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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 36: Nov-Dec 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Whirlwind spirals in cereal fields: quintuplet formations "In 1983, as British meteorologists are well aware, Britain had one of its better summers of the century, with July proving to be the hottest in the 300-year record. At the same time, 1983 proved to be a bumper summer for the production of 'mystery spirals' (and for heat whirlwinds generally). Moreover, and entirely unexpectedly, some of the spiral formations turned out to be symmetrically complex systems in an extraordinary manner: as many as four sets in different parts of southern England were found to consist of a single circle attended by four smaller satellite ones. "The beauty of these sets of circles caught the attention of the national newspapers, and thence the imagination of the general public. The story about the manner and the sequence of several of the 1983 discoveries has been given by Ian Mrzyglod (Probe Report, vol. 4, 4-11). Here, we shall simply summarize the main facts, many of which have not been detailed before. "Set 1. Set of five circles at Bratton, Wiltshire (NGR ST 902522, below and northeast of the Westbury White Horse), consisting of one large circle (15 m diameter) and four satellites (each 4 m diameter). The distance between opposite pairs of circles was about 40 m (centre to centre)." The other three sets are very similar and ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 35: Sep-Oct 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Quick Quasar Quasar 4C29.45 threatens to make quasars even harder to understand. Quasars have always appeared to emit too much energy for their size; that is, our present knowledge of physics does not provide us with a mechanism for generating such huge energy densities. Now, quasar 4C29.45 comes along and pulsates on time scales of 30 minutes and less. These pulsations are sharp and not spread out timewise, implying that quasar 4C29.45 must be smaller than 30 light-minutes in size -- otherwise the disturbance causing the pulsation would have to travel faster than light. On the night of April 10, 1981, the situation (already bad) worsened, when brightness jumps of 0.2 magnitude occurred nearly instantaneously. Conclusion: quasar 4C29.45 may be only lightseconds in diameter, which should really by physically impossible. The anonymous author of this item ventures that: ". .. since the real nature of quasars is unknown, it is uncertain how they can or cannot behave." (Anonymous; "A Quick Quasar," Sky and Telescope, August 1984.) Comment. Perhaps we have been naive in thinking that the laws of physics determined how things can and cannot behave. Evidently these laws are not as secure as we have been led to believe! Note in passing: the quasar impasse would be easier to bridge if quasars were very close instead of as distant as their ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 35: Sep-Oct 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Infrared Atmospheric Waves When the night sky is photographed in the infrared portion of the spectrum, luminous wave-like structures appear in the upper atmosphere. The wave crests are about 50 kilometers apart; lengthwise, they stretch up to 1.000 kilometers; altitude, about 85 kilometers. As many as ten waves may be seen at the same time. Morphologically, these waves resemble noctilucent clouds, which are sun-illumined, high-altitude clouds. The infrared waves, however, appear when the sun is well below the horizon. Since these waves are seen only at low angles over the horizon, some geophysicists propose they are the result of a geometric effect produced by viewing a rippled layer of weakly emitting gases in the upper atmosphere. When one looks at this rippled layer just above the horizon, one sees alternating thick and thin sections due to the perspective. The thick portions will appear brighter than the thin sections. As for the origin of this postulated rippled layer; no one is sure. Gravity waves may be involved. (Herse, M.; "Waves in the OH Emissive Layer," Science, 225:172, 1984.) Comment. As described in our Catalog Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights. luminous atmospheric waves are, on rare occasions, visible to the naked eye. It is possible that the bandedsky phenomenon is related to the infrared waves. For more information on the book just ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 29: Sep-Oct 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Episode Of Steep Geomagnetic Inclination K.L . Verosub has reported very steep geomagnetic inclinations in 120,000- year-old sediments in California. The mean inclination in these deposits ranged from 62 to 66 . Because this episode lasted several thousand years, Verosub believes that it opens to question the interpretation of other paleomagnetic data, where it is assumed that samples represent enough time for the geomagnetic field to have averaged out to a geocentric axial dipole. (Verosub, Kenneth L.; "An Episode of Steep Geomagnetic Inclination 120,000 Years Ago," Science, 221:359, 1983.) Comment. The gist of this rather technical article is that all the scenarios of crustal plate motion may have to be modified substantially. From Science Frontiers #29, SEP-OCT 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 29: Sep-Oct 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Astronomy And Earthquakes "Large earthquakes in southern California with epicenters between 33 and 36 N have statistically significant 12 hourly, lunar fortnightly and 18.6 -yr periodicities. Smaller earthquakes in the same region do not display these periodicities. A search for tidal effects associated with these periodicities shows that large earthquakes have significant correlations with the times and orientations of daily/semi-daily tidal stresses while the lunar fortnightly terms are associated with the ocean tides along the Southern Californian coast." (Kilston, S., and Knopoff, L; "Lunar-Solar Periodicities of Large Earthquakes in Southern California," Nature, 304:21, 1983.) Comment. The literature contains many similar correlations for quakes of various sizes, for various restricted geographical areas, and for various depths. Many of these studies are summarized in our Catalog volume Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds. For more information on this book, visit: here . One tidal strain component (normalized) plotted for 20 days before and after the earthquake of June 25, 1925, showing the large fortnightly modulation of the diurnal tide. Curiously (perhaps anomalously) the quake occurred during a period of minimum strain. From Science Frontiers #29, SEP-OCT 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 30: Nov-Dec 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Cosmic Rays Not Random Conventional wisdom maintains that the cosmic rays intercepted by the earth are randomly distributed in space and time because of the smoothing action of the galactic magnetic field. But a cosmic-ray telescope buried beneath 600 meters of rock has recently detected bursts of cosmic rays emanating from specific directions. The two major sources are in the direction of the galactic north pole and the constellation Cygnus. Since the galactic magnetic field seems sufficient to randomize all charged particles during their long flights through space, pristine cosmic rays may not be charged particles at all. (Hecht, Jeff, and Torrey, Lee; "Scientists Find Sources of Cosmic Rays," New Scientist, 99:764, 1983.) Reference. The many anomalies of cosmic radiation are cataloged it: Stars, Galaxies, Cosmos. Details on this book at: here . From Science Frontiers #30, NOV-DEC 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 30: Nov-Dec 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Arctic Womb "Magnetostratigraphic correlation of Eureka Sound Formation in the Canadian High Arctic reveals profound difference between the time of appearance of fossil land plants and vertebrates in the Arctic and in mid-northern latitudes. Latest Cretaceous plant fossils in the Arctic predate mid-latitude occurrences by as much as 18 million years, while typical Eocene vertebrate fossils appear some 2 to 4 million years early." (Hickey, Leo J., et al; "Arctic Terrestrial Biota: Paleomagnetic Evidence of Age Disparity with Mid-Northern Latitudes During the Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary," Science, 221:1153, 1983.) Comment. The anomaly here is in the vision of the high Arctic lands basking in the warm sun busily evolving new life forms well in advance of their appearance in lands closer to the Equator. What happened to the earth's axial tilt. These fecund polar territories should have been engulfed in darkness almost half of the year -- hardly an environment for precocious plant evolution. Further, trees found buried in the Arc-tic muck could never have grown where found due to the long polar darkness. From Science Frontiers #30, NOV-DEC 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 31: Jan-Feb 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Are nocturnal lights earthquake lights?" Nocturnal lights reported from 1972 to 1977 by fire lookouts on the Yakima Indian Reservation, Washington, correlate with earthquake origin time, distance, magnitude, and depth within a 200 km radius of the observations. Photographs and eyewitness accounts show that the luminous phenomena (LP) near ground level appear to be spherical, are colored white to orange, and show little or no internal detail. Locations of the observations preclude explaining them as terrestrial vehicles or other human activity." This abstract continues and notes that some of the luminous displays seem to be enhanced by geomagnetic activity. (Persinger, M.A ., and Derr, J.S .; "Relations among Nocturnal Lights, Geomagnetic Activity and Earthquakes in Southern Washington," Eos, 64:762, 1983.) From Science Frontiers #31, JAN-FEB 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 31: Jan-Feb 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects At last: someone who can predict the future!Most psychics claiming to know what's ahead down the road of time draw up rather long lists of predicted events. They may score a hit or so, but their records are generally very poor. The present article records the astounding performance of Emory Royce, a New Zealander. "The whole thing is preposterous," says Richard Kammann, the author and noted skeptic. Royce made four predictions, and four only, on a radio talk show. Some of the predictions were a bit vague on details, but the overall outcome was unbelievable: all four events occurred! The predictions were Brezhnev's death (very close timewise); naval disaster in the Falklands (prediction made well before the surprise invasion by Argentina); a New Zealand political scandal; and the completely unexpected cancellation of a New Zealand aluminum factory. (Kammann, Richard; "Uncanny Prophecies in New Zealand: An Unexplained Scientific Anomaly," Zetetic Scholar, no. 11, p. 15, August 1983.) From Science Frontiers #31, JAN-FEB 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 When The Earth Shifted Gears No one really knows just how the terrestrial magnetic field is generated or why it has reversed its direction so frequently in past geological time. Per-haps there is a clue in the following correlation: "The Mesozoic-Cenozoic histories of reversals in the earth's magnetic field and of periods of widespread anoxia in the ocean basins show a remarkable correlation; periods of black-shale deposition (' anoxic events') occur during lengthy periods without magnetic reversals (' quiet periods'). My assembly of published work indicates a remote connection between quiet periods and anoxic events and suggests its form: Magnetic quiet periods coincide with fast seafloor spreading. During these periods, buoyant spreading ridges displace seawater into broad shelves, thus decreasing earth's albedo and causing global warming. Temperature gradients, and thus density gradients, from pole to equator decrease in surface waters, and the deep ocean currents of oxygenated polar waters wane. Oxygen minimum zones intensify and widen; anoxic conditions throughout entire basins are indicated by black shales deposited in the deep sea. These relations thus suggest that the earth's interior processes and its climates are related and their status recorded by both magnetic polarity and anoxic event chronologies of the earth." (Force, Eric R.; "A Relation among Geomagnetic Reversals, Seafloor Spreading Rate, Paleoclimate, and Black Shales," Eos, 65:18, 1984.) Comment ...
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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 Mental Deflection Of Cascading Spheres "9 ,000 polyethylene spheres, 3/4 " diameter, cascade downward through 360 nylon pegs to be collected in 19 bins each equipped with real-time counters and LED displays. The 'Baseline' distribution of terminal bin populations is found closely to approximate Gaussian, so that normal statistics can be applied. Operators attempt, on volition or instruction, to shift the distribution mean to the right or left of the baseline value. Results, plotted as cumulative deviations of the mean, display comparable levels of significance and similar individual 'signatures' of achievement to those obtained by the same operators on our microelectronic random event generator." (Jahn, R.G ., et al; "A Psychokinesis Experiment with a Random Mechanical Cascade," The Explorer, l:7 , November 1983.) Comment. The abstract does not come right out and say it, but some subjects do, with high degrees of statistical significance, slightly alter the cascades of falling spheres. These experiments were conducted at Princeton and constitute some of the best modern evidence for the reality of psychokinesis. From Science Frontiers #32, MAR-APR 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 38: Mar-Apr 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Who built the east bay walls?Ranging along the hills east of San Francisco Bay are long stretches of walls constructed from closely fitted basalt boulders. Some of these boulders weigh more than a ton. In some places, the walls reach five feet in height and three feet in width. They extend for miles along the hill crests from Berkeley to Milpitas and beyond. Russell Swanson, one of the few persons willing to pursue the walls in the field, estimates that all the walls strung together would run for at least 20 miles. Naturally, time and civilization have destroyed some of the walls, but what remains is most impressive. The searches of property records going back to the Gold Rush and the studies of Spanish mission records give no hints of who built the walls or why. Evidently they are centuries old, possibly prehistoric. Why would anyone build miles of walls from ponderous boulders along miles of ridge crests? They appear to serve no practical purpose. Scientists seem to show no interest in the walls. One even stated: "I don't know of anyone who's come up with a credible explanation. I think what you're getting is an indication that there isn't any academic work in it." (Burress, Charles; "Unraveling the Old Mystery of East Bay Walls," San Francisco Chronicle, December 31, 1984. Cr. R. Swanson.) Comment. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 35: Sep-Oct 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Dolphins to the rescue -- again!September 1983. Tokerau Beach, North-land, New Zealand. A pod of 80 pilot whales ran aground and were stranded by the ebbing tide. Local townspeople followed a new technique developed for aiding stranded cetaceans. They waded out, talking soothingly to the whales, and keeping their skins wet. When the tide came back in and refloated the whales, the New Zealanders turned them around and tried to guide them to deeper waters. Sometimes refloated cetaceans just turn around and reground themselves again, but this time the pilot whales were fortunate. A school of dolphins fishing offshore somehow apprehended the situation and swam into the shallows around the pilot whales. The dolphins then guided them out to sea. 76 of the pilot whales were thus saved. In a similar incident 5 years earlier at Whangarei harbor, a helicopter followed the dolphins and whales several miles out to sea, confirming interspecies aid. Such stories are reminiscent of those where drowning humans are helped by dolphins. (Anonymous; "Dolphin Pilots," Oceans, 17:50, 1984.) Reference. More instances where dolphins have come to the aid of humans are presented in BHX3 in Biological Anomalies: Humans III. Ordering information is located here . From Science Frontiers #35, SEP-OCT 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 24: Nov-Dec 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Balls Of Fire Enter Room Through Metal Screens "Thunderstorms are frequent in the Entebbe Peninsula, Lake Victoria (Uganda). During one of these storms, which usually come at night time, there was a simultaneous flash of lightning and its associated clattering crash of thunder. A second or less later, several balls of brilliant blue light, about 4-6 cm diameter, entered the room through a window on the south side and 'floated' across the room to leave by a window on the east side. My wife and I were already awake (it would have been difficult not to be) and independently exclaimed aloud on what we had just seen." Both windows were open but had metal screens. The same phenomenon occurred again during the same rainy season. (Gillett, J.D .; "Balls of Fire," Nature, 299:294, 1982.) Comment. Ball lightning is fairly rare; repeat performances are virtually unheard of. For the many other varieties of ball lightning, see Section GLB in our Catalog: Lightning, Auroras. More information on this volume is located here . From Science Frontiers #24, NOV-DEC 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 36: Nov-Dec 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Zeta not a higgs: too bad!It should have been a Higgs particle but it wasn't -- at least not quite. So they called it a "zeta." About eight times the mass of a proton, the zeta particle was created when electrons and positrons collided at about 10 Gev (gigavolts of energy), where it appeared among the decay products of the upsilon particle. Physicists needed a Higgs particle to bolster the latest theory of particles. Unfortunately, the zeta's properties don't quite match those predicted for the Higgs particle. There are similarities, but at the moment the zeta is definitely anomalous. It turns out that there is a similar anomalous particle produced by the decay of psi particles, so the zeta is not alone. (Thomsen, Dietrick E.; "Zeta Particle: Physicists' New Mystery," Science News, 126:84, 1984.) Comment. It is easy to become jaded by all the confusing particles flying around physics labs these days. But we must appreciate that physicists absolutely must find that Higgs particle. Theory says that if the Higgs doesn't exist, all other particles will have either zero or infinite masses, neither of which makes much sense. Such is the power of theoretical expectations. From Science Frontiers #36, NOV-DEC 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... galaxy (a very low-luminosity quasar) emits forbidden spectral lines that vary in intensity about every 30 minutes. It is not the "forbidden" character of the spectral likes that disturb the astronomers. (" Forbidden" simply means "improbable" in spectroscopy!) Rather, it is the half-hour variations that pose the dilemma. This is because most astronomers are convinced that the said forbidden lines are emitted by regions of the quasar that are 100-10,000 light years across. A disturbance or physical change leading to a variation in intensity, even travelling at the speed of light, could not begin to move across this huge region in half an hour. Yet, the changes in intensity seem to be there, inferring a physical change that travels perhaps a million times faster than physics permits. Variations in intensity decades long would be acceptable, but half an hour is out-of-the-question! The author of this referenced comment in Nature believes that the observational procedures employed must be at fault. (Gaskell, C. Martin; "Spectra That Defy Explanation," Nature, 304:212, 1983.) Comment. This possible anomaly is closely related to the so-called superluminal velocities also observed in quasars, in which physical effects seem to travel faster than light. Apparently something is very wrong in our model of a quasar, or our distance scale, or even our basic physics. From Science Frontiers #29, SEP-OCT 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... cabbages are and so are some philodendrons during their flowering periods. In fact, some philo-dendrons burn fat to generate their heat, just like animals. Metabolism based on fats allows some philodendrons to reach temperatures of 124 F. In terms of their rates of metabolism, they rival those of the humming birds. Further-more, philodendrons can regulate their chemical fires, whereas skunk cabbages, which burn only starch, consume all their stored energy like a rocket in one snow-melting crescendo. Why do plants generate heat? Apparently to attract pollinating insects. The hot skunk cabbage poking through the snow is the only food in sight for early spring insects, while the philodendrons may attract pollinating insects who like to bask or mate in warm places. (Blakeslee, Sandra; New York Times, August 9, 1983, p. C4. Cr. P. Gunkel) Comment. Are plants really "lower" forms of life? From Science Frontiers #30, NOV-DEC 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... eons. From this overview of manifest mass extinction emerged a puzzling and potentially profound pattern. Roughly every 26 million years over the last 250 million years, the number of extinctions jumped well above the background level. Some cyclic phenomenon seems to have been killing off life forms on a systematic basis. But no natural 26-million-year cycles are known although meteors and comets are favored causes of mass extinctions these days, they display no such cyclic period. (Simon, C.; "Pattern in Mass Extinctions," Science News, 124:212, 1983.) Comment. Instead of looking outward to astronomical catastrophism, perhaps we should look inward. The earth itself may undergo cyclic paroxysms; or life might undergo intrinsic phases of decline and rejuvenation. Periodic events in the evolutionary time scale. The 300-million-year cycle shown involves alternations between "icehouse" conditions (O ) and "greenhouse" conditions (G ). These may be due to changes in heat convention within the earth. From Science Frontiers #31, JAN-FEB 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Skinned Tectonics is arising to handle them. The present article deals with the complex stratigraphy in the Western Arbuckle Mountains in southern Oklahoma. Here are located many examples of old-on-young rock as well as completely inverted stratigraphic members. Much at-tention is paid to the evidence of sliding between beds (breccia, small overfolds, etc.). Some excellent photos of these contact planes are presented. (Phillips, Eric H.; "Gravity Slide Thrusting and Folded Faults in Western Arbuckle Mountains and Vicinity, Southern Oklahoma," American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin, 67:1363, 1983.) Comment. Some extensive thrust faults do not show as much evidence of horizontal sliding as those in the Western Arbuckles. Scientific creationists use such examples as evidence that the geological time scale, as determined by the fossil contents of the rocks, is all mixed up. From Science Frontiers #31, JAN-FEB 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... light, although these were impressive in their own right." A similar phenomenon was noted the following night, although the ship was 7 farther south. September 18, 1982. South Atlantic Ocean. From a different ship in the same area as the one above. "The altitude of the first sighting was approximately 24 , level with the planet Jupiter and offset to its right. The six subsequent bursts were above the first, and slightly to the right, leaving a fantail of purple/white lenticular clouds which leaned to the right as shown in the sketch. Although they all kept their lenticular shape, the final burst did break up, giving the appearance of being in a gaseous state. Each burst commenced as a pinprick of bright, white light expanding rapidly to at least 2 times the diameter of the sun (No. 1)...." (Anonymous; "Unidentified Phenomena," Marine Observer, 53:132, 1983.) Comment. The above observations were made aboard ships 300-400 miles off Brazil. The only event correlated with the phenomena was a meteorological rocket said to have been launched on September 18. Rocket launches do pro-vide spectacular luminous phenomena offshore from Cape Kennedy, but the above phenomena do not seem consistent with small meteorological rockets. Sequence of visual phenomena seen at sea off Brazil. From Science Frontiers #31, JAN-FEB 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 100 cm above the sea surface. The bands then changed into two rotating wheels; then a third wheel formed. All three rotated counterclockwise, with their hubs 300, 300, and 150 meters from the ship. The spokes stretched to the horizon. The display ceased for about 20 minutes and recommenced with four systems of onrushing parallel bands, which soon metamorphosed into four rotating wheels. Radar, visible light (from an Aldis lamp), and engine revolution appeared to have no effect on the spectacle. Next, evenly distributed, circular, flashing patches of brilliant blue-white light appeared all around the ship out to a distance of about 150 meters. This system of patches flashed away simultaneously the wheel display. The patches varied from 15-60 cm in diameter, and flashed 114 times per minute. When an Aldis lamp played steadily on the patches, nothing happened. When the lamp was flashed, the whole array of flashing patches disappeared, only to reappear in about 2 minutes. Each patch seemed to consist of worm-like segments 2 cm long, 2 cm apart. The worms were all aligned perpendicular to a vector from the ship. In contrast to the bands and wheels, the worms were located about 5 cm below the surface of the water. Water samples revealed no luminous organisms -- only a few animals a few millimeters long. The sea was calm, visibility excellent, although atmospheric electrical activity could be seen all around. (Kuzmanov, Zoran; "Phosphorescence in the China Sea," Marine Observer, 53:85, 1983.) ...
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... moon's moonlets The great lunar basins are not arranged randomly. They occur in bands -- not one band but several. How can this geometry be explained. One hypothetical scenario has the primitive moon surrounded by many moonlets 60 miles and larger in diameter, plying equatorial orbits that are unstable. As the moonlets' orbits decayed, some crashed into the moon's equatorial regions, blasting out a band of huge craters. The force of the impacts also caused the lunar crust to slide over the still-liquid core by as much as 90 . When the next group of moonlets crashed, they gouged out a new belt of craters and shifted the crust still more. Magnetic measurements of lunar rocks tend to confirm that the lunar crust did indeed shift by large angles -- several times. (Anonymous; "Did the Moon Have Moonlets?" Science Digest, 92:20, January 1984.) Comment. Such events could also have happened on earth, which would account for tropical-zone fossils being found at the present-day poles. From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 34: Jul-Aug 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Gathering Of Quasars The universe is supposed to be approximately uniform in all directions -- the evenly distributed smoke from the Big Bang. Halton Arp, an energetic opponent of the standard cosmological view, points out that quasars are socializing in disgracefully large numbers in one region of the sky. In the direction of the so-called Local Cluster of galaxies, between redshifts 1.2 -2 .5 , there are roughly four times as many quasars per unit volume as in the other parts of the sky. This unexpected clumping of quasars affects a region 1,3000 million light years in diameter and 4.875 million light years deep, a rather substantial chunk of the cosmos. Arp's discovery places astronomy in a no-win situation. Either the distribution of quasars is too clumpy for current theory or the redshift/distance law is wrong. Neither situation makes astronomers very happy. (Anonymous; "Quasars and Quasi Quasars," New Scientist, p. 20, May 17, 1984.) From Science Frontiers #34, JUL-AUG 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... phonetic. In contrast, other forms of writing in the ancient world, such as hieroglyphics and vowelless alphabets, are better handled by the right side of the brain. (As an aside, it is interesting that, in the modern world, Japanese and Chinese are better processed by the right side of the brain, while the phonetic representations of language, such as English, are handled better sinistrally.) Back in Ancient Greece, the new alphabet shifted language activities to the left side of the brain. According to J.R . Skoyles, this "unlocked" left-brain competences that had previously been analogous right-brain competences. The newly liberated competences involved rational, analytical, and logical faculties. Thus from the addition of a few vowels sprang Ancient Greece and, in time, modern civilization. (Another aside: Each side of the brain seems to have the potential for performing all necessary functions, but the left side is better at some than the right, and vice versa. Sometimes one side produces better answers than the other. Skoyle's point is that the Greek invention of a phonetic language unlocked or made dominant the left side with its superior civilizing capabilities! (Skoyles, John R.; "Alphabet and the Western Mind," Nature, 309:409, 1984.) Comment. There is still a question of whether "rational, logical" thought is good for the survival of a species. See the later comment on marsupial pouches. From Science Frontiers #35, SEP-OCT 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. ...
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... in North America as far as Sasquatch evidence is concerned. Summarizing recent sightings, the Wild Man is a bipedal creature, seven-feet-plus in height, usually covered with reddish hair, possessing human features, with no tail, having the ability to laugh and cry, capable of weaving bamboo sleeping couches, and with no fear of fire. The Wild Man eats fruit and small animals, but has also been known to steal small pigs and corn from farmers. An anecdote from the 1940s: a band of hunters killed a Wild Man with a machine gun and cooked it in a pot. The taste was so foul that no one would eat it! (Wren, Christopher S.; "On the Trail of the 'Wild Man' of China," New York Times, June 5, 1984, p. C1. Cr. P. Gunkel) From Science Frontiers #35, SEP-OCT 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... drift. The earth's core, which through dynamo action reputedly generates the magnetic field we detect at the surface, apparently does not keep pace with the outer crust. It is this sluggishness that produces the observed westward drift of the magnetic field of about 1 meter per hour. While most geophysicists acknowledge that something significant happened to the core in 1969, the geographical extent of the "jerk" is unclear. The acceleration of the field was clearcut in Europe but obscure or undetectable over much of North America. If the jerk was geographically limited, the core perturbation probably was, too. The earth's core may, in fact, eddy and swirl like the planet's atmosphere. Going over past records, geophysicists think they have spotted another jerk in 1912; only that time the field decelerated. (Kerr, Richard A.; "Magnetic 'Jerk" Gaining Wider Acceptance," Science, 225:1135, 1984.) From Science Frontiers #36, NOV-DEC 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Sourcebook Subjects Parasites may reprogram host's cell The long, segmented filament shown in the illustration consists of the cells of a parasite that preys on the cells of red algae. Two such cells abut the parasitic filament. The small black circles are parasitic cell nuclei which, when confronted with a red alga cell, become wrapped in small "conjuctor cells" which are then somehow transferred to the host cell on the right. The actual transfer involves the formation on the host cell wall of a sort of dimple called a "secondary pit connection." (Why this forms is not known.) Once inside the host cell, the parasite nucleus and/or the cytoplasm transferred with it dramatically reprograms host cell operations. The host cell shifts into highgear food production, enlarging up to twenty times its normal size. The host cell wall thickens, its nuclei (large black circles) and chloroplasts multiply. Adjacent cells (left) remain unaffected. (Lewin, Roger; "New Regulatory Mechanism of Parasitism," Science, 226:427, 1984.) Comment. It is one thing for external stresses to stimulate cell reprogramming, but quite another when another species inserts its programs into those of the host. Is this another way of producing "hopeful monsters?" A parasitic filament growing between host cells, showing how parasite nuclei are first enclosed in bud-like conjunctor cells and then inserted into the host cell. From Science Frontiers #37, JAN-FEB 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... quasars are so peculiar that they can generate redshifts of unknown origin, this position becomes difficult to maintain for companion galaxies that otherwise look perfectly ordinary." H. Arp and G. Burbidge, chief among those ordered to recant, are not convinced. Arp points to many cases where bridges of luminous material connect high-redshift quasars with low redshift galaxies. Also, the clustering of quasars around nearby galaxies supports the nearness of quasars. As Burbidge has observed, if: ". .. just one large redshift is not due to the universal expansion, Pandora's box is open. Much of our currently claimed knowledge of the extragalactic universe would be at risk, as would a number of scientific reputations." Indeed, reputations are on the line as are scientific ethics. Telescope time has been cut off from those supporting noncosmological redshifts. The papers written by scientists who haven't recanted are held up, refereed forever, and rejected. Come to think of it, the theological overtones of the call for "recantation" fit the redshift situation very well. (Anonymous; "Companion Galaxies Match Quasar Redshifts: The Debate Goes On," Physics Today, 37:17, December 1984.) Reference. The "redshift controversy is discussed in more detail in our Stars, Galaxies, Cosmos. To order, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #38, MAR-APR 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Evidence For A Giant Pleistocene Sea Wave On the Hawaiian island of Lanai, limestone-bearing gravel blankets the coastal slopes. Called the Hulopoe Gravel, it now reaches a height of 326 meters above sea level. Taking into account the 1000,000-year age of the gravel and the slow subsidence of the Hawaiian Islands, the deposit probably reached 380 meters when it was first formed. The big question is how it got deposited at such great heights. Highsea stands are rejected by the authors in favor of a single episode of catastrophic waves about 100,000 years ago. Earthquake-generated tidal waves are considered unlikely because of the great heights involved. (The highest tsunami ever recorded in historical times reach ed only 17 meters above sea level.) A great meteor impact or submarine volcanic explosion are good possibilities, but the authors favor a giant submarine landslide on the Hawaiian Ridge, noting that in 1958 a similar event off Alaska produced a wave that reached 524 meters above sea level. (Moore, James G., and Moore, George W.; "Deposit from a Giant Wave on the Island of Lanai, Hawaii, Science, 226:1312, 1984.) From Science Frontiers #37, JAN-FEB 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 24: Nov-Dec 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mysterious "thing" in orbit around saturn When the two Voyager spacecraft flew past Saturn, both detected strong bursts of radio emissions recurring every 10 hours, 10 minutes. New termed SEDs (Saturn Electrostatic Discharges), the period of these bursts would be matched by the period of an object rotating around Saturn at a distance of about 100,000 kilometers. Is there anything visible at this distance? Sure enough, Voyager optical instrumentation detected a thinning, possibly an actual gap, about 150 meters wide, in the B-ring at this radius. The big puzzle is why a thinness or gap is maintained over a long period of time and how it is associated with the SEDs. (Evans, D.R ., et al; "The Source of Saturn Electrostatic Discharges," Nature, 299:236, 1982.) Comment. Could Saturn and its rings, which may be electrically charged, be some sort of electromagnetic machine, with arcing occurring at the gap? Reference. SEDs are cataloged at ARF1 in our book: The Moon and the Planets. Ordering information here . From Science Frontiers #24, NOV-DEC 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 26: Mar-Apr 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Lizardless Thrashing Tails It is common knowledge that many lizards lose their tails when attacked by a predator. In some lizard species, the released tail is a live thing, thrashing violently, and deluding the predator into thinking he has caught the real animal. Predators, even if not completely fooled by the struggling tail, are diverted into subduing it, giving the lizard time to escape. The detached tails contain their own autonomous nervous system and energy supply. (Dial, Benjamin E., and Fitzpatrick, Lloyd C.; "Lizard Tail Autonomy,..." Science, 219:391, 1983.) Comment. Once again we have a biological system requiring several simultaneous evolutionary developments to be successful. Such complex biological evolution in response to predator-prey feedback is indeed marvelous. From Science Frontiers #26, MAR-APR 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... . 26: Mar-Apr 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Earthquake And Subterranean Fire 1738. Month and day are unknown. Pecs, 46 06' N, 18 15' E.I = 7.5 - 8 . A very mysterious event was observed. Near Pecs, a black cliff named Szennyes (= dirty or filthy) belched forth fire during three days, accompanied by an earthquake that was strongly felt in the town of Pecs. After this shock fires were also seen on many occasions from the cliff. Naturally it was not a volcanic manifestation. The nature of this particular event is perfectly obscure. (Note by the author, P.H . "An earthquake light is improbable because of the long time during which the phenomenon was see." (Hedervari, Peter; "Unusual Phenomena Associated with Earthquakes within the Carpathian Basins," Compilation from personal files, 1983.) Comment. Compare this phenomenon with the detonations and flashes from Old Hannah's Cave, Staffordshire, England, as reported in SF#22. From Science Frontiers #26, MAR-APR 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... physically connected galaxies with wildly different redshifts suggest that some of the disparities in redshifts may actually be due to the related objects flying apart from each other. In the illustration, the small companion might have been "shot out" of its parent galaxy at high velocity by some unappreciated galactic gun. (Arp, Halton C.; "Related Galaxies with Different Redshifts?" Sky and Telescope, 65:307, 1983.) Comment. Left unsaid in Arp's article is the possibility that redshifts are not good measures of distance. If they are not, doubt is cast on the Theory of the Expanding Universe and the reality of the Big Bang itself. Some astronomers, according to news items in scientific publications, have heard enough about discordant redshifts and would rather see scarce telescope time used for other types of work! Reference. Anomalous quasar redshifts are cataloged at AQF2 in Stars, Galaxies, Cosmos. For details on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #27, MAY-JUN 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... the Big Bang hypothesis for the creation of the universe. The reasons are several: The observed universe is extremely homogeneous, even though theory says that distant parts of the universe could never have been causally connected; No satisfactory explanation exists for the density fluctuations that had to occur for galaxies to be formed; and The universe seems to be flat, not curved, and the Big Bang does not explain why. Paul Steinhardt and Andreas Al-brecht, at the University of Pennsylvania, have developed a radically different Big Bang -- a two-stage one, with hot and super-cooled states. The three objections listed above are neatly disposed of in the new version, but at the cost of a radically new view of the cosmos. The "new" universe is about 10100 times as big as the 12 billion light years assigned to the cozy universe we used to know -- and it is presumably correspondingly older. This means that the portion of the cosmos we see is only a negligible fraction of the whole -- a fraction that just happens to be homogeneous. Somewhere, way out beyond the farthest quasar, things could be -- well -- different! (Anonymous; "A Bigger, Better Big Bang," Astronomy, 11:62, February 1983.) Reference. Our Catalog volume Stars, Galaxies, Cosmos brims with challenges to the Big Bang. For details on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #28, JUL-AUG 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 31: Jan-Feb 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects An orphan superluminal glob?Radioastronomical observations of quasar 3C345 have picked out a glob of material that seems to be travelling at between 13 and 17 times the velocity of light. (Such "superluminal" speeds may be apparent and not physically real.) This speedy mass of material is not moving radially away from 3C345 and even seems to be accelerating! Although this glob may have been ejected from 3C345 and followed a curved path, its present path may imply a different origin. (Moore, R.L ., et al; "Superluminal Acceleration in 3C345," Nature, 306:44, 1983.) Comment. We classify superluminal velocities as anomalous until their real nature is established. But here we have the added anomalies of acceleration and a possible extra-quasar origin. From Science Frontiers #31, JAN-FEB 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... until the following morning when taking my dog for a walk. Then I saw two large circles, about 25 feet (7 .6 metres) in diameter, of flattened barley in a nearby field. A neighbor who lives on the north side of the ridge had also heard the roaring noise but could find no cause for it. I wondered if we had heard some part of an aircraft or satellite, or even a small meteor, coming down and, with the local farmer, we investigated the circles, but found no debris at all -- just flattened barley. The farmer said that sometimes growing conditions made barley collapse at its base, though he could not understand the almost perfect circle." Further investigation turned up people who had seen a whirlwind in the area at the time. (Anonymous; "Mystery Spirals in Cerealfields," Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., 8:216, 1983.) Comment. UFO enthusiasts usually attribute such circles of flattened crops to flying saucers, but apparently whirlwinds are adequate explanations. However, the noise and action of the reputed whirlwind force us to categorize it with the explosive onset of other whirlwinds, as described in GWW1 of Tornados, Dark Days, Anomalous Pre cipitation. For more information on this Catalog, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #31, JAN-FEB 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... discovered at a petroglyph site in south central Alabama. This stone has an apparent jumble of scratches or grooves on two faces, which one might easily ascribe to plows. Barry Fell, however, considers them obvious Iberic letters. His translation of the Arabic: Top: A vegetable garden. Cession of land, a conveyance of property. Side: Cession of land, a conveyance of property. (Henson, B. Bart, and Fell, Barry; "Inscribed Rocks in South Central Alabama," Epigraphic Society, Occasional Publications, 11:235, no. 274, 1983.) Comment. The large number of North American sites with enigmatic marks documented by the Epigraphic Society elicits several questions: Are the sites and artifacts genuine? In view of the large number discovered at various times, in various places, by different people; some would certainly seem to be legitimate. Are the markings really ancient Ogam, Libyan, and similar brands of old writing? Admittedly, some grooves and scratches on small stones may have been created by random processes, but others, like the extensive series in West Virginia reported in SF#27, must be manmade. Comparisons with similar Old World inscriptions suggest that again the answer must be "yes." Were there really ancient Celts, Romans, Arabs, Egyptians, and other peoples in North America well before Columbus? The large number of old inscriptions would argue for a "yes," but one must also wonder what these old explorers or colonists did except carve symbols on rocks. Where are the expected artifacts, such as ...
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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 The Oklo Phenomenon And Evolution A decade ago, French scientists discovered the remains of a natural nuclear reactor at Oklo, Gabon, in Africa. Somehow nature had concentrated enough uranium-235 in one place to start a chain reaction, with the attendant production of heat and radiation. Now U-235 is radioactive, and there is now much less around than in past geological eras. This has led some scientists to speculate that many more Okla phenomena may have flamed momentarily in earlier times, especially Precambrian days. The mutagenic radiation from such natural reactors could have been a major driving force in evolution. (Anonymous; "Natural Reactors Helped Evolution," New Scientist, 100:737, 1983.) Reference. For details on the Oklo Phenomenon, see category ESP13 in our Anomalies in Geology. For a description of this Catalog, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #32, MAR-APR 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... demonstrates that the Universe has many more ways to be nasty than previously discussed. Indeed, the only hypotheses proposed which appear to be wholly consistent with observation and with non-exclusivity -- 'Deadly Probes' and 'Ecological Holocaust' -- are depressing to consider. "Still, while the author does not accept that elder species will necessarily be wiser than contemporary humanity, such noble races might have appeared. If such a culture lived long, and retained much of its vigor of youth, it might have instilled a tradition of respect for the hidden potential of life in subsequent space-faring species. "It might turn out that the Great Silence is like that of a child's nursery, wherein adults speak softly, lest they disturb the infant's extravagant and colourful time of dreaming." (Brin, Glen David; "The 'Great Silence,' The Controversy Concerning Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life," Royal Astronomical Society, Quarterly Journal, 24:283, 1983.) Comment. It would be unrealistic not to expect an editorial comment after this article, perhaps to the point that any really intelligent entities would consider rocketry and physical space travel as crude and demeaning. Fred Hoyle may have been closer to the mark in seeing in life, its forward development and unplumbed potentials (mental calculation) proof positive of intelligent entities "out there." From Science Frontiers #32, MAR-APR 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... The gist of the tool-mark analysis is that humans got to the animals second -- after the non-human carnivores. In other words, ancient humans were probably meat scavengers -- opportunists rather than the noble hunters often portrayed. As a matter of fact, one characteristic of a scavenger species is its ability to cover wide areas with little expenditure of energy, like the vultures. Now, human bipedalism is pitifully poor for running down game but great for searching far and wide with minimum physical effort. Tooth-wear studies of ancient human skulls indicate that humans were vegetarians first and meat-eaters second. This situation was suddenly reversed when Homo erectus came along. Then, according to toothwear patterns, there was a shift to a mainly meat diet. This was also the time when human territory expanded greatly geographically. The reason for these changes is unknown. (Lewin, Roger; "Man the Scavenger," Science, 224:861, 1984.) From Science Frontiers #35, SEP-OCT 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 35: Sep-Oct 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Caenorhabditis Elegans The creature with this formidable name is only about a millimeter long and develops from egg to adult in about 3.5 days, at which time it possesses about 1,000 somatic cells. C. elegans is a roundworm, but a famous one. Its growth has been followed on a cell-bycell basis from egg to adult. The history of each cell is known from birth to death. The fact that C.elegans is nicely transparent helps the cell-watcher. Here are some of the interesting things to be seen as cells proliferate, live, and die. First, C. elegans is bilaterally symmetrical, but the pattern of cell generation on the right differs from that on the left. Nevertheless, the creature ends up symmetrical, making one wonder where the directions for symmetry come from. Some cells are transients, dying when their jobs are done. A few doomed cells are generated only because they produce sister cells that are needed in the final animal. Such a programmed loss of cells may be a method of modifying an organism during evolution. John Sulston, one of the researchers, says, "Within the lineage you can see the fossil of its past." (Marx, Jean L.; "Caenorhabditis Elegans: Getting to Know You," Science, 225:40, 1984.) Comment. Sulston's statement reminds one of "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny," ...
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... have also picked up unidentified objects in the sky. These anomalies might all be explained by the existence of a large, dark planet with several moons -- or, if the mystery object turns out to be very far away, by a very large, dark stellar companion of our sun with its own system of planets. Several astronomers have been trying to pin down the properties of this Planet X or Massive Solar Companion (MSC). John P. Bagby has recently published a novel solution to this nagging puzzle in celestial mechanics. He suggests that the Massive Solar Companion is actually a distributed system; that is, appreciable mass also occupies the several stable Lagrangian points. The total MSC mass might be as much as half the sun's mass, perhaps 100 Astronomical Units (100 times the earth's distance from the sun.) If the MSC and its attendants are this massive, astronomers will have to revise the mass and density of the sun downward by a good bit. (What they have done in the past is estimate the mass of the solar system as a whole and assumed it mostly resides in the sun.) This would require a large change in our model of the sun and its system of planets. (Bagby, John P.; "Evidence for a Tenth Planet or Massive Stellar Companion Beyond Uranus," paper given at the Tomorrow Starts Here Conference, September 1982.) Reference. Our Catalog: The Sun and Solar System Debris contains an entire section on Planet X. Ordering information at: here . From Science Frontiers #25 ...
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... embryonic development). Again and again, they ask why order persists on increasing when the Second Law of Thermodynamics seems to demand more disorder. Throughout the article, the Tuckers employ the card-shuffling analogy. If nature is shuffling the cards of the universe, why are so many royal flushes being dealt? They introduce the works of Ilya Prigogine and others which focus on chemical situations (the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reactions), where reaction by-products actually make the reaction more likely and in which large, stable spiral and ring-shaped structures appear spontaneously. At the macroscopic level, shock waves from supernovas can (at least in computer models) stimulate the formation of spiral arms in galaxies. The article concludes with a quote from astronomer David Layzer: "The universe is unfolding in time but not unraveling; on the contrary, it is becoming constantly more complex and richer in formation." (Tucker, Wallace, and Tucker, Karen; "Against All Odds: Matter and Evolution in the Universe," Astronomy, September 1984.) Comment. Now Layzer's statement seems a clear denial of the Second Law. It says, rather, that there is something intrinsic in the universe that creates order (spiral galaxies, amino acids, humans). We don't explain this tendency (assuming it really exists) just by identifying Belousov-Zhabotinsky reactions and saying, "That's the way things are." We can go one step further and say that the fundamental particles of physics have just the right properties so that they fall together into ...
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... memories to handle. If the portion of the brain dedicated to speech were damaged, as in a stroke, it could never repair itself. This dogma is now being challenged. A pertinent line of brain research is now underway at the Coleman Laboratory of the University of California in San Francisco, where Michael Merzenich and his associates are studying the brains of monkeys. "Merzenich's findings challenge a prevailing notion that most sensory pathways in the nervous system are 'fixed' or 'hardwired' by the maturation of anatomic connections, either just before or soon after birth. They also address the puzzling question of what forces may be at work when stroke victims partly recover. Do 'redundant copies' of skills exist outside the damaged regions, or is physical damage within the brain repaired over time? Or can old skills be newly established in different, undamaged brain regions." Apparently the brain should really be compared with a reprogrammable computer. Perhaps the brain even stores duplicates of critical "programs"; i.e ., skills. Merzenich's findings go even farther. He finds that the parts of the brain associated with certain skills or data processing move and change shape spontaneously. The brain, it seems, continually reorganizes itself. Fading fast is the idea that each data point is recorded in a specific cell or neuron interconnection. (Fox, Jeffrey L.; "The Brain's Dynamic Way of Keeping in Touch,: Science, 225:820; 1984.) From Science Frontiers #36, NOV-DEC 1984 . 1984-2000 William ...
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... a lava flow, which has a radioisotope date of 9 million years. Thus, in the last 9 million years not only has the entire gorge of the Grand Canyon been cut but also a much greater volume of rock 300 meters thick adjacent to the present north and south rims. The immensity of the volume of sediment removed is not the real issue. The first problem emerges downstream from Red Butte at Pierce Ferry. There we find 200 meters of Hualapai limestone, which has been dated at 8.7 million years from a thin layer of volcanic ash within the limestone. When this limestone was laid down, the geology is emphatic that no large, sediment-carrying river was in the vicinity. Most geologists agree that the lower end of the Grand Canyon was not active around this time. No one knows where the Col-orado River was flowing at this period. Some say southwest from Peach Springs; others point to a northwest route into Utah. All the likely alternate routes face serious geological obstacles such as lava barriers. What does seem certain is that the stock explanation of the formation of the Grand Canyon is incorrect. It was not steadily ground out, cutting everdeeper as the whole region was slowly elevated. Actually, geologists believe that the region stopped rising over 50 million years ago. Where, then, did the sediments from a 450-kilometer canyon and the wide areas surrounding its rims go? The present exit of the Colorado near Pierce Ferry was blocked until fairly recently while the Hualapai limestone was being deposited; and other routes don't look too ...
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... the inclusive club of fully accepted geophysicists in their unknown thousands, one must kneel on the hassock and swear allegiance to the following tenets regardless of any scientific considerations: "Tenet 1. That the moment-of-inertia of the Earth has never changed. "Tenet 2. That the Earth contains a large central core composed of iron. "Tenet 3. That the continents are drifting as a result of unknown forces. "These must be held with religious fervour, dissenters are just not to be tolerated, the devotees feeling it their right, and indeed duty, to defend the creed against all criticism by any means of chicanery and of sharp-practice within their power, however crude and improper, so long as they judge they can get away with it, but all the time representing themselves to the world as acting with judicial calm in the best interests of their science. It will be shown that all three of these tenets are wrong, and how their (naive) acceptance has hamstrung the believers from making progress in the deep waters of terrestrial science, though not of course in the worldly world of 'modern science.' Shades of Sir Cyril Burt." So begins a long technical article by R.A . Lyttleton, author of many scientific books and papers. (He may lose his union card after this paper!) Lyttleton proceeds to demonstrate the incorrectness of the first two tenets above. Lyttleton's reasoning is buttressed by many scientific observations and so much quantitative reasoning that it is impossible to encapsulate it all here. Suffice it to say ...
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... Jun 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Current Anomalous El Nino Bad spring weather? It's the El Nino. El Nino is the name given the annual movement of warm water southward along the western coast of South America. Every few years (range 2-10 years, average about 3 years) this current penetrates much farther south, devastating the fishing industry. Usually the catastrophic El Ninos begin in the eastern Pacific and work westward. The current El Nino is out of phase somehow, beginning in the western Pacific and moving east. (The current extreme drought in Australia is part of this phenomenon.) The more powerful El Ninos are usually associated with severe winters in North America; the opposite is true this time. Obviously, something is amiss with the current El Nino. (Philander, S.G .H .; "El Nino Southern Oscillation Phenomena," Nature, 302:295, 1983.) Reference. Anomalous El Ninos are cataloged at GHT4 in Earthquakes, Tides. This book is described here . From Science Frontiers #27, MAY-JUN 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... the longest and shortest days of the year.) The earth's tilt or obliquity-of-the-ecliptic may also be calculated from gnomon data -- and therein lies the anomaly. The tilt of the earth's axis is supposed to vary cyclically between 22 and 24.5 over a period of some 40,000 years due to the pulls of the moon, the sun, and the planets on the earth's equatorial bulge... Tilt angles computed from ancient gnomon observations deviate markedly from the theoretical curve. The alignment of the ancient Egyptian temple at Karnak and other oriented sites extend the deviation toward the date 2345 B.C . Either the ancient observations were systematically in error all over the world or the earth's tilt angle changed in historical times. (Bowden, M.; "The Recent Change in the Tilt of the Earth's Axis," Pamphlet No. 236, July 1983. Creation Science Movement.) Comment. One would think that such startling data, compiled by a recognized astronomer, would be the subject of in-tense study in archeoastronomical circles; instead, it is an English creationst tract that discusses the subject. Earth's tilt vs millenia from theory and ancient alignments. (Stockwell's formula) From Science Frontiers #30, NOV-DEC 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 36: Nov-Dec 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects More Mysterious Hums Summer 1984. Aldershot, England. Several occurrences of unidentified, loud humming. "The 'indescribable' sounds, which lasted about 20 minutes on each occasion, seemed to cut through the atmosphere, filling the air with a loud humming. Witnesses who wrote to the 'News' telling of their experience, were woken up by the mysterious noise which began suddenly and ended just as abruptly. The latest set of sounds were heard last month in the early hours but the same noises have been noted many times before over the past few years." (Anonymous; "Mystery Noises Baffle Readers," Aldershot (England) The News, July 27, 1984. Cr. L. Farish and T. Good) Reference. Hums are cataloged in Chapter GSH in our book: Earthquakes, Tides, Anomalous Sounds. To order, visit: here . Comment. Southern England, particularly the Bristol region, seems to be frequently afflicted with episodes of steady and transitory hums. Despite considerable searching, no sources have been uncovered. From Science Frontiers #36, NOV-DEC 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 22: Jul-Aug 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Herbert Ives And The Ether Herbert Ives was a top scientist at Bell Laboratories who performed some largely forgotten experiments on relativity and space-time a few decades ago. His experimental prowess and reputation were so good that his work on relativity was published in great detail in the Journal of the Optical Society of America. Ives would have had a more difficult time getting his results published today, for he showed quite clearly that Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity did not correspond to lab results. At the time, such results were not so shocking. Indeed, some philosophers had shown that Special Relativity led to undesirable paradoxes, and experiments by Sagnac and Michelson/Gale had cast additional doubt on this aspect of Relativity. Such experiments by Ives and other key scientists suggested that an ether actually did exist and that it could serve as an absolute reference frame. Another implication was that time was an independent entity unaffected by motion and that the infamous Twin Paradox was a fiction. Ives himself believed his work proved that so-called relativistic effects could be easily explained by phenomena appealing more to the common sense, such as the change of a light source's frequency with motion (over and above the Doppler Effect), rather than revamping space-time concepts. In short, Ives thought he had proved Special Relativity untenable experimentally and an un-necessary distortion of science's worldview. (Barnes, Thomas G., and ...
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