Science Special News

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Mystery footprints - the Johor Bigfoot ?

The saga of the Johor Bigfoot may not have ended. Loud noises and the breaking of branches at a rubber plantation in Kampung Batu 4, about three kilometres from the Kota Tinggi waterfall on Monday night, have fuelled interest again in the creature.Workers at a kongsi checked the area at dawn and found large footprints on the ground.State Wildlife Department director Ab Razak Majid said the prints were that of a young renegade bull elephant, but Tenggara Parliament Youth Consensus Council chairman Marozan Ahmad felt otherwise."Based on the size and shape of the footprints, droppings and remains of banana plants, we are sure that an elephant had intruded into the plantation," Razak said."It would be difficult to track it down as it would have moved to another location in the jungle by now."Marozan had ventured into the secondary jungle behind the kongsi with a group of youths to investigate the source of the disturbance."We found large footprints measuring about 45cm long. The pair of footprints had a stride of about a metre apart. This indicates that a large bi-pedal creature had moved around here.

There are twigs and leaves broken off from trees from a height of more than two metres." Marozan hoped the authorities and researchers would investigate the footprints. "A group of experts should track into the interior of the jungle. The Bigfoot would be a positive development for the district as it will attract experts and scientists here," he said.

[Rasputin]

Mars rover may get one-way ticket

The chief scientist on Nasa's Mars rover mission is contemplating whether to send Opportunity into a large crater with no means of getting back out. The decision could commit the rover to spending its final days exploring Victoria Crater, a 60m-deep (200ft) depression on Mars' Meridiani plains. Steve Squyres said Opportunity would probably be sent in to explore the bowl even if no escape route was found. But he stressed his team would do its best to find an exit path first. Opportunity has explored other craters on Meridiani Planum; indeed, it even came to rest in one after descending to the Martian surface in January 2004; but Victoria Crater is a much more challenging proposition. "You've got to realise this is a big, big crater for a little rover like this. The biggest thing we ever explored with Opportunity was Endurance Crater, which was 150m in diameter. "This is six times that, so it's huge," Professor Squyres told the BBC News website.

"I don't want to go into this crater until we've either found a way out or sort of convinced ourselves that there probably isn't one. In other words, I want to go in with knowledge of the consequences.

[Rasputin]

Evidence that subliminal is not so 'sub'

The popular notion of subliminal information is that it streams into an unguarded mind, unchecked and unprocessed. However, neurobiologists' experiments are now revealing that the brain does consciously process subliminal information and that such processing influences how that subliminal information is perceived. In an article in the November 9, 2006, issue of the journal Neuron, published by Cell Press, Kimihiro Nakamura and colleagues report experiments with human volunteers demonstrating such "top-down" processing of subliminal information. Their findings also shed light on the neural mechanism by which reading a printed word evokes the representation of the spoken form. This "lexical-phonological" linkage is critical to learning to read and is disrupted in some forms of reading disorders.In the researchers' experiments, they showed volunteers either words or pronounceable nonwords and asked them to perform either a lexical task or a pronunciation task on the words. The lexical task was to identify whether the word they saw was a real word or a nonsense word.However, unbeknownst to the subjects, they had been first presented with a subliminal word that either matched or didn't match the target word. Such subliminal words were "masked" with nonsense characters that would render the presentation subliminal. The researchers' initial experiments showed that presenting subliminal words identical to the target word produced a "priming" effect in which subjects responded faster on the lexical or pronunciation tasks.

The researchers next applied a harmless magnetic pulse--called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)--to two key regions of the brain involved in such perception, before presenting the priming word. The two regions were known to be involved in either converting visually perceived words to phonological representations or to integrating perceived words across visual and auditory modes. TMS is known to transiently affect neural function in a target area.Nakamura and colleagues found that TMS applied to one brain area or the other could selectively disrupt the priming effect for either the lexical or pronunciation task. The researchers concluded that the conscious task instruction for either of the tasks caused a different neural network to be engaged for generating the appropriate behavioral response.

[Rasputin]

The strangest little things in nature

When small cannot get any smaller, you enter the quantum world of quarks, photons, and space-time foam. You're welcome to take a look at this indivisible side of nature, but just remember to leave your common sense at the door. People as far back as the Greek philosopher Democritus believed that things were built up from irreducible pieces. Isaac Newton himself thought that light was not a wave, but rather a collection of tiny "corpuscules." Physicists have only recently acquired tools with sufficient resolution to see nature's inherent graininess. If you split a banana, and then split it again, and again, and again... you eventually get down to cells, molecules, atoms. Each atom has a nucleus of protons and neutrons, with tiny electrons buzzing around. Both protons and neutrons contain three quarks.But the dissection stops there: electrons and quarks are the smallest pieces of ordinary matter. How small are they? The electron is sometimes said be a few femtometers across (about a trillionth of a hair's width), but this is misleading.

Electrons and quarks are more like puffy clouds than rigid balls. This puffiness is the result of unavoidable quantum uncertainty: You can't precisely know a particle's motion and position at the same time. If you try to hold a quark still, you would have almost no idea where it is. Such slipperiness makes exact size measurements meaningless.

[Rasputin]

Idea of heaven for pets gets scholarly look

Dozens of books with titles like "Cold Noses at the Pearly Gates" affirm what 43 percent of Americans believe: pets go to heaven. While it sounds like a whimsical topic, the question of pet heaven actually offers a window into modern Americans' urban lifestyles and to their views on God and death, says John Ferre, a University of Louisville communications professor. "There are a lot of people who say, 'If my dog or my cat isn't in heaven, I don't want to go,' " Ferre told an audience last night at the Louisville Gardens during the weeklong Festival of Faiths, which ends today. Ferre said he's not a theologian and can't answer whether there's pet heaven. But he said it's an important question for many. Most Americans own pets, and many consider them part of the family. "A lot of times for children in America, their first experience with death is with the death of a pet," Ferre said, who began studying the topic after learning of the hundreds of grief-stricken letters to the creator of the comic strip "For Better or For Worse" after the death of the dog Farley in 1995.

Many pet-heaven books are written to console children and help their parents cope with grief -- or to console adult owners. Others grapple with the question on a theological level, with one even warning the reader to get right with God or risk going to hell while the pet enjoys heaven. "The point is not to be with God or be united with Jesus or be united with your ancestors. It's to be reunited with your animal," Ferre said.

[Rasputin]

How safe is it to travel to Mars ?

As NASA lays plans for travel to the moon and Mars, the agency is exploring propulsion systems, crew modules, and habitat structures. It has looked at the psychology of being cooped up with fellow astronauts for a years-long Mars mission, and studied how to maintain bone structure and muscle strength in microgravity. But a new study should force renewed attention on one of the most intractable dangers of space travel: radiation. The review, published Sept. 29 in Mars, the International Journal of Mars Science and Exploration, identified major radiation hazards that must be solved before the safe completion of a human Mars mission. Donald Rapp, an independent contractor in Pasadena, California, in study that was partly funded by NASA, pored over a number of previous NASA studies of radiation, in an effort to understand exposures to energetic protons from the sun, and the heavy ions in cosmic rays. These two forms of radiation will be the most hazardous to astronauts venturing beyond Earth. "What the article does is pulls together all the data I could find, from the various investigators who tried to assess what the impacts would be for a human mission to Mars," said Rapp. "When you do that, you find that it is extremely challenging. Some of the NASA design reference missions have not paid a lot of attention to radiation." Energetic protons are mainly produced during solar particle events, sporadic showers that usually coincide with maximum sunspot activity. More dangerous is galactic cosmic radiation (GCR), atomic nuclei produced during supernova explosions that travel at almost the speed of light. GCR arrives from all directions, and induces cancer as it hurtles through the body.

On Earth, the planet's magnetic field and atmosphere combine to deter and block these particles. But shielding a spacecraft requires mass, and the mass of shielding that can practically be launched on a spaceship will only reduce GCR by 20% to 30%, says Frank Cucinotta, of NASA's Space Radiation Health Project at the Johnson Space Center. Standards do not yet exist for limiting radiation exposure during travel to the moon or beyond, so Rapp used the standard now applied to astronauts in low earth orbit (onboard the International Space Station), which allows for no more than a 3 percent increase in the likelihood of fatal cancer.

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UFO Conference in Las Vegas

UFO enthusiasts are familiar with the story of the Roswell incident, the reputed crash of a flying saucer in New Mexico back in 1947. It turns out Nevada has a crashed saucer story of its own. Beginning Friday night, UFO researchers will present their findings at a conference being held at the Tuscany hotel on East Flamingo. The conference focuses on stories about crashes and cover ups.One of the incidents to be featured this weekend is the crash of something strange near Devils Hole in the Amargosa Valley. Author Ryan Wood is the principal investigator of this case. "I've been investigating a crash in Nye County, Nevada that occurred Aug. 5 1949 where a miner was mining and whizzing over his head came a 24-foot saucer shaped disc that crashed in front of him and two small ET's popped out and ran across the desert. And he picked up a piece of the metal and brought it back to Los Angeles. A reporter wrote a story about it and presented his evidence there," said Ryan Wood, author of Majic Eyes Only.

Wood says he's obtained some corroboration for the story but that he has a lot of work remaining. Also at this conference is physicist Stanton Friedman, the first researcher to explore the Roswell incident. The public is invited to the conference, which kicks off Friday and runs thru Sunday.

[Rasputin]

Four decades of The Mothman

Exactly 40 years ago, on Nov. 15, 1966, Roger and Linda Scarberry became some of the first people at the Point Pleasant TNT area to see and have a frightening experience with the flying creature that has become known as "The Mothman." That next day, long lines of cars were out at TNT trying to see the winged creature and see it they did.During the rest of 1966 through 1967, Mothman was sighted by more than 100 adults in Mason, Lincoln, Logan, Kanawha and Nicholas counties, according to John Keel's famous book, "The Mothman Prophecies," which spawned the major motion picture starring Richard Gere.Described as larger than a man, a near 10-foot wingspan with the ability of helicopter-like take-offs and flying speeds of nearly 100 miles an hour, Mothman struck fear and curiosity across the country."He staged his appearances with clever showmanship, popping up in unexpected places in front of witnesses who had previously been skeptical," Keel writes in his book.After the Silver Bridge collapsed on Dec. 15, 1967, the sightings of the Mothman, as well as the equally creepy and extensive sightings of Men in Black and UFOs mysteriously subsided.

To mark the 40th anniversary of that first reported wide-spread sighting of the Mothman, we touched base with Point Pleasant resident Jeff Wamsley, the author of "Mothman: The Facts Behind The Legend with Donnie Sergent, Jr., and "Mothman : Behind the Red Eyes ... The Complete Investigative Library."

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Priest bids to count ghost out

They may be more used to dealing with superannuation than the supernatural, but a Scottish financial advice firm has been forced to call in a priest after being targeted by a suspected ghost. Several of the 40 staff at Alan Steel Asset Management in Linlithgow say they have witnessed an elderly man wandering around or heard a male voice when no-one is there, and books have fallen off shelves. They say such incidents have become more frequent in recent months, which is why Alan Steel, the company chairman, brought in a local historian and a priest, believing an exorcism could be the answer. The firm is built on the site of a former explosives factory which produced dynamite. During the First World War there was an explosion at the Nobel factory, and two women workers and the foreman are thought to have been killed. Staff think the poltergeist may be the ghost of the foreman. Leslie Dick, Mr Steel's personal assistant, said: "I was typing the code into the keypad to open the main office door and heard a man saying, 'Excuse me' - but no-one was there. Another time books had fallen off a shelf and been scattered around the office." Receptionist Elaine Henderson said: "I can definitely feel a presence when I'm sitting in reception - not a nasty one, but something is there."

Local historian, Bruce Jamieson, and the priest visited the office and spoke to staff yesterday afternoon. They were unable to confirm if there is a presence but will review the situation in a month before deciding whether or not to refer the mystery to someone who can perform an exorcism. Mr Steel said: "I think it could be the ghost of the bull market. I haven't checked with the Financial Services Authority to check if my ghost is compliant." In recent years, Scotland has become a centre for psychologists attempting to explain what causes people to report paranormal experiences. Last year a team launched a massive experiment to investigate Mary King's Close in Edinburgh, the notorious scene of reported hauntings.

[Rasputin]

Idea of heaven for pets gets scholarly look

Dozens of books with titles like "Cold Noses at the Pearly Gates" affirm what 43 percent of Americans believe: pets go to heaven. While it sounds like a whimsical topic, the question of pet heaven actually offers a window into modern Americans' urban lifestyles and to their views on God and death, says John Ferre, a University of Louisville communications professor. "There are a lot of people who say, 'If my dog or my cat isn't in heaven, I don't want to go,' " Ferre told an audience last night at the Louisville Gardens during the weeklong Festival of Faiths, which ends today. Ferre said he's not a theologian and can't answer whether there's pet heaven. But he said it's an important question for many. Most Americans own pets, and many consider them part of the family. "A lot of times for children in America, their first experience with death is with the death of a pet," Ferre said, who began studying the topic after learning of the hundreds of grief-stricken letters to the creator of the comic strip "For Better or For Worse" after the death of the dog Farley in 1995.

Many pet-heaven books are written to console children and help their parents cope with grief -- or to console adult owners. Others grapple with the question on a theological level, with one even warning the reader to get right with God or risk going to hell while the pet enjoys heaven. "The point is not to be with God or be united with Jesus or be united with your ancestors. It's to be reunited with your animal," Ferre said.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Conspiracies propel Coast to Coast AM

There was a time when "Coast to Coast AM," the late-night syndicated talk radio show dedicated to paranormal activities and political conspiracies, didn't get much respect. "At one point it was, 'Oh, that strange show about weird paranormal things?' " said George Noory, who has hosted the program on weeknights from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. PST full time since 2003. That all changed when millions from the mainstream met up with the after-midnight fringe folks to make "Coast to Coast AM" a top-rated radio show. The show that gives self-described vampires a place to vent on its Friday night Wild Card line is the same one that was taking calls about Sept. 11 conspiracy theories just two weeks after the terrorist attacks. And "Coast to Coast AM," which airs in the Bay Area on KSFO 560 AM, is the same show that can now reach upward of 3 million listeners through 500 stations each week, according to Premiere Radio Networks, the company that syndicates the show. "There's absolutely a growing conspiracy climate," said Noory, explaining the phenomenon of numbers typically unheard of for that time slot. "People are tired of being misled and confused from taking information directly from a government official. After a while, it becomes almost like a pressure cooker that needs to let off steam." That conspiracy theories have joined the mainstream is an extraordinary phenomenon in itself, according to Michael Barkun, a political science professor at Syracuse University and author of "A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America."

"These kinds of ideas that used to be really out on the fringe and tucked away in a subterranean subculture are now a part of pop culture," said Barkun, who also sees a link between the growing political conspiracy climate and the end of the Cold War. "As long as the Cold War was going on, the world seemed to make sense to the degree that we could think of (it) as clearly divided between forces of good and forces of evil. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, we were deprived of a defined enemy. The world became more difficult to understand." Barkun also credits the Internet, which eliminates