97 results found.
... world-famous monument. oThe construction of Stonehenge began a bit earlier than previously thought: 2950 50 BC. But beneath the present parking area are post holes dated 4,000 years earlier! They are apparently not related to the Stonehenge we know. oThe idea that Stonehenge's bluestones, which originated in the Preseli Mountains of southwest Wales, 200 kilometers distant, were carried to Salisbury Plain by glaciers has been emphatically disproved by geologists. These 4-ton stones were transported by people! This great effort required precocious social organization, communication, and some kind of psychological impetus. oThe sarsens -- those even bigger stones that define Stonehenge in our mind's view -- evoke the same sorts of questions as this issue's eccentric flints: Why? and How? Ruggles writes: "Why it was important to bring stones from so far away is an open question, as is the issue of how people achieved the almost unimaginable feat of hauling the sarsens, weighing 25 tonnes or more, over 30 km from the Marlborough Downs in the north." oNew studies of the other ancient monuments in the vicinity of Stonehenge have revealed that they were not placed at random. Many are visible from Stonehenge. Stonehenge is at the center of a number of "nested bowls." [? ] Further, barrows of the Early Bronze Age were placed in lines along the horizon ridges visible from Stonehenge. There was obvious regional planning -- a master plan that we have not yet deciphered. oIt is now generally accepted that astronomical alignments do exist at Stonehenge, and ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 106: Jul-Aug 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A SAGA OF SOOT: PART II Shortly after Hyakutake's X-rays were announced, a fourth theory of origin was put forth by acknowledged heretics C. Wickramasinghe and F. Hoyle. Comet Hyakutake, they said, was not emitting X-rays itself. Instead, solar X-rays were mirrored in earth's direction by a cloud of very tiny carbon-containing particles released by the comet. Electrons in these nanometer-sized particles acted as if they were free electrons, and these are excellent scatterers of X-rays. Anyone familiar with the writings of Hoyle and Wickramasinghe can guess what these nanometer-sized particles might be: viruses, of course! Said Wickramasinghe: "It all fits in the the idea that there are real viruses in comets and that comets are the agents by which life is brought to planets." (Chown, Marcus; "Do X-ray Comets Shed Carbon?" New Scientist, p. 19, May 11, 1996) From Science Frontiers #106, JUL-AUG 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 130: JUL-AUG 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Midi-Chlorians are with Us!Whoops! We meant to write "mitochondria" in that title. In the movie Star Wars, Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn explains the origin of the supernatural powers possessed by Jedi knights. It arises, he says, from microscopic lifeforms called chlorians" that dwell within all living cells and reveal the will of the Force. Mitochondria are popularly seen as mere powerhouses within cells, with little influence on the organisms they inhabit. They are, it is believed, just the distant progeny of bacteria that invaded complex cells hundreds of millions of years ago. With only 37 genes in their arsenal, human mitochondria would not seem to pose any threat to humanity. After all, we have about 100,000 genes per cell. Of course, mitochondria do evolve separately from us, and this is a bit disconcerting. Could they be more than mere symbionts? The midi-chlorians of the Jedi knights were "good guys", but our mitochondria sometimes seem to be working for an insidious alien Force. There is good evidence that they: Selected which of your mother's germ cells matured to produce you; Have decided your odds of living to be 100; and May influence your being afflicted with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's , as well as rarer disorders. The first item (or "force") is the most ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 137: SEP-OCT 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Fuzz In The Climate Record Climatologists have bet heavily on their analysis of cores extracted from the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. Their trace impurities are believed to accurately record the earth's climate over the last several hundred thousand years. The temporal accuracy of this record is based upon the assumption that these impurities have not migrated vertically from where they were deposited. This assumption is now under severe stress with the discovery of anomalous diffusion within ice plus a phase phenomenon called "premelting," both of which result in the transport of the climate-marking impurities far from their original layer of deposition. A.W . Rempel et al write below (in the jargon of climatologists): .. .under conditions that resemble those encountered in the Eemian interglacial ice of central Greenland (from about 125,000 to 115,000 years ago---impurity fluctuations may be separated from ice of the same age by as much as 50 cm. This distance is comparable to the ice thickness of the contested sudden cooling events in the Eemian ice from the GRIP core. Translation: The accepted picture of the earth's climate history over the last few hundred thousand years may be seriously distorted. (Rempel, A.W ., et al; "Possible Displacement of the Climate Signal in Ancient Ice by Premelting and Anomalous Diffusion," Nature, 411:568, 2001.) Comment. This discovery could impact ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 135: MAY-JUN 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Most Mysterious Manuscript Forget the Kensington Stone and Easter Island's "talking boards," the so-called Voynich Manuscript is claimed to be the most mysterious writing on the planet. This 234-page, handwritten, parchment-book is in a class by itself. One's attention is first caught by page after page of truly strange depictions of plants, astronomical maps, and even crude human figures. Then, there's the boldly written script that annotates the drawings -- copiously on occasion. Superficially the Voynich Manuscript looks like a medieval herbarium combined with an astronomer's musings. The words look as if you could read them easily, but you cannot. No one has been able to, except for the interpretation of a few plant labels. The words represent no known language, yet statistical tests confirm that a real language was used. "Real" but uncrackable after much labor by leading cryptographers. The plants look like species you might find in your backyard and nearby fields. Botanists, though, assure us that most do not exist in nature. The copious plant labels in that unreadable language are of no help. Astronomical drawings and zodiacs fill some pages. Hope rises when we see a zodiac beginning with Pisces but fades when Scorpius turns out to be a lizard. Cancer is represented by two lobsters; Gemini by a man and woman. Superficially, the manuscript seems so readable and ...
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... in no case will the injuries prove fatal. (Signed: Warner Cowgill, U.S . Consulate, Maracaibo, Venezuela, November 17, 1886.) (Cowgill, Warner; "Curious Phenomenonin Venezuala, Scientific American, 55:389, 1886.) The article in Infinite Energy discusses in some depth the reality of ball lightning, the similarities to modern UFO reports, the reliability of anecdotes, and, especially, the nature of the physiological effects, which resemble, in some aspects, radiation sickness resulting from exposure to intense X-rays or nuclear devices. It is also interesting that this anecdote, long-consigned to "fringe" publications, has now been resurrected in digital form by Scientific American, which is an establishment publication if there ever was one. Kaswell writes to this point as follows: My purpose was (in part) to show that mainstream scientists in main-stream publications like Scientific American evaluate the largely anecdotal evidence for the relatively non-controversial ball lightning by a different and more lenient standard than that they reserve for the highly controversial UFO reports. The Maracaibo case illustrates this beautifully, precisely because the report has aspects similar to both phenomena. (Kaswell, Gordon David; "Phenomenon in Venezuela: A Documented Case of Unexplained Radiation Exposure," Infinite Energy, 6:33, no. 32, 2000. Journal address: P.O . Box 2816, Concord, NH 03302-2816.) Comment. The conversion of science archives to digital form so that they can be accessed on the Web is shallow time- ...
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... Each underwent a crisis of vocation and religious out-look, and in both instances the critical event was a single episode that could be characterized as convulsive. Saul became the apostle Paul. His blinding conversion on the road to Damascus transformed the zealous advocate of Jewish tradition into the equally persevering Christian preacher and martyr. Swedenborg's conversion occurred at age 56, in 1744, when he was troubled by dreams, heard strong winds, felt a powerful trembling, and was thrown from his bed. During the following weeks his sense of contrition and desire for righteousness approximated the spirit of penthos described by orthodox contemplatives. Subsequently, he discovered his visionary ability to communicate with spirits and devoted his remaining days to visiting the spirit world where he gathered information sufficient to establish a new religion and to write the several books composing the Arcana Coelestia. After analyzing Swedenborg's visions and trance states, D.T . Bradford suggests that he only had had a "vascular .anomaly in the posterior area of the left cerebral hemisphere." (Bradford, David T.; "Neuropsychology of Swedenborg's Visions," Perceptual and Motor Skills, 88:377, 1999.) Comment. Must we accept that all epiphanies, revelations, and transcendental experiences are pathological? Strokes of genius will be next! Normality is very, very important. From Science Frontiers #130, JUL-AUG 2000 . 2000 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, ...
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... shocks followed. During this spate of tremors, 38 unusual luminosities were initially reported from the region, 8 of them before the foreshock, being in effect earthquake precursors. Afterwards, residents were queried for details and additional observations. A total of 46 reports sufficiently detailed for analysis were obtained. These luminous phenomena were classified according to a scheme proposed by F. Montandon in 1948. Montandon's five categories are: Seismic lightning (no thunder); Luminous bands in atmosphere; Globular incandescent masses; Fire tongues, small mobile flames near the ground, like will-o '- the wisps; and Flames emerging from the ground. The globular incandescent masses were by far the most common type of earthquake light during this Canadian "flap." Of these, F. St-Laurent writes: There were twenty-two reports coming from different places. Often they were seen far from the epicenter or when the seismic activity was low or quiet. Some were stationary (in one case, the yellow and orange mass presented a horizontal elongated form), others were seen emerging from the ground, some were very fast-moving near the ground, one was seen attached to a luminous band -- all as described by Montandon. (St-Laurent, F.; "The Saguenay, Quebec, Earthquake Lights of November 1988-January 1989," Seismological Research Letters, 71:160, 2000. Cr. J. Derr) From Science Frontiers #130, JUL-AUG 2000 . 2000 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy ...
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... relativity and quantum mechanics. This new theory of evolution -- his "third" way -- will emerge from the convergence of biology and information science. Genomes, asserts Shapiro, are not really the static "beads on a string" envisioned by the Darwinians. Rather, they are fluid and complex. Genes are now seen as multipurpose elements that turn on and off as required for the survival and well-being of the organism they belong to. In this paradigm-eroding paper (referenced below), Shapiro describes four categories of molecular discoveries that have revised our thinking about how evolution works: (1 ) Genome Organization; (2 ) Cellular-Repair Capabilities; (3 ) Mobile Genetic Elements and Natural Genetic Engineering; and (4 ) Cellular Information Processing. He then writes: The point of this discussion is that our current knowledge of genetic change is fundamentally at variance with neo-Darwinist postulates. We have progressed from the Constant Genome, subject only to random, localized changes at a more or less constant mutation rate, to the Fluid Genome, subject to episodic, massive and non-random reorganizations capable of producing new functional architectures. Inevitably, such a profound advance in awareness of genetic capabilities will dramatically alter our understanding of the evolutionary process. Toward the end, Shapiro approaches, as he logically must, the really crucial point in the Darwinism-Creationism de-bate. Is there guiding intelligence at work in the evolution of life? He cannot answer this question at this time, and neither can science in general. He puts his hope for ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 83: Sep-Oct 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects On Cuna Writing And Its Affinities A sample of Cuna "writing" When Europeans "officially" reached the New World some 500 years ago, the "official" account states that they found that only the Mayans and Aztecs possessed writing. However, all anomalists recognize that "official" stories often sweep untidy facts under what has come to be an immense rug. One seldom mentioned and rather awkward bump beneath this rug is Cuna writing. The Cuna Indians occupied Panama and some nearby Caribbean islands at the Time of Contact. That the Cuna carved symbols of sorts on wooden boards and scribbled with natural pigments on bark cloth and paper is generally admitted, but this is not considered in the same league as Mayan writing. A sample of Easter Island "writing" from a talking board Cuna writing is ideographic. Today's average Cuna Indian can usually identify each ideogram as a bird, plant, or some other object. However, to those skilled in Cuna writing, each ideogram actually represents a phrase of about 8-10 words. The symbols thus have mnemonic value. Each wooden tablet is actually read from the lower right corner to the left. The next line up reads left to right, in socalled "boustrophedon" style. The tablets are usually songs for healing, histories, etc. In these features and general appearance, Cuna writing resembles the "writing" found on the "talking boards" of Easter Island ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 105: May-Jun 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects If it doesn't work, kick it!" Vicki Wilmore, 10, from Gorton, Manchester, was a happy child of normal ability until she complained of a headache one morning a year ago. From that moment, she started writing everything back to front and upside down. "Although Vicki could read what she wrote, nobody else could and this caused her to cry with frustration and led to classroom gibes. Several experts subjected her to psychological and physiological tests but failed to find a cure." Then, after a troubled year, excited by a football game, Vicki jumped out of her seat, fell back, and bumped her head on a coffee table. The next day she went to school and was once more able to read and write normally. (Jones, Tim; "Girl's Bump Cure's Mirror Writing," London Times, December 7, 1995. Cr. A.C .A . Silk) Comment. The sample of Vicki's "mirror writing" accompanying the Times article does not seem to be pure mirror writing, such as Leonardo da Vinci is said to have employed. It's more of a hodgepodge. Anyway a bump cured it - somehow mending a loose connection. From Science Frontiers #105, MAY-JUN 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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 Egyptians in acadia?The Micmac are an Algonquian tribe living in that part of eastern Canada called Acadia. In contrast to most tribes of North American Indians, the Micmac possess their own written language. This language was supposedly invented and taught to them by Pierre Maillard, a French priest who lived among the Micmac in the Eighteenth Century. The strange part about the Micmac writing is that its signs are often very similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs having the same meanings. B. Fell made this association in his book America B.C . He noted further that the priest Maillard actually had died 61 years before Champollion first published his decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics. It is unreasonable, therefore, to believe that Maillard could have invented Micmac writing with its Egyptian affinities. Either the affinities are the product of chance or Precolumbian contacts occurred between the Micmac and Egyptian voyagers. In the latest volume of Epigraphic Society papers, Fell discusses many additional similarities between Micmac and Egyptian hieroglyphics. We have room here for only a few of the simpler comparisons. Refer to the article for a great many more -- so many more that the "chance" theory seems most unlikely. (Fell, Barry; "The Micmac Manuscripts," Epigraphic Society Occasional Papers , 21:295, 1992.) Reference. Anomalous epigraphic is treated in our handbook: Ancient Man. To order, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #88, JUL-AUG ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 105: May-Jun 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects English Muddles The Brain "A boy who struggles to read English primary-school storybooks yet has no trouble with university physics textbooks in Japanese is challenging current thinking on dyslexia. The 17year-old boy, known as AS, is the first person shown to be dyslexic in one language but not another." AS has English-speaking parents but lives in Japan, where he attends Japanese primary school. He scores poorly in reading English, even lagging behind his Japanese schoolmates, but he understands English like a native. AS is also taught to read the Japanese form of writing called "kanji", in which the symbols carry meaning but have no phonetic value - unlike written English. Curiously, AS reads kanji easily, exhibiting no problems in his visual processing skills. He also does well with the other type of Japanese writing called "kana", where symbols do correspond to certain sounds. Written English is the problem! AS presents psychologists with two enigmas: If, as currently believed, a specific part of the brain is reserved for reading, and a person has trouble with one language, it seems logical that he should have difficulties with all languages. The conventional theory of dyslexia asserts that it is associated with visual processing. If so, AS should find kanji even more troublesome than English. (Motluk, Alison; "Why English Is So Hard on the Brain," New Scientist, p. 14 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 104: Mar-Apr 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The pit-zodiacs Schagen-Muggenburg lies 50 kilometers north of Amsterdam. The Muggenburg part of the town name is only a few years old. Before it was built, archeologists were allowed to explore the meadows making up the construction site. L. Therkorn, an archeologist from the University of Amsterdam, led the exploration team. The digs yielded artifacts going as far back as 300 AD, when this region was sparsely populated by farmers. However, if Therkorn et al had dug up only these old bones and pottery shards, we would not be writing this for SF! For anomalists, it was the pits -- old pits that had been filled in and that seemed to be arranged in an intricate pattern that mirrored the star constellations making up the classical Greek zodiac. But this revelation didn't come until later. After all, pits are common in archeology. Often they contain just rubbish, sometimes human remains. "But the pits at Muggenburg are different. There are 57 of them, each about a meter wide and deep, extending over about half a hectare [about 1 acres] They were certainly not used for storage because the level of the groundwater is too high. Nor were they used as dumps; archaeological evidence shows that they were filled in shortly after they were dug, and some have very little in them." It was only when Therkorn mapped the pits did she see that they ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 81: May-Jun 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects More Mouse Engineering Shortly after writing in SF#79 about the "Ancient Greek Pyramids" and the Saharan mice that construct small pyramids of pebbles to extract moisture from the air, we serendipitously ran across the following: " Australian Native Mice . The species P. chapmani builds low mounds of pebbles over its burrow systems, and P. hermannsburgensis may use these mounds after they are constructed. The pebbles are of a uniform size and cover a large area, often a meter in diameter. The pebbles are probably collected both by excavation and from the surface. Some local mammalogists believe these are used as dew traps. Since the air around the pebbles warms more rapidly as the sun rises than do the pebbles themselves, dew forms on the pebbles by condensation. As the areas in which these mounds are found are quite dry, except after a heavy rain, these dew traps solve the problem of water shortage. Local farmers use the many pebble mounds for mixing concrete. It is believed that the ancient people of the Mediterranean region used a dew trap method comparable to that of P. chapmani ." (Nowak, Ronald M.; "Australian Native Mice," Walker's Mammals of the World , Baltimore, 1991, p. 820.) Comment. Now we must decide between at least three possibilities. Since the Australian native mice and Saharan mice are many thousands of miles apart, we have: (1 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 104: Mar-Apr 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects It's "smothers" not "pods"An Alaskan biologist writes that those large congregations of king crabs found in northern waters (SF#102) are properly called "smothers." The term "pod" refers to family groups, such as those groups of orcas patrolling the British Columbia coast. (Home, Scott; personal communication, January 26, 1996) From Science Frontiers #104, MAR-APR 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... had no beginning and was, therefore, infinitely old. Originally, they hypothesized that, as the universe expanded, new matter was continuously created, and thus the density of matter stayed about constant in time. This Steady State Universe was kicked around for a while but ultimately consigned to the cosmological wastebasket. Now, the idea is being revived as the prevailing Big Bang Universe runs into problems, which have been documented perhaps too thoroughly in past issues of SF. The revised steady state model has jettisoned the idea of continuous creation in favor of many discrete "creation events," which will doubtless be called "little bangs." They also fill space with small metallic needles which absorb microwaves and reemit the uniform microwave background. The new theory needs more work, but Hoyle and his colleagues write in the June 20 issue of the Astrophysical Journal: "This paper is not intended to give a finished view of cosmology. It is intended rather to open the door to a new view which at present is blocked by a fixation with big bang cosmology." (Crosswell, Ken; "Return of the Steady State Universe," New Scientist, p. 14, February 27, 1993.) Reference. A substantial portion of our catalog volume Stars, Galaxies, Cosmos is devoted to questioning the Big Bang. Details here . From Science Frontiers #88, JUL-AUG 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 84: Nov-Dec 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Psichotomy A great chasm separates the "hard" sciences from parapsychology. In fact, most scientists do not recognize para-psychology as a legitimate science. A recent spate of letters in Physics Today reveals both the depth of the chasm and why it is there. The major letter writers are P.W . Anderson and R.G . Jahn, who work only a few hundred meters apart at Princeton but are light years apart on the matter of parapsychology. The letter writing commenced after Anderson wrote a column in the December 1990 issue of Physics Today entitled "On the Nature of Physical Law." Here he recommended the categorical dismissal of all anomalous observations that might tear apart the fabric of science. Although Anderson did not name Jahn specifically, it was obvious to Jahn that his work was the primary target. Jahn's response was a long letter summarizing the stupendous quantity of data he and his colleagues have amassed on psi effects. "We have in hand several prodigious data bases, acquired over 12 years of continuous, intensive experimentation, that clearly establish the existence, scale and primary correlates of certain anomalous influences of human consciousness on a variety of physical systems and processes. In our Microelectronic Random Binary Generators experiment, 95 selected human operators attempted to shift the output distribution means to either higher or lower values than the chance mean, in accordance with their prerecorded intentions. In 3 850 000 experimental sequences of 200 binary ...
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... Less than one in 50 quadrillion, according to an article by Jeffrey Satinover in the October issue of Bible Review ." Satinover is a psychiatrist and lecturer on the relationship between science and religion. He commented: "I guess the bottom line is, if the research holds up and no flaw is found in the methodology, then I think the implication is clear that the authorship of Genesis is not human." Unsettling though the implications are to mainstream science, the research has made it past the usual critical hurdles into two scientific journals: Statistical Science and Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Scientists familiar with the work can only say that, "Something weird seems to be happening." We certainly agree! (Briggs, David; "Researchers: Word Patterns in Genesis Suggest Divine Writing," Chillicothe Gazette , October 28, 1995. Cr. J. Fry via COUD-I . COUD-I = Collectors of Unusual Data-International. The Gazette item was based on an Associated Press release.) From Science Frontiers #105, MAY-JUN 1996 . 1996-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... society at large. In a revealing but demystifying study of 502 residents of Winnipeg, C.A . Ross and S. Joshi found: (1 ) That so-called paranormal experiences are very common indeed, with 65.7 % of the interviewees reporting having had them. The most common were deja vu (54.6 %) , precognitive dreams (17.8 %) , and mental telepathy (15.6 %) . Many reported experiencing more than one of the 13 different types of paranormal phenomena included in the survey. But do survey statistics prove that such paranormal phenomena are truly objective? The real nature of paranormal experiences, according to Ross and Joshi, lies in the close ties these paranormal phenomena have with dissociative phenomena (i .e ., automatic writing), hypnotic phenomena, and childhood traumas. They theorize: "A model is proposed in which paranormal experiences are conceptualized as an aspect of normal dissociation. Like dissociation in general, paranormal experiences can be triggered by trauma, especially childhood physical or sexual abuse. Such experiences discriminate individuals with childhood trauma histories from those without at high levels of significance." (Ross, Colin A., and Joshi, Shaun; Paranormal Experiences in the General Population," Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 180:357, 1992.) Comment. Perhaps psychiatrists Ross and Joshi hold that those experiencing paranormal phenomena are "treatable." Clearly, they think that the whole of the paranormal is subjective. On a different tack, one must ask why humans are subject to paranormal experiences at ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 80: Mar-Apr 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Cricket Coordination In the August 31, 1991, issue of Science News, there appeared an item on the famous synchronously flashing fireflies of Southeast Asia. W. Clements, writing in response to the firefly story, asserts that Indian crickets chirping in unison are much more impressive. He wrote: "I once rode on the back of a truck at night along mountain roads in India. There the crickets sound out quite loudly. The sound swells and diminishes with a persistent beat. As we drove along mile after mile, there was not the tiniest perceptible change in the rhythm. In other words, the insects we listened to at any point were modulating their sound at exactly the same frequency, if not phase, maintained by their contemporaries many miles back. Considering the vast areas that must be represented wherever it occurs, the phenomenon must involve unimaginable millions of insects all acting in concert. This is vastly more impressive than the spectacle of fireflies performing together in a single tree." Picture, if you will, millions, perhaps billions, of crickets all moving their limbs together in unison over many square miles! (Clements, Warner; "Flashy Displays," Science News, 140:323, 1991.) From Science Frontiers #80, MAR-APR 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... arranged in a spherical halo about our solar system in the vicinity of the postulated Oort Cloud of comets? If this were so, they would not have to be nearly as powerful as they would in the neutronstar model. If the gamma-ray bursters really do lurk just at the fringes of the solar system, they must, given their power and small size, be objects completely new to astronomy. (Schwarzschild; Bertram; "Compton Observatory Data Deepen the Gamma Ray Burster Mystery," Physics Today, 45:21, February 1992.) Comment. Historically speaking, the gamma-ray bursters were discovered accidentally by satellites launched to detect surreptitious tests of nuclear weapons. Wouldn't it be ironical if our satellites are really monitoring artificial phenomena, generated by battles we can only write science fiction stories about? Reference. Refer to AOF29 in our Stars, Galaxies, Cosmos for gamma-ray "bursters." Details here . From Science Frontiers #83, SEP-OCT 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... erosion and fell off cliffs to be smashed upon impact below. Gravity and not the human hand broke the quartz into pieces that just happen to look like prehistoric tools. F. Parenti, a coworker of Guidon, has tried to exorcise the geofact argument, which is used wherever tools are "too old", by showing that the 595 pieces of quartz have characteristics quite unlike those created by natural flaking. The doubters are unswayed. You see, despite Parenti's analysis, there remains a minute chance that a falling rock will fracture into pieces, one of which will look human-made. Maybe only one falling rock in 10,000 will fracture "unnaturally;" make it one in 10,000,000; it doesn't matter. Anthropologist D. Meltzer writes: "Of course, no matter how rare the chances, given sufficient time and raw material - Pedra Furada had plenty of both - nature can magnify even the slimmest odds to the point where geofacts occur in detectable frequencies." In this argument, you see how our title "Darwinism in Archeology" came to be. Random events (rock falls or mutations) plus a sorting mechanism (human selection or natural selection) can produce geofacts or new species. This sort of explanatory mechanism can, in principle, explain just about anything! (Meltzer, David; "Stones of Contention," New Scientist, p. 31, June 24, 1995.) R. Dennell and L. Hurcombe, two archeologists faced with the geofact problem at their Pakistan dig, tried to ...
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... and the Sumerian citystates reached their zenith in Mesopotania." Among these edifices are great stepped pyramids, U-shaped temples over ten stories high, and broad plazas with adjacent residential areas. Scores of such sites built by an ancient Peruvian civilization are nestled deep in narrow valleys leading from the Andes down to the Pacific. Archeologists date this civilization as thousands of years older than those that arose in Central America. The age and size of the Peruvian remains impelled Yale archeologist R. Burger to remark: "This idea of the Old World being ahead of the New World has to be put on hold." Of course, this Andean culture is not as old as that which developed in the Old World's Fertile Crescent; and those ancient Peruvians did not use the wheel and lacked writing. (Stevens, William K.; "Andean Culture Found to Be as Old as the Great Pyramids," New York Times, October 3, 1989. Cr. J. Covey.) Comment. But did they really lack writing? See next item. One has to wonder how these great constructions have es caped the attention of generations of archeologists. We have found virtually nothing in the mainstream archeological literature in the English language. From Science Frontiers #67, JAN-FEB 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 67: Jan-Feb 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Eyewitness Account Of Cropcircle Formation UFO enthusiasts have had a field-day speculating that nighttime landings of alien craft have created the famous crop circles. Now, a good daytime description of actual crop-circle formation is at hand. Even so, the whole business still sounds pretty mysterious. The source is a letter to G.T . Meaden, Editor of the Journal of Meteorology, U.K ., from R.A . Barnes. "I have been meaning to write to you for some time on the subject of corn circles. About six or seven years ago I was fortunate to see one of these form in a field at Westbury. It happened on a Saturday in early July just before six in the evening after a thunderstorm earlier that afternoon; in fact it was still raining slightly. "My attention was first drawn to a 'wave' coming through the heads of the cereal crop in a straight line at steady speed; I have since worked this out to be about fifty miles per hour. "The agency, though invisible, behaved like a solid object throughout and did not show any fluid tendencies, i.e . no variation in speed, line or strength. There was no visual aberration either in front, above or below the advancing line. "After crossing the field on a shallow arc the 'line' dropped to a position about 1 o'clock and radially described a ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 75: May-Jun 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Grand Lake Stream Enigma A little over a year ago, we reported on W. Elliott's discovery of a small, stone-covered cist in eastern Washington County, Maine. This cist contained several stone artifacts bearing remarkable symbols, writing, and portrayals of a man and a slain animal. Naturally, mainstream archeologists look askance when amateur archeologists come across such anomalous materials. Happily in this instance, a professional archeologist, J.B . Petersen, Director of the University of Maine's Archaeological Laboratory, took an interest in the site near Grand Lake Stream. After careful study of the site and its artifacts, he has prepared a preliminary report. Petersen's report is accompanied by many photos and sketches made during his excavations. On p. 000 we reproduce a photo of the amulet with its strange epigraphy. Now, we add a sketch of the "elongated hafted ground biface, with human figure." Over 13 inches long, this artifact depicts a trousered, bearded man of European countenance, who is missing one arm and a foot. Petersen asserts that the artifacts have no affinities with American Indian artifacts: rather they have a European flavor. What can one make out of all this? Petersen is only able to state: "Although the site is undoubtedly human-made, its function, antiquity and cultural attribution cannot be precisely specified on the basis of the unique characteristics of both the ...
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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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... alidade while watching sunrise or sunset throughout the year. Were the bronze rivets, found nearby, the remains of the alidade? Markings exist on the plaque which indicate that the 16-month calendar was in use. Guide lines exist for inserting the intercalary leap day. Eight additional lines can be identified as indicating moonrise and moonset at the equinoxes' standstills. Using actual horizon altitudes at Stonehenge and azimuths shown by the lozenge, calculation shows that the average discrepancy of the solar lines is 0.36 days and that it was made about 1600 BC. "Was this ceremonially buried gold artifact a copy of a more robust working calendar, or was it the original master copy? "The lozenge was a means whereby observed angular measurements could be recorded and subsequently retrieved years later without recourse to writing. It was essentially a textbook for making the calendar, a reference encyclopedia." (Thom, A.S .; "The Bush Barrow Gold Lozenge: Is It a Solar and Lunar Calendar for Stonehenge?" Louisiana Mounds Society Newsletter, no. 37, February 14, 1991.) From Science Frontiers #74, MAR-APR 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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, manganese, iron, and phosphorous. Although the organisms were not of the same physiological types, each niche contained a basic cast of microbiological players capable of these nutrient transformations. Such versatility is surprising, and contrary to traditional thinking in soil microbiology, because the deep subsurface is presumably a nutrientlimited environment where photosynthesis and photosynthates are not abundant." The scientists writing this article speculate that similar microorganisms could well be prospering far below the Martian surface, where they are sheltered from radiation and the cruel surface environment. (Fliermans, Carl B., and Balkwill, David L.; "Microbial Life in Deep Terrestrial Subsurfaces," Bio Science , 39: 370, 1989.) From Science Frontiers #65, SEP-OCT 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... and they will walk around in never decreasing circles until they die from exhaustion. But a colony of a million army ants is a sophisticated "super-organism." The colony carries out its legendary raids and can even keep nest temperatures constant to within a degree. An army ant colony seems en dowed with an intelligence far beyond that of any individual ant. N.R .Franks speculates thus: "It seems that intelligence, natural or artificial, is an emergent property of collective communication. Human con-sciousness itself may be an epiphenomenon of extraordinary processing power. Although experts prefer to avoid simplistic definitions of intelligence, it seems clear that all intelligence involves the rational manipulation of symbolic information. This is exactly what happens when army ants pass information from individual to individual through the 'writing' and 'reading' of symbols, often in the form of chemical messengers or trail pheromones, which act as stimuli for changing behavior patterns." During its 20-day stationary phase, an army ant colony scatters about 14 foraging raids directed 123 apart. The heavy line indicates the colony's path during the nomadic phase. In the body of his article, Franks describes two remarkable capabilities of an army ant colony: time-keeping and navigation. The outward manisfestation of time-keeping is in the precise timing of the colony's nomadic phase of 15 days (during which larvae are growing) and the 20-day stationary phase (during which pupae develop). The queen's egg-laying also conforms with this schedule. Raids into the rain forest ...
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... museums. Many bear striking designs, like that of the heron shown below. For too many years, archeologists have considered these designs to be only designs. But with more discerning examination, bolstered by knowledge of ancient Old World alphabets, it now appears that these seals incorporate many letters from Libyan, Iberian, Punic, and other alphabets. Since many of the Mexican sellos date back to 1200 BC, the implication is that Old World-New World contacts occurred long before the Christian era. But, asks G.F . Carter in his long article on the sellos, if the ancient peoples of Mexico and Central America did absorb Old World symbols, "Why was the alphabet not developed instead of the clumsy hieroglyphics?" (Carter, George F.; "Mexican Sellos : Writing in America, or the Growth of an Idea?" Epigraphic Society, Occasional Papers , 19:159, 1990.) Comment. Hieroglyphics do appear clumsy to us, but perhaps it is because we do not fully appreciate them. There may be nuances of shape and rendition that convey more than the bare translation of the glyph, just as a sonnet is more than the sum of its words. From Science Frontiers #76, JUL-AUG 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Halton C. Arp. .. .If, after examining the statistics yourself and understanding the evidence, you are unconvinced, so be it. Remember, if the conventional view is correct, all of these apparent juxtapositions must be accidental. Above all, do not be swayed by the views of the authorities, be they Dan Weedman, Allan Sandage, Maarten Schmidt, Chip Arp, or myself. We are fallible, too, and some of us (ask the others!) have axes to grind." (Burbidge, Geoffrey; "Quasars in the Balance," Mercury , 17:136, 1988.) Comment. Burbidge, a professor of physics at the University of California at San Diego, has had a long and dis tinguished career in science. He can write and get articles like the one above published. How many young, aspiring astronomers would dare? Reference. The book mentioned above, Stars, Galaxies, Cosmos; is described here . From Science Frontiers #65, SEP-OCT 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 60: Nov-Dec1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ogam, ogam, everywhere Ogam is a curious sort of writing characterized by a long reference line decorated with shorter perpendicular or slanted lines. The lengths and arrangements of the shorter lines and their crossings and non-crossings of the reference line constitute alphabetical symbols. The ancient Irish are credited with inventing Ogam; and Ogam inscriptions are common in that part of the world. During the last two decades, B. Fell and members of the Epigraphic Society have discovered many possible Ogam inscriptions in the continental United States. In fact, the latest issue of the NEARA Journal (NEARA = New England Antiquities Research Association) contains two articles dealing with supposed Ogam writing and other crude drawings in the Anubis Caves of western Oklahoma. The presence of true Ogam writing in Oklahoma would be traumatic for mainstream American archeology, for it would imply that far-wandering Celts had passed through long before Columbus made landfall. Later in the same issue of the NEARA J., G. Carter describes a tablet in the possession of a South African Zulu, which pictures a giraffe and a zebra along with inscriptions in Egyotian, Arabic, and Ogam! Carter writes: "I put below of picture of a giraffe with Ogam alongside. The Ogam letters are RZRF. Add vowels and this becomes: Rai Za Ra Fa; old Arabic for 'behold the giraffe.' Alongside a zebra figure one finds Ogam letters ZBDB, which in Arabic reads 'painted ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 56: Mar-Apr 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Ubiquity Of American Archeological Anomalies An inscribed stone from Connecticut. Interpreting the marks as ogam writing; Face 1 (left) reads up, Face 2 (right) reads down. Adapted from the Bulletin of the Early Sites Research Society and the Occasional Publications of the Epigraphic Society. One would think that all North American archeological anomalies worth mentioning would already be firmly ensconced in the professional literature. This does not seem to be the case, unless one is very conservative about defining "worth mentioning." Ancient coins, anomalous inscriptions, and other intriguing tidbits are being found all the time, but few hear about them. The conventional journals, such as American Antiquity and the American Anthropologist disdain such discoveries. One place to find them is in the Occasional Publications of the Epigraphic Society. The 1987 compilation of these papers is at hand, and it is chock full of fascinating things. The following data are from Volume 16 for 1987. Ancient coins. A bronze coin of the ancient Greek city of Amisos was found about six years ago by Doyle Ellis, who was searching for gold with a metal detector in the channel of the Snake River in Idaho. It was deeply embedded in the gravel. In a small Indian mound at Deer Creek, near Chilicothe, Ohio, a Numidian bronze coin was recently uncovered. It has a BC date. "Oddly, those same coins, regarded in the Old World as artifacts of ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 51: May-Jun 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Supernova Problems Everyone has been talking and writing about the new supernova, 1987A, so we might as well, too. In fact, we really must, because 1987A is more than usually anomalous. The newspapers have oohed and aahed about this rare opportunity scientists have to study a nearby supernova. However, instead of getting closer to a final understanding of supernovas, 1987A seems to be confounding the theorists. No one can determine which star, if any, blew up. The 12th magnitude star Sanduleak -69 202 was first fingered, for it is located in the proper spot. But it is still there, apparently unchanged, as is a still fainter companion. The problem is that if 1987A really originated with an even fainter star, such a star would not have enough mass to go supernova. Part of 1987A's spectrum, its luminosity evolution, and precursory neutrino burst all indicate a Type-II supernova. Unfortunately, its ultraviolet spectrum is that of a Type-I supernova. Also anomalous are its high rate of evolution and low luminosity (only magnitude 4.5 instead of the predicted 2 +. Japanese apparatus located in a deep mine near Kamioka detected a burst of neutrinos about 22 hours before 1987A flared into the visible spectrum. This fits Type-II supernova theory, but the Mont Blanc equipment detected a neutrino burst just 4.6 hours before the flare-up. Which detector is correct ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 60: Nov-Dec 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A NEW FACE ON MARS?The face on Mars does not seem to go away! Could it, after all, really be artificial? M. Carlotto, writing in Applied Optics, presents the results of his analysis of the photos of this engimatic "face." "The image enhancement results indicate that a second eye socket may be present on the right, shadowed side of the face; fine structure in the mouth suggests teeth are apparent." "Teeth?" This Martian face is becoming too human-like to be an accident of nature! Carlotto also tersely summarizes his impression of the face's features. ". .. results to date suggest that they may not be natural." (Hecht, Jeff; "Computer Does a Double-Take on the Face of Mars," New Scientist, p. 39, July 7, 1988. Also see: Applied Optics, 27:1926, 1988.) In a more light-hearted manner, P. Jones asserts that a second Martian face exists, and that somehow scientists have managed to keep it under wraps. A photo of the second face appears in the August 25, 1988, issue of New Scientist. Jones remarks on the second face as follows: "If faces are what you are looking for, it's reasonably convincing, perhaps more convincing than its better-known sibling. It has symmetry, two eyes ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 60: Nov-Dec 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Why didn't galileo resolve saturn's rings?Several times in SF and our catalogs, we have intimated that Saturn's rings may be of recent vintage or perhaps have changed in historical times. In this vein, K. Fabian writes about an interesting inconsistency: "In the early 17th Century, Galileo discovered that the planet Mars goes through a minor gibbous phase. Even in its maximum gibbous phase, Mars is 88% illuminated. Quoting James Muirden in the Amateur Astronomer's Handbook, 'It is remarkable that Galileo was able to make out the phase with his tiny telescope.' "Even more amazing, in my opinion, is that Galileo, while he was able to resolve the slight phase of Mars, was unable to resolve the major ring around Saturn. Mars is a difficult object in a small telescope, while Saturn is easily resolved as a ringed planet in even a 40-mm spotting scope at 30X. Why did the rings of Saturn elude Galileo, while the more difficult Martian phases did not? Perhaps at the time of Galileo the rings of Saturn were much more difficult to observe than they are today." (Fabian, Karl; personal communication, September 9, 1988.) Reference. For more on the many anomalies of Saturn's rings, see ALR in the catalog: The Moon and the Pla nets. Description here . From Science Frontiers #60, ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 58: Jul-Aug 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Maize In Ancient India Conventional wisdom is clear on two accounts: Maize originated in the New World. There were no cultural, maizebearing contacts between the New and Old Worlds in the lengthy period between the (hypothetical) dash across the Bering Land Bridge circa the waning of the (hypothetical) Ice Ages and the (hypothetical) Viking incursions into North American waters. But C.L . Johannessen is certain that the ancient Indians (that is those in India) were enjoying corn-on-the-cob at least as early as the Twelfth Century BC. He writes: "Goddesses and gods in sculptuted soapstone friezes in Hoysala temples of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries BC near Mysore, India, hold in their hands representations of maize ears. There are more than 63 of these large ears at Somnanthpur, and maize is represented at three other temples I have visited. "In the Hoysala tradition, worshippers must have used maize as a golden-coloured and many-seeded fertility symbol in their religious rites. That the ears are modelled on maize is shown by the ear length-todiameter ratio, the ear sizes in relation to parts of the human figures, and the wide variation of anatomical detail in the carvings that all belong to maize: the ears have either parallel, highly tapered or bulging sides, their tips are pointed, and their axes may be straight or warped, depending on the moisture at the time ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 54: Nov-Dec 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Hoax Admitted Above, we summarized a paper entitled "Uncanny Prophecies in New Zealand: An Unexplained Scientific Anomaly." The author of this paper, R. Kammann, has revealed that the whole business was a hoax. He now comes forth with details of the hoax and an explanation of why he chose to withhold data from the readers of the Zetetic Scholar. "In writing up this episode for readers outside of New Zealand, I chose initially to hide the skeptical origin of these bogus prophecies to allow readers to experience them as they might be presented by paranormal advocates. Although the predictions drew widespread attention in New Zealand media, their impact was undoubtedly dampened by their honest portrayal as an anti-astrology lesson by a skeptical psychologist. For a proper evaluation, it was therefore necessary to hide their true origin for at least one public presentation. Even there (in Zetetic Scholar, #11) I constrained myself to scientifically accurate reporting and quoted my own original wordings of the prophecies and their fulfillments from the tapes of the radio programs. For the miracle mongers of the paranormal press, such loyalty to the facts would be considered a bad precedent." (Kammann, Richard; "New Zealand Prophecies Exposed as a Hoax," Zetetic Scholar, no. 12, p. 34, August 1987.) Comment. Kammann's confession is nice to have, but can anyone be certain that he is not ...
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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 The cup-and-ring motif in america Typical cup-and-rings from Ireland. Drawing from Ancient Man. The 1988 volume of the Occasional Papers of the Epigraphic Society is at hand. As usual, it is chock full of ancient symbols, motifs, and writings, many of which come from anomalous times and/or places. R.W .B . Morris, an authority on prehistoric rock art, has contributed an article comparing the cup-and-ring motif, as found in Great Britain, with that found in North America. Since this stereotype motif decorates the rocks of all continents, save Antarctica, and since the hey-day of cup-and-ring engraving was 3-5 millennia ago, this unique design suggests the worldwide diffusion of culture thousands of years ago. A cup-and-ring engraving consists of a hollow or cup anywhere from 4 to 30 inches in diameter, surrounded by 1 to 9 rings. The rings may be gapped, with a narrow groove running through the gaps from the outside. (See the illustration,) Cups-and-rings have been found at over 700 sites in Great Britain. Most date between 2200 and 1600 B.C . The cup-and-ring is much rarer in the States. A few are known from Alabama, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Texas, and doubtless other states. In contrast to the ...
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... years. If these early Brazilians came over the Bering Land Bridge, they must have left even earlier traces in North America. In fact, there are two hotly debated North American sites that seem to be very much older than the one in Brazil; namely, the Calico site in California; and a spot along the Old Crow River in the Yukon. Thousands of stone artifacts, apparently showing signs of being shaped by humans, have been recovered at Calico over the past two decades. The Calico artifacts are usually contemptuously dismissed as naturally fractured chert flakes. But at the other end of the belief spectrum (Don't laugh, much of science is just as much of a belief system as religion!) are those who see a long human history at Calico. B. Bower writes: "Two periods of human occupation have been dated at Calico. From about 15,000 to 20,000 years ago the area was inhabited by what [R .D .] Simpson suggests was a huntinggathering people with more sophisticated tools, including stones flaked on both sides. In deeper layers estimated to be at least 200,000 years old are the simpler flakes of people, she says, who probably gathered plants and other foods." Much farther north, along the Yukon's Old Crow River, nearly 10,000 horse-and mammoth-bone artifacts have been picked up and dug out of the river banks. W.N . Irving, from the University of Toronto, claims that the last five seasons of archeological research have uncovered a 'bone industry ...
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... Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The insects' revenge Plants may fool some insects with their mimicry and deter others with toxic chemicals, but the insects have their tricks, too, as seen in the following item from Science: "Many mandibulate insects that feed on milkweeds, or other latex-producing plants, cut leaf veins before feeding distal to the cuts. Vein cutting blocks latex flow to intended feeding sites and can be viewed as an insect counteradaptation to the plants' defensive secretion." (Dussord, David E., and Eisner, Thomas; "Vein-Cutting Behavior: Insect Counterploy to the Latex Defense of Plants," Science, 237:898, 1987.) Comment. Right now, even as we write this, the plants are evolving counterploys -- high-voltage veins perhaps! But this may not work. See the final item in this section. From Science Frontiers #54, NOV-DEC 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... collected over many years, deserves to be checked out." While Gauquelin has concentrated on sports champions, he has found similar effects for other vocations. Musicians, for example, have a negative Mars Effect. (Obviously, violinists should not compete in the broad jump!) Scientists are positive with Saturn; actors are positive with Jupiter. And so on. (Gauquelin, Michel; "Is There a Mars Effect?" Journal of Scientific Exploration, 2:29, 1988.) Comment. In the indented quotation above, Abell could not imagine a "mechanism" for the Mars Effect. Yet, Mars and the other planets are drawn to the sun by gravitation, which is just as "mechanismless" as are the other actionat-a -distance forces. We can write an equation for gravitational force, and perhaps because of this and long familiarity, we feel comfortable with gravitation. But is it any less spooky than the Mars Effect? Reference. The "Mars Effect" and related phenomena are covered in BHB27-BHB30 in our catalog: Biological Anomalies: Humans I. Details about this book may be found at: here . From Science Frontiers #61, JAN-FEB 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... , does everyone keep the verses straight? Biologists Linda Guinee and Katharine Payne have been looking into the matter, and they have come up with an intriguing possibility. It seems that humpbacks, like humans, use rhyme." Guinee and Payne suspect that whales rhyme because they have detected particular subphrases turning up in the same position in adjacent themes. (Cowley, Geoffrey; "Rap Songs from the Deep," Newsweek, p. 63, March 20, 1989. Cr. J. Covey) Comment. This is all wonderfully fascinating, but why do whales rhyme at all, or sing such long complex songs? Biologists fall back on that hackneyed old theory that it has something to do with mating and/or dominance displays. Next, we'll hear that human poets write poems only to improve their chances of breeding and passing their genes on to their progeny! Reference. Whale "communication" is the subject of BMT8 in our catalog: Biologi cal Anomalies: Mammals I. Details here . From Science Frontiers #64, JUL-AUG 1989 . 1989-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... .) Lanzarote, on the other hand, is one of the Canary Islands. Here, too, one finds a submerged, Bimini-like row of apparently man-made blocks of stones. Some 22 meters down, the blocks are arranged in a sort of staircase, as shown in the figure. The steps, however, are 40-cm high, too big a step for humans. Is this structure a submerged pier, an altar, or something else. No one knows. Possibly relevant is a statuette, stylistically Olmec, which was also found in Lanzarote waters. (Bajocco, Alf; "Lanzarote: un Nouveau Bimini?" Kadath , no. 66, p. 6, Winter 1987.) Comment. The name, Kadath , incidentally comes from the writings of H.P . Lovecraft, a mostly forgotten, highly imaginative American writer. Kadath was Lovecrafts' great city of the ancients. Reference. Ancient Man, mentioned above, is described here . Alignments of blocks in 22 meteres of water off Lanzarote. (Left) Front view showing stepped arrangement. From Science Frontiers #58, JUL-AUG 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 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, 1988.) Comment. The long history of science teaches us that all theories are eventually displaced by more accurate, more all-inclusive formulations. Unfortunately, this makes textbook writing difficult. From Science Frontiers #56, MAR-APR 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 57: May-Jun 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Did charles darwin become a christian?It has long been claimed by some Christians that Charles Darwin, who helped lay the intellectual foundations of secular humanism, reembraced Chris tianity as he neared death. A central figure in this tale is a Lady Hope, who supposedly visited Darwin in the months before he died. What is the basis for the Lady Hope story; and what do Darwin's own writings reveal about his religious beliefs? Alas, Darwin's return to the fold seems an apochryphal tale. W.H . Rusch, Sr., and J.W . Klotz, well-known scientific creationists, have prepared a 38page historical study of the question -- quoting at length from Darwin himself. They conclude about Darwin: "He had made the human mind his authority, and it led him from orthodoxy to theism to agnosticism. Indeed it appears he might well be characterized as an atheist, a doubter of the very existence of God. His caution, however, and his recognition of the impossibility from a scientific standpoint of proving a negative led him to characterize himself as an agnostic which he says he is content to remain." (Rusch, Wilbert H., Sr., and Klotz, John W.; " Did Charles Darwin Become a Christian? " Emmett L. Williams, ed., Norcross, 1988.) From Science Frontiers #57, MAY-JUN 1988 . ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 48: Nov-Dec 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Some Newly Discovered Archeological Anomalies From North America The latest volume of the Epigraphic Society's Occasional Publications contains some fascinating, but not yet thoroughly verified tidbits: (1 ) A letter from a Cherokee Indian describes the Cherokee tradition of "Little People" or pygmies, who once lived in the southern Appalachians. Interestingly enough, the Cherokee language has a word for "pygmies" that resembles words in several European languages that mean "dwarfs" or "pygmies." (2 ) Another letter describes ogam writing on a large rock panel at Cedar Canyon, near Rock Springs, Wyoming. (Ogam writing implies very early European contact with the New World.) (3 ) An inscribed lead disc has been found in a small cache of Indian artifacts from Adams County, Ohio. The inscription indicates that it was an Iberian traveler's amulet. (Various authors; Epigraphic Society, Occasional Publications, 15: 33, 77, and 77, 1986.) From Science Frontiers #48, NOV-DEC 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf048/sf048p02.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 39: May-Jun 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Upside-down animals Stephen Jay Gould's recent essay, "The Flamingo's Smile," like all his writing, is thought-provoking. The essay goes far beyond the happy flamingo. It is about unusual adaptations in nature, as illustrated by three inverted or partially inverted creatures. The flamingo is a filter-feeder that strains food out of the water with its bill while its head is upside-down. The flaming's bill and tongue are (and must be ) radically different from those of other birds to succeed in this strange behavior. One type of jellyfish, rather than swimming around with its pulsating bell on top, plunks itself upside-down on the bottom and uses its bell as a suction cup to anchor itself. It then shoots poisonous darts attached to strings of mucous at passing targets and reels them in. Some African catfish graze on algae on the undersides of water plants. They swim upside down all the time and display a reversed color scheme, being black on the bottom and light on top. Gould employs these three examples to argue that changes in animal behavior must have preceded the many changes in form, function, color, etc. that make upside down living profitable. In other words, the proto-flamingos tried feeding with their heads upside down; and it didn't work too well. But "nature" responded with a series of random biological changes ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 17 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf039/sf039p08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 43: Jan-Feb 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects How old is the los lunas inscription?Volume 13 of the Epigraphic Society's Occasional Publications (one of two volumes for 1985) contains several articles of great interest to anomalists with an archeological bent. We have space for only two in this issue of SF. In the first of these, Barry Fell deals with the criticism that the now-famous Los Lunas (New Mexico) inscription cannot be the work of ancient Hebrew-writing visitors to the New World because it employs modern punctuation marks. Fell counters this by reproducing several ancient texts that use similar punctuation conventions, thus blunting this attack on the antiquity of the Los Lunas inscription. For readers unacquainted with the Los Lunas inscription, it consists of the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) engraved in ancient Hebrew on a large basalt rock near Los Lunas, NM. In the second paper, geologist G.E . Morehouse comes to grip with a second criticism leveled at the inscription; namely, that the engraving looks fresh and lacks the patination characteristic of great age. Morehouse concludes that the freshness actually derives from the frequent, recent scrubbing of the inscription (with wire brushes on some occasions) to improve its visibility. Taking this into account, Morehouse estimates the age of the Los Lunas inscription by comparing its weathering with a nearby 1930 inscription. Conclusion: the Los Lunas inscription is much older than 1930. Any length of time from 500-2000 years or ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 15 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf043/sf043p02.htm
