Scientists Want Your MacBook for Earthquake Detection

[Ichingcarpenter]

Seismologist Elizabeth Cochran and a few colleagues hope to add a few seconds to earthquake detection, thereby getting word out faster to a large number of people.


Everybody knows you can't predict an earthquake. The only way would be to get inside a time machine, go into the future, and send back a message.

So seismologist Elizabeth Cochran of the University of California at Riverside will use thousands of computers to do just that.

Well, it's not exactly a time machine. Cochran and Stanford seismologist Jesse Lawrence have made use of the sensors built into many new laptops that sense when the computer is being dropped, and turned them into earthquake monitors. They hope to sign up thousands of users to act like a grid of detectors that can sense an earthquake before it does too much damage.

Like many earthquake early warning systems around the world, when a quake strikes, this system will send a warning to people living in large cities. Because electronic communication systems (in this case, the internet) are much faster than seismic waves, the warning should arrive before the shaking, giving people 10 or 20 seconds to take shelter. >>>>snip

http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/news/2008/03/quake_network

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. Cool idea!

As long as nobody pranks it. "Hey, everybody in San Francisco, shake your MacBooks at exactly 3:17PM today!"

[fed-up]

2. they're better off using animals-which can have erratic behavior DAYS ahead of a quake

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/11/1111_031111_earthquakeanimals.html

Can Animals Sense Earthquakes?

Maryann Mott
for National Geographic News
November 11, 2003
The belief that animals can predict earthquakes has been around for centuries.

In 373 B.C., historians recorded that animals, including rats, snakes and weasels, deserted the Greek city of Helice in droves just days before a quake devastated the place.

Accounts of similar animal anticipation of earthquakes have surfaced across the centuries since. Catfish moving violently, chickens that stop laying eggs and bees leaving their hive in a panic have been reported. Countless pet owners claimed to have witnessed their cats and dogs acting strangely before the ground shook—barking or whining for no apparent reason, or showing signs of nervousness and restlessness.

But precisely what animals sense, if they feel anything at all, is a mystery. One theory is that wild and domestic creatures feel the Earth vibrate before humans. Other ideas suggest they detect electrical changes in the air or gas released from the Earth.

..snip


Erratic Behavior in Dogs

Researchers around the world continue to pursue the idea, however. In September 2003 a medical doctor in Japan made headlines with a study that indicated erratic behavior in dogs, such as excessive barking or biting, could be used to forecast quakes.

There have also been examples where authorities have forecast successfully a major earthquake, based in part on the observation of the strange antics of animals. For example, in 1975 Chinese officials ordered the evacuation of Haicheng, a city with one million people, just days before a 7.3-magnitude quake. Only a small portion of the population was hurt or killed. If the city had not been evacuated, it is estimated that the number of fatalities and injuries could have exceeded 150,000.

..snip

[Nihil]

3. No, no, no ... this is the *science* forum ...

Dogs, chickens, bees and other creatures are just "woo-woo" whereas
people with bouncing Macs are "technology" ...

Prediction: the false positives (e.g., from people near airports)
and lack of coherent response (e.g., "Bugger, my mac's gone funny ... WTF was
*that*?") will soon dull down the excitement over this one.

There again, that was an unscientific prediction not deduced from any
technological device but correlated from that old fallback, "gut feel",
so that one is probably not admissable either - regardless of how accurate
it turns out to be!
:evilgrin:

[fed-up]

4. and what good is 10-20 seconds-by the time data is correllated and sent out it will be too late

how much time lapsed between the jets being hijacked on 911 and fighter jets scrambled to interecept them?-whoops, that's right they were too late and they had at least an hour...