TAG RESULTS FOR: earthquake

So as you’ve probably read, there was a big earthquake over in L’Aquila, Italy. It’s looking pretty grim, too, with a 6.3 magnitude and dozens of entire towns reduced to rubble. Who could have possibly predicted something as catastrophic as this? A seismologist? Psh, keep dreaming. Actually, wait. Yeah. That is what happened. Several weeks ago, Italian seismologist Giampaolo Giuliani predicted the quake and began warning people, which prompted the city’s mayor to arrest him for “spreading alarm.” Sure enough,... Continue reading

Los Angeles is a focal point for earthquakes and it’ll be no surprise to scientists when another one hits the San Andreas Fault in the future. When it comes to ground trembling geological faults, you’ve got to be prepared. That’s where Aftershock comes in. Aftershock is a game based on a 300-page U.S. Geological Survey that details how screwed L.A. would be if another devastating earthquake hit. The Institute for the Future and Art Center College of Design does not... Continue reading

Scientists are predicting that in 30 years, California is going to get seriously twisted. Now I’m not talking about having one too many shots of Patron here; I’m talking about horrific natural disasters known as earthquakes. Lucky for Apple fanboys living out west, your Macbook may end up saving the lives of thousands of people.A team of researchers from the Quake Catcher Network at Stanford have developed software that allows the internal accelerometer in Apple laptops to measure and analyze... Continue reading

Natural disasters leave architecture in ruins, causing millions upon millions of dollars in damages. On a Greek mountainside, plans are under way in creating a self-healing house made of nano polymer particles. These particles, when applied under pressure during an earthquake, will flow into cracks and harden to form solid material, which would greatly decrease the chance of a collapse or building damage. The house will also sport unique load-bearing steel frames, wireless, battery-less sensors and RFID tags to collect... Continue reading

Not sure if you have ever noticed that some fluorescent lights do glow in the dark for a while after you’ve turned off the power, that’s because the excited particles (ions) take time to give out the light (photon) after being excited by electrical energy. NEC has extended this behavior of fluorescence material and apply it to their new Hotalook-alpha household lighting system, which was demoed at the Lighting Fair in Japan. This has captured immense attention in Tokyo as... Continue reading