682 results found.
... Project Sourcebook Subjects Things That Bo Buzz In The Night In a recent issue of the New Scientist, B. Fox mused about the weird world of electromagnetic transmissions and unidentified audio-frequency humming. We and our complex array of high-tech gadgetry are continuously bombarded by all manner of electrical and electromagnetic signals, noise, and transients. A particularly annoying source of unwanted signals impinging upon European radios is the Soviet Woodpecker over-the-horizon radar. In some bands, radio hams are blasted off the air when the Woodpecker is aimed at them. So much for electromagnetic problems. In the audio range of the sound spectrum, Fox brings up the topic of those still unidentified hums that afflict a small group of people, who are now known as "hummers." Fox himself turns out to be a hummer. "By coincidence, I happen to be blessed, or cursed, with good low-frequency hearing. For several years now, I have intermittently heard a curious low-frequency sound coming from a deep below the high ground around my home in Hampstead Heath in London. Most of the time it is swamped by other noises, because human hearing adjusts sensitivity to compensate for background noise. The noise is an intermittent rumble, like a very distant generator, or the compressor for a pneumatic drill, coming on and off load. Most people cannot hear it at all. I usually hear it only in the still of night." Fox applied considerable effort in trying to find the source of the sound to no avail. The hum has been recorded and ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf055/sf055p18.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. 83: Sep-Oct 1992 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology On cuna writing and its affinities Flat-faced chephren not sphinx! Winning by a hair Astronomy Did barnard & mellish really see craters on mars? When isotropy confounds Biology Tangled-tails tales Bc sea serpents Flat-faced hominid skulls from china Geology Earth's water not imported? Geophysics Official foo-fighter records revealed Checking out some texas ghost lights Wrong-way waterspout Crop-circle contest Psychology Is the paranormal only a set of subjective experiences? Distressing near-death experiences (ndes) Chemistry and Physics Cold-fusion update ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf083/index.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 Thousands Of Grebes Fall From The Skies December 10, 1991. Minersville, Utah. About 9:30 PM, the skies of Minersville were filled with the cries of birds. According to V. Hollingshead "They were just falling out of the sky, hitting the church, cars, the ball parks. Hundreds of them fell all over the streets. You could hear them hitting each other in the air, and hitting the ground." Minersville Elementary School Secretary S. Taylor reported that the birds landed everywhere, including the roofs of houses; they even broke some automobile windshields. Hundreds were killed, but many survived their fall and were taken to bodies of water where they could rest and take off. (Grebes cannot take off from land.) The birds were identified as eared grebes, which were migrating from Great Salt Lake to Baja California. It was theorized that a snowstorm and fog had exhausted and disoriented them. (Christensen, Kathleen; "Thousands of Grebes Fall from the Skies," Spectrum , December 12, 1991. Cr. D.H . Palmer.) From Science Frontiers #80, MAR-APR 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf080/sf080b07.htm
... . This fact is hallowed and defended as vigorously as the facts of evolution, the Big Bang, and continental drift. Extremely nasty things are being said about a handful of heretics who attack this position. "One leading dissident, UC Berkeley molecular biologist Peter H. Duesberg, believes that HIV is not the cause of AIDS -- at least not the sole cause. "He thinks the virus may be an opportunistic organism that found a willing host in the AIDS patient who became sick from something else. That is, he believes HIV is the result of the disease, not the cause. Duesberg thinks the cause of AIDS has more to do with the life style of most of the AIDS patients, but he admits that he doesn't know exactly what." Duesberg points out that three things must be true before a microorganism can be blamed for causing a disease. These are called Koch's Postulates, after R. Koch, who formulated them a century ago: Every patient who has the disease must also harbor the suspected microorganism. Some AIDS sufferers do not have the AIDS virus, although it is debated whether as many as half don't or very few don't . The microorganism must cause the disease when injected into research animals -- primates for example. The AIDS virus does not; although some other diseases, such as small pox, do not affect other animals either. The suspect microorganism must be isolated from the patient and grown in a culture. Duesberg claims that HIV definitely fails the first two Koch tests. (Shurkin, ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf057/sf057b08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 57: May-Jun 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Eels Strike Back Credit cards and bank cards are commonly kept in holders made from eelskin. So what! Who likes eels anyway? Well, there may be more to eelskin than meets the eye. Thousands of bank cards, when taken out of their eelskin holders, have failed to work in bank machines. The electronic coding on the cards has somehow been erased or scrambled. Perhaps, says one theory, the eelskins have bits of magnetite in their skins for navigational purposes. (Some other animals have such magnetic particles in their bodies to help orient them.) But could these tiny particles be powerful enough to erase card information? Another theory is that magnetic clamps on purses and handbags are the culprits. (Anonymous; "Credit Cards Fall Prey to Primitive Fish," New Scientist, p. 30, March 3, 1988.) Banking-business bane. From Science Frontiers #57, MAY-JUN 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf057/sf057b09.htm
... Project Sourcebook Subjects Possible Chain Of Meteorite Scars In Argentina A string of linear depressions characterizes the Rio Cuarto crater field In the January 16, 1992, issue of Nature, P.H . Schultz and R.E . Lianza describe a curious chain of grooves incised in the Argentine pampas near Rio Cuarto. "During routine flights two years ago .. ., one of us (R .E .L .) noticed an anomalous alignment of oblong rimmed depressions (4 km x 1 km) on the otherwise featureless farmland of the Pampas of Argentina. We argue here, from sample analysis and by analogy with laboratory experiments, that these structures resulted from lowangle impact and ricochet of a chondritic body originally 150-300 m in diameter." There are ten gouges in all, strung out along 50 kilometers. The scars are young, perhaps only a few thousand years old, well within the time of human habitation. Schultz and Lianza also found pieces of meteoritic rock and glassy fragments of impact melt. (Schultz, Peter H., and Lianza, Ruben E.; "Recent Grazing Impacts on the Earth Recorded in the Rio Cuarto Crater Field, Argentina," Nature, 355:234, 1992. Also: Monastersky, R.; "Meteorite Hopscotched across Argentina," Science News, 141:55, 1992.) Comments. Note the similarities to the much more numerous Carolina Bays. See ETB1 in our catalog: Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds, Submarine Canyons. For ordering information, see: here . More recently, doubts have been raised concerning ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf080/sf080g11.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. 86: Mar-Apr 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Rethinking Aids The columns of SF have frequently publicized the heresy of P. Duesberg, who holds that the so-called AIDS virus, HIV, is not the sole cause of AIDS. Echoing many of Duesberg's assertions is biochemist and immunologist R.S . Root-Bernstein. He points out that: "People all over the world are getting AIDS without being exposed to or infected with HIV." Root-Bernstein continues with: "The implications of this revelation are truly astounding. Essentially there are only three possibilities. The HIV may really be there, but everyone has missed it. This is un-likely, since many of the researchers reporting HIV-negative cases of AIDS are the top HIV experts in the world. Another possibility is that there is a new virus that everyone has missed. This is again unlikely given the huge amount of retroviral research that has been performed in the past decade on AIDS patients. Finally, these may be the cases that demonstrate that AIDS can be produced by the types of synergistic, multifactorial assaults on the immune system that Joseph Sonnabend and I have been proposing for years." Although most AIDS researchers are still wedded to the theory that HIV is the sole and only cause of AIDS, cracks in the stonewalling are beginning to appear. In fact, C.A . Thomas, Jr., formerly a Professor of Biochemistry at Harvard, has organized the Group ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf086/sf086b08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 86: Mar-Apr 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The milky sea a.k .a . "white water"June 1854. South of Java. Aboard the American clipper Shooting Star . Captain Kingman reporting: "The whole appearance of the ocean was like a plain covered with snow. There was scarce a cloud in the heavens, yet the sky...appeared as black as if a storm was raging. The scene was one of awful grandeur; the sea having turned to phosphorus, and the heavens being hung in blackness, and the stars going out, seemed to indicate that all nature was preparing for that last grand conflagration which we are taught to believe is to annihilate this material world." We selected this account of the milky sea phenomenon because of its vivid verbiage -- something absent from the modern reports: "August 13, 1986. Northwest Indian Ocean. The entire sea surface took on an intense white glow which was not unlike viewing the negative of a photograph." The milky sea is a rather common phenomenon. In fact, the British Meteorological Office has established a Bioluminescence Database, which presently contains 235 reports of milky seas seen since 1915. P.J . Herring and M. Watson have employed this Database in a review paper on these impressive displays. Geographical plotting of the reports shows a strong concentration in the northwest Indian Ocean (see figure). Seasonally, there is a strong peaking in August and a secondary blip in ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf086/sf086g12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 87: May-Jun 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Uniqueness Of Human Adolescence What major biological characteristics separate humans from other animals? The usual list begins with our large brain and bipedality, but these features are shared with dolphins and birds, respectively. Even our peculiar reproductive biology (permanent breasts, continuous sexual receptivity of both sexes, etc.) no longer seem so unique, particularly after reading about the antics of the bonobos (pygmy chimps)! But wait! No other animal, even the other primates, go through adolescence. That time period between puberty and the attainment of adult stature turns out to be something uniquely human. The great puzzle of adolescence, according to B. Bogin, is its evolutionary origin. What possible advantage does adolescence confer on humans in the battle for survival? To the contrary, skipping the teens would appear to be an advantage in the survivability of parents! One guess is that adolescence -- all 8 or so years of it -- is required for the development of the complex social skills needed by adults. (Bogin, Barry; "Why Must I Be a Teenager at All?" New Scientist, p. 34, March 6, 1993.) From Science Frontiers #87, MAY-JUN 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf087/sf087b09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 87: May-Jun 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Animals Attack Human Technological Infrastructure We are accustomed to termites feasting on our homes' timbers and mice gnawing in the walls, but in recent years many species have developed a taste for more sophisticated fare: Pine martens are chewing through the electical wiring of Swiss cars. Mammal repellents popular there. British dormice seem to enjoy the electrical fittings of Rolls Royces. The keas (mountain parrots) of New Zealand have an innate urge to strip out the rubber gaskets around car windows. Land crabs on Tahiti bite through the electrical cables of film crews. Rarely are they electrocuted. New Zealanders have to put metal collars on telephone poles to prevent bushy tailed possums from getting at the cables. Squirrels, rabbits, langurs, and others species are also on the attack in all countries. (Ager, Derek; "Unwary Animals and Vicious Volts," New Scientist, p. 47, January 9, 1993.) Comment. We mustn't forget that sperm whale that got tangled up in an undersea cable over a mile down! From Science Frontiers #87, MAY-JUN 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf087/sf087b10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 88: Jul-Aug 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mystery Signals Beam From Space A report from the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Over the past fourteen months, a radio telescope in Puerto Rico has analyzed over 30 billion signals, as it kept its 1,000-foot metallic ear cocked for messages wafting in from out space. Of this large number, only 164 signals cannot be explained either in terms of natural phenomena or human causes. Since some of these 164 signal sources are fixed in the same locations in the sky, they just might mean that "something" is trying to get our attention, or the attention of "something else" more intelligent than ourselves! (Anonymous; "Mystery Signals Beam from Space," Baltimore Sun, p. 2A, June 9, 1993.) From Science Frontiers #88, JUL-AUG 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf088/sf088g20.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 89: Sep-Oct 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A ROBOT'S MYSTERIOUS DISCOVERY A cross-section of the Great Pyramid looking west. The King's Chamber is #1 on the diagram, the Queen's Chamber is #8 , the ventilation shafts are #6 . The arrow marks the location of the newly discovered "door" and possible chamber. (Adapted from: W. R.; Pyramid Odyssey , 1978 A German roboticist, R. Gantenbrink, was hired to clean out the debris clogging the 8-inch-square "ventilation" shafts in the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid at Giza. Remotely controlling a robot resembling a miniature tank, Gantenbrink subsequently explored the cleared shafts. Finding nothing worth noting there, he requested permission to send the robot crawling up a similar shaft in the Queen's Chamber below. Early archeologists had already plumbed this shaft with long pipes and had concluded that it ended after about 9 feet. Gantenbrink's robot, using its camera eye, found that this shaft did not end where expected but instead veered upward at a 45 angle. Climbing the incline, the robot found that the texture of the limestone walls changed from the rough-hewn, locally quarried limestone to the highly polished tura limestone often found in the entryways of tomb chambers. "At the end of the polished section was what appears to be a door, made of the same tura limestone and with tongue-and- ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf089/sf089a01.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 90: Nov-Dec 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Can thunderstorms stall cars?Some UFO reports aver that the presence of luminous phenomena (interpreted as alien vehicles) have stalled automobile engines. Here follows an unsensational report, sans UFOs, but with identical consequences. July 20, 1992. Near Valognes, France. A. Lunt and O. Whalley were driving a Citroen 2CV in heavy rain. Lightning in the distance only. "While the car was four to five metres from the approaching halt sign with the gears still engaged, the engine cut out. The car was brought to a stop at the halt sign and when the puzzled men found that the car would not restart they spent some 10-15 seconds wondering what to do. Then suddenly there was a huge flash, described as an 'explosion', only two metres behind and to their right as lightning went to ground in a triangular, gravelled area which formed part of the road junction system. The inside of the car and the surrounding countryside lit up brightly and, simultaneously, there was a terrific crash of thunder. Startled, the occupants stayed in the car for a minute longer without trying to restart the engine before stepping outside to raise the bonnet of the car. The engine appeared dry and there was no discernible reason for its failure. Then, upon getting back into the car, the engine started at once, since when the vehicle has given no further trouble." Of course this ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf090/sf090g12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 91: Jan-Feb 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Do earthquakes raise mima mounds?This possibility was tendered in SF#69 in our notice of a paper in Geology by A.W . Berg. Berg had covered a large sheet of plywood with sandy soil and then vibrated the wooden sheet. The result: small mounds formed at points where intersecting vibrations cancelled each other out. Could the many fields of Mima mounds in North America, Africa, and other continents have been created in a like manner by earthquakes? The recent severe quake in India proved that the answer to the above question might be "yes." Some farm-lands that had been flat were riven by cracks several inches wide and up to 70 feet deep and, in addition, topped by undulating mounds up to a foot high. (Anonymous; "Farmers Work Land Churned by Earthquake," Spokane Review , October 10,1993. Cr. J. Satkoski) Comment. Mima mounds are often higher than 1 foot, but at it certainly seems that Berg's experiment has been repeated by Nature herself. Mima mounds and like structures are cataloged in ETM1 in Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds. This catalog is described here . From Science Frontiers #91, JAN-FEB 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf091/sf091g13.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 92: Mar-Apr 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Tractors of the gods?We are all familiar with the Nazca Lines of South America and the wild theories about the aliens that drew them on the high arid plateaus. ". .. now, new patterns have appeared on some parched ground in remote north-western Australia, a series of spirals, circles and broken wavy lines by the North West Coastal Highway near Roebourne. "Dick Smith noticed them while flying over the area in June 1988. By virtue of their large size they are, like their ancient counterparts, clearly visible only from the air. Dick photographed them and in due course asked me to try to find out what they were. Simple, I thought, they must be for erosion control or some other form of land management." C. Hill inquired at several government agencies to no avail. No one knew anything about them. (Hill, Chris; "Tractors of the Gods?" Australian Geographic , p. 25, July-September 1990. Cr. L.S . Nelson) Comment. We assume that these curious marks have a modern origin, but one cannot be sure. Ground markings survive undisturbed for long periods in such arid regions. Also, many large-scale ground drawings were made in the past by Australian aborigines. See the sketches of them in our handbook: Ancient Man. Ordering details here . From Science Frontiers #92, MAR-APR 1994 . ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf092/sf092a02.htm
... the American Society for Psychical Research. The phenomenon that stimulated Beloff's articles was what he called the "decline effect." Parapsychology has ever been plagued by the appearances of seemingly robust psychic phenomena, such as Rhine's initial ESP experiments with Zener cards. These phenomena would excite parapsychologists for several years, even decades, and then fade away. Writing in a historical vein, Beloff put it this way: ". .. it soon transpired that a decline effect, for ESP no less than for PK, could persist across sessions and, ultimately, across an entire career. Nearly all the high-scorers eventually lost their ability. Even Pavel Stepanck, whose 10-year career as an ESP subject earned him a mention in the Guinness Book of Records , eventually ran out of steam. When, after a long break, he was retested recently by Dr Kappers in Amsterdam, he could produce only chance scores. I do not think it was loss of motivation or boredom in his case, as has sometimes been put forward as an explanation for the long-term decline effect, for it was Stepanek's great strength that he was constitutionally incapable of ever being bored! Nor can we take seriously Martin Gardner's attempt to explain how he might have relied throughout on trickery. If indeed he was a trickster, he should have steadily improved as he became more practiced. Whatever the explanation of these long-term declines, it must surely be something deep and pervasive." Further, it seems that while "strong" parapsychological phenomena declined rapidly ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf093/sf093p15.htm
... it; then you don't don't see it Astronomers are always claiming that they have observational proof that other stars have planets circling them and that black holes truly exist. These claims always fade away or are refuted. Recently, the papers were full of still another claim that a black hole had been found. This time there was no doubt; this was it; a bona fide, undeniable black hole. The search was finally over! Later, though, this claim was muted to: "the best evidence yet for a black hole." [Remember that no light escapes a black hole; you cannot see it directly. It is detected only through its effects on nearby observable matter.] Despite what the theorists fervently believe, black holes may not be lurking out there in space, unseen, but still able to gobble up matter and unwary alien spacecraft. For example, consider the following iconoclastic tidbit: "A gigantic, exceptionally bright star that scientists thought could become a black hole is actually shedding mass at such an astonishing rate that it eventually will disappear, a discovery that casts doubt on theories of stellar evolution, a researcher reports. "' If such massive stars are losing mass at such a prodigious rate, they will not form black holes but will peel off to virtually nothing,' Sally Heap, a NASA astronomer, said yesterday at a national meeting of the American Astronomical Society." In other words, the accepted means of black hole production -- and, therefore, black holes themselves -- still seem to be in ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf094/sf094a03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 95: Sep-Oct 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Music Of The Hemispheres The playing and composition of music has always been considered the near-exclusive province of the brain's right hemisphere. This turns out to be far from the truth. For example, non-musicians use both hemispheres in musical matters; the right side for recognizing melody and intonation, the left for such analytical matters as rhythm and notation. However, professional musicians, as their brain waves demonstrate, use their left hemispheres for just about everything of a musical nature. So much for the right-hemisphere theory! The comparison of magnetic resonance images of 27 right-handed musicians and 27 right-handed nonmusicians have shown that even their brain structures differ. The corpus callosum -- that inter-hemisphere information highway -- is 10-15% thicker in musicians who began their training while young than it is in nonmusicians. Our brain structure is apparently strongly molded by early training. The corpus callosum in musicians is essential in such things as finger coordination. Like a weight-lifter's biceps, it enlarges to accommodate the increased tasks assigned to it. (Anonymous; "Music of the Hemispheres," Discover, 15:15, March 1994.) Comment. It would be interesting to compare the brain structures of mathematicians and nonmathematicians where the dexterity factor is absent. From Science Frontiers #95, SEP-OCT 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf095/sf095b09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 95: Sep-Oct 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Sylvanshine: a newly recognized optical phenomenon Driving along a forested British Columbia road on a warm August night, A.B . Fraser noticed that some trees in the dark woods glowed spectacularly in the car's headlights -- almost as if they were covered with snow. Obviously snow was out of the question. Instead, the glow was some form of reflection from dew-covered leaves, and only from certain species of trees at that. "Later nocturnal expeditions with a powerful flashlight (a proceeding that aroused dark suspicions in at least one local gamekeeper) showed that it favoured only certain types of conifer and a few shrubs such as the yew and rhododendron. The explanation lies in the contact angle of the droplets on the leaves: as this rises above 90 degrees or so, the proportion of light from the car's headlamps that is reflected back towards the occupant increases, and for angles above 140 degrees, the retroreflection becomes spectacular. Blue spruces show the glow particularly well." (Matthews, Lindsay; "Reflections on a Summer's Night," Nature, 369:441, 1994.) From Science Frontiers #95, SEP-OCT 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf095/sf095g14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 97: Jan-Feb 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Possible Survival Of Giant Sloths In South America For many years, rumors have been filtering out of trackless western Amazonia telling of a 6-foot, 500-pound giant sloth clothed in reddish hair. Rubber gatherers of the region report that this fearsome creature emits a hideous odor and transfixes one with a paralyzing stare! It also seems impervious to spears and shotgun pellets. Natives and some cryptozoologists equate this animal to the legendary Mapinguari. P. J. Wynne's impression of South America's late-surviving giant sloth. D.C . Owen, an American biologist working with the Goeldi Natural History Museum in Belem, Brazil, has been tracking these stories. The present fossil record asserts that giant ground sloths resembling the supposed Mapinguari did occupy western Amazonia up to about 8700 years ago. To this must be added the appearance of an apparently fresh skin of the animal in 1897. Even more recently, gold miners are said to have killed a giant sloth. As with the North American Bigfoot, hard data are elusive, particularly actual specimens, dead or alive. Owen is optimistic, however. He sees his hunt for the Mapinguari as more than just another useless monster hunt: "If South America's largest terrestrial mammal has been hidden to science until 1994, what else does the Amazon have in terms of biodiversity that's new to us?" (Stolzenberg, William; "Bigfoot of the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf097/sf097b07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 98: Mar-Apr 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects How To Test For Lucid Dreaming In a lucid dream, everything seems so real, and you can usually exert some control over the content and direction of the dream. If you wish, you can fly! Or, you can trigger specific types of lucid dreams by providing external stimuli, such as a specific piece of recorded music. Some lucid dreams do get out of control, however, and become nightmarish. But pleasant, controllable lucid dreams are the general rule. If you can't seem to get into lucid dreaming, apply to the Lucidity Institute, where you can purchase a Nova-Dreamer machine for $275. Thus armed, you can enter that Never-Never Land anytime you want. But how does one know he or she is dreaming lucidly? There is a simple test that is not only strange but probably anomalous. During your dream find a shop or traffic sign, even a dollar bill or newspaper. Then, find a word of four or more letters. Look away, and then look back. If the word has changed when you look back, you are in a lucid dream. For reasons unknown, the brain centers controlling lucid dreaming cannot consistently process words of more than three letters! (Foremski, Tom; "Designer Dreams," New Scientist, p. 50, December 24/31, 1994.) From Science Frontiers #98, MAR-APR 1995 . ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf098/sf098p17.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 99: May-Jun 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Inscribed Bricks Of Comalcalco Comalcalco is a Mayan site in Tabasco, southeastern Mexico. It is unusual as Mayan sites go because its 375 structures, including a large stepped pyramid, incorporate millions of fired bricks. Many of said bricks, when separated from their mortar, display various symbols as well as their makers' fingerprints. N. Steede collected a "small" sample of these bricks (4612 bricks weighing in at 21 tons) and photographed the inscriptions that decorated some 1,500 of them. Many bear what are interpreted as "masons' signs". These turn out to be virtually identical to those found on Roman bricks in the Old World. Conclusion: "The illustrated bricks of Comalcalco are pieces to a grand puzzle, whose completed, final image may reveal a Roman Christian presence in the Americas a thousand years before the arrival of Columbus." (Ref. 1) Some typical mason's signs found on Roman bricks (left) and Comalcalco bricks (right). Many additional similarities are found between mason's signs from Comalcalco and those from Roman, Minoan, and ancient Greek sites. See Ref. 2. References 1. Steede. Neil; "The Bricks of Comalcalco," Ancient American, 1:8 , September/October 1994. 2. Fell, Barry; "The Comalcalco Bricks: Part 1, the Roman Phase," Occasional Papers, Epigraphic Society , 19 ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf099/sf099a01.htm
... Psychology with two studies of people claiming to have exceptional memories. In their second paper (Ref. 2), they detailed the mental workings of TM, a 25-year-old male, and an accomplished user of mnemonics. TM astounds audiences with his seemingly impossible memory feats. These feats, however, are no mystery to TM, and he has carefully explained how it is all mnemonics and nothing paranormal. But there remains the clear implication is that the normal human mind is underestimated and underused. TM's "performances" involve six demonstrations, two of which we now elaborate upon. Demonstration 2. TM asks audiences for birthdates and very quickly gives the day of birth. He has explained this "gift" thusly: "The day of birth calculations were originally carried out through use of a system of numerical codes for years and months which were combined and subjected to certain calculations. However, with practice many shortcuts and mnemonics have been developed and now TM often knows instantly that certain dates imply certain days, like learning the multiplication table. Every year and month has a code from 0 to 6 and TM has learned the codes (by the method explained below) for all years from 1900 to 2000. For any given date the method is to add the codes for the month and the year and divide the total by 7; the remainder gives the day of the week. For example, 27 October 1964 gives 27+ 1 (the code for October)+ 3 (the code for 1964) = 31. Dividing by 7 gives a remainder ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf099/sf099p14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 99: May-Jun 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Why does spaghetti break into three pieces instead of two?R. Feynman carried out spaghetti experiments but did not deign to theorize on why he almost always ended up with three pieces each time he attempted to break a piece in two. Fortunately for science, O. and R. Nickalls have come up with an answer. "We can only assume that Feynman was not really trying, since when we investigated this profound and fundamental problem in our own kitchen laboratory, not only did we quickly establish the underlying mechanism, but we even went on to formulate the following general rule for linear spaghetti structures:- If a spaghetti stick is uniformly bent until it fractures and ejects a third piece, then the third piece is always ejected outwards from the convex side. "When the spaghetti fractures for the first time, the two remaining pieces then spring outwards, and providing there is a sufficiently weak potential fracture site on the opposite side a second fracture occurs, resulting in a third piece being ejected away from the initially convex side." (Nickalls, Oliver and Richard; "Linear Spaghetti," New Scientist, p. 52, 1995) Comment. We have omitted the mathematical analysis of this complex phenomenon because it involves tensor analysis! From Science Frontiers #99, MAY-JUN 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf099/sf099p15.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 101: Sep-Oct 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The metal-frosted mountains of venus! Venus is a very hot planet with a mean surface temperature of 740 K. It is so hot there that some metal compounds of chlorine, fluorine, and sulfur are vaporized in some locales. Such metallic "mists" could well coat out as "frost" on the cooler, higher elevations. Actually, two outstanding Venusian anomalies can be explained by such metallic "frosts." Radar signals from earth are strongly reflected from the planet's mountains and high plateaus. These regions may owe their unusually high reflectance to metallic "frosts" consisting of such radarbright minerals as pyrite, which is probably present in vapor form at lower, hotter elevations. During the 1978 Pioneer Venus mission, four instrumented probes plunged into the Venusian atmosphere. All instruments with external sensors on all four probes failed mysteriously 12.5 kilometers above the planet's surface. Thinking is that the probes pierced a cloud deck of metallic vapor that condensed on the cold sensor surfaces. (Anonymous; "Metal 'Frost' on Venus?" Sky and Telescope, 90:13, August 1995.) From Science Frontiers #101 Sep-Oct 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf101/sf101a02.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. 102: Nov-Dec 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects "WEIRD ICICLES" IN A REFRIGERATOR Sketch of the upwardly-growing refrigerator icicle. Birdbaths, it seems, are not essential for the generation of tilted, upwardly growing, crystalline icicles. From St. Louis, C. Masthay writes: "In Science Frontiers 100, p. 2, Jul.-Aug. 1995, you have the article WEIRD ICICLES. Well I've just got to tell you about the icicle in my icecube tray. I went to Connecticut on vacation for 2 weeks the latter half of this June (1995). Sometime during that time the electricity was out for 3 ½ hours. When I opened my refrigerator for a drink, there was a weird stalagmitic icicle with a faint frostiness on the cystalline end. I left it alone for these 2 weeks to watch it recede with my frostfree refrigerator. When I saw your article, I regarded the explanation of a central channel as being inappropriate, for this one had to grow as a normal crystal in the unaccustomed rise in temperature. It too had a tipped angle of perhaps 10 to 15 . What is more is that this is the second time this has happened in a year. How many other refrigerators have done the same? Thus the birdbath crystal is not impossible." (Masthay, Carl; personal communication, July 17, 1995.) Questions. Why are all of these upwardgrowing icicles inclined slightly? Why are they ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf102/sf102g12.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. 102: Nov-Dec 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Fungal phantasms Recently, it was seriously suggested that people see ghosts in haunted houses because they ingest spores broadcast by psychoactive fungi growing on the old walls! This amusing idea turns out to be an old one, having appeared in 1883 in the Gentleman's Magazine. (Goodman, Arthur; "Ghost Potions," New Scientist, p. 54, July 8, 1995.) Comment. Seems like the skeptics are grasping for straws? Or should we say "ectoplasm?" From Science Frontiers #102 Nov-Dec 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf102/sf102p18.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 103: Jan-Feb 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Two Probable Frauds That turkey on the Bayeux Tapestry. Fortunately, we added a caveat when we mentioned this turkey (see sketch) in SF#81. If said turkey really appears on the Bayeux Tapestry, which dates back to the Eleventh Century, it would clearly indicate Precolumbian contact with the New World. However, careful study of a copy of the Tapestry has failed to find this typically New World bird anywhere. (Sørensen, Erik Ringdal; personal communication, November 2, 1995) That crystal skull in the British Museum. Considered a first-class anomaly, this compelling artifact is carved out of hard crystalline quartz. It is said to exert an eerie effect on its viewers. Some say it was carved by the Atlanteans, but the Aztecs are generally credited with this amazing job of manufacture. The big puzzle is: How could the Aztecs have done it without modern lapidary tools -- the skull is so smooth and perfect? Well, maybe the Aztecs didn't carve it! A. Rankin, of Kingston University, has examined the tiny trails made by fluid inclusions in the quartz matrix. He finds that they are characteristic of Brazilian quartz. In fact, there seem to be no suitable sources of massive quartz crystals anywhere in Mexico; and the Aztecs do not appear to have made any incursions into Brazil. Even worse, British Museum experts have now found small cuts made by steel tools on ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf103/sf103a03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 103: Jan-Feb 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Stythe = choke damp This, according to an unabridged dictionary. Looking up "choke damp", it is found to be "a suffocating gas, chiefly carbon dioxide, found in wells, coal mines, and other pits, also called "blackdamp." Evidently, in the quotation in SF#102 describing the death of one Donald Tollett due to a stythe, the word "stythe" was used for the meteorological event itself rather than -- correctly -- for the gases sucked out of the coal mine by a sudden drop in atmospheric pressure. (Stepp, Richard; personal communication, November 26, 1995) Comment. Changes in atmospheric pressure are also the causes of "blowing caves" and "weather wells". See GHG2 in Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds. To order, visit here . Incidentally, blowing caves were used in the very early days of aernonautics for testing aircraft models due to the lack of wind tunnels. From Science Frontiers #103, JAN-FEB 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf103/sf103g14.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. 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
... 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 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
... 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. 6: February 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Inscribed Stone From Tennessee Necropolis The pictured stone was found during the early 1890s in an extensive cemetery near Nashville. The stone's back was hollowed out like a cupstone, while its front was inscribed with symbols. Barry Fell considers the symbols Libyan, pre100 A.D . style. He translates them thus: "The colonists pledge to redeem." (Whittall, James P., II; "An Inscribed Libyan Token from a Necropolis in Tennessee," Early Sites Research Society, Bulletin, 6:37, 1978.) Reference. Several controversial New World inscriptions may be found in Ancient Man. This Handbook is described here . Inscribed stone found near Nashville From Science Frontiers #6 , February 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf006/sf006p02.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 7: June 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bpm Equals Dowsing It is remarkable that this article appears in a reputable scientific journal. Williamson was stimulated to write about dowsing by apparent recent Russian successes with BPM (Bio-Physical Method) in locating minerals. BPM has created quite a stir in the USSR, with all the scientific trappings of conferences and journal papers. The Russians evidently use BPM in conjunction with aerial photogeological surveys in pinpointing mineral deposits. BPM anomalies are detected on foot by hand-held BPM de tectors (read: divining rods). Williamson goes on to describe the ridicule heaped on dowsing in the West. The negative experiments of Foulkes with trained dowsers shoved dowsing out to the lunatic fringe. But recently, a little-mentioned American study by Chadwick and Jensen seems to contradict Foulkes. Chadwick and Jensen, highly skeptical at the beginning of their experiments, were surprised to discover that their 150 novice dowsers were actually sensitive to the small magnetic field changes one expects in the neighborhood of mineral concentrations. The dowsing effect is weak but apparently real. (Williamson, Tom; "Dowsing Achieves New Credence," New Scientist, 81:371, 1979.) From Science Frontiers #7 , June 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf007/sf007p14.htm
... hot potato! Mangaia is a small volcanic island in the Cook Island group. During the excavation of a rock shelter on this island, large fragments of sweet potato were discovered. These were subsequently carbondated at about 1000 AD. "The prehistoric transferral of this South American domesticate into Polynesia obviously raises issues of cultural contact between the coast of South America and the Polynesian Islands. In our view, the most likely transferrors would have been the seafaring Polynesians, on a voyage of exploration to South America and return." (Hather, Jon, and Kirch, P.V .; "Prehistoric Sweet Potato ( Ipomoea batatas ) from Mangaia Island, Central Polynesia," Antiquity, 65:887, 1991.) Comment. What cultural imperatives would impel the Vikings and the Polynesians to reach out to the New World at almost the same time in history but from opposite sides of the world? From Science Frontiers #81, MAY-JUN 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf081/sf081a02.htm
... cosmic microwave background indicate that the earth moves relative to it. New cosmic X-ray data from the satellite Ariel 5 suggests that a large, hitherto unsuspected mass is located in the same direction that the earth is moving. Thus, both X-ray and microwave data could be explained by supposing this mass to be large enough to pull the earth (and our Galaxy) toward it. This mass would have to be about 10 billion light years away and weigh as much as 100 million Galaxies. Such a gigantic blob or inhomogeneity in the universe would be very difficult to explain. As it is, the aggregation of stars into galaxies after the Big Bang remains poorly understood. The bigger the inhomogeneity, the harder it is to account for. The Big Bang should have spread matter out pretty evenly. (Anonymous; "Large Mass May Pull Earth Through Space," New Scientist, 83:21, 1979.) From Science Frontiers #9 , Winter 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf009/sf009p04.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
... Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Double hubble: age in trouble A key concept in modern astronomy -- the distance scale -- has been challenged by a new measurement technique. In recent years, the so-called Hubble Constant has been used to determine the distances of the farthest observable galaxies and, by assuming that they are near the periphery of the expanding universe, obtaining the age of the cosmos by dividing distance by the speed of light. Until this current challenge, the age of the universe was generally taken as about 20 billion years. The "old" Hubble Constant, however, was determined from the measurements of the distances to rather close galaxies and then assuming that the Constant thus derived held for the entire universe. The new yardstick reaches farther out into space. It is based upon the observation that the broadening of galaxy's 21-centimeter radio emission depends upon its rate of rotation, plus the belief that the rate of rotation is proportional to its brightness! This "new" Hubble Constant is 95 kilometers/second/ megaparsec, which translates into an age of only 10 billion years for the universe. Both the 10-billion-year and 20billion-year camps claim strong supporting evidence for themselves and also point to serious difficulties in the opposing method. The stage is thus set for a delightful controversy. (Hartline, Beverly Karplus; "Double Hubble: Age in Trouble," Science, 207: 167, 1979.) From Science Frontiers #10, Spring 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf010/sf010p03.htm
... is enhanced. The observation is something of a mixture of patterns, indicating that directed mutation appears to be occurring. 'This experiment suggests that populations of bacteria...have some way of producing (or selectively retaining) only the most appropriate mutations,' note Cairns and his colleagues." (Lewin, Roger; "A Heresy in Evolutionary Biology," Science, 241:1431, 1988.) Research with E. coli at other labs is producing similar heresy. Cairns does not doubt that some mutations arise spontaneously and randomly, but some bacteria have found a way to do a little better. (Hendricks, M.; "Experiments Challenge Genetic Theory," Science News, 134:166, 1988. Also: Cherfas, Jeremy; "Bacteria Take the Chance out of Evolution," New Scientist, p. 34, September 22, 1988.) Comment. This discovery seems at least as "impossible" as the "infinite dilution" experiments discussed elsewhere. Will Nature now dispatch a "hit squad" to Harvard? From Science Frontiers #60, NOV-DEC 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf060/sf060p07.htm
... number of experiments are showing hints that a neutrino has a small mass and that it can oscillate from one variety to another." These experiments are not yet conclusive; and if the neutrino mass is not zero, it hardly weighs more than the grin of a Cheshire cat. But taken together, the laboratory results confirm that neutrinos are perplexing particles. Are they different entities or a single species wearing different costumes? The implications of the recent measurements are far-reaching: Physicists believe that there are a billion neutrinos around for each nucleon (proton, neutron, etc.) so that if neutrinos possess just a hint of mass, they will dominate the mass of the universe; and Measurements of solar neutrinos fall short by a factor of three of what theory says the sun should spew out. This discrepancy could be explained if the solar neutrinos change from electron neutrinos to another form during their flight from the sun to earth, for the terrestrial neutrino detectors measure only electron neutrinos. (Anonymous; "Do Neutrinos Oscillate from One Variety to Another?" Physics Today, 33:17, July 1980.) From Science Frontiers #12, Fall 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf012/sf012p03.htm
... Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ndes and reality (whatever that is!)Several books describing NDEs (Near Death Experiences) have appeared in recent years. The level of objectivity varies widely as do the interpretations of NDEs. Some authors are certain that NDEs confirm life after death; others see NDEs as states of consciousness to be expected from the physiological processes occurring dear death. Now a key medical journal has published a series of opinions by doctors familiar with NDEs and other death-bed events. Although the articles are quite objective, their thoughts span a wide spectrum. Pure reductionism occupies one end of this spectrum; that is, all NDEs can be explained in terms of known physiological processes. A few doctors, though, point out that NDEs are remarkably consistent regardless of cultural background. One doctor maintains that NDEs are "complex, baffling," and contain "perplexing paranormal features." (Rodin, Ernst, et al; "The Reality of Death Experiences," Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 168:259, 1980.) From Science Frontiers #12, Fall 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf012/sf012p12.htm
... No. 14: Winter 1981 Supplement Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Eyes of deep-sea fish have spare parts The sunlight that filters down into the depths of the sea is exceedingly weak. It is so dark down there that one would expect deep-sea fish to be blind like many cave-dwelling animals. They are not blind; rather many have eyes of fantastic size and novel construction. An unusual feature of some deep-sea eyes is a layered retina. In the conger eel, five layers of photoreceptors are plastered on top of one another. Yet, experiments with conger eel eyes reveal that only one layer of photoreceptors is active at any one time. R. Shapley and J. Gordon, who carried out these experiments at the Plymouth Lab., surmise that the extra retinal layers are being held in reserve, much like the rows of spare teeth found in sharks' mouths. If so, deep-sea fish are the only animals that have evolved spare stores of visual pigments. (Anonymous; "The Mystery of the Non-Functioning Receptors," New Scientist, 88:366, 1980.) Comment. Why haven't cave-dwelling fish taken the same evolutionary route? From Science Frontiers #14, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf014/sf014p07.htm
... Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Iceland And The Iridium Layer The high concentration of iridium between the Cretaceous and Tertiary eras (about 65 million years ago) is widely interpreted as indicating a worldwide catastrophe caused by the impact of a comet or meteor. The increase of iridium concentration over normal levels is much higher in northern latitudes, suggesting that the impact point is in this region. But no impact scar of the proper size and age exists. However, if one looks for scabs rather than scars, one finds that Iceland is formed entirely of volcanic rocks younger than the Cretaceous. To Fred Whipple of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, these facts dovetail nicely. Iceland was form ed by magma welling up from a 100-km hole in the sea floor blasted out by a 10-km meteor. (Anonymous; "The Blow That Gave Birth to Iceland?" New Scientist, 89:740, 1981.) From Science Frontiers #15, Spring 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf015/sf015p11.htm
... concluded that Benveniste and his colleagues did not take enough care in their work, that their data did not have errors of the right magnitude (a statistical quibble), that no serious attempt was made to eliminate systematic errors and observer bias, that the climate of the lab was "inimical to an objective evaluation of the exceptional data," and that the phenomenon was not always reproducible. (7 ) No evidence of fraud was found. The data originally published in Nature were not explained or shown to be invalid. (11) In fact, the Nature investigation actually confirmed some of the original findings. (5 ) All of the French work and that of the cooperating laboratories were attributed to "autosuggestion"! (4 ) Qualifications of the Nature investigators. J. Benveniste pointed out that none of the three members of the Nature team had any experience in immunology. (4 , 11) The team consisted of J. Maddox (a physicist), J. Randi (a professional magician), and W. Stewart (an organic chemist). Curious aspects of Nature's publication and following investigation. Why did Nature accept and publish a paper when fraud and poor science were suspected? (4 , 11) Why didn't Nature hold publication of the original Benveniste paper for four weeks until the investigation was completed? (4 , 11) Why didn't Nature insist upon prior experiment replication by an independent laboratory? (6 ) Actually, replications of the experiment were completed before publication, but at labs selected by Benveniste. Conventional explanations of ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf060/sf060p09.htm
