Fascinating look at world of science

'Phenomena: Secrets of the Senses" by Donna M. Jackson proves that truth is stranger than fiction and that sometimes "truth" can be scientifically proven to be fiction.

For middle schoolers on up, this book models scientific inquiry. Chapters begin with a phenomenon, the phenomenon is explored from different points of view, and based on the evidence, the reader may draw her own conclusion. The main point of this fascinating book is that "Technology is changing the way we make sense of our world — and subsequently, the way we interact with it."

For example: A woman's dog persisted, day and night, in licking a mole that had developed on the back of her thigh. Even though the woman was a nurse, and even though her doctor removed the mole only to "play it safe," the mole turned out to be life-threatening melanoma. Are dogs able to sniff out cancer? For three weeks, scientists at Pine Street Foundation in California trained five dogs to detect lung and breast cancer from samples of people's breath. The dogs identified lung cancer breath samples with 99 percent accuracy. They identified breast cancer breath samples with 88 percent accuracy. The researchers say, "The dog's brain and nose is currently one of the most sophisticated odor detection devices on the planet. Technology now has to rise to meet that challenge."

A psychic named Annette Martin had a vision of a dead female. When she went to the police, a detective realized that some of her information matched details of a current murder investigation that had not been revealed to the public. Ms. Martin told the police that the murderer was a man who took a lot of pills and that they would find him a year later wearing white. That is exactly what happened. Events like these probably explain why a 2005 Gallup poll found that 75 percent of Americans believe in some aspect of the paranormal. The rest of the chapter explores some paranormal hoaxes and research exploring paranormal phenomena. Richard Wiseman, a psychology professor, did research from which he concluded that ... "psychics were no more accurate than ... students (in helping to solve crimes) and that neither group performed at above-chance levels."

Can animals predict natural disasters? Can you trust your intuition? Is there such a thing as coincidence? Can dreams predict the future? What's going on with people who see colors when they hear music, taste food or smell odors?

What about Esref Armagan, the blind artist who paints in color with the depth and perspective of a sighted person? Have you heard about the technology that converts video images into highly complex sounds that blind people can "see?"

There are sections on further reading (including one of my favorite books "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" by Malcolm Gladwell), a glossary, source notes and an index.

Contact Fran Hawk at franbooks@yahoo.com.