FACTS INTERESTING ABOUT ATLANTIS

The Ancient Greeks write of an idyllic island called Atlantis which disappeared into the sea. Why did it disappear? According to the story, the sea God was so angry at how greedy and dishonest the people had become, he shook the island for a day and a night before the sea swamped it forever. Many people have wondered whether Atlantis really existed and historians think that the legend is based in the island of Thera, now known as Santorini. In 1450 BC a huge volcanic explosion shook the island. Most of the island disappeared beneath the sea and a tidal wave flooded the island round about, probably destroying the Minoan civilization of the nearby island, Crete.

BERMUDA TRIANGLE

There is an area in the Caribbean Sea known as the Bermuda Triangle. Many ships and planes have mysteriously disappeared here. Is there some supernatural force at work here, spiriting people away to another planet or pulling them to their death in the sea below? Although many disappearances are reported to have happen in the calm weather, investigations show that the area is given to sudden storms. Hurricanes often begin here and it is not surprising that many planes and ships have been lost.

SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION

The supernatural seems to hate scientific laboratories. Experiments have been set up with clairvoyants – people who can see things that are going on out their range of vision. Clairvoyants have been asked to guess what shapes are on hidden cards, but the number of correct answers is not significantly better than those chose by chance.

But, say the clairvoyants, predicting shapes on card has no emotional importance – unlike an impending disaster. The police have used clairvoyants and look for missing people. The difficulty of investigating these facts interesting supernatural phenomena using scientific equipments is illustrated by toci-toci beetles.

The male beetle attracts a mate by tapping on a stone. He can be heard by females up to 5km (3 miles) away, but no sound can be detected by even the most sensitive microscope. Those who believe in the supernatural, might say that just because the microphone does not pick up the sound, it does not prove that something is not prove that something is not happening. The scientific might say that the females do not use supernatural powers to detect the male, but hear the sound waves caused by his tapping.