, JAN-FEB 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf073/sf073b08.htm
... Subjects Earthquake Lights Observed In Canada Numerous earthquake lights (EQLs) were reported between November 1, 1988, and January 2l, 1989, in the Saguenay region of Quebec. These luminosities were associated with 54 seismic shocks recorded in this area. Most were small, but a strong foreshock (magnitude 4.8 ) occurred on November 23; the main quake (magnitude 6.5 ) hit 60 hours later. Through appeals by radio and newspapers, 52 observers of EQLs were located. They reported a wide spectrum of luminosities, some of which were very strange. In the sky, some observed silent sparkings, diffuse glows, and aurora-like stripes. For an account of the more enigmatic EQLs, we quote M. Ouellet: "Fireballs a few metres in diameter often popped out of the ground in a repetitive manner at distances of up to only a few metres away from the observers. Others were seen several hundred metres up in the sky, stationary or moving. Some observers described dripping luminescent droplets, rapidly disappearing a few metres under the stationary fireballs. Only two fire-tongues on the ground were reported, one on snow and the other on a paved parking space without any apparent surface fissure. The colours most often identified were orange, yellow, white and green. Some luminosities lasted up to 12 min." (Ouellet, Marcel; "Earthquake Lights and Seismicity," Nature, 348:492, 1990.) Reference. Many observations of earthquake lights are cataloged in GLD8 in the catalog: Lightning, Auroras. For ordering information, see ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf074/sf074g14.htm
... Most authors now dismiss cold fusion as a false trail that leads nowhere interesting, certainly not to small, cheap fusion powerplants. It is time, they say, to stop wasting money and move on. Yet, a small band of researchers insists that "something is going on," something worth persuing just to see what it is. After all, almost 100 laboratories have reported anomalous phenomena; that is, anomalous neutrons, charged particles, heat production, or helium. Can all of these results be in error? Those who would answer "yes" point to more than 100 laboratories with negative results. In the face of all these claims, counterclaims, and contradictions, to say nothing of mean-spirited academic sniping, one must conclude cold fusion is down but not totally out. Good con and pro articles appeared in a recent issue of New Scientist. (Close, Frank; "Cold Fusion I: The Discovery That Never Was," and Bockris, John; "Cold Fusion II: The Story Continues," New Scientist, pp. 46 and 50, January 19, 1991.) From Science Frontiers #74, MAR-APR 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf074/sf074p18.htm
... a professional archeologist, J.B . Petersen, Director of the University of Maine's Archaeological Laboratory, took an interest in the site near Grand Lake Stream. After careful study of the site and its artifacts, he has prepared a preliminary report. Petersen's report is accompanied by many photos and sketches made during his excavations. On p. 000 we reproduce a photo of the amulet with its strange epigraphy. Now, we add a sketch of the "elongated hafted ground biface, with human figure." Over 13 inches long, this artifact depicts a trousered, bearded man of European countenance, who is missing one arm and a foot. Petersen asserts that the artifacts have no affinities with American Indian artifacts: rather they have a European flavor. What can one make out of all this? Petersen is only able to state: "Although the site is undoubtedly human-made, its function, antiquity and cultural attribution cannot be precisely specified on the basis of the unique characteristics of both the artifacts and the cist. Tentative interpretations allow suggestion that it is attributable to some portion of the historical period, a European cultural tradition, and probably is contemporaneous with or postdates local stone working at the site." In other words, we could have anything from a pre-Columbian European contact to rock doodling by Colonial stoneworkers. (Petersen, James B.; "Grand Lake Stream, The Elliott II Site: An Archaeologist's Preliminary Report," NEARA Journal, 25:3 , Summer/Fall, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #75 ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf075/sf075a01.htm
... Given these problems, it is not a sound strategy to put all of our cosmic eggs in one big-bang basket. Rather, we should explore other possibilities. Thirty years ago, there was a more open debate on alternative theories, which made valuable contributions to our undersanding of cosmology. For a healthy growth of the subject, the big bang hypothesis needs competition from other ideas." Some of Narlikar's suggestions are heresies of the first order: Particles are born with zero mass and acquire mass only as they interact with other matter in the universe (consistent with Mach's principle). The radiation from the lighter particles making up young quasars would thus be redshifted when compared to radiation from old galaxies. The background microwave radiation from a lumpy universe could easily be smoothed out by tiny (1 mm) iron whiskers condensing in the expanding envelopes of supernovae. (Narlikar, Jayant; "What If the Big Bang Didn't Happen?" New Scientist, p.48, March 2, 1991.) Comment. These ideas are almost as audacious as the suggestion that continents can actually drift apart! But are they enough to lift the intellectual pall created by a hypothesis-enshrined-as-fact? Reference. The Big Bang paradigm is challenged repeatedly in chapters ATR and AWB in our catalog: Stars Galaxies, Cosmos. Details here . From Science Frontiers #75, MAY-JUN 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf075/sf075a05.htm
... a platypus-like creature lived long before the Age of Mammals. These early platypusses had teeth in the adult phase, whereas their modern relatives replace their baby teeth with horny plates -- another innovation. Therefore, far from being a hodgepodge of parts left over from bird and reptile evolution, the platypus has actually pioneered several zoological features. Very curious is the fact that the platypus is in many ways like the beaver -- a very, very distant relative both in distance and position on the Tree of Life. Both platypus and beaver are furry, aquatic creatures with webbed feet and a large, flat tail. We have saved the strangest part for the end! Platypusses, being Monotremes (one-enders) have a common vent for waste and reproduction. Beavers, it turns out, are among the very rare placental mammals that (like the birds) possess a cloaca -- a common vent for urine and excrement. (Hoffman, Eric; "Paradoxes of the Platypus," Scientific American, 264:18, March 1991.) Comment. The "beaver" part just mentioned was not in Hoffman's article; we added it because it underscores the ap parent convergent evolution of platypus and beaver. Reference. For many more platypus curiosities, refer to BMA25, BMA50 in our catalog Biological Anomalies: Mammals I and BMO8 in Biological Anomalies: Mammals II. Information on these books may be found here . From Science Frontiers #75, MAY-JUN 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf075/sf075b08.htm
... , Wiltshire dominated the British scene with about 70% of the year's total. This year the leading counties were Wiltshire: over 400; Hampshire: over 50; Norfolk: 18; Devon: 17; Sussex: 16; Oxfordshire: 13; Buckinghamshire: 12; and so on." In his review of the 1990 phenomena, G.T . Meaden dwelt on the Hampshire dumbbell formations. From these many spectacular "circles" we focus on the one at Seven Barrows, Hampshire. Two of the 1990 Hampshire dumbell formations. (L ) Near Seven Barrows; (R ) Near Morestead. "The next system [see figure] was at Seven Barrows, north of Litchfield, Hampshire near the A34 highway to Newbury. On the evening of 22 June I pointed out this featureless field to conference members as we drove past following our circles tour, saying that this was a 'repeater' region for circles events (circles are known for these fields for 1976, 1978, 1981, 1983 and 1985). The next morning, the day of the conference, attendees travelling north from Hampshire to Oxford spotted the formation which had appeared overnight. The circles were a hundred metres from a group of Bronze Age barrows which had been there for over three thousand years." CERES is the Circles Effect Research Group, operated by G.T . Meaden, who is also the Editor of the Journal of Meteorology, U.K . Meaden, a scientist, strongly contends that all crop circles, despite their complexities and seeming symbology, are natural phenomena; ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf075/sf075g12.htm
... All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Ups And Downs Of Spook Hill The appearance of an article on Spook Hill in the Wall Street Journal of October 25, 1990, induced G. Wilder to have a look for himself. After all, when the conservative Wall Street Journal admits to being "baffled," there must really be something to the phenomenon! Spook Hill is located on a section of road in Lake Wales, Florida. Here, at Spook Hill, the road "seems" to slope downhill, but yet cars in neutral apparently roll up the incline. Wilder, a member of the Tampa Bay Skeptics, made several pertinent observations during his investigation: "( 1 ) Although the phenomenon is striking when one approaches Spook Hill from one direction, if one gets out of the car and looks back, it is quickly apparent that one's senses have been deceived. Because the illusion fails when one looks in the opposite direction, the road has been made one-way, so that tourists will not be disappointed! "( 2 ) A storm drain is positioned at the true low point of the road, and cars seem to roll up to the drain. Water, in its gravitational wisdom, knows where to go! Neither were the city engineers fooled." Conclusion: Spook Hill is only an amusing illusion; there is no gravitational anomaly. (Wilder, Guss; "Spook Hill: Angular Vision," Skeptical Inquirer, 16:58, 1991.) From Science Frontiers #79, JAN-FEB 1992 . 1992- ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf079/sf079g13.htm
... ' of materials at the sites, she said, shoud lead to 'profound changes in the knowledge of prehistoric America.'" The Brazilian rock shelters, particularly Pedra Furada, boast elaborate paintings, fireplaces, tools, and butchered-animal bones. (See SF#54 from 1987.) Although some American archeologists have edged back to 13,000 BP, others are still stonewalling at 12,000 BP or less. Actually, the debate has become unscientific on occasion, as revealed by R. Bonnichson, of the University of Maine. "' Numerous metritorious grant proposals have been rejected because their goals and objectives were incompatible with entrenched academic opinion,' he said. 'At least five South American archeologists admitted that they were suppressing pre12,000-year-old data out of the fear that their funds would be cut off by American colleagues who endorse the short-chronology school of thought.'" (Wilford, John Noble; "Findings Plunge Archeology of the Americas into Turmoil," New York Times, May 30, 1989. Cr. J. Covey.) From Science Frontiers #65, SEP-OCT 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf065/sf065a02.htm
... and were most likely brought to the Americas by the expedition of Hernando de Soto. Some of de Soto's men, under Adelantado, ventured into what is now Georgia trying, among other things, to Christianize the Indian. The puzzle of the silver crosses is not in their source but in the crude figures and inscription added to one of them. The cross shown in the figure depicts a horse on one side and an owl on the other. The inscription (too small to be read on the figure) is withing the central ring and states: IYNKICIDU, which makes no sense in any known language. This minor mystery was first revealed in the 1881 Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution . Charles Fort took note of it in his Book of the Damned , where he pointed out that the letters C. D, and K are turned the wrong way in the inscription and, further, that the crosses, having equal arms, are not conventional crucifixes. (Pontolillo, James; "The Silver Indian Crosses of Murray County, Georgia," INFO Journal, no. 63, p. 26, June 1991.) From Science Frontiers #78, NOV-DEC 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf078/sf078a01.htm
... . (But see SF# 66, where an origin in southeast Asia is championed.) The second species was Homo erectus , which appeared about 1.6 million years ago, also in Africa, and migrated into Europe about 1 million years ago. Homo sapiens, "our" species, appeared about 500,000 years ago in "archaic" form, to be succeeded by "modern" Homo sapiens 200,000 years ago. Obviously, a 2.5 -million-year date for Homo erectus in Europe undermines this scenario. (There seems to be no evidence that Homo habilis ever made it to Europe.) (Ackerman, Sandra; "European History Gets Even Older," Science, 246:28, 1989.) Comment. It should be pointed out that revised dates, new skeletal material, and additional contoversial sites are constantly appearing in the literature. The history of the hominid lineage is in flux. Reference. The human fossil record is changing rapidly as new discoveries come to the fore. Our catalog: Biological Anomalies: Humans III contains an entire chapter on anomalous fossils. For details on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #67, JAN-FEB 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf067/sf067a04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 66: Nov-Dec 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Army ants: a collective intelligence?Put a hundred army ants on a flat surface and they will walk around in never decreasing circles until they die from exhaustion. But a colony of a million army ants is a sophisticated "super-organism." The colony carries out its legendary raids and can even keep nest temperatures constant to within a degree. An army ant colony seems en dowed with an intelligence far beyond that of any individual ant. N.R .Franks speculates thus: "It seems that intelligence, natural or artificial, is an emergent property of collective communication. Human con-sciousness itself may be an epiphenomenon of extraordinary processing power. Although experts prefer to avoid simplistic definitions of intelligence, it seems clear that all intelligence involves the rational manipulation of symbolic information. This is exactly what happens when army ants pass information from individual to individual through the 'writing' and 'reading' of symbols, often in the form of chemical messengers or trail pheromones, which act as stimuli for changing behavior patterns." During its 20-day stationary phase, an army ant colony scatters about 14 foraging raids directed 123 apart. The heavy line indicates the colony's path during the nomadic phase. In the body of his article, Franks describes two remarkable capabilities of an army ant colony: time-keeping and navigation. The outward manisfestation of time-keeping is in the precise timing of the colony' ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf066/sf066b07.htm
... boundary of some 65 million years ago. A key marker of this boundary is a thin "spike" of iridium that is found worldwide, and which was supposedly deposited by the asteroid impact that helped finish off the dinosaurs. For many scientists, the asteroid-impact scenario has become a "non-negotiable" brick in the Temple of Science. The problem they have faced is that the iridium layer is variable in thickness and concentration from site to site. Sometimes iridium can be detected well above and below the K-T boundary. This variability has tended to undermine the asteroid-impact theory. Recent experiments at Wheaton College by B.D . Dyer et al have demonstrated that bacteria in ground water can both concentrate and disperse iridium deposits. In other words, bacteria could smear out an iridium spike, perhaps partially erase it, or even move it to a deeper or shallower layer of sediment. (Monastersky, R.; "Microbes Complicate the K-T Mystery," Science News, 136: 341, 1989.) Comment. An obvious question now is how bacteria might have affected other chemicals, such as oxygen and carbon isotopes, widely used in stratigraphy. From Science Frontiers #67, JAN-FEB 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf067/sf067g13.htm
... Discontinuity. Ordinarily, a geophysicist would expect to find a significant change in rock type when drilling through such a strong discontinuity. It was widely expected that, at the Conrad Discontinuity, drillers would find the granitic rocks typical of the continents changing suddenly into basalt, which is thought to make up the lower reaches of the earth's crust. However, when Soviet drills pierced the Conrad Discontinuity below the Kola Peninsula, they found no such switchover to basalt at all. In fact, they hadn't even found it when they penetrated to 12 kilometers. This was a shocker. Now, no one knows what the Conrad Discontinuity represents. It doesn't signal a change in rock type; neither is there a fault or boundary of any kind. It is important to find out what is wrong here, because much of modeling of the unseen structure of the earth's crust depends upon a realistic interpretation of seismic records. (Monastersky, Richard; "Inner Space," Science News, 136:266, 1989.) Reference. Large-scale structural anomalies of the earth's interior are classified under ECD in the catalog: Inner Earth. This book is described here . From Science Frontiers #67, JAN-FEB 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf067/sf067g14.htm
... -circle formation is at hand. Even so, the whole business still sounds pretty mysterious. The source is a letter to G.T . Meaden, Editor of the Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., from R.A . Barnes. "I have been meaning to write to you for some time on the subject of corn circles. About six or seven years ago I was fortunate to see one of these form in a field at Westbury. It happened on a Saturday in early July just before six in the evening after a thunderstorm earlier that afternoon; in fact it was still raining slightly. "My attention was first drawn to a 'wave' coming through the heads of the cereal crop in a straight line at steady speed; I have since worked this out to be about fifty miles per hour. "The agency, though invisible, behaved like a solid object throughout and did not show any fluid tendencies, i.e . no variation in speed, line or strength. There was no visual aberration either in front, above or below the advancing line. "After crossing the field on a shallow arc the 'line' dropped to a position about 1 o'clock and radially described a circle 75 ft radius in about 4 seconds. The agency then disappeared." Meaden, a champion of the plasma-vortex theory, believes that the observation reported by Barnes is consistent with this theory. During a later interview, Barnes stated that a hissing noise accompanied the phenomenon. This, thinks Meaden, could be due to electrical discharges ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf067/sf067g15.htm
... First, Hubbard's general description of the "garden beds": "The so-called 'Garden Beds' were found in the valleys of the St. Joseph and Grand Rivers, where they occupied the most fertile of the prairie land and burr-oak plains, principally in the counties of St. Joseph, Cass and Kalamazoo. "They consisted of raised patches of ground, separated by sunken paths, and were generally arranged in plats or blocks of parallel beds. These varied in dimensions, being from five to sixteen feet in width, in length from twelve to more than one hundred feet, and in height from six to eighteen inches. "The tough sod of the prairie had preserved very sharply all the outlines. According to universal testimony, these beds were laid out and fashioned with skill, order and symetry which distinguished them from the ordinary operations of agriculture, and were combined with some peculiar features that belong to no recognized system of horticultural art." Type 8. Wheel-shaped plats. Width of beds, 6-20 feet; paths, 1 foot; length, 14-20 feet. Hubbard recognized eight types of beds. Two of these are illustrated and described right. Hubbard gave no figure for the total extent of the beds. Individual plats ran from 20 to 300 acres. Considering that they stretched for miles through three counties, we are certainly talking about thousands of acres. Hubbard stated that the usual pottery, arrowheads, spear points, and related artifacts seemed to be absent from the areas of the beds. (Hubbard ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf068/sf068a01.htm
... wheat stalks swirl anticlockwise - have been found on the 9000- hectare farm, West Park, run by Max and Nancee Jolly and their son Stuart, 29. "The startling discovery comes only weeks after the family's 700 sheep were panicked by a huge yellow object pulsating above the paddocks in western Victoria's Mallee region." (Pickney, John; "Sheep Panicked by Eerie Light in Fields," Melbourne Truth, December 16, 1989. Cr. P. Norman via L. Farish) Canada. "Argyle, Man. - There's a mystery on Ray Crawford's land and stumped investigators say anything from bizarre weather phenomena to visitors from outer space could have put it there. "Sometime in the past year, an almost perfect circle was gouged out of a remote patch of the elderly cattle farmer's property, 30 kilometres north of Winnipeg, on the edge of the rockstrewn scrub and bush that comprise the region between Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg. "There was no sign anything human had a hand in its creation." Other crop circles have been found in Manitoba, including one close to a barbed-wire fence that had been partially melted by intense heat. (Blackwell, Tom; "Circle Found Gouged in Field Starts UFO Landing Rumors," London (Ontario) Free Press, December 26, 1989. Cr. B.M Cleveland) From Science Frontiers #68, MAR-APR 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf068/sf068g15.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 65: Sep-Oct 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Initial bipedalism!Our anomaly-collecting net has pulled in an interesting catch; namely, CERBI (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur la Bipedie Intiale). This Center, operated by F. de Sarre, publishes a little journal called Bipedia . In the first issue of Bipedia , de Sarre sets out, in English, his basic thesis: Abstract. "The explanation of Man's special nature is to be sought in the original combination formed by a primordial brain, the globular form of the skull and initial bipedalism. The ape, when compared with Man, appears to be rather a vestige of Man's ancestral line than his predecessor, according to the views of Max Westenhofer, Serge Frechkop, Klaas de Snoo and Bernard Heuvelmans. The study of the human morphology allows logically to carry the problem of Man's origin back to a very early stage of the evolution, and not to which has been reached by apes. From chromosomal and DNA comparison in the cells of living apes and people, several researches argue to-day that humans are genetically more like the common ancestor than is either Chimpanzees or other apes. The array of facts and considerations should be sufficient for an unbiased mind to discount away any idea of simian antecedents in Man's ascent." The body of the article supports de Sarre's thesis with observations from embryogenesis, comparative anatomy (skull, hand, foot ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf065/sf065b07.htm
... species that broods its young in its stomach. The frog was once so commo 'an agile collector could have picked up 100 in a single night,' Tyler says. By 1980 it had completely disappeared from its habitat (a 100-square-kilometer area in the Conondale Ranges, 100 miles north of Brisbane). It has not been seen since." Similar stories emanate from Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Norway, and elsewhere. Many environmental causes have been proposed, but it is significant that the frogs are also disappearing from nature preserves where environmental pressures are small. D. Wake, a biologist at Berkeley, has remarked: "[ Amphibians] were here when the dinosaurs were here, and [they] survived the age of mammals. If they're checking out now, I think it is significant." In this context, Wake believes that there is a single, global, still-unidentified cause operating. (Barinaga, Marcia; "Where Have All the Froggies Gone?" Science, 247:1033, 1990. Also: Cowen, Ron; "Tales from the Froglog and Others," Science News, 137:158, 1990.) In the same issue of Science, S.A . Temple reviewed the book: Where Have All the Birds Gone? The situation for North American forest-dwelling song birds is not as critical as that for frogs and toads, but it is still very serious. The populations of warblers, vireos, and thrushes are declining rapidly, even though the North American forests are now expanding ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf069/sf069b05.htm
... the methane and sulfides that nourish them. C.S . Martens and C.K . Paull, of the University of North Carolina, propose that bacteria living miles down within the carbonate platform generate the methane and sulfides as they consume organic matter buried long ago in the limestone. These excreted, energy rich gases and fluids seep upward and outward, sustaining biological communities along the edge of the platform. (Monastersky, R.; "Buried Rock, Bacteria Yield Deep-Sea Feast," Science News, 140:103, 1991.) Comment. (1 ) Looking far back in time, the sun was, of course, the energy source, because it helped create the buried organic matter. (2 ) However, there is always the possibility that the methane seeping out of the earth is abiogenic. See BLACK GOLD -- AGAIN under Geology . (3 ) How deeply into the crust has life penetrated? The Soviets reported bacteria at 12 kilometers in their drill hole on the Kola Peninsula. From Science Frontiers #79, JAN-FEB 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf079/sf079g09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 74: Mar-Apr 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects 50-POUND 'ICE BOMB' FALLS IN WEST VIRGINIA June 26, 1990. Jerry's Run, West Virginia. "Heisel and Alice Amos, and their grandson, Aaron Hupp, had just turned on a movie on television when the house was jarred with what Mrs. Amos thought was an explosion. "Looking out the front door, they saw their son, Donald, 43, looking in the direction of their television satellite dish some 30 yards away where something had hit the ground with a terrific impact. "Inspecting that area, they found a hole some 24 inches long and 18 inches wide, and about four to six inches deep filled with large chunks of broken ice. Amos said pieces of baseball- and marble-size ice were scattered in a 30-foot radius around the hole." Further facts from this newspaper account: Several other chunks of ice were found in an area about 1 mile long. Some chunks made whistling sounds as they fell. The larger chunks were completely transparent except for a yellowishbrown streak. Many of the chunks had sand in them. Some contained holes. The weather was clear. The Federal Aviation Administration stated that if the ice originated in aircraft toilets it would have been blue from the chemicals used. (Hawk, Harold; "50-Pound 'Ice Bomb' Falls near Jerry's Run," Parkersburg News, June 27, 1990. Cr ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 13 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf074/sf074g13.htm
