Baffled scientists

The body of the 12th Pandito Khambo Lama, Dasha-Dorzho Itigilov, who served as the spiritual leader of Russian Buddhism from 1911 to 1917, was publicly unveiled for the first time in September 2002, 75 years after his death in 1927. Three years later, his body remains in a state of preservation that has baffled scientists — and drawn believers by the thousands.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/miranda_creation_011016-1.html

http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/pubs/press/2004/050217cockroach.html

http://www.isapa.org/Image_Gallery/gifs/man_scratching_head.gif

Sun spot
The Sun, Scotland p5 , Saturday , March 9, 2002

A mystery sea creature with no eyes has baffled scientists after being found in Fraserburgh in a box of fresh fish caught in the North Sea.

(C) The Sun, 2002

X-RAY WONDER.
Daily Star, p7 , Friday , January 16, 2004

NATASHA Demkina, 16, of Saransk, 400 miles from Moscow, has baffled scientists by claiming she has X-ray vision.

http://www.bttf.net/photos/WAXHEAD-6T.jpg

The discovery has baffled scientists. There are three controversial possibilities to explain the origin of the mystery apes:

They are a new species of ape
They are giant chimpanzees, much larger than any so far recorded, but behave like gorillas
They could be hybrids, the product of gorillas mating with chimpanzees.
So far, researchers have little to go on, but they now plan to return to northern DR Congo to study the apes further.
In the meantime, there are fears that unless measures are taken to protect them, poaching could threaten this new group of primates before the mystery of their identity is resolved.

"This is a lawless area," says Kenyan-based Swiss photographer Karl Ammann, who tipped Ms Williams off about the apes.

"The government has practically no control over hunting. If we found something interesting it would attract more investment. People would be more interested in conserving it."

http://www.jerrylewiscomedy.com/pix/jlcmtl_1963.jpg

Exercise IX

Another training method used by Doc Savage to keep to the highest pitch his sense of touch, is the following: .

He procures twelve pieces of cloth about four by six inches. These are of various weaves and textures-cotton, wool, silk, rayon, etc., mixed in. A tailor's book of swatches is sometimes used by Doc.

To each piece of cloth Doc pins a small slip of paper bearing the name of the kind of cloth it is. With eyes closed, he feels each piece carefully, and then puts down on paper wkat he thinks it to be.

Originally, it took Doc about two weeks to get to the place where he could name the pieces of cloth without making a mistake. To time himself, he recited the forty-eight States and named their capitals-this taking an equal time with the judging of the cloth.

After the first two weeks, he changed cloths and cut down the judging time to the length it took him to recite Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address."

For more on Doc Savage's Method of Self-Development, see:
http://members.aol.com/the86floor/novels/method.html

Oh but so if the blind woman recognizes color in fabrics, umm, maybe it's that the different basic color dyes have different effects on the fabric? Resulting in subtly different textures, or something?

update on what's baffling scientists today:

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=scientists+baffled&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

recognising colour in fabrics by touch is clearly possible by detecting very slight changes in temperature from reflected radiation. thus spake the arts student.

well if she's blind from damage to the primary visual cortex but still has rudimentary unconscious image processing ability from the lateral geniculate nucleus or superior colliculus...

wait a minute....

A blind woman has baffled scientists after proving on TV that she can distinguish between colours by touch [...] she used her fingertips to recognise the different colours of various t-shirts and blouses while blindfolded.

why did she need to be blindfolded if she was blind?

for the reasons you just stated!

WWN writers quoted sources identified as "a baffled scientist" so often they started joking about a institution called the Academy of Baffled Scientists.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/06/AR2007080601293_pf.html

http://www.scientistsbaffled.com/

One wonders whether if you baffle a scientist that somehow makes them quieter...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/01/11/scientists-are-building-an-animal-fart-database/?utm_term=.375a07adab6f

doing pretty well for themselves