Gustav said:
it is true that the charge of ignorance was mainly directed at the "writers"
but if one bothers to read the actual quote we find..
....that it is somewhat directed at you
he omitted to mention it. he selectively extracted a portion of his accusation and presented it as a whole. kapeesh?
Ay. Me awares real good about it. Not too stoopid, me not!
His rant was a spurious one, and the very assured, arrogant attitude he took, especially the lumping of everyone together for a group insult, made me a tad itchy.
I fail to see how a legitimate scientist (Levengood holds 2 separate degrees in the biological sciences) doing legitimate analysis of plant materials from various crop circles constitutes pseudoscience. Or gives license to those self-appointed mullahs of "true" science to hold their noses up high, as if they were beacons to lead us through the thick fog of credulity, idiocy, and irrational belief (oh, God! Help us!
) to the safehaven of rational scientism.
Although in a few cases, other scientists have corroborated his findings, others have also contradicted them as well. Regrettably, there has not been enough research by other scientists, which is one reason why Levengood and his results have been thrown into question.
One interesting finding was a statistically anomalous crystallization of a type of clay soil found within a crop circle as compared with the control samples from outside the circle. Several scientists who were cooperating with Levengood and BLT research were involved in the analysis.
The crystallization anomaly was suggested by a geologist, Diane Conrad, who was testing the ideas of her master's thesis, involving the effects of heat on clay minerals. She posited that if microwave energies (or some other unknown energy) were indeed a facet in crop circle formation, that there may also be detectable changes in the soils within the affected area.
She had, incidentally, heard of Levengood's theories about crop circles after he did a radio interview about a circle which had formed very near her home in Utah, and decided to do her own investigation of the circle. After finding a noticeable difference in the samples as opposed to controls, these results were sent to BLT Research, which spurred a more in-depth analysis of another case, this time occuring near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Dr. Robert C. Reynolds, a geologist/mineralogist who specialises in clay minerals, was consulted to review the results. In his comments, he said:
"After analysis of these samples in my laboratory, I am convinced that the sample preparation methods and the X-ray analytical procedures used were consistent with sound, standard methods of analysis. In short, the data have been obtained by competent personnel using current equipment."
Here we have a third party
confirming the validity of the methods used by BLT Research and the other scientists who were involved, which would seem to suggest that accusations of Levengood and his methods being biased and/or flawed are hasty.
From BLT's summary of the analyses:
In Reynold's words, "the possiblity of crystal growth seems remote." The degree of pressure known to be involved in causing crystal growth in sedimentary deposits would have, had it been present, completely obliterated the plants. And the 600-800ßC temperatures, over a period several hours, known to be necessary to promote such crystal growth in the laboratory would have, in the crop circle field, incinerated any plant material present. Additionally, the very brief bursts of possibly intense microwave radiation thought to be the cause of node-elongation and the creation of expulsion cavities (through heating and expansion of internal stem moisture) could not account for crystal growth.
Our present knowledge provides no explanation for these results. It is unlikely that an atmospheric plasma vortex system could account for the changes observed in the clay minerals. The data, however, rule out direct mechanical flattening of the crop circle plants by human beings utilizing planks or boards as an explanation for this event.
Control studies carried out by BLT over the last several years have shown that significant node-length increase and expulsion cavities do not occur in crop flattened by boards or planks, human feet or cement rollers, or to crop which has been 100% over-fertilized. And, since either geologic pressure and/or intense heat is required to cause decrease in KI of the clay minerals--and neither can be produced by planks, boards, cement rollers, feet, etc.--this, or a similar mechanical mechanism, must be ruled out. It is our intent to carry out additional plant and soil research in an attempt to replicate the results of this XRD study, if funding can be obtained.
They also note, quite interestingly:
It should be mentioned that the farmer/owner of the field and his wife, as well as an unrelated individual, reported dramatic aerial light phenomena in the immediate area of this crop field around the time the formation was discovered, as well as the fact that cell phone failure was observed during sampling inside the formation. Reports of similar events at other cropcircle sites around the world are increasingly common. Whether these incidents are relevant is not known, but it is our opinion that they should not be dismissed without investigation if further scientific study cannot provide an adequate explanation for the data.
The numerous eyewitness accounts of both light and electrical phenomena, as Talbott rightfully notes, should not merely be dismissed, since in these cases they seem to have a direct connection to the circles.
The results of this particular study, with multiple researchers in different areas involved, it becomes clear that Levengood should not be summarily dismissed as a charlatan, or, as Light inferred, a man whose work is simply "poppycock".
