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... 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 No unknown monsters in those fiji underwater caves: nevertheless, the mystery deepens A videotape of those unusual skeletons in the Fiji underwater caves mentioned above has been studied by scientists at the Queensland Museum. The are not the remains of unknown monsters -- they are only dolphin bones! But one mystery has been replaced by several. It seems that there were three different species of dolphins, and they were found at the closed ends of underwater passages that were just a bit larger than the living animals themselves. Why did three different species go into the caves at all? Why did they go all the way to the ends of the closed passages, given their excellent echo-location systems? Pertinent here is the discovery of skeletons and recent carcasses of green turtles in similar situations in underwater caves in Indonesia. Turtles lack the dolphins' echo-location equipment, but they are still excellent navigators. (Molnar, R.E .; personal communication, July 2, 1991. Molnar is a scientist at the Queensland Museum.) Comment. Another question comes to mind: Could the demise of the dolphins in the Fiji caves be related to the occasional strandings of whales and other cetacea on beaches all over the world? Is there a common failure in perception and/or navigation? From Science Frontiers #77, SEP-OCT 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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 A Hungarian Ufo Somehow an interesting UFO report snuck into the Baltimore Sun -- a newspaper normally very conservative about such things. The report was embedded in a syndicated review of the week's "natural" phenomena from around the world. "Meteorologists and military pilots in the western Hungarian town of Papa reported seeing four large, and bright orange unidentified flying objects after midnight on November 25. Government meteorologist Gyula Bazso said the objects were spherical and about 50-100 yards wide. He said one flew at the speed of 2,626 miles per hour. Bazso contacted authorities at the local military airbase who sent up an experienced pilot to investigate. He located the four objects at a height of around four miles. All the UFOs were said to have disappeared suddenly after 2 a.m ." (Anonymous; no title, Baltimore Sun, December 3, 1989.) From Science Frontiers #67, JAN-FEB 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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 Did the pharaohs cheat with concrete?" The Great Pyramid of Egypt, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, may have been at least partially constructed with man-made concrete. "Edward Zeller, cirector of the radiation physics laboratory at Univ. of Kansas Space Technology Center, Law rence, recently examined a stone sample, taken from a pyramid passageway, under a binocular microscope and discovered that it was filled with oval air bubbles, 'like you'd expect to see in plaster,' he says. "The finding supports a theory proposed by French geochemist Joseph Davidovits, who says Egyptians built the pyramids by pouring concrete into forms. Such technology was not thought to have existed during the construction of the pyramids around 2690 BC. "Zeller still has his doubts. "' The sample is clearly made of manufactured stone and it's part of the pyramid,' he says. 'But a single speci-men does not a pyramid make.'" (" Did the Pharoahs Cheat with Concrete?" R&D Magazine, p. 5, December 1990. Cr. J. Wenskus.) Reference. An earlier report on the theory proposed by Davidovits may be found in SF#54. From Science Frontiers #74, MAR-APR 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 132: NOV-DEC 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Hold that Mega-Megalith Those huge standing stones (the tombs of the Genii), located in a remote region of eastern Asia ( SF#131 ), just might be natural after all. We have found a copy of the original 1860 source, and its author does not claim them to be artificial. In fact, his accompanying illustrations of some of the rock formations in the area indicate regular patterns of jointing that could yield blocks similar to the mega-megalith. The Genii, it turns out, were "powerful spirits". More of this later as investigation proceeds. (Atkinson, Thomas Witlam; Travels in the Region of the Upper And-Lower-Amoor, New York, 1860.) From Science Frontiers #132, NOV-DEC 2000 . 2000 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...
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... , in his usual maverick style, has hypothesized that some human flu epidemics are caused by new viruses in jected into the biosphere from outer space. (See his book Diseases from Space .) In yet another book, Evolution from Space , he goes further, stating that the evolution of terrestrial life can also be affected by the extraterrestrial inoculation of genetic material. But, just maybe, influenza pandemics are due to pigs! Every 10-20 years, new flu viruses seem to crop up against which humans have little resistance. The latest theory is that there exists a human-duck-pig connection. It seems that human flu viruses can multiply in ducks, but are not transmitted among ducks. It is also likely that duck viruses multiply in humans, but are not transmitted from one person to another. But enter the pigs: "There is firm evidence that pigs can become infected by and may transmit both human and avian influenza viruses not only amongst other pigs but also back to the original hosts. Therefore, pigs seem to be 'mixing vessels' where two separate reservoirs meet and where reassortment between avian and human influenza A viruses occurs, giving rise to the antigenic shift by creating new human pandemic influenza strains with new surface antigens." The article stimulating this discussion worries about new aquaculture practices, especially in Asia (the so-called Blue Revolution), in which duck and pig manure is dumped into fish ponds as fertilizer. The dense concentration of humans, ducks, and pits threatens to be a factory for constructing new strains of flu. (Scholtissek ...
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... 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 Microorganisms At Great Depths It was a surprise when diverse biological communities were discovered around deep-sea thermal vents, where sunlight is nonexistent and the energy for sustaining life must be extracted from the mineral-charged water gushing from the vents. An analogous situation occurs at great depths in the earth's crust itself, as proven by sampling at three deep boreholes in South Carolina. Number of microorganism colony types at various depths at Site P28. The concentration and diversity of microorganisms (mostly bacteria) at depths as great as 520 meters (1610 feet) below the ground's surface are remarkably high. It makes one wonder what will be found even farther down. To illustrate, more than 3000 different microorganisms have been found in the boreholes. Many of the bacteria are new to science. As the following two paragraphs demonstrate, subterranean life consists of many well-adapted microorganisms working together. "The traditional scientific concept of an abiological terrestrial subsurface is not valid. The reported investigation has demonstrated that the terrestrial deep subsurface is a habitat of great biological diversity and activity that does not decrease significantly with increasing depth. "The enormous diversity of the microbiological communities in deep terrestrial sediments is most striking. The organisms vary widely in structure and function, and they are capable of transforming a variety of organic and inorganic compounds. Regardless of the depth sampled, the microorganisms were able to perform the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur ...
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... with great fidelity. For example, at Ukhaa Tolgod, paleontologists are excavating the planet's largest assemblage of fossil vertebrates from the end of the Cretaceous Period (71-75 million years ago). In 1993, about 1,000 fossils representing 20 species of mammals and reptiles were collected. Amazingly, these bones were not disarticulated, scattered about, or severely worn. It was obvious that the Ukhaa Tolgod animals had been very suddenly engulfed by a "tidal wave" of sand. It was a catastrophic event of some sort. But what kind of catastrophes occur on desolate, riverless deserts? Wind is always blowing sand about and dunes creep along in deserts, but healthy animals easily avoid burial. Of course, there are rare, sudden downpours even on the Gobi. But one would expect this rain to be quickly absorbed by the sand. Intrigued by the evidence of unexpected catastrophism in the Gobi, scientists from the American Museum of Natural History first took a look at Nebraska's strange Sand Hills. These Sand Hills stretch for thousands of square miles, reach heights of 400 feet, and are believed to be of aeolian origin during the Pleistocene. (See ETM7 in Carolina Bays ) Being a modern analog of the ancient Gobi, the Nebraska Sand Hills might provide some insights as to what happened long ago in the Gobi. An important clue occurs during the summer, when heavy thunderstorms sometimes trigger avalanches of wet sand called "debris flows". These sandslides may be 900 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 4 feet deep. Although they have occasionally ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 17: Fall 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects How Ndes Differ From Obes NDEs (Near-Death Experiences) and OBEs (Out-of-the-Body Experiences) are rather common altered states of consciousness that are now the subject of considerable psychological research and public interest. OBEs, where one feels detached from his body and may even view it from afar, occur to many people who are not near death. Yet, the two phenomena have many features in common; so many that some psychologists have claimed that NDEs have no unique features at all. Gabbard et al have examined hundreds of experiences of both kinds and support the contention that none of the curious features of the NDE are the exclusive province of the NDE. They go a step further, however, by trying to separate NDEs and OBEs statistically. The following experiences occur significantly more often in NDEs: (1 ) Noises are heard early in the scenario; (2 ) The sensation of travelling through a tunnel; (3 ) The physical body is seen from a distance; (4 ) Other beings in nonphysical form are sensed, especially deceased people emotionally tied to the percipient; and (5 ) Encounters with communicative entities of a luminous nature. (Gabbard, Glen O., et al; Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 169:374, 1981.) From Science Frontiers #17, Fall 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 18: Nov-Dec 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Life's origin within the earth?Biologists usually hark back to warm, sunlit swamps and tidal pools when contemplating the origin of life. Lately, Hoyle has proposed a cosmochemical origin (see OR DID IT DRIFT IN FROM WITHOUT? ). Few look within the earth. Yet, when Mt. St. Helens erupt-ed it essentially sterilized all lakes and ponds in the immediate area as far as known life forms were concerned, and then introduced previously unknown chemosynthetic bacteria. At least, this is one interpretation. Scientists at Oregon State University found the waters around the volcano to be teeming with these bacteria, up to a billion per drop. The bacteria resemble nothing in the local soil but do seem related to bacteria existing around Precambrian volcanos. (Anonymous; "Secrets of Life in a Volcano?" Boston Globe, July 14, 1981.) Comment. Were the new bacteria in the volcanic ejecta or had they just gone unnoticed in the soil? Could the hot rocks, geothermal brines, and restless magmas beneath our feet be the real cradle of terrestrial life, with photosynthesis-dependent surface species being relatively unimportant to the big picture? From Science Frontiers #18, NOV-DEC 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 18: Nov-Dec 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Burgess Shale Puzzle In British Columbia, a middle Cambrian (550 million years BP) formation called the Burgess Shale has miraculously preserved a vast assemblage of soft-bodied sea creatures, especially arthropods. Does this rich and unusual deposit help elucidate arthropod evolution? No, it has complicated the problem. Few of the fossil arthropods can be easily related to groups now living. The Burgess Shale arthropod population is primitive in some ways but remarkably specialized in others. Some of the fossils have body segments like those in one recognized arthropod group but display limbs resembling those of an entirely different group. (Fortey, R.A .; "The Burgess Shale: A Unique Cambrian Fauna," Nature, 293: 189, 1981.) Comment. It appears that Nature was shuffling the gene deck, or that there was rampant hybridization, or that confusing programs for evolutionary change were drifting in from the cosmos a la Hoyle and Wickramasinghe! From Science Frontiers #18, NOV-DEC 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 133: JAN-FEB 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects What Do Blind People Dream?Those who are born blind or become blind before the age of five do not see in their dreams. Nevertheless, their dreams are just as rich in narrative and detail as in sighted people. If one's sight is lost after the age of seven, dreams will still brim with visual imagery. A grey area exists between five and seven years. Interestingly, those rapid eye movements (REMs) signifying that a dream is in progress do not occur, or occur very weakly, for those born blind or blinded before five. How about congenitally deaf people? It appears that they may dream in sign language! Their dreams are also more colorful than those of people with normal hearing. (Selsick, Hugh, and Baker, Fiona; "Dreamtime," New Scientist, p. 108, October 28, 2000.) From Science Frontiers #133, JAN-FEB 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 107: Sep-Oct 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Tear Of The Gods?" This huge teardrop of ice, weighing four pounds, fell out of the sky and landed on a grass verge near stunned commuters at a bus stop in Ecclesfield, near Sheffield. Firemen took it back to Tankersley fire station and preserved it in a freezer. Later, someone took it out and dropped it." (Anonymous; "Tears of the Gods," Fortean Times, p. 9, no, 88, August 1996. Source cited: Sheffield Star, March 18, 1996.) Comment. Based on its weight, this "drop" of ice is about 5 inches across. One wonders where in the sky such a large drop of water could form and then freeze solid. The hackneyed explanation that ice falls come from leaky aircraft lavatories seems unlikely here! Reference. Ice falls or "hydrometeors" are described in GWF1 in the catalog: Tornados, Dark Days. This book is listed here . From Science Frontiers #107, SEP-OCT 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 134: MAR-APR 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Missing Martian Meteorites Scientists scouring the Antarctic snowy wastes have collected 13 so-called SNC meteorites, which by virtue of their compositions are likely from Mars. These tiny chunks are believed to have been blasted off the Martian surface by five or six impacts of much larger meteorites. All save one of these Martian meteorites have formation ages of about 1.3 billion years. The only part of the Martian surface believed to be 1.3 billion years old is the TMOM (Tharsis Montes and Olympus Mons) region. The rest of Mars -- about 90% of it is much older. To have 12/13ths. of the Martian meteorites originate from 1/10th. of the planet's surface is highly unlikely. Something is wrong somewhere; probably a bad assumption. And what about that 13th. meteorite that did not get ejected from the TMOM region? This is ALH 84001, the controversial meteorite that contains strange worm-like structures resembling terrestrial bacteria. (See SF#130, #116, #110, #108, and #101.) (Taylor, Richard L.S ., and Mittlefehldt, David W.; "Missing Martian Meteorites," Science, 290:273, 2000.) From Science Frontiers #134, MAR-APR 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . ...
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... 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 High Temperature Suppresses Radioactive Decay Environmental conditions are not supposed to affect nuclear reactions in general or radioactive decay rates specifically. This is one reason why cold fusion got the cold shoulder from most physicists. Now for the "however" that is the hallmark of Science Frontiers : "Thirty years ago, Otto Reifenschweiler was searching for a compound which could protect Geiger-Mueller tubes from damage when they are first ionised. He found the compound, which became a money-spinner for Philips, in a mixture of titanium and radioactive tritium. He also discovered that as the mixture was heated, its radioactivity declined sharply. No process known to physics could account for such a baffling phenomenon: radioactivity should be unaffected by heat. Nevertheless, as the temperature increased from 115 C to 160 C, the emission of beta particles fell by 28%." Reifenschweiler and his colleague, H. Casimir, put this discovery on the backburner and concentrated on the Geiger-Mueller tubes. The recent furor over cold fusion impelled them to resurrect the work and publish it in the January 3 issue of Physics Letters A . Is there a new phenomenon here? Is it relevant to cold fusion? It may be pertinent that some common fusion reactions also employ tritium. (Bown, William; "Ancient Experiment Turns Heat Up on Cold Fusion," New Scientist, p. 16, January 8, 1994.) Comment. How many other potential ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 18: Nov-Dec 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Warts on demand?Warts can often, but not always, be cured by hypnosis or suggestion. The medical literature is emphatic on this point. Warts can, in fact, be banished from one side of the body, leaving those on the other side intact, if the hypnotist suggests such asymmetry! What has been lacking in the psychosomatic story, according to Gravitz, is evidence that warts can also be produced by suggestion. Evidently modern psychologists have been content with curing warts, for Gravitz had to go all the way back to 1924 to find accounts of warts being induced by suggestion. This scientific neglect of the supply side of wart economics is unfortunate in the view of Gravitz, because here is a mild affliction involving both a virus and psychology that can be studied easily. The knowledge gained might be applicable to some cancers, which also seem to involve viruses and psychology. (Gravitz, Melvin A.; "The Production of Warts by Suggestion as a Cultural Phenomenon," American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 23:281, 1981.) Comment. The mysterious spontaneous remission of some cancers may have psychosomatic overtones. From Science Frontiers #18, NOV-DEC 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 135: MAY-JUN 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Longevity And Sardinia If you were not born in the fall (see above item) and thereby received a few months' bonus in longevity, you might compensate for the loss by moving to sunny Sardinia in the Mediterranean. Nowhere else on the planet does a larger proportion of the male population live to the century mark. Strangely, female longevity is unaffected by whatever it is that produces the male Methuselahs. We have, therefore, two questions to answer: (1 ) Why do so many males reach the 100-year mark; and (2 ) Why are Sardinia's women short-changed? No one has good answers. It might be genetic (an inbreeding effect) or simply lifestyle (more imbibing of the island's red wine). (Koenig, Robert; "Sardinia's Mysterious Male Methuselahs," Science, 291:2074, 2001.) From Science Frontiers #135, MAY-JUN 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 107: Sep-Oct 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Subversive Cancer Cells It has been generally believed that most cancers originate in a single founder cell, which then multiplies to create the tumor. But cancer is more insidious than expected. A precancerous founder cell may actually subvert nearby noncancerous cells and turn them into cancerous cells. In this sense, the first precancerous cell recruits and transforms healthy cells, enlisting them in its destructive operations, and thereby turning them against the body that produced them. No one yet knows how this subversion is effected or how it evolved. (Why is there cancer anyway?) The basis for this claim involves a few rare human mosaics, whose bodies are built of cells with two different genetic complements. Cancers in human mosaics have been found to contain both types of cells and, therefore, did not grow from a single cell alone. (Day, Michael; "Cancer's Many Points of Departure," New Scientist, p. 16, June 1, 1996) Comments. Curiously, some "primitive" animals, such as sharks, seem to have evolved defenses against cancer that mammals lack. With reference to "mosaics," see item in SF#105 on "Mixed-Up People." Also relevant is BHH25 "' Insidious' Properties of Cancer Metastases" in Humans II . For information on this book, visit here . From Science Frontiers #107, SEP-OCT 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 135: MAY-JUN 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Don't Stomp on Ball Lightning!Mid-December 1991. Brixham, Devon. Two young men aged about 22/23, Mr. Andrew Clark and friend, were inside Mr. Clark's cottage when a storm of lightning and thunder began. Suddenly, an orange fuzzy airborne blob, the size of a football but not perfectly spherical, came through the wall -- so it was said -- and hovered at a low level. His friend lept on to a settee; Andrew Clark jumped on to the lightning ball. This burnt the plastic sole of one of his training shoes and melted a hole some 50 to 70 mm across. The lightning ball was disrupted and "a part of it" went sideways and burnt out the transformer of his C.B . radio (to which was attached a radio mast fixed on the roof outside). The total duration of the event had been about five seconds. Andrew's foot was quite badly burned and he had to go to the doctor for treatment. (Anonymous; "Ball Lightning at Brixham in 1991," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 26:22, 2001.) From Science Frontiers #135, MAY-JUN 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 104: Mar-Apr 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bright Sparks Erupt From Beach Here follows a letter from S. Roman, Melbourne, Australia: "The tide was out one day as a friend and I were walking along a beach. As we walked on the littoral zone -- the part of the beach between low and high tides -- strange blue lights lit up around our feet as we stepped on the sand. The lights were similar to lightning and the harder we stepped on the ground the more intense the blue lights became. Nobody has been able to provide us with a satisfactory explanation and, no, we were not under the influence of any drugs. Just what was happening?" (Roman, Suzanne; "Bright Sparks," New Scientist, inside back cover, January 13, 1996) Comment. A similar phenomenon was observed at Blundellsands, England, on June 5, 1902, when tiny flames erupted from a mud flat. Spontaneously igniting methane from buried organic matter is a possible explanation. See GLN1-X36 in Lightning, Auroras. For more information on this catalog, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #104, MAR-APR 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 40: Jul-Aug 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Multiple Whirlwind Patterns English meteorologists are spending some of the lazy summer days out in the countryside tracking down whirl wind patterns engraved on fields of wheat and other crops. One eyewitness account of the formation of a single spial pattern has been found. However, the multiple spiral patterns excite the most interest because of their geometric regularity. Between 1980 and 1984, eight quintuplet patterns have been found consisting of a large central circle and four smaller satellite circles. Triplets were also discovered. Although the origins of the multiplet patterns are still unexplained, some interesting generalizations have emerged: 1. The whirlwinds responsible for the flattened circles of crops have lifetimes of only a few seconds, whereas dust devils may persist for many minutes; 2. These whirlwinds seem to occur around evening time instead of during the heat of the day; and 3. They are all anticyclonic, while tornados are almost all cyclonic and true heat whirlwinds are split about evenly in their spin direction. (Meaden, G.T .; "Advances in Understanding of Whirlwind Spiral Patterns in Cereal Fields," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 10:73, 1985.) Quintuplet circles found in a grain field near Cley Hill, England. From Science Frontiers #40, JUL-AUG 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 32: Mar-Apr 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Terranes Continue To Pile Up More and more the continents seem to be pastiches of rocks from far corners of the earth plastered one atop the other. Specialists in this new field have recognized more than 300 different terranes around the margins of the Pacific. In keeping with this spirit, this article quotes a perceptive Old Geologist's Saying: "I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't believed it." (Kerr, Richard A.; "Suspect Terranes and Continental Growth," Science, 222: 36, 1983.) From Science Frontiers #32, MAR-APR 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 32: Mar-Apr 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects An Ocean Full Of Viruses "A decade ago, veterinarian Alvin Smith, now at Oregon State University, found that a virus causing lesions and spontaneous abortions in California sea lions was 'indistinguishable' from one that ravaged pigs nationwide in 1952. New varieties of the culprit -- called a calicivirus -- have since turned up in diverse hosts: whales, cats, snakes and even primates. To reach such a variety of hosts, they either jump from organism to organism, Smith proposes, or they escape from bubbles popping on the ocean surface, waft ashore and enter a food chain. If he is right, the seas may be a bottomless reservoir for viruses -- and our attempts to combat diseases on land may be nullified by legions of new strains waiting to come ashore. In fact, some flu viruses are said to be spread by wild ducks." (Anonymous; "Are the World's Oceans a Viral Breeding Ground," Science Digest, 92:20, February 1984.) Comment. We leave it to the reader to fit this piece of the jigsaw to the preceding and following pieces. From Science Frontiers #32, MAR-APR 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 107: Sep-Oct 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects "NOT WITH A BANG BUT A WHIMPER"Poet T.S . Eliot speculated that life on earth might not after all be terminated catastrophically, as in the impact of a large asteroid (today's popular doomsday machine). Rather, we might depart slowly, quietly, and mournfully. Of course, Eliot was not thinking of asteroids -- no one foresaw impact havoc in his day. But, his use of the word "whimper" can be attached to another, much slower astronomical agent of planetary death: cosmic dust and gas. Here's the current situation: "For the most part of the past five million years, the Solar System has been moving through a rather empty region of interstellar space between the spiral arms of the Milky Way. But a few thousand years ago, it entered a diffuse shell of material expanding outward from an active star-forming region called the Scorpius-Centaurus Association. Such 'super-bubble' shells of gas and dust result from the formation of massive stars, or the explosion of those stars as they become supernovas, and contain gas and dust clouds of varying densities." The density of matter in this solarsystem-engulfing shell could well shroud our planetary system with dust and gas a million times more dense than that we now encounter. If this happens, the sun's rays would slowly dim and life forms dependent on photosynthesis would expire. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 136: JUL-AUG 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Eclipsing Of Innate Talents The age effect. An idea going the rounds holds that everyone is really a genius but that his or her innate talents have been eclipsed or suppressed. Age is one factor that is blamed. As a child develops, so goes the theory, its brain is bit by bit swamped by the high-level conceptual thinking required for survival in the modern adult world. The child's innate mathematical genius, musical capabilities, and other "low-level" talents are placed on the brain's back burner by the demands of adulthood. It is a common observation that the young assimilate foreign languages more readily than adults. A less-well-known talent, eidetic imagery (the ability to recall images with photographic precision), is found in some children, but it also usually fades with age. Now, we learn that 8-month-old babies are apparently blessed with perfect pitch, a capability they, too, generally lose as they age. (Hall, Carl T.; "Learning by Infants Isn't Just Baby Talk," The Brain, February 28, 2001. Cr. J. Cieciel.) Removal of mental blocks. Sometimes the barriers that eclipse our innate talents are removed by mental disease. The surprising enhancing effect of dementia on some "low-level" talents was mentioned in SF#133. The same mental barriers also seem to ...
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... belt between Mars and Jupiter, Gaspra is believed to be composed mainly of olivine, pyroxene, and nickel-iron. Shape model of Gaspra showing the locations of the grooves. On October 29, 1991, the Galileo spacecraft swept past 951 Gaspra at a distance of 1600 kilometers, snapping photographs as it went. J. Veverka et al report below on what the photos showed: "We report the discovery of grooves in Galileo high-resolution images of Gaspra. These features, previously seen only on Mars' satellite Phobos, are most likely related to severe impacts. Grooves on Gaspra occur as linear and pitted depressions, typically 100-200 m wide, 0.8 to 2.5 km long, and 10-20 m deep. Most occur in two major groups, one of which trends approximately parallel to the asteroid's long axis, but is offset by some 15 , the other is approximately perpendicular to this trend. The first of these directions falls along a family of planes which parallel three extensive flat facets identified by Thomas et al. The occurrence of grooves on Gaspra is consistent with other indications (irregular shape, cratering record) that this asteroid has evolved through a violent collisional history." (Veverka, J., et al; "Discovery of Grooves on Gaspra," Icarus, 107:72, 1994.) Comment. The pits along Gaspra's cracks, as on Phobos, suggest the violent expulsion of gases. Where could these gases have come from? "Sandblows" are sometimes formed during terrestrial earthquakes as natural gases ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 20: Mar-Apr 1982 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology A Recently Discovered "book" of Petroglyphs Astronomy A Big Void in Space Or A Defective Yardstick? Something Hot Beneath Small Saturn-satellite Surfaces A Couple Venusian Curiosities Biology Heads Or Tails? A Tale of Two Ecosystems -- or Maybe Many More Missing Links: the Big Ones Still Elude Us Puzzling Group Behavior of Sharks Geology Gravity Anomaly Ripples Centered in Canada Subterranean Petroleum Factories? Geophysics A Most Peculiar Cloud Arch Whirling Crescents Move with Ship Psychology The Mystery of Spontaneous Visions ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 137: SEP-OCT 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mysterious Losses And Acquisitions of Color Vision The eyes of most mammals incorporate two types of color-sensitive cones; one for seeing blue light, the other for green light. Such mammals have bichromatic vision and discern colors rather well. Humans and the other primates are blessed with trichromatic vision, for their eyes have cones that register red light. Does this indicate evolution superiority? Hardly, birds possess five types of color-sensitive cones that sense two additional parts of the spectrum. How and why these enhancements in color vision occurred are not well-understood. Nor do we know why they were restricted to mammals and birds; although it is easy to fabricate several survival-of-the-fittest scenarios. The "how" part of the mystery is particularly hard to grasp in neo-Darwinian terms because the complex pigments that confer spectral sensitivity upon the cones represent remarkable, complex chemical syntheses. Also mysterious is the apparent loss of color vision in 14 species of toothed whales and seals. (Only 14 species were examined; there may be more.) These particular whales and seals lack the blue-sensitive cones, even though they are descended from mammals with bichromatic vision (hippos and otters, respectively). This deficiency is doubly perplexing: Sensitivity to blue light is highly desirable in the ocean environment because it is blue light that penetrates seawater well. The loss occurred in two mammalian lineages not particularly closely related on ...
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... 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 Cold Fusion Died Only In The Media When so many scientists ridiculed cold fusion, the media backed off. One reads virtually nothing on the subject today, despite some encourageing developments. In a panel discussion at the University of Utah, J. Bockris stated that Japan has organized a fusion institute where more than 80 scientists are "rapidly moving forward to develop cold fusion." Bockris himself has achieved positive cold-fusion results in his lab at Texas A&M . Another panel member, R. Huggins from Stanford, who has also replicated Utah's cold fusion results, remarked that several other U.S . labs have achieved excess power levels of 10-30 watts/cc. (Anonymous; Access to Energy , p. 4, October, 1989. Cr. P.F . Young) Despite positive results like those mentioned above, a recent report in Nature, by scientists at Cal Tech and the University of California, states emphatically that they can find no excess heat, neutrons, gamma rays, tritium, or helium in their cold-fusion experiments. (Lewis, N.S .; "Searches for Low-Temperature Nuclear Fusion of Deuterium in Palladium," Nature, 340:525, 1989.) From Science Frontiers #66, NOV-DEC 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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 Was burt stitched up?Sir Cyril Burt was, until a few years ago, the Grand Old Man of British Psychology. But then a scandal erupted. Burt was charged with manufacturing data and even faking the existence of research assistants. A devastating biography by L. Hearnshaw seemed to ruin Burt's reputation for good. With all the attendant publicity, the label "scientific fraud" stuck in everyone's mind. But, hold on, another book, one with a completely different conclusion, has hit the bookstores. This book, The Burt Affair , is by R.B . Joynson. Joynson demonstrates in great detail that Hernshaw's biography is seriously deficient in places. If Joynson is correct, Hearnshaw and Burt's other enemies are guilty of selective reporting. The case for fraud was fraud itself! (Blinkhorn, Steve; "Was Burt Stitched Up?" Nature, 340:439, 1989.) From Science Frontiers #66, NOV-DEC 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 55: Jan-Feb 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Early Boomerang "Scientists who found a curved piece of mammoth tusk in a cave in southern Poland have dubbed it the world's oldest known boomerang, dating to about 23,000 years ago. "The claim is based on the artifact's shape: its curvature and flattening at both ends, report P. Valde-Nowak and his colleagues of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Krakow. It spans about 27 inches and is up to 2.3 inches wide and 0.6 inches thick. One side preserves the external, rounded surface of the tusk, while the other has been polished almost flat." (Bower, B.; "Prehistoric Tusk: Early Boomerang?" Science News, 132:215, 1987.) From Science Frontiers #55, JAN-FEB 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Sex and TGA A curious and somewhat amusing mental phenomenon strikes about a dozen out of every 100,000 people. These hapless individuals, for better of worse, develop amnesia during or right after sex. They recover in six hours or so but have no recollection of what happened during that period. This type of amnesia, Transient Global Amnesia (TGA), is more frequent among people in their 50s and 60s. Men are slightly more susceptible than women. (Anonymous; "Who Was That Lady I Saw You With Last Night?" Chicago Sun-Times, June 29, 2001. Source cited: the British medical journal Lancet. Cr. J. Cieciel.) Comment. How could we avoid commenting on this one? But we'll take the high road! Since sexual amnesia has not been eliminated by natural selection, it very likely has (or had) some survival value. We wonder what that might be (or have been)? Could sex have been extremely unpleasant in the past---so much so that memories of the act had to be suppressed in order for the species to continue? From Science Frontiers #137, SEP-OCT 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and ...
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... 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 Atlantic Waves Getting Bigger Above, we inserted a short, rather vague note on this phenomenon. We now have a bit more to report, although no one seems to have any answers. "The North Atlantic is getting rougher -- much rougher. In the mid-1980s average waves in the ocean were 25 per cent higher than during the 1960s. More recent studies show that by the end of the 1980s the tops of the waves were 50 per cent higher, as measured by both instruments and estimated by sailors. .. .. . "The cause of the increasing choppiness of the waters of the North Atlantic is unclear. Waves are whipped up by strong winds, yet there has been no corresponding increase in wind speeds. [S .] Bacon believes that a clue may lie in the persistence of winds from a certain direction." (Anonymous; "Making Waves in the North Atlantic," New Scientist, p. 10, August 29, 1992.) From Science Frontiers #84, NOV-DEC 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 20: Mar-Apr 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Mystery Of Spontaneous Visions This fascinating survey of visionary experience during the Middle Ages is more valuable as a thought-provoker than an anomaly collection, although one might claim that any spontaneous vision is anomalous. The authors went back in history and examined a host of documents from the Middle Ages -- the lives of saints, histories, biographies, etc. They identified visionary experiences and explored the biological and sociological contexts. Kroll and Bachrach found 134 visions; that is, experiences that had no objective reality. We call such experiences hallucinations today; and their contents were the same then as they are now. What the authors are after in this study are the perceptions of the visionary experiences by the community. The survey demonstrated immediately that the visions of the Middle Ages appeared to all types of people, not just saints and seers; and, further, that most of the 134 experiences were unrelated to physical and mental health. It was also obvious that the various communities readily accepted these visions as bona fide spiritual and parapsychological experiences. In other words, they were taken as messages from God, predictions of future events, marks of spiritual favor, etc. Kroll and Bachrach concluded that in the Middle Ages visions were culturally supported phenomena and not evidences of psychological illness, as they are today. (Kroll, Jerome, and Bachrach, Bernard; "Visions and Psychopathology in the Middle Ages," Journal of Nervous and ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 32: Mar-Apr 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Mysterious Object Winnipeg, Manitoba. "On January 14, 1983, I observed a perfectly round black orb crossing the sun. It started at 17h 54m 23s Universal Time and ended at 17h 54m 26s Universal Time and lasted three seconds. On a projected solar disk with a diameter of 18 centimetres, the object had a diameter of one-half centimeter." (Lohvinenko, Todd; "A Mysterious Object," Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, National Newsletter, 77:L19, 1983.) Comment. This object traveled too fast to be an intramercurial planet; too slowly for a meteor. Path taken by the black spot cross the face of sun. From Science Frontiers #32, MAR-APR 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 41: Sep-Oct 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The deceitful she-males "In many diverse taxa, males of the same species often exhibit multiple mating strategies. One well-documented alternative male reproductive pattern is 'female mimicry,' whereby males assume a female-like morphology or mimic female behavior patterns. In some species males mimic both female morphology and behavior. We report here female mimicry in a reptile, the red-sided garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis). This form of mimicry is unique in that it is expressed as a physiological feminization. Courting male red-sided garter snakes detect a female-specific pheromone and normally avoid courting other males. However, a small proportion of males release a pheromone that attracts other males, as though they were females. In the field, mating aggregations of 5-17 males were observed formed around these individual attractive males, which we have termed 'she-males.' In competitive mating trials, she-males mated with females significantly more often than did normal males, demonstrating not only reproductive competence but also a possible selective advantage to males with this female-like pheromone." In the competitive mating trials, the she-males were successful in 29 out of 42 trials. The normal males won out in only 13! The authors ask the question: Why aren't all males she-males given such an advantage? (Mason, Robert T., and Crews, David; "Female ...
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... Up and Up," New Scientist, p. 29, October 27, 2001.) Comment. The Atlantic's waves, too, have been getting larger. (SF#113) But if you want to surf some true Pacific giants, you must leave the shoreline and head for Cortes Bank 160 miles offshore. There, far out of sight of land, lurks a shallow rock shelf that amplifies wind-driven waves---but only the largest of them. The elliptical swirls of the smaller waves do not reach down to the rock shelf and are unaffected. But when bigger swells encounter the shelf they are amplified into giants. So challenging are these waves that. when conditions are right, expert surfers boat out to Cortes Bank and wait for the really big ones. Mike Parsons caught the first wave at dawn. It was 18 metres tall and moving at around 40 knots. You can't paddle fast enough to get onto a wave like that---you have to be towed by a jet ski. Evan Slater, editor of Swell.com, did try paddling onto a wave, but had to abandon his board and dive deep underwater to avoid being churned by the mammoth grinding walls of water. 18 meters is about 60 feet, but oceanographers calculate that an 18-meter wave is only 70% of what the Cortes Bank can generate. 25+ meters (80+ feet) is tops. (O 'Hanlon, Larry; "California Screaming," New Scientist, p. 34, July 28, 2001 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 107: Sep-Oct 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects An Old Galaxy In A Young Part Of The Universe As the Hubble Space Telscope has probed ever farther toward the supposed edge of the universe, it has discerned. as expected, many youthful-looking galaxies. Since such deep-viewing telescopes are thought to be looking far back into time as well as space, youthful galaxies are not only expected but demanded by the Big-Bang/expanding universe theory. Unfortunately for theory, these telescopes have also identified a handful of apparently very old galaxies cavorting amidst the youthful ones! "The problem, if conventional cosmological models are correct, is that galaxies that old and that far away simply should not be there. The observation tightens the thumbscrews on the Einstein-de Sitter cosmological model, and offers evidence that at least some galaxies formed at very early epochs, within a billion years after the Big Bang." (Kennicutt, Robert C., Jr.; "An Old Galaxy in a Young Universe," Nature, 381:555, 1996) Comment. A similar age discrepancy has been claimed for some galaxies that seem to harbor stars older than the universe itself! (SF#97) Reference. The subject of galaxy distribution is covered in Chapter AWO in the Catalog: Stars, Galaxies, Cosmos. For a description of the book, visit here . From Science Frontiers #107, SEP-OCT 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... is actually being processed by the brain. For example, specific musical tones elicit specific color sensations; that is, B-flat evokes the color green; A-sharp, yellow, etc. Or the phenomenon may be more complex, with Mozart being green; Wagner, red, etc. Most "synesthetites" seem to experience colors, but geometrical figures sometimes appear in response to particular stimuli. As for the stimuli that call forth these exotic sensations; they are usually music or numbers. To some synesthetites, the cardinal numbers are associated with specific colors. The books's author is R.E . Cytowic, and he has provided some very interesting observations about synesthetites: There is much consistency among them; that is, if the number 5 evokes a red sensation with one, it does with most others, too. Also, synesthetites seem to run in families. Perhaps most significant is the observation that synesthetic experiences seem to be correlated with changes in cortical blood flow! (Humphreys, Glyn; "Higher Sight," Nature, 343:30, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #68, MAR-APR 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... plane was observed during a daylight trip to Shafter, a town near the mountains. Admitting that the Marfa Lights are indeed entrancing and even mildly mystical, the report closes (rather incongruously for an admittedly skeptical writer) with: "A reminder that caution must be taken. Because what we saw four nights in Saratoga and three nights in Marfa did not go out of the bounds of the ordinary does not mean that the extraordinary has never occurred in either place." (Lindee, Herbert; "Ghost Lights of Texas," Skeptical Inquirer, 16:400, 1992.) Comment. Previous descriptions of the Marfa lights in Science Frontiers (# 34 and #51) seem to portray phenomena much more "extraordinary" than automobile headlights! In SF#34, for example, one of the "lights" is said to have approached to within a few feet of a car and then followed it for a couple miles. Reference. For a comprehensive treatment of "nocturnal lights," refer to Chapter GLN in our catalog: Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal, Lights. Ordering information here . From Science Frontiers #83, SEP-OCT 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... (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 ...
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... explain why quasar redshifts cluster near 0.3 , 0.6 .. ., with the grouping just below z = 1.2 dominating all others; and why certain classes of stars have significant excess redshifts. He also pointed out the inconsistency that local galaxy groups seem to have velocity dispersions of less than 100 km/s , while distant groups seem to have members with dispersions up to 1000 km/s . "Jack Sulentic spoke about multiple redshifts seen in some quasars and AGNs. Line profiles come in all types; symmetric, double-peaked, and asymmetric. Relative shifts are both toward the red and the blue. Arguments against an accretion disk/black-hole model were reviewed. Apparently a non-Doppler redshift-blueshift mechanism is needed. For example, one broad line (in 1404+ 28) shifts back and forth by 1000 km/s relative to another narrow H-line, with an average offset of 2000 km/s . These shifts correlate perfectly with intensity." Less technically speaking, the longheld belief that redshifts are solely due to the Doppler effect is receding along with the expanding universe! (Van Flandern, T.; "Recent Meeting: XIIIth Krakow Summer School of Cosmology," Meta Research Bulletin, 1:25, September 15, 1992.) From Science Frontiers #84, NOV-DEC 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... of action, because once it reached terminal velocity and stopped accelerating, it started to relax, he said in Sydney yesterday. "Once the moggie reached top speed of 100 kmh and realised it was not speeding up any more, it spreadeagled its limbs in the perfect position for maximum wind resistance. "' Once it reaches the ground, the cat just kisses the ground on all four paws simultaneously and the shock is absorbed,' Dr. Kruszelnicki told his bemused audience at the University of New South Wales during a talk organized by the Alumni Association. "Of the 150 cats that fell from highrise buildings in New York over a five-month period, 10 per cent died, with the chances of survival rising with the distance of the fall." It seems that at least one cat per day takes the plunge in New York City, but do they jump...or are they pushed? Dr. Kruszelnicki supposed that some may have leaped at passing birds! (Anonymous; "High-Flying Cats Have the Big Drop Licked," Wellington, New Zealand, The Dominion , September 17, 1992. Cr. P. Hassall) From Science Frontiers #84, NOV-DEC 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mysterious Smoke In Sri Lanka "Mysterious smoke exuding from a dry river bed has produced the highest temperature ever recorded in Sri Lanka, and geologists said Friday they are baffled by the phenomenon. "The 300-degree ground temperature has caused plants to wither in the mountainous region of Diyatalawa, a tourist resort in central Sri Lanka, said D.A . Kathriarachchi, the deputy director of the Geological Survey Department. "He said scientists were puzzled because there is no volcanic activity in Sri Lanka, which lies outside any volcanic zone. "The area, about 75 miles southeast of the capital, Columbo, is 9800 feet above sea level. The villagers have been told to report any other signs of smoke in the area, but no one has been evacuated." (Anonymous; "Hot Smoke Baffles Geologists," Panama City News Herald , p. 1B, September 5, 1992. Cr. L.B . Peirce) Comment. Category ESC4, in Anomalies in Geology, describes the "Smoking Hills" of the Canadian Arctic, as well as several other places where the oxidation of iron pyrite and other exothermic chemical reactions create very hot areas in non-volcanic regions. To order this catalog, see: here . From Science Frontiers #84, NOV-DEC 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... yourself! To strengthen the correlation Hoyle and Wickramasinghe tabulate flu and sunspot data back to 1761. They find that flu pandemics and sunspot maxima have kept in step for the last 17 cycles. Key to the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe argument is their contention that simple life forms (viruses, bacteria, etc.) not only exist in outer space but likely evolved there. If so, how do they ride in to afflict us on the peaks of the solar cycle? Here's how, in their words: "In conclusion, we note that electrical fields associated with intense solar winds can rapidly drive charged particles of the size of viruses down through the exposed upper atmosphere into the shelter of the lower atmosphere, the charging of such particles being due to the photoelectric effect. This could define one possible causal link between influenza pandemics and solar activity." (Hoyle, F., and Wickramasinghe, N. C.; "Sunspots and Influenza," Nature, 343: 304, 1990.) Reference. Periodic epidemics are cataloged in BHH3 in: Biological Anomalies: Humans II. To order, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #68, MAR-APR 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... in years) for a male infant showing growth spurts. Despite much anecdotal evidence and the convictions of many parents, biologists have not generally recognized the reality of short, sharp growth spurts on the order of 1 centimeter in a single 24hour period. Rather, the consensus has been that child growth was divided into three stages (infancy, childhood, adolescence), each characterized by different, but steady rates of growth. This conclusion was based upon annual and quarterly length measurements. However, when children are measured more often (weekly or daily), the growth curve is seen to be step-like rather than smooth, as in the accompanying illustration. Indeed, the mean amplitude of the growth spurts was found to be about 1 centimeter; and the duration of the spurts, about one day. These spurts punctuated long intervals of no growth. In infants, for example, 90-95% of their development is growth-free! (Lampl, M., et al; "Saltation and Stasis: A Model of Human Growth," Science, 258:801, 1992.) From Science Frontiers #85, JAN-FEB 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... these works that stretched for miles along the Grand and St. Joseph Rivers. Of course, modern activities have obliterated them completely; and even in Hubbard's day they were mostly gone. 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, ...
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... than terrestrial; and (2 ) The paleontologists and ornithologists are still fighting (sometimes emotionally) over how Archaeopteryx fossils should be interpreted. The scientific acrimony centers on whether this ancient bird really evolved from small theropod dinosaurs. Prevailing theory has it that these dinosaurs first evolved feathers to keep warm and then used their feathered "arms" to help capture insects, and so on, with some aimless flapping, to the attainment of true flight. A rival, officially frownedupon theory has it that birds evolved from tree-dwelling reptiles that evolved feathers to break their falls while jumping from branch to branch! [Somehow, neither theory strikes a realistic chord. Why couldn't feathers have evolved solely for the purpose of flight? Answer: because evolutionists cannot countenance purpose in nature. WRC] One reconstruction of Archaeopteryx. There is a remarkable superficial resemblance to the living South American hoatzin. Young hoatzin even sport claws on their wings. Anyway, the latest fusillade in the Archaeopteryx wars was fired by A. Feduccia in Science. Feduccia demonstrated that the claws of Archaeopteryx are sharp and curved like those of modern arboreal birds and quite unlike either terrestrial birds or theropod dinosaurs. In concluding his long, detailed paper, Feduccia highlights nine additional features of Archaeopteryx that make it look like a modern arboreal bird; i.e ., barbed feathers, asymmetrical flight feathers, etc. V. Morell quotes Feducci as saying, "Paleontologists have tried to turn Archaeopteryx into an earthbound feathered dinosaur. But it's not. It is a bird, a perching bird. And no amount ...
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... 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 ...
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... Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Solar Activity And Bursts Of Human Creativity Abstract "In a previous paper, evidence has been reported suggesting a link between historical oscillations of scientific creativity and solar cyclic variation. Eddy's discovery of abnormal secular periods of solar inactivity (' Maunder minimum' type) offered the opportunity to put the present hypothesis to a crucial test. Using time series of flourish years of creators in science, literature, and painting (AD600-AD1800), it was found that, as expected: Cultural flourish curves show marked discontinuities (bursts) after the onset of secular solar excursions, synchronously in Europe and China; During periods of extended solar excursions, bursts of creativity in painting, literature, and science succeeded one another with lags of about 10-15 years; The reported regularities of cultural output are prominent throughout with eminent creators. They decrease with ordinary professionals. "The hypothesized extraterrestrial connection of human cultural history has thus been considerably strengthened." (Ertel, Suitbert; "Synchronous Bursts of Creativity in Independent Cultures; Evidence for an Extraterrestrial Connec tion," The Explorer, 5:12, Fall 1989.) Comment. With apologies to the author, a few minor changes in punctuation have been made above. From Science Frontiers #67, JAN-FEB 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... about 0700 in the morning: "I was on the beach at Trearddur on western Anglesey, when an acquaintance drove down the beach towing a fishing boat. He launched the boat in about six inches of water and we then engaged in conversation for a couple of minutes. Turning to the boat, we were amazed to find that it was high and dry about 20 metres from the water's edge. Small flatfish, mainly immature brill, could be seen stranded and flapping in the wet sand. About a minute later, the sea started to return and quickly rose up the beach beyond where the boat had originally been launched. An hour later, the oscillation in sea level was still taking place. I determined that the period was just over three minutes and the amplitude just under one metre, the latter measured with reference to a half-submerged rock. At the time of the event, it was just after low water, there were no wind waves or ground swell, and the sea had a glassy appearance." (Kemp, A.K .; "Anglesey Seiche," Marine Observer, 63: 90, 1993.) Short-period oscillations in tidal records at Puerto Princesa, Palawan, the Philippines Permanent feature. Puerto Princesa, Palawan, the Philippines. The basic phenomenon impinging on this coast was described by F.J . Haight back in the 1920s. Haight plotted the sea oscillation in the accompanying graph. Recent studies of the Puerto Princesa seiches show that the amplitudes of the seiches are greatest every two weeks, indicating they are tied ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf088/sf088g13.htm
