Fibonacci Numbers in Nature

The sequence, in which each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers is known as the Fibonacci series: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584, 4181, ... (each number is the sum of the previous two).

The ratio of successive pairs tends to the so-called golden section
(GS) - 1.618033989 . . . . . whose reciprocal is 0.618033989 . . . . . so that we have 1/GS = 1 + GS.

The Fibonacci sequence, generated by the rule f1 = f2 = 1 , fn+1 = fn + fn-1,
is well known in many different areas of mathematics and science.
However, it is quite amazing that the Fibonacci number patterns occur so frequently in nature ( flowers, shells, plants, leaves, to name a few) that this phenomenon appears to be one of the principal "laws of nature".

History of Fibonacci Number

Fibonacci was known in his time and is still recognized today as the "greatest European mathematician of the middle ages." He was born in the 1170's and died in the 1240's and there is now a statue commemorating him located at the Leaning Tower end of the cemetery next to the Cathedral in Pisa. Fibonacci's name is also perpetuated in two streetsthe quayside Lungarno Fibonacci in Pisa and the Via Fibonacci in Florence.
His full name was Leonardo of Pisa, or Leonardo Pisano in Italian since he was born in Pisa. He called himself Fibonacci which was short for Filius Bonacci, standing for "son of Bonacci", which was his father's name. Leonardo's father( Guglielmo Bonacci) was a kind of customs officer in the North African town of Bugia, now called Bougie. So Fibonacci grew up with a North African education under the Moors and later travelled extensively around the Mediterranean coast. He then met with many merchants and learned of their systems of doing arithmetic. He soon realized the many advantages of the "Hindu-Arabic" system over all the others. He was one of the first people to introduce the Hindu-Arabic number system into Europe-the system we now use today- based of ten digits with its decimal point and a symbol for zero: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. and 0
His book on how to do arithmetic in the decimal system, called Liber abbaci (meaning Book of the Abacus or Book of calculating) completed in 1202 persuaded many of the European mathematicians of his day to use his "new" system. The book goes into detail (in Latin) with the rules we all now learn in elementary school for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing numbers altogether with many problems to illustrate the methods in detail.
( http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html#Rabbits )

Pascal's Triangle and Fibonacci Numbers

The triangle was studied by B. Pascal, although it had been described centuries earlier by Chinese mathematician Yanghui (about 500 years earlier, in fact) and the Persian astronomer-poet Omar Khayyám.

Pascal's Triangle is described by the following formula:

where is a binomial coefficient.

The "shallow diagonals" of Pascal's triangle
sum to Fibonacci numbers.

Fibonacci and Nature

Flower Patterns and Fibonacci Numbers

Why is it that the number of petals in a flower is often one of the following numbers: 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 or 55? For example, the lily has three petals, buttercups have five of them, the chicory has 21 of them, the daisy has often 34 or 55 petals, etc. Furthermore, when one observes the heads of sunflowers, one notices two series of curves, one winding in one sense and one in another; the number of spirals not being the same in each sense. Why is the number of spirals in general either 21 and 34, either 34 and 55, either 55 and 89, or 89 and 144? The same for pinecones : why do they have either 8 spirals from one side and 13 from the other, or either 5 spirals from one side and 8 from the other? Finally, why is the number of diagonals of a pineapple also 8 in one direction and 13 in the other?

Passion Fruit
© All rights reserved Image Source >>

Are these numbers the product of chance? No! They all belong to the Fibonacci sequence: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, etc. (where each number is obtained from the sum of the two preceding). A more abstract way of putting it is that the Fibonacci numbers fn are given by the formula f1 = 1, f2 = 2, f3 = 3, f4 = 5 and generally f n+2 = fn+1 + fn . For a long time, it had been noticed that these numbers were important in nature, but only relatively recently that one understands why. It is a question of efficiency during the growth process of plants.

The explanation is linked to another famous number, the golden mean, itself intimately linked to the spiral form of certain types of shell. Let's mention also that in the case of the sunflower, the pineapple and of the pinecone, the correspondence with the Fibonacci numbers is very exact, while in the case of the number of flower petals, it is only verified on average (and in certain cases, the number is doubled since the petals are arranged on two levels).

© All rights reserved.

Let's underline also that although Fibonacci historically introduced these numbers in 1202 in attempting to model the growth of populations of rabbits, this does not at all correspond to reality! On the contrary, as we have just seen, his numbers play really a fundamental role in the context of the growth of plants

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE GOLDEN MEAN

The explanation which follows is very succinct. For a much more detailed explanation, with very interesting animations, see the web site in the reference.

In many cases, the head of a flower is made up of small seeds which are produced at the centre, and then migrate towards the outside to fill eventually all the space (as for the sunflower but on a much smaller level). Each new seed appears at a certain angle in relation to the preceeding one. For example, if the angle is 90 degrees, that is 1/4 of a turn, the result after several generations is that represented by figure 1.

Of course, this is not the most efficient way of filling space. In fact, if the angle between the appearance of each seed is a portion of a turn which corresponds to a simple fraction, 1/3, 1/4, 3/4, 2/5, 3/7, etc (that is a simple rational number), one always obtains a series of straight lines. If one wants to avoid this rectilinear pattern, it is necessary to choose a portion of the circle which is an irrational number (or a nonsimple fraction). If this latter is well approximated by a simple fraction, one obtains a series of curved lines (spiral arms) which even then do not fill out the space perfectly (figure 2).

In order to optimize the filling, it is necessary to choose the most irrational number there is, that is to say, the one the least well approximated by a fraction. This number is exactly the golden mean. The corresponding angle, the golden angle, is 137.5 degrees. (It is obtained by multiplying the non-whole part of the golden mean by 360 degrees and, since one obtains an angle greater than 180 degrees, by taking its complement). With this angle, one obtains the optimal filling, that is, the same spacing between all the seeds (figure 3).

This angle has to be chosen very precisely: variations of 1/10 of a degree destroy completely the optimization. (In fig 2, the angle is 137.6 degrees!) When the angle is exactly the golden mean, and only this one, two families of spirals (one in each direction) are then visible: their numbers correspond to the numerator and denominator of one of the fractions which approximates the golden mean : 2/3, 3/5, 5/8, 8/13, 13/21, etc.

These numbers are precisely those of the Fibonacci sequence (the bigger the numbers, the better the approximation) and the choice of the fraction depends on the time laps between the appearance of each of the seeds at the center of the flower.

This is why the number of spirals in the centers of sunflowers, and in the centers of flowers in general, correspond to a Fibonacci number. Moreover, generally the petals of flowers are formed at the extremity of one of the families of spiral. This then is also why the number of petals corresponds on average to a Fibonacci number.

REFERENCES:

1. An excellent Internet site of Ron Knot's at the University of Surrey on this and related topics.
   

2. S. Douady et Y. Couder, La physique des spirales végétales, La Recherche, janvier 1993, p. 26 (In French).

Human Hand

Every human has two hands, each one of these has five fingers, each finger has three parts which are separated by two knuckles. All of these numbers fit into the sequence. However keep in mind, this could simply be coincidence.

Human Face

Knowledge of the golden section, ratio and rectangle goes back to the Greeks, who based their most famous work of art on them: the Parthenon is full of golden rectangles. The Greek followers of the mathematician and mystic Pythagoras even thought of the golden ratio as divine.

Later, Leonardo da Vinci painted Mona Lisa's face to fit perfectly into a golden rectangle, and structured the rest of the painting around similar rectangles.

Mozart divided a striking number of his sonatas into two parts whose lengths reflect the golden ratio, though there is much debate about whether he was conscious of this. In more modern times, Hungarian composer Bela Bartok and French architect Le Corbusier purposefully incorporated the golden ratio into their work.

Even today, the golden ratio is in human-made objects all around us. Look at almost any Christian cross; the ratio of the vertical part to the horizontal is the golden ratio. To find a golden rectangle, you need to look no further than the credit cards in your wallet.

Despite these numerous appearances in works of art throughout the ages, there is an ongoing debate among psychologists about whether people really do perceive the golden shapes, particularly the golden rectangle, as more beautiful than other shapes. In a 1995 article in the journal Perception, professor Christopher Green,
of York University in Toronto, discusses several experiments over the years that have shown no measurable preference for the golden rectangle, but notes that several others have provided evidence suggesting such a preference exists.

Regardless of the science, the golden ratio retains a mystique, partly because excellent approximations of it turn up in many unexpected places in nature. The spiral inside a nautilus shell is remarkably close to the golden section, and the ratio of the lengths of the thorax and abdomen in most bees is nearly the golden ratio. Even a cross section of the most common form of human DNA fits nicely into a golden decagon. The golden ratio and its relatives also appear in many unexpected contexts in mathematics, and they continue to spark interest in the mathematical community.

Dr. Stephen Marquardt, a former plastic surgeon, has used the golden section, that enigmatic number that has long stood for beauty, and some of its relatives to make a mask that he claims is the most beautiful shape a human face can have.

The Mask of a perfect human face

Egyptian Queen Nefertiti (1400 B.C.)

Fibonacci's Rabbits

The original problem that Fibonacci investigated, in the year 1202, was about how fast rabbits could breed in ideal circumstances. "A pair of rabbits, one month old, is too young to reproduce. Suppose that in their second month, and every month thereafter, they produce a new pair. If each new pair of rabbits does the same, and none of the rabbits dies, how many pairs of rabbits will there be at the beginning of each month?"

1. At the end of the first month, they mate, but there is still one only 1 pair.
2. At the end of the second month the female produces a new pair, so now there are 2 pairs of rabbits in the field.
3. At the end of the third month, the original female produces a second pair, making 3 pairs in all in the field.
4. At the end of the fourth month, the original female has produced yet another new pair, the female born two months ago produces her first pair also, making 5 pairs. (http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibBio.html)

The number of pairs of rabbits in the field at the start of each month is 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc.

The Fibonacci Rectangles and Shell Spirals

We can make another picture showing the Fibonacci numbers 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,.. if we start with two small squares of size 1 next to each other. On top of both of these draw a square of size 2 (=1+1).

Phi pendant gold - a Powerful Tool for Finding Harmony and Beauty

We can now draw a new square - touching both a unit square and the latest square of side 2 - so having sides 3 units long; and then another touching both the 2-square and the 3-square (which has sides of 5 units). We can continue adding squares around the picture, each new square having a side which is as long as the sum of the latest two square's sides. This set of rectangles whose sides are two successive Fibonacci numbers in length and which are composed of squares with sides which are Fibonacci numbers, we will call the Fibonacci Rectangles.

The next diagram shows that we can draw a spiral by putting together quarter circles, one in each new square. This is a spiral (the Fibonacci Spiral). A similar curve to this occurs in nature as the shape of a snail shell or some sea shells. Whereas the Fibonacci Rectangles spiral increases in size by a factor of Phi (1.618..) in a quarter of a turn (i.e. a point a further quarter of a turn round the curve is 1.618... times as far from the centre, and this applies to all points on the curve), the Nautilus spiral curve takes a whole turn before points move a factor of 1.618... from the centre.

A slice through a Nautilus shell

These spiral shapes are called Equiangular or Logarithmic spirals. The links from these terms contain much more information on these curves and pictures of computer-generated shells.

Here is a curve which crosses the X-axis at the Fibonacci numbers

The spiral part crosses at 1 2 5 13 etc on the positive axis, and 0 1 3 8 etc on the negative axis. The oscillatory part crosses at 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 etc on the positive axis. The curve is strangely reminiscent of the shells of Nautilus and snails. This is not surprising, as the curve tends to a logarithmic spiral as it expands.

Mystery The Curse of Tutankhamun

Death Shall Come on Swift Wings To Him Who Disturbs the Peace of the King... -Supposedly engraved on the exterior of King Tutankhamen's Tomb

The king was only nineteen when he died, perhaps murdered by his enemies. His tomb, in comparison with his contemporaries, was modest. After his death, his successors made an attempt to expunge his memory by removing his name from all the official records. Even those carved in stone. As it turns out, his enemy's efforts only ensured his eventual fame. His name was Tutankhamen: King Tut.

The ancient Egyptians revered their Pharaohs as Gods. Upon their deaths the King's bodies were carefully preserved by embalming. The mummified corpses were interned in elaborate tombs (like the Great Pyramid) and surrounded with all the riches the royals would need in the next life. The tombs were then carefully sealed. Egypt's best architects designed the structures to resist thieves. In some cases heavy, hard-granite plugs were used to block passageways. In others, false doorways and hidden rooms were designed to fool intruders. Finally, in a few cases, a curse was placed on the entrance.

Most of these precautions failed. In ancient times grave robbers found their way into the tombs. They unsealed the doors, chiseled their way around the plugs and found the secrets of the hidden rooms. They stripped the dead Kings of their valuables. We will never know if any of the thieves suffered the wrath of a curse.

Archaeologists from Europe became very interested in Egypt in the 19th century. They uncovered the old tombs and explored their deep recesses always hoping to find that one forgotten crypt that had not been plundered in antiquity. They knew that the Pharaohs had been buried with untold treasures that would be of immense artistic, scientific, and monetary value. Always the archaeologists were disappointed.

The Search for the Missing King

In 1891 a young Englishman named Howard Carter arrived in Egypt. Over the years he became convinced that there was at least one undiscovered tomb. That of the almost unknown King Tutankhamen. Carter found a backer for his tomb search in the wealthy Lord Carnarvon. For five years Carter dug looking for the missing Pharaoh and found nothing.

Carter and Carnarvon

Carnarvon summonded Carter to England in1922 to tell him he was was calling off the search. Carter managed to talk the lord into supporting him for one more season of digging. Returning to Egypt the archaeologist brought with him a yellow canary.

A Few Authentic Curses from Mummy Tombs As for anybody who shall enter this tomb in his impurity: I shall ring his neck as a bird's. As for any man who shall destroy these, it is the god Thoth who shall destroy him. As for him who shall destroy this inscription: He shall not reach his home. He shall not embrace his children. He shall not see success.

"A golden bird!" Carter's foreman, Reis Ahmed, exclaimed. "It will lead us to the tomb!"

Perhaps it did. On November 4th, 1922 Carter's workmen discovered a step cut into the rock that had been hidden by debris left over from the building of the tomb of Ramesses IV.. Digging further they found fifteen more leading to an ancient doorway that appeared to be still sealed. On the doorway was the name Tutankhamen.

When Carter arrived home that night his servant met him at the door. In his hand he clutched a few yellow feathers. His eyes large with fear, he reported that the canary had been killed by a cobra. Carter, a practical man, told the servant to make sure the snake was out of the house. The man grabbed Carter by the sleeve.

"The pharaoh's serpent ate the bird because it led us to the hidden tomb! You must not disturb the tomb!"

Scoffing at such superstitious nonsense, Carter sent the man home.

Carter immediately sent a telegram to Carnarvon in England and waited anxiously for his arrival. Carnarvon made it to Egypt by November 26th and watched as Carter made a hole in the door. Carter leaned in, holding a candle, to take a look. Behind him Lord Carnarvon asked, "Can you see anything?"

Carter answered, "Yes, wonderful things."

The day the tomb was opened was one of joy and celebration for all those involved. Nobody seemed to be concerned about any curse. Rumors later circulated that Carter had found a tablet with the curse inscribed on it, but hid it immediately so it would not alarm his workers. Carter denied doing so.

The tomb was intact and contained an amazing collection of treasures including a stone sarcophagus. The sarcophagus contained three gold coffins nested within each other. Inside the final one was the mummy of the boy-king, Pharaoh Tutankhamen.

The Curse Strikes?

A few months after the tomb's opening tragedy struck. Lord Carnarvon, 57, was taken ill and rushed to Cairo. He died a few days later. The exact cause of death was not known, but it seemed to be from an infection started by an insect bite. Legend has it that when he died there was a short power failure and all the lights throughout Cairo went out. His son reported that back on his estate in England his favorite dog howled and suddenly dropped dead.

Even more strange, when the mummy of Tutankhamun was unwrapped in 1925, it was found to have a wound on the left cheek in the same exact position as the insect bite on Carnarvon that lead to his death.

By 1929 eleven people connected with the discovery of the Tomb had died early and of unnatural causes. This included two of Carnarvon's relatives, Carter's personal secretary, Richard Bethell, and Bethell's father, Lord Westbury. Westbury killed himself by jumping from a building. He left a note that read, "I really cannot stand any more horrors and hardly see what good I am going to do here, so I am making my exit."

Outside the tomb before it was opened.

What horrors did Westbury refer to?

The press followed the deaths carefully attributing each new one to the "Mummy's Curse" By 1935 they had credited 21 victims to King Tut. Was there really a curse? Or was it all just the ravings of a sensational press?

Herbert E. Winlock, the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, made his own calculations about the effectiveness of the curse. According to to Winlock's figures of the 22 people present when the tomb was opened in 1922, only 6 had died by 1934. Of the 22 people present at the opening of the sarcophagus in 1924, only 2 died in the following ten years. Also ten people were there when the mummy was unwrapped in 1925, and all survived until at least 1934.

In 2002 a medicine scholar at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, named Mark Nelson, completed a study which purportedly showed that the curse of King Tut never really existed. Nelson selected 44 Westerners in Egypt at the time the tomb was discovered. Of those, twenty-five of the group were people potentially exposed to the curse either because they were at the breaking of the sacred seals in the tomb, or at the opening of the sarcophagus, or at the opening of the coffins, or the unwrapping of the mummy. The study showed that these exposures had no effect on the length of their survival when compared to those not exposed.

Perhaps, the power of a curse is in the mind of the person who believes in it. Howard Carter, the man who actually opened the tomb, never believed in the curse and lived to a reasonably old age of 66 before dying of entirely natural causes.

A Rational Explaination?

Several people have suggested that illnesses associated with the ancient Egyptian tombs may have a rational explanation based in biology. Dr. Ezzeddin Taha, of Cairo University, examined the health records of museum workers and noticed that many of them had been exposed to Aspergillus niger, a fungus that causes fever, fatigue and rashes. He suggested that the fungus might have been able to survive in the tombs for thousands of years and then was picked up by archaeologists when they entered.

Dr. Nicola Di Paolo, a Italian physician identified another possible fungus, Aspergillus ochraceus, at Egyptian archaeological sites suggesting it might also have made visitors to the tomb, or even those that just handled artifacts from the tombs, sick. Aspergillus ochraceus has not been shown to be fatal, however.

In 1999 a German microbiologist, Gotthard Kramer, from the University of Leipzig, analyzed 40 mummies and identified several potentially dangerous mold spores on each. Mold spores are tough and can survive thousands of years even in a dark, dry tomb. Although most are harmless, a few can be toxic.

Kramer thinks that when tombs were first opened and fresh air gusted inside, these spores could have been blown up into the air. "When spores enter the body through the nose, mouth or eye mucous membranes, " he adds, "they can lead to organ failure or even death, particularly in individuals with weakened immune systems."

For this reason archaeologists now wear protective gear (such as masks and gloves) when unwrapping a mummy, something explorers from the days of Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon didn't do.

So was the curse of the mummy a mold spore named Aspergillus flavus or Cephalosporium? Or was it all media hype? Or is there another explaination?

from UnMuseum.org

THE GOLDEN SECTION

The Greek letter phi (φ) signifies the golden section, also known as the divine proportion of 1.618 to one. The mathematical formula for φ is the square root of five plus one, divided by two. If a line is divided with the ratio of φ between the longer segment and the shorter segment, the ratio between the whole line and the longer segment is also φ. Given a length of one for the shorter segment, the length of the longer segment is φ and the length of the entire segment is φ plus one. φ plus one is also equal to φ²:

1.618 + 1 = 2.618 and
1.618 x 1.618 = 2.618

Given a length of one for the longer segment, the shorter segment is 1/φ (.618) and the length of the entire segment is φ. 1/φ is also equal to φ minus one:

1 ÷ 1.618 = .618 and
1.618 minus 1 = .618

There is also an extremely close mathematical relationship between φ and π expressed as φ² x 6 = π x 5 (2.618 times 6, divided by 5, equals 3.1416). There is an ongoing dispute about whether or not there was an ancient awareness of φ and π. In the ancient world, φ existed naturally in the proportions and growth rates of plant and animal species, as well as spirals ranging from microscopic to flowering plants and seashells to the spiral arms of the galaxy. The π ratio between the diameter and the circumference of a circle also existed naturally in the ancient world. It has also been shown that φ and π existed in many man-made ancient buildings, including the great pyramid of Giza.

The ancient Egyptian royal cubit, equal to 20.625 English inches, was used to build the great pyramid. The height of the pyramid is 280 cubits and the baselength of the sides at ground level is 440 cubits. The ratio between the height and two baselengths of the pyramid is an accurate expression of π (880/280 = 3.1428). The slant height of the pyramid is 356 cubits. The ratio between the baselength of the pyramid and the two slant heights that form the pyramid triangle is an accurate expression of φ (712/440 = 1.618).

Angkor Wat is 4,745 miles from the Great Pyramid and the Great Pyramid is 7,677 miles from Nazca. This is a precise expression of φ:

4,745 x 1.618 = 7,677

Ninety miles northeast of Angkor Wat are the Angkor temples at Prassat Preah Vihear. Preah Vihear is 4754 miles from the Great Pyramid. The line of ancient sites crosses over the Great Pyramid and Angkor Vihear.

Angkor Prassat Preah Vihear

Twenty five miles northwest of the city of Nazca is a figure known as the Hummingbird. The Hummingbird is 7,692 miles from the Great Pyramid. The line of ancient sites also crosses over the Hummingbird.

The Hummingbird

The relationship between the distances from Angkor Vihear to the Great Pyramid and from the Great Pyramid to the Nazcan Hummingbird is also a precise expression of φ:

4,754 x 1.618 = 7,692

Because the Hummingbird and Angkor Vihear are antipodal sites, with a distance between them of one-half of the circumference of the earth, two Golden Section relationships between these three sites are shown by the circumference of the earth along the line of ancient sites:

4,754 x 1.618 = 7,692

4,754 + 7,692 = 12,446, and

7,692 x 1.618 = 12,446

These Golden Section relationships may also be diagramed on a straight line:

The line of ancient sites is a line, from the perspective of the first illustration in Part One, and it is a circle, from the perspective of the azimuthal projection above. The line and the circle are found in the greek letter φ and the number 10. Zero and one are also the first two numbers and the only two numbers in the binary code.

The φ relationships between these sites are reflected repeatedly in the first 500 Fibonacci numbers. The first three prime numbers, 2, 3 and 5, approximate the intervals along the circumference of 20%, 30% and 50%, between these three sites. This same percentage of the circumference relationship, accurate to three digits, is found in Fibonacci numbers 137-139:

Percentage of circumference:	First three digits of Fibonacci numbers:
Angkor to Giza: 19.1%	#137: 191... (Prime)
Giza to Nazca: 30.9%	#138: 309...
Nazca to Angkor: 50.0%	#139: 500...

The next prime Fibonacci number after #137 is #359. The distances between these sites, in miles, is reflected by Fibocacci numbers 359-361, accurately to five digits:

Distance between sites:	First five digits of Fibonacci numbers:
Angkor to Giza: 4,754 miles	#359: 47542... (Prime)
Giza to Nazca: 7,692 miles	#360: 76924...
Nazca to Angkor: 12,446 miles	#361: 12446...

The Lost Continent : ATLANTIS

The capital of Atlantis as described by Plato. (Copyright Lee Krystek 2006)

The idea of a lost, but highly advanced civilization has captured the interest of people for centuries. Perhaps the most compelling of these tales is the story of Atlantis. The story appears again and again in books, television shows and movies. Where did the story originate and is any of it true?

Plato's Atlantis

The story of the lost continent of Atlantis starts in 355 B.C. with the Greek philosopher Plato. Plato had planned to write a trilogy of books discussing the nature of man, the creation of the world, and the story of Atlantis, as well as other subjects. Only the first book was ever completed. The second book was abandoned part way through, and the final book was never even started.

Plato used dialogues to express his ideas. In this type of writing, the author's thoughts are explored in a series of arguments and debates between various characters in the story. Plato often used real people in his dialogues, such as his teacher, Socrates, but the words he gave them were his own.

In Plato's book, Timaeus, a character named Kritias tells an account of Atlantis that has been in his family for generations. According to the character, the story was originally told to his ancestor, Solon, by a priest during Solon's visit to Egypt.

There had been a powerful empire located to the west of the "Pillars of Hercules" (what we now call the Straight of Gibraltar) on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. The nation there had been established by Poseidon, the God of the Sea. Poseidon fathered five sets of twins on the island. The firstborn, Atlas, had the continent and the surrounding ocean named for him. Poseidon divided the land into ten sections, each to be ruled by a son, or his heirs.

The capital city of Atlantis was a marvel of architecture and engineering. The city was composed of a series of concentric walls and canals. At the very center was a hill, and on top of the hill a temple to Poseidon. Inside was a gold statue of the God of the Sea showing him driving six winged horses.

About 9000 years before the time of Plato, after the people of Atlantis became corrupt and greedy, the gods decided to destroy them. A violent earthquake shook the land, giant waves rolled over the shores, and the island sank into the sea, never to be seen again.

So, is the story of Atlantis just a fable used by Plato to make a point? Or is there some reason to think he was referring to a real place? Well, at numerous points in the dialogues, Plato's characters refer to the story of Atlantis as "genuine history" and it being within "the realm of fact." Plato also seems to put into the story a lot of detail about Atlantis that would be unnecessary if he had intended to use it only as a literary device.

On the other hand according to the writings of the historian Strabo, Plato's student Aristotle remarked that Atlantis was simply created by Plato to illustrate a point. Unfortunately, Aristotle's writings on this subject, which might have cleared the mystery up, have been lost eons ago.

Location, Location, Location

If we make the assumption that Atlantis was a real place, it seems logical that it could be found west of the Straight of Gibraltar near the Azores Islands. In 1882 a man named Ignatius Donnelly published a book titled Atlantis, the Antediluvian World. Donnelly, an American politician, had come to the belief that Plato's story represented actual historical fact. He located Atlantis in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, suggesting the Azores Islands represented what remained of the highest mountain peaks. Donnelly said he had studied zoology and geology and had come to the conclusion that civilization itself had begun with the Atlantians and had spread out throughout the world as the Atlantians established colonies in places like ancient Egypt and Peru. Donnelly's book became a world-wide best seller, but researchers could not take Donnelly's theories seriously as he offered no proof for his ideas.

As time when on it became obvious that Donnelly's theories were faulty. Modern scientific surveys of the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean shows it is covered with a blanket of sediment that must have taken millions of years to accumulate. There is no sign of a sunken island continent.

Are there any other candidates for the location of Atlantis? People have made cases for places as diverse as Switzerland, in the middle of Europe, and New Zealand, in the Pacific Ocean. The explorer, Percy Fawcett, thought that it might be located in Brazil. One of the most convincing arguments, though, came from K.T. Frost, a professor of history at the Queen's University in Belfast. Later, Spyridon Marinatos, an archaeologist, and A.G. Galanopoulos, a seismologist, added evidence to Frost's ideas.

The Minoan Connection

Frost suggested that instead of being west of the Pillars of Hercules, Atlantis was east. He also thought that the catastrophic end of the island had come not 9000 years before Plato's time, but only 900. If this was true, the land of Atlantis might already be a well-known place even in Plato's time: the island of Crete.

Crete is now a part of modern Greece and lies just south of Athens across part of the Mediterranean Sea. Before 1500 B.C. it was the seat of the Minoan Empire. The Minoans dominated the eastern Mediterranean with a powerful navy and probably extracted tribute from other surrounding nations. Archaeological excavations have shown that Minoan Crete was probably one of the most sophisticated cultures of its time. It had splendid architecture and art. A code of laws gave women equal legal status to men. Agriculture was highly developed and an extensive irrigation system existed.

Then, seemingly in a blink of an eye, the Minoan Civilization disappeared. Geological studies have shown that on an island we now know as Santorinas, located just ten miles to the north of Crete, a disaster occurred that was very capable of toppling the Minoan state.

Santorinas today is a lush Mediterranean paradise consisting of several islands in a ring shape. Twenty-five hundred years ago, though, it was a single large island with a volcano in the center. The volcano blew itself apart in a massive explosion around 1500 B.C.

To understand the effect of such an explosion, scientists have compared it with the most powerful volcanic explosion in historic times. This occurred on the Island of Krakatoa in 1883. There a giant wave, or tsunami, 120 feet high raced across the sea and hit neighboring islands, killing 36,000 people. Ash thrown up into the air blackened the skies for three days. The sound of the explosion was heard as far away as 3,000 miles.

The explosion at Santorinas was four times as powerful as Krakatoa.

The tsunami that hit Crete must have traveled inland for over half a mile, destroying any coastal towns or cities. The great Minoan fleet of ships were all sunk in a few seconds. Overnight the powerful Minoan Empire was crushed and Crete changed to a political backwater. One can hardly imagine a catastrophe more like Plato's description of Atlantis' fate than the destruction of Crete.

Many of the details of the Atlantis story fit with what is now known about Crete. Women had a relatively high political status, both cultures were peaceful, and both enjoyed the unusual sport of ritualistic bullfighting (where an unarmed man wrestled and jumped over a bull).

If the fall of the Minoans is the story of Atlantis, how did Plato get the location and time wrong? Galanopoulos suggested there was a mistake during translation of some of the figures from Egyptian to Greek and an extra zero added. This would mean 900 years ago became 9000, and the distance from Egypt to "Atlantis" went from 250 miles to 2,500. If this is true, Plato (knowing the layout of the Mediterranean Sea) would have been forced to assume the location of the island continent to be squarely in the Atlantic Ocean.

Not everyone accepts the Minoan Crete theory of the story of Atlantis, but until a convincing case can be made for some other place, it, perhaps, remains science's best guess.

THE GREAT CIRCLE : THE PREHISTORIC ALIGNMENT OF WORLD WONDERS

Great circles are straight lines that go all the way around the center of the earth. The equator is a great circle. Meridians of longitude that cross over the north and south poles are also great circles. For every location on a great circle, it's antipodal location is also on the circle. Other than the equator itself, any great circle crosses the equator at two antipodal locations, 180° apart. Other than the equator and meridians of longitude that run due north and south, any great circle reaches it's maximum latitudes at two locations that are 90° of longitude east and west of the two locations where the great circle crosses the equator.

Easter Island, Nazca, Ollantaytambo, Paratoari, Tassili n'Ajjer and Giza are all aligned on a single great circle. Additional ancient sites that are located within one tenth of one degree of this great circle include Petra; Perseopolis; Khajuraho; Pyay, Sukothai and Anatom Island.

Near Ollantaytambo, Machupicchu and Cuzco are within one quarter of a degree. The Oracle at Siwa in the western Egyptian desert is within one quarter of a degree. In the Indus Valley, Mohenjo Daro and Ganweriwala are within one quarter of a degree. The ancient Sumerian city of Ur and Angkor temples in Cambodia and Thailand are within one degree of the great circle. The Angkor temple at Preah Vihear is within one quarter of a degree.

This circle crosses over the source and the mouth of the Amazon, the dividing line between upper and lower Egypt, the mouth of the Tigris-Euphrates, the Indus River and the Bay of Bengal near the mouth of the Ganges. The circle also crosses over a number of areas of the world that are largely unexplored, including the Sahara Desert, the Brazilian Rainforest, the highlands of New Guinea, and underwater areas of the North Atlantic Ocean, the South Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea.

The alignment of these sites is easily observable on a globe of the earth with a horizon ring. Aligning any two of these sites on the horizon ring will align all of these sites on the ring. 3-D world atlas software programs will also draw this great circle around the earth. The four images below are centered on the two locations where the great circle crosses the equator and the two locations where the great circle reaches it's maximum latitudes. The circle crosses over the equator at 48° 36' west longitude and 131° 24' east longitude. The maximum latitude of the circle is 30° 22' north latitude at 41° 24' east longitude and 30° 22' south latitude at 138° 36' west longitude.

All great circles have two antipodal axis points. The two axis points for the equator are the north and south poles. Every point along the equator is equally distant at 90°, or one quarter of the circumference of the earth, from the north and south poles. For any great circle, the distance from the axis points to any point along the circle is one quarter of the circumference of the earth. For any great circle other than the equator, the longitude of the axis points are 90° east and west of the two points where the great circle crosses the equator.

Great circles that run due north-south along meridians of longitude have their axis points on the equator, 90° of longitude east and west of the points where the meridian circle crosses the equator and 90° of latitude from the poles where meridian circles reach their maximum latitudes. The distance from the axis points to any point along a meridian circle is one quarter of the circumference of the earth, but 90° of longitude from the axis point to the point where the meridian circle crosses the equator is 6,225 miles, while 90° of latitude from the axis point to the maximum latitude of the meridian circle at the poles is 6,215 miles. This is because the polar circumference of the earth is 24,860 miles, while the equatorial circumference is 24,901 miles, due to the bulge of the earth at the equator and the flattening of the earth at the poles.

Our modern system of calculating degrees of latitude from the equator to the poles is based on the north-south angular change along the surface of the earth. As a result, degrees of latitude are slightly longer at the poles, where the earth is flatter, and slightly shorter at the bulge of the equator. For great circles other than the equator and other than meridian circles, the north-south distance from the axis points to the great circle crosses over the pole in one direction, while it crosses over the equator in the other direction. As a result, the latitude of the axis points must be adjusted slightly to compensate for the longer distance of degrees of latitude at the poles and the shorter distance of degrees of latitude at the equator.

The two axis points for the great circle illustrated above are located at 59° 53' north latitude and 138° 36' west longitude and at 59° 53' south latitude and 41° 24' east longitude. The southern axis point is in deep water approximately 500 miles from the coast of Antarctica. The northern axis point is in the northwestern corner of Canadian British Columbia on a glaciated ridge line approximately 6,500 feet above sea level. The circumference of this great circle is 24,892 miles. This is slightly less than the equatorial circumference of the earth, but closer to the equatorial than the polar circumference because the maximum latitude of the great circle is closer to the equator than the poles, and because most of the shortening of the polar circumference is due to the flattening of the earth near the poles.

The chart below lists the distance of each site from the great circle and the distance of each site from the northern axis point. There are slight variations in the distance from the axis point to the great circle depending on whether the route from the axis point to different locations along the great circle crosses over the equator or polar regions. The mean distance from the axis point to the great circle is 6,218 miles.

	Latitude	Longitude	To Great Circle:		To Axis Point:
Giza	29° 59' N	31° 09' E	0 miles		6.219 miles
Siwa	29° 14' N	25° 31' E	10 miles		6,231 miles
Tassili n'Ajjer	26° 32' N	9° 50' E	0 miles		6,218 miles
Paratoari	12° 48' S	71° 25' W	0 miles		6,219 miles
Ollantaytambo	13° 15' S	72° 16' W	0 miles		6,220 miles
Machupicchu	13° 06' S	72° 35' W	15 miles		6,206 miles
Nazca	14° 42' S	75° 06' W	0 miles		6,221 miles
Easter Island	27° 06' S	109° 20' W	0 miles		6,221 miles
Aneityum Island	20° 10' S	169° 48' E	8 miles		6,230 miles
Preah Vihear	14° 24' N	104° 40' E	25 miles		6,241 miles
Sukhothai	17° 01' N	99° 42' E	5 miles		6,226 miles
Pyay	19° 15' N	95° 05' E	5 miles		6,213 miles
Khajuraho	24° 51' N	79° 56' E	12 miles		6,206 miles
Mohenjo Daro	27° 15' N	68° 17' E	20 miles		6,243 miles
Persepolis	29° 56' N	52° 55' E	5 miles		6,215 miles
Ur	30° 57' N	46° 07' E	40 miles		6,173 miles
Petra	30° 19' N	35° 28' E	6 miles		6,213 miles

The sites listed above are shown clockwise from Giza on the equal azimuthal projection below. The projection is centered on the axis point in southeastern Alaska. Distances to any location from the center of an equal azimuthal projection are equally scaled. Since all of the sites on the great circle alignment are equally distant from the axis point at one quarter of the circumference of the earth, the alignment forms a perfect circle halfway between the center and the outer edge of the projection.

UFO, A Mysteries Thing

What's a UFO?

Since man first started looking up into the skies he saw things he couldn't explain. For the last fifty years or so these things have taken on the label "UFOs." Originally an abbreviation for the Air Force term "Unidentified Flying Object", it has become a synonym to most people for "Alien Spaceship." For the Air Force, though, it is simply a term to refer to something in the skies that the observer can see but not recognize. Usually the explanation is less extraordinary than a flying saucer manned by visitors from other worlds. Often a weather balloon or natural phenomenon is the cause. However, there are cases on record where no good common explanation was ever found.

Photo from the cover of
Ufo Mysteries: A Reporter Seeks the Truth
by Curt Sutherly

Dr. J. Allen Hynek, astronomer, foremost proponent of UFOs, and the one who came up with the expression "close encounters of the third kind," defines a UFO as:

The reported perception of an object or light seen in the sky or upon land the appearance, trajectory, and general dynamic and luminescent behaviour of which do not suggest a logical, conventional explanation and which is not only mystifying to the original percipients but remains unidentified after close scrutiny of all available evidence by persons who are technically capable of making a common sense identification, if one is possible.

What Hynek considers to be "all available evidence" may be much less than what a skeptic would require. For example, the evidence appealed to by UFOlogists consists of (1) the testimony of people who claim to have seen aliens and/or alien spacecraft; (2) facts about the type of people who give the testimony; (3) the lack of contrary testimony or physical evidence that would either explain the sighting by conventional means (weather balloon, prank, meteor shower, reflection of light, etc.) or discredit the reliability of the eyewitness; and, (4) alleged weaknesses in the arguments of skeptics against the UFOlogists. The last item is irrelevant to the issue, yet it plays a disproportionately large role in UFOlogy.

It seems reasonable to believe that the only reason we cannot explain these sightings by conventional means is because we do not have all the evidence - not because these sightings are probably due to alien visitations. If we had all the evidence, we would probably be able to explain the sightings by some conventional means. The fact that we cannot prove that Mr. and Mrs. Barney Hill were not abducted by aliens, does not support the hypothesis that they were abducted by aliens.

Many UFOlogists think that if eyewitnesses such as Whitley Strieber, Betty and Barney Hill, or other alleged alien abductees are not insane or evil, then they cannot be deluded and are to be trusted with giving accurate accounts of alien abduction. Yet, it seems obvious that most sane, good, normal people are deluded about many things and not to be trusted about certain things.

UFOlogists would rather follow their faulty logic than accept the conclusions of Project Blue Book, the U.S. Air Force report which states that "after twenty-two years of investigation...none of the unidentified objects reported and evaluated posed a threat to our national security." (It was in this Blue Book that Edward Ruppelt coined the term "UFO.") UFOlogists are unimpressed with the Condon Report, as well. Edward U. Condon was the head of a scientific research team which was contracted to the University of Colorado to examine the UFO issue. His report concluded that "nothing has come from the study of UFOs in the past 21 years that has added to scientific knowledge...further extensive study of UFOs probably cannot be justified in the expectation that science will be advanced thereby."

It is assumed by UFOlogists that the government, especially the CIA, is lying and covering up alien landings and communication. However, there is no evidence for this other than a general distrust of the government and the fact that many government officials have lied, distorted the truth and been mistaken when reporting to the general public. The CIA, however, has shown little interest in UFOs since about 1950, except to encourage UFOlogists to believe that reconnaissance flights might be alien craft. UFOlogists prefer another kind of lie to the government lie. They support the work of NBC, for example, which produced two dozen programs called "Project UFO," said to be based on Project Blue Book. However, unlike the Air Force, NBC suggested that there were documented cases of alien spacecraft sightings. The programs, produced by Jack Webb of Dragnet fame, distorted and falsified information to make the presentation look more believable. No UFOlogist took NBC to task for lying. To the skeptic, NBC was pandering to the taste of the viewing audience. Government agents lie for all sorts of reasons, but covering up alien landings does not seem to be one of them.

Most unidentified flying objects are eventually identified as hoaxes or astronomical events, aircraft, satellites, weather balloons, or other natural phenomena. In studies done by the Air Force, less than 2% of UFO sightings remain unidentifiable. It is more probable that with more information those 2% would be identified as meteors, aircraft, etc., than that they are alien spacecraft.

The reason no logical explanation seems credible to UFOlogists is probably because those making and hearing the reports either do not want to hear a logical explanation or they make little or no effort to find one. In any case, the fact that some pilots or scientists claim they cannot think of any logical explanations for some perceptual observations is hardly proof that they have observed alien spacecraft.

If They are Out There, Where?

If we do assume there is intelligent life in places other than Earth, where might they be? Though scientists last century thought the planet Mars might be a good candidate, and some even thought they detected a huge canal system stretching across the planet, recent probes sent to Mars have failed to detect even bacteria-like creatures, let alone a civilization capable of producing a flying saucer. With the rest of the planets in our solar system seemingly too hot or cold, the best hope for intelligent life seems to be across the void of interstellar space in other parts of our galaxy.

In an attempt to detect intelligent life beyond our solar system researchers have conducted a number of SETI programs trying to use radio waves to detect the existence of other civilizations. So far no SETI program has been successful in finding intelligent life, but there are millions of stars in our galaxy alone that might have planets that could harbor life and carefully looking at each one of them will take a long time.

Is there intelligent life on other planets? Have they visited us on Earth? Are some UFOs alien spaceships? Or are there other explanations for saucers in the sky? Nobody has final proof one way or another. We need to keep open eyes and open minds.

Finally, it should be noted that UFOs are usually observed by untrained skywatchers and almost never by professional or amateur astronomers, people who spend inordinate amounts of time observing the heavens above. One would think that astronomers would have spotted some of these alien craft. Perhaps the crafty aliens know that good scientists are skeptical and inquisitive. Such beings might pose a threat to the security of a story well-told.

'From more sources'

The Great Mystery : The Extinction of Dinosaurs

One of the great mysteries in science is the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Mesozoic era some 65 million years ago. Who (or more likely what) caused it is unknown and a subject of great debate.

Dinosaurs appeared at the beginning of the Mesozoic era and were the dominant form of life for the next 140 million years. They lived almost everywhere there was land including Antarctica. We can see their bones in the geological record laid down over time. The lower stratum of rock contains the earliest and most primitive species of dinosaur, and the upper stratum contains the newer species.

There have been many mass extinctions throughout the history of the Earth. Probably the most famous is the extinction that finally saw the end of the dinosaurs reign on the Earth, 65 million years ago. It wasn't just the dinosaurs that died out in this extinction. Whatever caused the death of the dinosaurs also caused the death of around 70% of all of the species on the Earth. Although the dinosaurs had been in a period of decline, it is thought that their recovery was prevented by some sort of catastrophic event. There are many theories about why the dinosaurs finally became extinct, some of which are more than a little outlandish.

Then, suddenly, at a geological strata line called the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (often referred to as the K-T Boundary), the dinosaurs disappear.

The K-T Boundary and Iridium

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In the late 1970's Luis and Walter Alvarez (father and son) along with a team of scientists from the University of California were making a study of the rocks around the K-T boundary in Gubbio, Italy. In particular they were looking at an unusual layer of clay at the boundary point which contained an unusual spike in the amounts of the rare element iridium. This spike revealed that the levels of iridium contained in the clay were roughly 30 times the normal levels. In parts per million iridium is present in the following amounts,

Crustal Average - 0.001
Granite - 0.00001
Diabase - 0.003

(The term diabase is used to describe certain types of gabbro.) From these figures it can be seen that iridium is an extremely rare element, so it's discovery in 'large' amounts indicates that something serious happened. There are 2 sources of iridium, the main source comes from outer space in the form of cosmic dust which is constantly showering the planet. A second source is the Earth's core when there are eruptions of certain types of volcano. It is believed that the iridium, plus many other rare elements, were carried down and concentrated in to the Earth's core while the Earth was still largely molten. During this time certain types of primitive chondritic meteorites were formed where no concentration could have taken place due to rapid cooling. This means that it is possible that within the primitive chondritic meteorites there could be reasonable levels of iridium. From this information it can be seen that there are only two possible theories to explain the increased presence of iridium in the clay layer either an asteroid strike or a massive volcanic eruption.

Asteroid Signature

Tunguska Fireball

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On June 30, 1908, the area near the Tunguska River in Siberia was the site of a remarkable explosion. The explosion, which took place at an altitude of roughly 8 km, had a force that was roughly equivalent to a 10-megaton atomic bomb. The explosion caused a shock-wave that flattened forests covering an area of more than 1000 square kilometers and killed herds of reindeer and other animals. No crater was formed, and aside from some microscopic nodules extracted from the soil, no recognizable fragments of the object remain. Scientists generally believe that the explosion was caused by an object with an approximate weight of 100,000 tons.

The Asteroid Theory

The Barringer Meteor Cater in Arizona though impressive, is only about a mile wide. Just a fraction of the 130 mile wide crater left by the asteroid that ended the Mesozoic Era. (Copyright Lee Krystek, 2008).

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The first people to suggest the asteroid theory were the team lead by Luis and Walter Alvarez. It has been calculated that a chondritic asteroid approximately 10km in diameter would contain enough iridium to account for the iridium spike contained in the clay layer. Since the original discovery of the iridium spike other evidence has come to light to support the asteroid theory. Analysis of the clay layer has revealed the presence of soot within the layer. It is thought that the presence of the soot comes from the very large global fires that would have been the result of the large temperatures caused by an impact. Something else that was found within the clay were quartz crystals that had been physically altered. This alteration only occurs under conditions of extreme temperature and pressure and quartz of this type is known as shocked quartz. Despite all of this evidence many geologists did not believe in this theory and many were saying 'show us the crater'.

Blasted Rock

The parallel lines on this sample of quartz show what happens when this particular mineral is subjected to extremely high temperatures and pressures such as those obtained from meteorite impacts or nuclear explosions. (Courtesy of United States Geological Survey)

In 1990 a scientist called Alan Hildebrand was looking over some old geophysical data that had been recorded by a group of geophysicists searching for oil in the Yucatan region of Mexico. Within the data he found evidence of what could have been an impact site. What he 'found' was a ring structure 180km in diameter which was called Chicxulub. The location of this structure was just off the northwest tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. The crater has been dated (using the 40Ar/39Ar method) as being 65 million years old. The size of the crater is comparable to that which would have been caused by an impacting body with a diameter of roughly 10km.So we now have some of the proof of the asteroid theory. We know that a chondritic meteorite with a diameter of 10km contains enough iridium to cause a spike. We also know that about 65 million years ago there was an impact of a large object. The big question is what were the results, and how did they effect the dinosaurs.

The Yucatan Peninsuka

A map showing the probable location of the crater formed by the impact of the K-T meteorite.

Chicxulub, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

This three-dimensional map of local gravity and magnetic field variations shows a multi-ringed structure called Chicxulub named after a village located near its center. The impact basin is buried by several hundred meters of sediment, hiding it from view. This image shows the basin viewed obliquely from approximately 60° above the surface looking north, with artificial lighting from the south. (Courtesy of V. L. Sharpton, LPI)

If a 10km diameter object impacted at the point at which it struck it would have a velocity of roughly 100,000 km/h. At this velocity there would have been an initial blast (with an estimated force of many millions of tons of TNT) which would have destroyed everything within a radius of between 400 and 500km, including the object. At the same time large fires would have been started by the intense shock wave which would have traveled long distances. Trillions of tons of debris (dust, gases and water vapour) would have been thrown into the atmosphere when the object vaporized. Many enormous tidal waves would be started causing even more damage, the evidence of such waves has been found all the way round the Gulf of Mexico. Along with the tidal waves the blast would also start a chain reaction of earthquakes and volcanic activity there would have also been very high winds caused by the blast. In the days and weeks following the impact the cloud of debris would have been carried over large distances by the post blast high winds. This will have caused months of darkness and a decrease in global temperatures. After this there would have been an increase in temperatures caused by the large amounts of CO2 released by what would have been global fires. Eventually this would cause chemical reactions that would result in the formation of acid rains.

Dino Killer?

The Double Whammy Theory

It may be that the dinosaurs were not just the victim of a single event, but a string of bad luck. Professor Arens has carefully looked at this idea and has attempted to measure the extinction rate of species during periods when there were major asteroid impacts, periods of massive volcanic eruptions and periods when neither were happening. Surprisingly, the rate of extinction for each type of period is about the same. What she discovered, however, is that during periods when both massive volcanic eruptions and impacts were taking place at the same time extinction rate climbs. This suggests that no single disaster event might cause mass extinctions, but a combination of two or more are needed for it to happen, hitting life on earth with a "double whammy."

The fossil record shows that the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs wasn't the only one that has occurred in our planet's history. The earth has suffered a number of such traumatic events over its life. In fact the K-T extinction wasn't even the largest. The Permian-Triassic (P-Tr) extinction event, sometimes referred to as the Great Dying, occurred about 250 million years ago and eliminated 90 percent of known species from the planet. As with the K-T extinction, nobody is quite sure what caused this disaster.

Are They All Dead?

Did any of the dinosaurs survive the extinction? Scientists have very rarely found bones of dinosaurs buried above the K-T Boundary. A single Hadrosaur leg bone found in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico, might suggest that a small population of these dinosaurs survived as long as a half a million years into the following Paleocene era. However, it is also possible that the fossils in question, which are very few in number, were unearthed by some geologic event, then reburied at a higher level.

Occasionally stories still appear about dinosaurs being found still alive today in some remote location of the world (for example, the legend of mok'ele-mbembe in Africa). While there are several famous fictional books like Arthur Conan-Doyle's The Lost World on this subject, there is no hard evidence that any dinosaur, other than the birds, their avian decedents, have survived into modern times.

It is likely scientists will continue to puzzle over the death of the dinosaurs for many years to come. Part of the mystery of K-T extinction is why certain species died out while others survived. Mososaurs went extinct while other marine reptiles, like crocodiles, are still around. If climate change is responsible why did the dinosaurs, hearty creatures that lived in all kinds of conditions all over the planet, die when frogs, who are much more sensitive to temperature change, still survive today?