 Which of these does Dr. Niemand believe to be true about the timing of the attacks?
This, be it understood, is fiction—nothing but fiction—and not, under any circumstances, to be considered as having any truth whatever to it. It's obviously utterly impossible ... isn't it? An interview with Dr. I. M. Niemand, Director of the Psychophysical Institute of Solar and Terrestrial Relations, Camarillo, California. In the closing days of December, 1957, at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in New York, Dr. Niemand delivered a paper entitled simply, "On the Nature of the Solar S-Regions." Owing to its unassuming title the startling implications contained in the paper were completely overlooked by the press. These implications are discussed here in an exclusive interview with Dr. Niemand by Philip Latham. Dr. Niemand, what would you say is your main job? I suppose you might say my main job today is to find out all I can between activity on the Sun and various forms of activity on the Earth. What do you mean by activity on the Sun? NIEMAND. Well, a sunspot is a form of solar activity. Just what is a sunspot? I'm afraid I can't say just what a sunspot is. A sunspot is a region on the Sun that is cooler than its surroundings. Isn't it true that the number of spots on the Sun rises and falls in a cycle of eleven years? The number of spots on the Sun rises and falls in a cycle of about eleven years. In what way? NIEMAND. It means you can only approximately predict the future course of sunspot activity. Sunspots are mighty treacherous things. Haven't there been a great many correlations announced between sunspots and various effects on the Earth? Pure bosh in most cases. There is unquestionably a correlation between sunspots and disturbances of the Earth's magnetic field ... radio fade-outs ... auroras ... things like that. Now, Dr. Niemand, I understand that you have been investigating solar and terrestrial relationships along rather unorthodox lines. I think our biggest advance was the discovery that sunspots themselves are not the direct cause of the disturbances we have been studying on the Earth. Attention is concentrated on the bright red papules because they're such a conspicuous symptom of the disease. Whereas the real cause is an invisible filterable virus. In the solar case it turned out to be these S-Regions. Why S-Regions? You say an S-Region is invisible? It is extremely doubtful, however, if the radiation we detect is the actual cause of the disturbing effects observed.
 They are related to the sun's cycle and the speed at which S-Regions travel
 They are related to sunspots and the speed of the Earth's rotation  Overcast weather throws off the timing of paired attacks in different areas  The timing of the events depends on the movement of the moon, like tides of oceans  They are related to the sun's cycle and the speed at which S-Regions travel