358 results found.
... In Ramanujan's case, no one knows where his voluminous results came from. They appeared as if by magic, in a manner transcending ordinary human mental activity. Ramanujan did complete high school, but his entire mathematical education seems to have come from the reading of just two books. Nevertheless, he was invited to Cambridge on the basis of a letter he wrote to G.H . Hardy in 1913. The letter contained about 60 theorems and formulas stated without proof. After some study, Hardy concluded that Ramanujan's results must be true be cause, "if they were not true, no one would have had the imagination to invent them." Ramanujan lived for mathematics. He would work 24-36 hours and then collapse. He died in 1919, leaving behind three notebooks crammed with some 4000 "results," again stated without proof and again seeming to come from no where. Step by step, his results are being proved. Ramanujan evidently saw their truth without going through laborious proofs. (Kolata, Gina; "Remembering a 'Magical Genius,'" Science, 236:1519, 1987.) From Science Frontiers #53, SEP-OCT 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 64: Jul-Aug 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Earth As A Cold Fusion Reactor In SF#63, we mentioned the possibility that the helium-3 emanating from the earth might indicate that cold fusion was occurring deep down. In a recent issue of the New Scientist, a short unsigned article reveals that this "excess" helium-3 was an impetus for the cold fusion research at Brigham Young University. In fact, P. Palmer, a geo-physicist at Brigham Young, suggested the possibility as long as three years ago! We have not seen Palmer's speculation in print, but the stimulating effect of anomalies on scientific research is reassuring, whatever the final outcome of the cold fusion wars. The same New Scientist article supports the above speculation as follows: "Calculations show that more than enough deuterium finds its way into the upper mantle by this route (seawater in subduction zones) to account for the heat emitted by the Earth's core, although the heat obviously comes from other sources as well. The rate of fusion of deuterium nuclei required to produce the observed rations of helium-3 to helium-4 in rocks, diamonds and metals is similar to that observed by Jones in his experiments with electrolytes. Tritium can also be a product of the fusion of deuterium. Jones and his group say that the tritium detected in the gases from volcanoes is further evidence of cold fusion." Jones has also wondered whether Jupiter's excess ...
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... 's general theory of relativity predicts that we will find there an object more massive than a million Earths and yet smaller than an atom -- so small, in fact, that its density approches infinity. The idea of any physical quantity becoming infinite flies in the face of everything we know about how nature behaves. So there is good reason to be skeptical that such a nasty thing could happen anywhere at all." Among the observations that hint at the reality of black holes are the X-ray binaries. In a typical X-ray binary, prodigious, flickering fluxes of X-rays reveal the presence of an ultradense star and an orbiting companion. The rapid orbital motion of the companion star tells us that the central X-ray star has a mass of more than three suns. General Relativity assures us that such a star can only collapse further to form a black hole. Therefore, black holes must exist. J. McClintock, the author of this article, does not buy this reasoning. General Relativity, he says, has been shown to be valid so far only in weak gravitational fields, not in the very powerful gravitational fields of an X-ray star. ". .. we presume that Einstein's theory correctly describes strong gravity when we argue that certain X-ray stars are black holes, yet, at the same time, these alleged black holes are the acid test of Einstein's theory of strong gravity." (McClintock, Jeffrey; "Do Black Holes Exist?" Sky and Telescope, 75:30 ...
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... upon the supposed monsters in Loch Ness, Lake Champlain, the Chesapeake Bay, etc. Actually, an immense body of sea serpent reports also exists. B. Heuvelmans collected many of these in his 1965 classic In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents. P.H . LeBlond, a professor at the University of British Columbia, is extending Heuvelman's work, concentrating on the thousand miles of Pacific Coast between Alaska and Oregon. Since 1812, there have been 53 sightings of sea serpents or other unidentified animals along this narrow strip of ocean. Some of these are very impressive. Take this one for example: "In January 1984 a mechanical engineer named J.N . Thompson from Bellingham, Washington, was fishing for Chinook salmon from his kayak on the Spanish Banks about three-quarters of a mile off Vancouver, British Columbia, when an animal surface between 100 and 200 feet away. It appeared to be about 18-20 feet long and about two feet wide, with a 'whitish-tan throat and lower front' body. It had stubby horns like those of a giraffe, large (' twelve to fifteen inches long') floppy ears, and a 'somewhat pointed black snout.' The creature appeared to Thompson to be 'uniquely streamlined for aquatic life,' and to swim 'very efficiently and primarily by up and down rather than sideways wriggling motion...'" LeBlond and biologist J. Sibert have analyzed all of the 53 sightings in a 68page report entitled "Observations of Large Unidentified Marine Mammals in British Columbia and ...
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... noticed that the centers of the wheels appeared to travel along with the ship; those on the beam seemed to remain there until they faded and were replaced by a new pattern." (Huyghe, Patrick; "Wheels of Light; Sea of Fire," Oceans, 20:20, December 1987.) Comment. The most anomalous aspect of the observation is the apparent above-the-water position of the luminescence. There have been several similar reports down the years; and they combine to cast doubt on the bioluminescene-origin theory. So wedded are the theorists to the idea that bioluminescence is the only possible source of light that these above-the-water observations are denied. Sounds familiar! Also seen in the Gulf of Oman (from a different vessel) were three sets of expanding rings, one of which was elliptical. From Science Frontiers #55, JAN-FEB 1988 . 1988-2000 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 Psyching Out Piezoelectric Transducers Our title is perhaps too flippant. The experiment described below is serious and was conducted at Stanford Research Institute. Five participants were chosen in an attempt to mentally affect an electronic device. "Each participant was asked to influence one of a pair of piezoelectric transducers, operating in a differential mode, so as to produce an event above a predetermined threshold. During the formal data collection, the transducer enclosure was located in a locked laboratory adjacent to the participants' room. Under these conditions, one of the participants produced a total of 11 events above threshold, distributed in three separate effort periods. Control trials were recorded with no one present in the experimental room but with normal activity in the rest of the building. No equivalent, uncorrelated events above threshold were detected in those control periods." The author emphasizes the preliminary nature of the results, but believes they warrant further investigaion. (Hubbard, G. Scott, "Possible Remote Action Effects on a Piezoelectric Transducer," The Explorer, 4:10, October 1987.) From Science Frontiers #55, JAN-FEB 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 62: Mar-Apr 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects DANCING TO THE COMETS' TUNE "When planetary scientists examine one kind of meteorite rich in iron, the H-chondrites, they find that the meteorites' ages do not spread evenly through time. Instead, the ages seem to cluster at 7 and 30 million years." Astronomers have hitherto been content to attribute these clumped ages to collisions among the meteorites' parent bodies - the asteroids - which ply periodic orbits. However, S. Perlmutter and R.A . Muller, at Berkeley, point to the apparent 26- to 30-million-year periodicities of three terrestrial phenomena: Biological extinctions in the fossil record, Magnetic field reversals, and Terrestrial-crater ages. Could there be a connection between the clumped meteorite ages and these terrestrial phenomena? Perlmutter and Muller propose that all of these phenomena are the consequence of periodic storms of comets that invade the inner solar system from the direction of the Oort Cloud of comets that purportedly hovers at the fringe of the solar system. These comets not only devastate the earth but also collide with the asteroids, knocking off those bits and pieces we call meteorites. (Anonymous; "Do Meteorite Ages Tell of Comet Storms?" Astronomy, 17:12, January 1989.) Comment. Unanswered above is the question of why comet storms should be periodic. One hypothesis is that Nemesis, the so-called Death Star, a dark companion of our sun, lurks ...
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... messages. But most of us do not realize that lowly fireflies congregate to communicate en masse, with untold thousands of individuals cooperating in huge synchronized light displays. In reading some of the descriptions of these great natural phenomena, one recalls the light displays used to communicate with the aliens in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind . J. Buck has been studying flashing fireflies for over half a century. In fact, his first review paper was published in 1938. Buck has now brought that paper up to date in the current Quarterly Review of Biology with a 24page contribution. It is difficult to do justice to this impressive work in a newsletter. Our readers will have to be satisfied with a mere two paragraphs, in which Buck summarizes some of the incredible synchronies. "More than three centuries later Porter observed a very different behavior in far southwestern Indiana in which, from the ends of a long row of tall riverbank trees, synchronized flashes '. .. began moving toward each other, met at the middle, crossed and traveled to the ends, as when two pebbles are dropped simultaneously into the ends of a long narrow tank of water...' "In 1961 Adamson described a still different type of display, the first from Africa: 'It is then too that one sees the great belt of light, some ten feet wide, formed by thousands upon thousands of fireflies whose green phosphorescence bridges the shoulder-high grass. The fluorescent band composed of these tiny organisms lights up and goes out with a precision that is perfectly synchronized, and one is ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 79: Jan-Feb 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Revolving Sphere Of Light The following report is from H.D . Mayor, a scientist at Baylor College of Medicine: During an incredible electrical storm [in Houston, Texas, on 18 June 1991] in the evening while sitting at a table in the breakfast room, I saw a ball of lightning enter the utility room [an extension of the breakfast room] apparently through the back door. It hovered as a revolving sphere of bright yellow, orange and red light about 10 inches in diameter, in the air about three feet above the floor. It stayed in the same place. After about two or three seconds the globe disappeared with a loud pop rather like a discharge from a champagne bottle. The discharge was followed by a distinct odor of ozone. My Siamese cat also appeared to see the ball; at least he ran toward it. (Mayor, Heather D.; "Watching the Ball," Nature, 353:496, 1991.) From Science Frontiers #79, JAN-FEB 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Lightning "attacks" vehicles Sketch of the lightning ground tracks and craters in Shelhamer's parking area. "On Sunday, 17 July, 1988, the usual calm and quiet on the Shelhamer property in rural Hannacroix, New York, was suddenly disrupted by a bright flash and a powerful concussion. The house shook. A picture came off the wall and crashed onto the floor. A contact lens popped out of Mrs Shelhamer's eye. The electric power went out. The kitchen clock froze at 3.30 PM. Mr Shelhamer saw three wisps of smoke rise from his parking area. He noticed a strange smell in the air. A pickup truck, parked near the house, was covered with dirt. Two of its tyres were flat, and the hubcaps were lying on the ground. Strange trenches and tracks had appeared in the surface of the parking area. These trenches led Mr Shelhamer to a hickory tree, about 20m from the house. On it a 10cm scar had appeared, spiralling up the trunk toward the sky. A few minutes earlier it had begun to rain, and all this was the result of the lightning strike. "Perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of this lightning strike was the way the currents flowing from the hickory tree along the surface of the ground apparently leapt out of the ground in places to pass through the automobiles parked in the parking area. Two of the trenches that radiated ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 72: Nov-Dec 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Belgian Flying Triangle Updated In SF#80, we printed a brief item from an English newspaper about a rash of Belgian sightings of "flying triangles." Our invitation to our European readers to expand on this "flap" brought numerous articles from European papers and magazines. Normally, we bypass UFOtype observations, but the Belgian flying triangles are so remarkable that they deserve a little space. Artist's concept of the Belgium Flying Triangle, with three white lights on the corners, one red light in the center. (From: Télérama , February 21, 1990.) Very briefly, we have roughly 1000 observations by several thousand people, beginning in October 1989 and still continuing. Most witnesses report a dark, triangular object with three bright lights plus a flashing red one in the middle. Size estimates vary from the size of a football field to that of conventional aircraft. The object sometimes hovers for minutes at a time. It also can move very slowly and then suddenly accelerate to high speeds. Some observers report a faint humming sound; others say that it is noiseless. The American Stealth fighter (Fll7) is roughly triangular, and there has been much speculation that people have been seeing this craft on night missions. The characteristics reported for the flying triangle, however, are hardly those of a jet aircraft. But one must always remember that human observers are imperfect. The July 5, 1990, ...
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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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... a thrust block being pushed by a wedge-shaped driver Low-angle thrust faulting is not a trivial geological process. To illustrate, the Lewis Overthrust in Montana and adjacent Canada involves the shoving of a block of old strata hundreds of feet thick, hundreds of miles long, over younger rock for a distance of possibly 50 miles. In contemplating such overthrusts, one immediately comes face to face with the Mechanical Paradox. Brief-ly, given the coefficient of friction between the layers of rock, the weight of the thrust block, and the mechanical strength of the rock being pushed, it can be shown that pushing the thrust block at the rear edge will crush it long before it begins to slide. For nearly a century, geologists have been trying to resolve this Mechanical Paradox. Three potential solutions have been proposed: (1 ) Lubricate the sliding surfaces with water under high pressure (the pore-pressure approach); (2 ) Allow the thrust block to slide, not as a unit, but in small discrete areas at different times (the dislocation approach); and (3 ) Push the thrust block not only from the rear edge but along the top surface (the tapered wedge approach). In fact, all three solutions may apply; but there is no consensus so far. Each solution has problems. (Washington, Paul A., and Price, Raymond A.; "The Mechanical Paradox of Large Overthrusts; Alternative Interpretation and Reply," Geological Society of America, Bulletin, 102:529, 1990.) Comment. Note that ...
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... , 1986, p.50) Once again we return to cold, desertlike Mars, which still clings to a thin, oxygen-less atmosphere and where, some say, the artifacts of a long-dead intelligent race may be seen. A livable Mars in past eons is not a physical impossibility. Some scientists argue that Martian geological and geochemical data: ". .. are consistent with past conditions on Mars that were favorable to earth-like life forms: Abundant liquid water and an atmosphere that was dense and warm, and possibly rich in oxygen." That life -- intelligent life -- once thrived on Mars is suggested by photos taken of the Martian surface by Viking spacecraft: "Images of the surface of Mars showing, at several sites what appear to be three carved humanoid faces, of kilometer scale, and having similar anatomical and ornamental details between all three. Appearing with these objects are numerous other objects and suface features that resemble Earth-like archaeological ruins, of a Bronze Age culture, with no evidence of advanced technology or civilization." The Martian faces, pyramids, and cities are the foundation of the Cydonian Hypothesis: "That Mars once lived as the Earth now lives, and that it was once the home of an indigenous humanoid intelligence." (Brandenburg, John E., et al; "The Cydonian Hypothesis," Journal of Scientific Exploration, 5:1 , 1991. This journal is published by the Society for Scientific Exploration.) From Science Frontiers #79, JAN-FEB 1992 . 1992-2000 William ...
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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 Archeological Riddle W. Elliott, of Grand Lake Stream, Maine, reports the discovery of some truly remarkable stone artifacts in eastern Washington County, Maine. These artifacts were extracted from a small cist, or tomb, constructed of slabs of slate laid over a hollow space between a ledge and a row of stones. As the following description attests, these artifacts are anomalous to Maine (and perhaps anywhere in the States.) "Elliott has three stone artifacts that he says came to light when he tilted two or three of the slabs covering one end of the tomb, which lies east-to-west. The grave items consist of a smooth rectangular green stone resembling a whetstone but bearing four letters or symbols; a four-inch pendant that is a flat stone oval bearing on one side and eye and on the other side a face of the sun with four rays, a crescent above, and six or seven letters in an undetermined script below; and a 15- inch ceremonial slate spear point showing on one side a bearded, trousered man in a hat or helmet with one arm severed and one foot missing, and on the other side a bear-like animal with two spears sticking out of him. In front of the bear are marks resembling the Roman numerals for eight, with the V tipped to one side." Members of NEARA (New England Antiquities Research Association) have visited the site; ...
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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 Fantastic Claim By Explorer "An American explorer said yesterday that he has found three ancient stone tablets in Peru's highland jungle that may prove that the area was the site of King Solomon's legendary gold lines." After being startled by the introductory paragraph, it is anticlimatic to discover that the explorer in question is G. Savoy. He states that he has found three tablets, each weighing several tons, measuring about 5 x 10 feet. The site is a cave near Gran Vilaya, in the Peruvian Andes. Engraved on these hefty tablets are inscriptions that appear to be Phoenician or Semetic hierogly phics. (Anonymous; "Mysterious Tablets Found in the Andes," San Francisco Chronicle, December 7, 1989. Cr. J. Covey.) Comment. Combining this item with the preceding one, there is an implication that advanced Peruvian civilizations may have benefited from contact with early voyagers from the Old World! Or did the traffic begin in the reverse direction? From Science Frontiers #67, JAN-FEB 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 68: Mar-Apr 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Crop Circle Craze Continues Trying to maintain our sanity during the current crop-circle flap, we have adhered closely to reports in the conservative Journal of Meteorology, U.K . But don't imagine that wilder accounts are not surfacing in the newspapers. Two accounts should suffice. Australia. "Three frightened farmers believe a gigantic UFO landed last week on their Victorian wheat property. "A pattern of five perfect circles - in which unbroken wheat stalks swirl anticlockwise - have been found on the 9000- hectare farm, West Park, run by Max and Nancee Jolly and their son Stuart, 29. "The startling discovery comes only weeks after the family's 700 sheep were panicked by a huge yellow object pulsating above the paddocks in western Victoria's Mallee region." (Pickney, John; "Sheep Panicked by Eerie Light in Fields," Melbourne Truth, December 16, 1989. Cr. P. Norman via L. Farish) Canada. "Argyle, Man. - There's a mystery on Ray Crawford's land and stumped investigators say anything from bizarre weather phenomena to visitors from outer space could have put it there. "Sometime in the past year, an almost perfect circle was gouged out of a remote patch of the elderly cattle farmer's property, 30 kilometres north of Winnipeg, on the edge of the rockstrewn scrub and bush that comprise the region between Lake Manitoba and ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Belgian Flying Triangle "The Belgian air force has been on alert for three nights running", writes Lucy Kellaway. Two Hawker Siddeley aircraft equipped with infrared cameras and sophisticated electronic sensors have been patrolling the skies. Down below, the Belgian police force has kept a constant watch, helped by more than 1,000 concerned civilians. Along the border with Germany, 20 lookout posts have been set up. Their target: an Unidentified Flying Object. "Since December, there have been 800 reported sightings, and even though some resemble a lamp-post more closely than a UFO, many of the others are being earnestly examined by SOBEPS, the Belgian Society for Studying Special Phenomena. "More surprising is how seriously the army is taking the whole thing. For the time being it says it is viewing the matter as a 'technical curiosity' as the intruder has shown no aggressive signs. Should it turn nasty, it will be a different matter altogether. .. .. . "Scientists on the ground appear in the past few days to have produced a clear image of the object, which is said to correspond to the reports of eyewitnesses. It is a triangle 30m-50m in diameter, with red, green and white lights at the corners, 10 times brighter than any star. It has a convex underbelly and makes a sharp whistling noise." (Anonymous; "Flying Triangle Has Belgians Going around ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Why aren't beach pebbles round?The next time you walk along an ocean beach, forget the greater anomalies of nature and pick up a few well-worn pebbles. Q.R . Wald collected 200 such at random and measured them with calipers. He found that their three axes tended toward the ratios 7:6 :3 . No, beach pebbles are not spherical, they are flattened ovoids. We would naturally expect that the ceaseless action of the surf would turn out nearly perfect spheres. So much for intuition! (Wald, Quentin R.; "The Form of Pebbles," Nature, 345:211, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #70, JUL-AUG 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 78: Nov-Dec 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Psychokinetic Control Of Dice For 2000 years, people have been saying: "The die is cast," as if the act of casting relinquished the fall of the die completely to fate. Perhaps not!! "This article presents a meta-analysis of experiments testing the hypothesis that consciousness (in particular, mental intention) can cause tossed dice to land with specified targets face up. Seventy-three English language reports, published from 1935 to 1987, were retrieved. This literature described 148 studies reported by a total of 52 investigators, involving more than 2 million dice throws contributed by 2,569 subjects. The full data base indicates the presence of a physical bias that artifactually inflated hit rates when higher dice faces (e .g ., the '6 ' face) were used as targets. Analysis of a subset of 39 homogeneous studies employing experimental protocols that controlled for these biases suggests that the experimental effect size is independently replicable, significantly positive, and not explainable as an artifact of selective reporting or differences in methodological quality. The estimated effect size for the full data base lies more than 19 standard deviations from chance, while the effect size for the subset of balanced, homogeneous studies lies 2.6 standard deviations from chance. We conclude that this data base provides weak cumulative evidence for a genuine relationship between mental intention and the fall of dice." (Radin, Dean I., and Ferrari, ...
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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 Strange Blue Pool Found At The Bottom Of Crater Lake "A mysterious, small aqua-blue pool of dense fluid has been discovered at the bottom of Crater Lake. "' It is bizarre, it is remarkable,' said Jack Dymond, who with Robert Collier heads the three-year Crater Lake exploration project. 'I have never seen anything like it,' he said. "The Oregon State University oceanographer said the pool, about 6 feet in depth, is approximately 3 feet wide by 8 feet long. It is near the lush white and orange bacteria mats found last summer." The murky pool of fluid was discovered during a dive in a research submarine. The temperature of the pool was about 4.5 C (40.1 F) which made it 1 C warmer than the surrounding lake water. (Anonymous; "Strange Blue Pool Found in Crater Lake," Sunday Oregonian , August 13, 1989. Cr. R. Byrd) Comment. Some lakes in northern climes still retain ancient seawater in their bottoms. Also, we have the well-publicized African lakes that suddenly overturn, producing clouds of poisonous gases. See our catalog: Anomalies in Geology. Ordering information here . From Science Frontiers #66, NOV-DEC 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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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 Pi in the mind!" Srinivasan Mahadevan, a graduate student from India at Kansas State University in Manhattan, is trying to become the fourth person to remember the first 100,000 digits to pi, the theoretically infinite computation that measures the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. He has already memorized the first 35,000 digits of pi. "Only three cases of such ability to remember have been documented in 200 years. One of these people became insane when he became unable to forget anything and his reasoning processes drowned in a flood of facts." (Anonymous; "Student's Memory Wins Bets," San Mateo Times, June 2, 1989. Cr. J. Covey) From Science Frontiers #65, SEP-OCT 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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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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... 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 Why the hammer head?You probably thought, as we did, that the function of the hammerhead shark's weirdly shaped head was to separate the eyes and thus improve binocular vision. This is not the case. The visual fields of the hammerhead's eyes do not overlap at all. Each eye presents the brain with a separate, completely different image to integrate. What, then, could be the purpose of the hammer head? No one really knows, but three suggestions are as follows: The head acts as a hydrofoil and gives the heavier-than-water, swimbladderless shark better swimming control. Grooves on the hammer head channel water toward the nostrils, providing "stereoscopic sniffing." The head is a platform for electromagnetic sensors that help locate prey. Stingrays are a favorite food of the hammerhead, and the shark may de-tect them electromagnetically, as surmised by the author of this article in the following encounters: "I have observed great hammerheads swimming close to the bottom, swinging their heads in wide arcs (a motion common, in a lesser degree, to all large sharks) as if using the increased electroreceptive area of their hammer like the sensor plate of a metal detector. Sometimes, these animals would doubleback to scoop up one of several stingrays hiding in the bottom silt. The minute electrical pulse that keeps the stingray's heart and spiracles operating betrays their presence to a hungry ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 73: Jan-Feb 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Science And Bubblegum Cards " Summary . -- 139 professional baseball players who appeared on Topps bubble gum cards (copyright 1987) were subjects. The players, whose printed eye colors could be identified from their photographs, were sorted into three categories of 45 dark-eyed white players, 27 light-eyed players, and 67 black players. The statistics on the backs of the cards were dependent measures and included: Games, At Bat, Runs, Hits, Second Base, Third Base, Home Runs, Runs Batted In, Stolen Bases, SLG, Bunts, Strike Outs, and Batting Average." The researchers then performed analyses of variance with these data. The most important findings were that black players scored more triples, stole more bases, and boasted better batting averages. Eye color did seem to be an impor tant factor!!" (Beer, John, Beer, Joe; "Relationship of Eye Color to Professional Baseball Players' Batting Statistics Given on Bubblegum Cards,: Perceptual and Motor Skills , 69:632, 1989.) Facetious Comment. Why must we spend billions on the Supercollider and Space Station when the equipment for important scientific research can be had for pennies at the corner store? From Science Frontiers #73, JAN-FEB 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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 Booms Along The Beach Just because we don't report them don't think that unexplained detonations are no longer heard along the world's seacoasts. These "waterguns" are still booming away, as they have for centuries. Take the Carolina beaches for example. " Sunset Beach -- Just what is that noise that residents along the coast have been hearing? "Reverberations powerful enough to shake beach cottages are heard several times every autumn along the coast in New Hanover and Brunswick counties. "' It moves the earth, I tell you,' Minnie Hunt of Sunset Beach said. 'Sometimes you get two or three in a row.' .. .. . "Residents who are now grandparents say their own grandparents remembered the rumbles, so they predate the sonic booms of jets breaking the sound barrier. .. .. . "The noises clearly emanate from the sea, she said...'It's not a land phenomenon.' .. .. . "The sounds occur most often in the fall and spring, though they occasionally shiver across the beaches in other seasons. Sometimes they shake the coast more than once a day. Sometimes they happen a few days in a row. Sometimes they are weeks apart. They have been reported as far north as Carteret County, but are most frequent near Wilmington and southward." (Mysteries, Marvels and Things That Go ...
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... 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? Vallee has three suggestions: (1 ) they are "earth lights" a la P. Devereux; that is, an unappreciated terrestrial phenomenon that impresses mental images on the minds of observers; (2 ) They are artifacts of a "control system" operated by a nonhuman intelligence or, perhaps, a Gaia like manifestation of supernature (of which we are a tiny part) that is trying to modify our behavior; and (3 ) They are apparitions caused by entities ma nipulating space and time; viz,. time travellers from our own past and/or future. (Vallee, Jacques F.; "Five Arguments against the Extraterrestrial Origin of Unidentified Flying Objects," Journal of Scientific Exploration, 4:105, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #73, JAN-FEB ...
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... Seven Barrows, Hampshire. Two of the 1990 Hampshire dumbell formations. (L ) Near Seven Barrows; (R ) Near Morestead. "The next system [see figure] was at Seven Barrows, north of Litchfield, Hampshire near the A34 highway to Newbury. On the evening of 22 June I pointed out this featureless field to conference members as we drove past following our circles tour, saying that this was a 'repeater' region for circles events (circles are known for these fields for 1976, 1978, 1981, 1983 and 1985). The next morning, the day of the conference, attendees travelling north from Hampshire to Oxford spotted the formation which had appeared overnight. The circles were a hundred metres from a group of Bronze Age barrows which had been there for over three thousand years." CERES is the Circles Effect Research Group, operated by G.T . Meaden, who is also the Editor of the Journal of Meteorology, U.K . Meaden, a scientist, strongly contends that all crop circles, despite their complexities and seeming symbology, are natural phenomena; namely the products of atmospheric vortices. Yet, he feels compelled to state that "the details of these vortices, the vortex-crop interaction and the resulting crop-circles display many amazing features which denote an extraordinary phenomenon at work -- one which will be shown to have very considerable consequences for physics, meteorology, and other research disciplines in the coming years." (Meaden, G.T .; "The Major Developments in Crop-Circles Research in 1990, ...
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... France. Here one finds quartz fragments that look manmade to some archeologists, but seem products of natural fracturing to others. These crude objects are what some American archeologists call "Carterfacts," after G. Carter, who has found similar rock fragments in the Americas and dates them much, much earlier than 12,000 B.P . In Europe, there is little argument about the 2.5 -million-year-date for the stratum in which the controversial rocks are found. The debate is over whether they are natural or products of human manu facture. The French champion of human manufacture is E. Bonifay, an archeologist at the National Center for Scientific Research, in Marseilles. At stake here is the mainstream view that modern man is the last in a succession of three species. The first was Homo habilis , which arose in Africa about 2 million years ago. (But see SF# 66, where an origin in southeast Asia is championed.) The second species was Homo erectus , which appeared about 1.6 million years ago, also in Africa, and migrated into Europe about 1 million years ago. Homo sapiens, "our" species, appeared about 500,000 years ago in "archaic" form, to be succeeded by "modern" Homo sapiens 200,000 years ago. Obviously, a 2.5 -million-year date for Homo erectus in Europe undermines this scenario. (There seems to be no evidence that Homo habilis ever made it to Europe.) (Ackerman, Sandra; "European History Gets Even ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 79: Jan-Feb 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A LUMINOUS-TUBE PHENOMENON Night of July 11-12, 1991, near Alton Barnes, Wiltshire, England. Three individuals were monitoring nearby fields for crop-circle phenomena. Instead, they observed a strange, but possibly related, luminous mass. R.L Goold described it in the following words: "Suddenly, at 2.55 a.m ., birds began singing which heightened our alertness and made us check wrist watches. It was soon quiet again, but at 3.00 a.m ., almost exactly, I spotted a tube of light to the northeast descending vertically beneath a cloud in that part of the sky. Most of the remainder of the sky was clear and starry. The tube extended steadily in length as we watched, and its milky-white colour seemed to be due to a self-luminoscity like one might expect from the electrical effect known as plasma. As it came down against the black sky and neared the ground, the tube began to broaden, and branched out to give two opposed arms, as indicated in the drawing, forming a design in the air with rounded ends. Then the tube dissipated from the top downwards, and disappeared into the horizontal arms which themselves proceeded towards the ground out of sight beyond the hill peaks. No noise was heard. The whole phenomenon lasted about six seconds." The trio of observers used their fingers held at arm ...
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... more frequently, and accuracy of laboratory ESP is more accurate, on days of relatively quiet GMF activity. On the other hand, there are indications that a complementary paranormal process, psychokinesis, may be enhanced by high GMF activity. We conducted retrospective analyses of possible relations between GMF activity and (a ) electrodermal activity (as an index of sympathetic autonomic activity), (b ) rate of hemolysis of human red blood cells in, (c ) attempted distant mental (i .e ., psychokinetic) influence of electrodermal activity, and (d ) attempted distant mental (psychokinetic) influence of rate of hemolysis. For each of these four measures, high activity was associated with high GMF values, while low activity was associated with low GMF values. The relations were statistically significant for three of the four analyses and showed a consistent trend in the fourth." (Braud, William G., and Dennis, Stephen P.; "Geophysical Variables and Behavior; LVIII. Autonomic Activity, Hemolysis, and Biological Psychokinesis: Possible Relationships with Geomagnetic Field Activity," Perceptual and Motor Skill , 68:1243, 1989.) From Science Frontiers #67, JAN-FEB 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... to more than one hundred feet, and in height from six to eighteen inches. "The tough sod of the prairie had preserved very sharply all the outlines. According to universal testimony, these beds were laid out and fashioned with skill, order and symetry which distinguished them from the ordinary operations of agriculture, and were combined with some peculiar features that belong to no recognized system of horticultural art." Type 8. Wheel-shaped plats. Width of beds, 6-20 feet; paths, 1 foot; length, 14-20 feet. Hubbard recognized eight types of beds. Two of these are illustrated and described right. Hubbard gave no figure for the total extent of the beds. Individual plats ran from 20 to 300 acres. Considering that they stretched for miles through three counties, we are certainly talking about thousands of acres. Hubbard stated that the usual pottery, arrowheads, spear points, and related artifacts seemed to be absent from the areas of the beds. (Hubbard, Bela; "Ancient Garden Beds of Michigan," American Antiquarian, 1:1 , 1878. Reprinted in : INFO Journal, 12:6 , no. 2, 1989. INFO = International Fortean Organization, P.O . Box 367, Arlington, VA, 22210.) Reference. This article is also reprinted in our handbook: Ancient Man. To order this huge compilation, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #68, MAR-APR 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... four years and found that the probability of a left-hander having a car accident was 85% higher; accidents with tools were 54% higher; home accidents were 49% higher; etc. Coren blames these lopsided statistics upon the fact that the world is ordered for right-handers, not that left-handers are innately more clumsy. (Dayton, Leigh; "The Perils of Living in a Right-Handed World," New Scientist, p. 32, October 28, 1989.) But Coren's study, above, omits the "health" factor, which we now supply from a different source. "Halpern and Coren recently described an association between lefthandedness and a lower life expectancy. This finding is not unexpected because left-handedness has been linked to three leading causes of death in our society - alcoholism, smoking, and breast cancer - as well as to several neurological and immune disorders." (London, Wayne P.; "Left-Handedness and Life Expectancy," Perceptual and Motor Skills , 68:1040, 1989.) From Science Frontiers #68, MAR-APR 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... at the southern boundary of the reservation for seven (approximately 9:00 p.m . to 4: a.m ., September 3-4 ). According to Vogel the noise was like a 'turbine' or 'unsynchronized propellers on a multi-engine aircraft.' When let outside the lookout station, the fire lookout's dog displayed anxiety, and the lookout felt barely perceptible vibrations under her feet when standing on a concrete slab. The lookout said she had heard the same sound during the summer of 1978, but always during the daylight." Colorado. Testimony of T. Adams: "Camping on the western slope of the Sangre de Cristos, northwest of Mount Blanca and south of the Sand Dunes, we heard the sounds in 1970. Two or three nights in succession, it 'cranked up' after midnight and subsided shortly before dawn. It wasn't really loud enough to hear over conversation - but definitely sounded like a motor of some sort, with a suggestion of a dynamo-type whine to it. And others had said that it sometimes seems even louder with an ear to the ground. One could easily imagine (Adam's emphasis) the sound was coming from beneath the surface, but whether it did or not remains purely speculative." The report referenced below contains similar observations from Texas, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, California, Puerto Rico, England, and Ita ly. Unusual luminous phenomena have also been noted in the areas where the underground sounds have been heard, which explains why these ...
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... We provide below a summary of these observations, as prepared by J. Hakuma ki and M. Pekkola. First, though, we express appreciation to Hakumaki and Pekkola for a paragraph headlined SOURCEBOOK PROJECT ANOMALIES, where in effect they vindicate the approach of the Project. We now quote from the summary of their article. "In December 1987 two Finnish amateur astronomers observed and photographed a peculiar vertically elliptical ring surrounding the moon. A literature study carried out soon after this first observation brought to light ten reported historical cases of this type of rare halo phenomenon. It was found out that the existence of these elliptical halos has been uncertain to date due to a lack of photographic evidence. One indication of this is that none of the major modern works on halos mentions such phenomena. During 1988 three more elliptical halos were seen by the Finnish halo observing network. Observations and photographs taken of these phenomena seem to indicate that at least two types of elliptical halo exist. The smaller one was first reported by US astronomer Frank Schlesinger in 1908 and its vertical axis has in all four possible cases been about 7 . No name has been suggested for this halo. The larger one seems to have a vertical axis of about 10 and it has been called the 'halo of Hissink' by Dutch halo observers. Outside the Netherlands this rare halo has received little attention." (Hakumaki, J., and Pekkola, M.; "Rare Vertically Elliptical Halos," Weather, 44: 466, 1989.) Reference. Other types of noncircular halos may be found in GEH2 in ...
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... Insects Scientific creationists often point out marvels of biological engineering as proofs that evolution by small chancedirected steps is, to say the least, improbable. A sharp arrow for their qui ver has just appeared in Science. Caterpillar-ant vibrational communication. Some species of caterpillars cannot survive predation unless they are protected by ants. To attract the ants, who just happen to dote on special secretions of the caterpillars, the caterpillars send out vibrational signals across leaves and twigs. In addition to their secretory structures, the caterpillars have also evolved novel vibrators to send out their calls for protection. A few butterfly species from all continents (except Antarctica) have evolved these devices. Looking at this geographical spread, P. J. DeVries thinks that the two sets of organs must have developed independently at least three times . (DeVries, P.J .; "Enhancement of Symbioses between Butterfly Caterpillars and Ants by Vibrational Communication," Science, 248:1104, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #71, SEP-OCT 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 71: Sep-Oct 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects WHAT'S ANOTHER DIPOLE OR TWO?" Planetary exploration by deep space probes in recent years has shown that the dipole moment of some mag netized planets has a surprisingly large inclination angle with respect to the rotation axis. It is argued that the inclined dipole thus obtained may not be physically realistic. Applying the method we have developed for the source surface magnetic field of the sun (a spherical surface of 2.5 solar radii), it is suggested that the main dipole of the earth and the magnetized planets is actually axial (the magnetic moment is parallel or antiparallel to the rotation axis), and that two or three smaller dipoles near the core surface are responsible for the apparent inclination of the main dipole." (Akasofu, S-I ., and Saito, T.; "Is the Earth"s Dipole Actually Inclined with Respect to Its Rotation Axis?" Eos, 71: 490, 1990.) Comment. In SF#70, we see that the magnetic field of Uranus is inclined a whopping 60 to its axis of rotation. Can a few, small additional dipoles distort the main field so much? And just what are these small dipoles anyway -- physically and electrically? From Science Frontiers #71, SEP-OCT 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 71: Sep-Oct 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Wyoming: is old faithful a strange attractor?" Eruptions of Old Faithful Geyser are generally perceived as extremely regular events, with variation of eruptive interval being attributed to random noise. The governing equations for such a hydrothermal system are highly non-linear, therefore it is reasonable to assume that such systems are capable of operating in regines that display chaotic behavior. Three-dimensional state-space reconstruction of eruption time data provides strong evidence of a strange attractor quite similar to the Rossler attractor. Establishing the system as chaotic indicates that while one can predict eruptive intervals in the short term, long term predictions regarding Old Faithful's eruptive behavior are impossible, no matter how carefully and accurately the system is modeled. The mean eruptive interval of Old Faithful has changed over time. This is consistent with the behavior of a chaotic system, which by definition must be nonstationary in the mean. Seismic activity is believed to be a perturbation shifting Old Faithful into a new chaotic state with a different shape to the strange attractor. A simple non-linear dynamic model of geyser behavior is proposed that leads to chaotic behavior and is consistent with the observations of eruption interval data for Old Faithful." (Nicholl, Michael, et al; "Is Old Faithful a Strange Attractor?" Eos, 71:466, 1990.) Comment. "Strange attractor" is a specialized term employed in chaos analysis. So, Old Faithful is ...
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... Meteorology, some 63 pages of it, presents us with a wonderful compendium of ball lightning observations. It is un-fortunate that we have room for only a few of the many fascinating descriptions. Giant ball lightning. "The following display of ball lightning was observed by an officer at the coastguard station at Fishguard, Dyfed, West Wales, on 8 June 1977. The occurrence was at 0227 GMT, grid reference SM(12)895389. "The ball lightning phenomenon was very large and estimated to be about the size of a bus. It was described as a brilliant, yellow green, transparent ball with a fuzzy outline which descended from the base of a towering cumulus over Garn Fawr Mountains and appeared to 'float' down the hillside. Intense light was emitted for about three seconds before flickering out. Severe static was heard on the radio. The object slowly rotated around a horizontal axis, and seemed to 'bounce' off projections on the ground. It was noticed that cattle and seabirds in the immediate vicinity became disturbed." (Jones, Ian; "Giant Ball Lightning or Plasma Vortex," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 15:178, 1990.) Reference. Eighteen varieties of ball lightning are cataloged in section GLB in Lightning, Auroras. For more infor mation on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #71, SEP-OCT 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 72: Nov-Dec 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Hypnotic Suggestion Superior To Salicylic Acid Forget the stump water, too, for hypnosis is better than both when it comes to chasing away warts. If you don't believe this, read the following Abstract. "Subjects with warts on their hands and/or feet were randomly assigned to a hypnotic suggestion, topical salicylic acid, placebo, or no treatment control condition. Subjects in the three treated groups developed equivalent expectations of treatment success. Nevertheless, at the sixweek follow-up interval only the hypnotic subjects had lost significantly more warts than the no treatment controls." (Spanos, Nicholas P., et al; "Effects of Hypnotic, Placebo, and Salicylic Acid Treatments on Wart Regression," Psychosomatic Medicine, 52:109, 1990.) Comment. The real import here is not in the vanquishing of these benign tumors caused by papillomaviruses but rather in the potential of altered states of mind for treating more severe afflictions, such as cancer. From Science Frontiers #72, NOV-DEC 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Black gold -- again The Siljan Ring and T. Gold are back in the news again. A few years ago, at Gold's instigation, private investors and the Swedish govenment put up money to drill for oil and gas at the Siljan Ring, some 200 kilometers northwest of Stockholm. This granitic region is a meteor-created, shattered scar on the earth's crust. It is in just such a spot that Gold expects to find abiogenic petroleum and methane seeping upward from deep inside the earth, where they have resided since the earth was formed. Con-ventional petroleum geologists have roundly ridiculed the Siljan Ring project; after all, everyone knows that oil and gas derive from buried organic matter. Three years ago, at a depth of 6.7 kilometers, the "misguided" Swedish drillers pumped 12 tons of oily sludge from the granite rock. "Just drilling fluids and diesel-oil pumped down from the surface," laughed the experts. This autumn (1991), more oil was struck in a new hole only 2.8 kilometers deep. This time, only water was used to lubricate the drill. How are the skeptics going to explain this? Well, about 20 kilometers away, there are sedimentary rocks; perhaps the oil seeped into the granite from there. Rejecting this interpretation, the drillers are going deeper in hopes of finding primordial methane. (Aldhous, Peter; "Black Gold Causes a Stir," Nature, 353:593, 199l. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Wandering Albatrosses Really Wander Tracks of three Wandering albatrosses in the southern Indian Ocean. Six male wandering albatrosses nesting on Crozet Island, between South Africa and Antarctica, were fitted with tiny (180-gram) transmitters and tracked by satellite. Their flights were amazing: "Tracks of wandering albatrosses in the southwestern Indian Ocean showed that they covered between 3,600 and 15,000 km in a single foraging trip during an incubation shift. They flew at speeds of up to 80 km per h and over distances of up to 900 km per day. They remained active at night, particularly on moonlit nights..." (Jouventin, Pierre, and Weimerskirch, Henri; "Satellite Tracking of Wandering Albatrosses,; Nature, 343:746, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #70, JUL-AUG 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... A. Gardiner mentioned them in a recent issue of the Fortean Times. "These [eel balls] are recorded in Christopher Moriarty's excellent Eels: a Natural and Unnatural History (David and Charles, 1978). Moriarity cites Pliny as the earliest historical reference. According to him, Eel Balls occur in Lake Garda, Italy, when it has been storm-tossed by the effects of the October 'Autumn star'. Smitt in his Scandanavian Fishes (1895) says that eels knot themselves together in bunches 'up to a fathom in circumference' and are seen rolling along the stream beds, or, strangely, resting in this position. On 17 August 1935, fishery scientist J.C . Medcof observed, in the outflow of Lake Ainslie in Nova Scotia, 'three splendid clumps of Eels, half a metre in diameter, 30 to a clump, knotted tightly and remaining motionless in the rushes.' Medcof mentions that Eel Balls are sometimes free floating on the surface, which suggests formation with an air pocket or some communal control of air bladders. He says that this behavior occurs before eels 'silver' prior to the spawning migration. The record of Eel Balls in Nova Scotia proves that this behaviour is not confined to the European Eel." (Gardiner, Alan; "Eel Oddities," Fortean Times, no. 56, p. 53, Winter 1990.) From Science Frontiers #74, MAR-APR 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... source rocks in the area containing biological materials from which the gas could have been generated. But Gold does not believe that the methane in natural gas comes from buried organic debris. Rather, most methane is primordial and abiogenic, a legacy left deep in the earth's crust when our planet was formed. The 72-kilometer-diameter Siljan Ring in central Sweden is generally believed to be of meteoric origin. The granite here has been shattered, perhaps to a depth of 40 kilometers. If Gold's hypo-thesis about the origin of methane is correct, methane might well be found seeping up through this wound in the earth's outer skin. Further, the shattered granite might prove to be a gigantic reservoir of valuable methane. The Swedes decided to drill. After three years and the expendi-ture of $40 million, drilling at the Siljan Ring has been terminated. The drill penetrated to 6.8 kilometers before it got stuck. No significant methane had been found. The experts snickered! But the story is not finished, at least as far as Gold is concerned. He maintains that the drilling stopped just short of an apparent reservoir at 7.2 kilometers (probably located by seismic methods). Another, deeper hole will vindicate him, he believes. After all, there are tantalizing hints: The drillers did find an assortment of hydrocarbons that could have been deposited by upward-seeping methane. Skeptics say they are derived from the drilling fluids. Tons of micrometer-sized grains of magnetite were taken out of the hole. Gold ...
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... Sep-Oct 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Valleys Of Death And Elephant Graveyards Legend has it that elephants near death separate from their companions and trek alone to ancestral graveyards, dying only when they reach these special places. The truth is that accumulations of elephant bones have indeed been discovered, but no one seems to have followed expiring elephants to these boneyards. We hope someone will tell us otherwise, but the tale seems apocrythal. The piles of elephant bones could, in fact, be the work of mazukus. (Mazuku means "evil wind" in Swahili.) It seems that there are places on this earth where CO2 and other deadly gases emitted from volcanic vents accumulate. J. Lockwood and M. Tuttle investigated three mazukus known to natives in East Africa. In these low-lying areas, they came upon the remains of small mammals and birds that has been asphyxiated by concentrations of CO2 dense enough to snuff out burning kerosene-soaked rags. Unfortunately for the elephantgraveyard legend, they found no elephant bones. (Anonymous; "Elephant Graveyards," Discover, 12:10, May 1991.) Comment. It would be interesting to know if other species of animals are found in the elephant graveyards. So-called "valleys of death" are found elsewhere in the world, including Yellowstone. Reference. Other "valleys of death" are cataloged in ESC5 in Anomalies in Geo logy, described here . From Science Frontiers #77, SEP-OCT 1991 . 1991-2000 William R ...
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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 We Live Atop A Chemical Retort Far down there beneath our feet, the earth's chemicals are bubbling away, aided often by bacteria and other life forms. It's a dark world, but it's also hot, permeated by fluids, and possibly the abode of organisms we haven't dreamed of. Three hints of this nether world follow. Quick oil. Rather than ripening in deep strata for millions of years, as per prevailing theory, some oil is being created in only a few thousand years in the vicinities of ocean-bottom chimneys. Dimesized oil globules have been sighted floating near these chimneys. Analysis of chunks broken off the chimneys by research submersibles reveal the presence of petroleum-like hydrocarbons that are less than 5000 years old. It is thought that high-temperature fluids percolating up through the sediments convert buried organic matter into oil very rapidly. (Monastersky, R.; "The Quick Recipe for a Soup of Black Gold," Science News, 136:295, 1989.) Comment. Not mentioned in this article is T. Gold's theory that oil is actually derived from primordial carbon deep in the crust. Gassy water. Some water wells in Texas also produce much methane. This methane is apparently not related to any oil or gas wells in the region. Rather, surmise has it that bacteria deep in the crust are converting buried organic material into methane and ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 85: Jan-Feb 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Three Views Of Mortality The death of matter. Physicists have maintained for over a century that the Second Law of Thermodynamics guarantees that our universe with run down one day and that life must cease. This cold reductionist view is seconded by recent evidence that protons, long con sidered immortal, may after all decay. The consequences of proton decay are even more dismal than the dire predictions of thermodynamics: "Perhaps the most disturbing piece of speculation to come out of theoretical physics recently is the prediction that the whole universe is in decay. Not only do living things die, species go extinct, and stars burn out, but the apparently immutable protons in the nucleus of every atom are slowly dissolving. Eventually -- in more than a quadrillion years -- nothing will be left of the universe but a dead mist of electrons, photons, and neutrinos." (Flam, Faye; "Could Protons Be Mortal after All?" Science, 257:1862, 1992.) The death of memory. With increasing entropy and decaying protons on their minds, it comes as no surprise that physicists likewise believe that when one dies, that's it . An afterlife is impossible. How do physicists conclude this? In a letter to the American Journal of Physics, J. Orear proffered an interesting sort of "proof": "One such proof: human memory is stored in the circuitry of the brain and after death ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 57 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf085/sf085u14.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 Early Life Surprisingly Diverse The three life forms sketched below are tiny microorganisms, not the worms they appear to be. They are thought to be bacteria, for they closely resemble modern cyanobacteria. What is most important about these fossilized micro-organisms is that they were found in the Apex chert of Western Australia. The Apex chert is designated Early Archean and assigned an age of 3.465 billion years [Four significant figures!]. It is rare to find any fossils at all in rocks this old, but apparently the Apex chert escaped most of the fossil-destroying metamorphism afflicting most Precambrian formations. Even more remarkable is the diversity of these suspected bacteria. J.W . Schopf reports finding no less than eleven different kinds so far--and our planet was only a few hundred million years old at the time the Apex chert was formed. Schopf's discoveries generate at least three questions: How could life have originated and diversified to such an extent in just a few hundred millions years? Why after such rapid diversification did these microorganisms remain essentially unchanged for the next 3.465 billion years? Such stasis, common in biology, is puzzling. If these microorganisms are really cyanobacteria, they would have released oxygen to the atmosphere. Is the standard assumption that the earth's atmosphere lacked oxygen until 2.2 billion years ago correct? (Schopf, J. William; "Microfossils of the Early ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 33 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf088/sf088b10.htm
... Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Checking Out Some Texas Ghost Lights Some members of the Houston Association for Scientific Thinking (HAST) have visited the sites of the famed Marfa Lights (West Texas) and the less-publicized Saratoga Lights (East Texas). With binoculars, telescopes, and road maps, it was fairly easy for them to ascertain that the Saratoga Lights were simply the headlights of automobiles traveling along Route 787. The Saratoga display is a bit eerie but not at all mysterious, according to HAST. The Marfa Lights turned out to be more impressive and, in consequence, quite a tourist attraction. The favorite viewing site is on Highway 90, 9 miles east of Marfa. HAST logged a total of 9 hours of observation there on three successive nights. All of the lights observed were easily attributed to cars traveling north from Presidio to Marfa. People at the viewing site who knew of the Presidio-Marfa road had no trouble identifying the lights as those of automobiles. But those unaware of the road called the lights mysterious. As for the frequent reports of Marfa lights cavorting and executing strange maneuvers, HAST thought they were probably due to low-flying aircraft in the neighborhood of the Chianti Mountains some 40 miles away. In fact, just such a 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 ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf083/sf083g11.htm
... though, one more anecdotal report, and then we'll summarize two recent scientific efforts to elucidate these phenomena. July 28, 1993. 150 miles south of Panama. From an aircraft flying at 33,000 feet. "I and another pilot in the cockpit of American Airlines Flight 912 were watching and circumnavigating a large cumulonimbus cloud. About five times, a large discharge of lightning at the top of and within the cloud was followed by a vertical shaft of blue light that propagated from the top of the cloud upward to 100,000 ft. "The beam was very straight and the color distinctly different from the lightning. At the top of this shaft, the column fanned out just before its disappearance. All the occurrences were identical. At least one also was witnessed by three other American pilots about 30 min. behind us on the same route." (Hammerstrom, John G.; "Mystery Lightning," Aviation Week , 139:6 , August 30, 1993. Cr. J.S . Denn and D.K . Hackett.) July 1993. From an aircraft over the American Midwest. E. Wescott and D. Sentman, employing a very sensitive camera aboard a NASA DC8, recorded 19 unusual flashes over a thunderstorm. Each flash lasted less than 1/30 second. "The scintillations are estimated to be about 25 miles tall, 6 miles wide and more than 240 cubic miles in volume, according to Eugene Wescott and Davis Sentman. "Their shapes resemble resemble jellyfish, Wescott said. 'They appear brightest where they ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 28 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf090/sf090g09.htm
