Gearfuse

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, the authorities thought they did the right thing and ended up fucking over a whole town, possibly a country.

Either way, I’m sure this is the last time Italy will not heed an early warning of a natural disaster.

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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 want L.A. to be caught with its pants down. So, Aftershock has been created as an interactive training system that will not only increase awareness, but change people’s behavior towards earthquakes.

“Think of the scenario as DOS,” said Jason Tester, the lead game designer at the IFTF. “[Aftershock] is like the GUI to the scenario.”

Well put, Mr. Tester.

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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 shakes. Before start crying about how your girlfriend bumps into your nightstand on a daily basis, you should know that minor bumps and shuffles will be ignored by the software. In time, the collection of readings should help the group better predict earthquakes and their patterns, thus improving warning times for area residents.

Sorry for calling Orange County “The OC” but I’m sure you Californians will smoke enough grass to get over it.

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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 data about vibrations, stresses, temperatures and humidity levels. The designers hope to save people not only millions of dollars, but their lives as well. — Andrew Dobrow

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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 Japan is a country where earthquakes are common, so when the lights go off, you’ll still be able to see around, hide under the table or gather everyone at the exits. This might also be useful in offices, when you would like to check if you have left anything before leaving, or in your bedroom so that you don’t have to fiddle your way on bed after turning off the lights. Another really important use is when the lamp gets smashed, you’ll still be able to see the pieces in dark and pick up the mess. The Hotalook-alpha series has just started selling in Japan, it is priced close to similar products without Hota-look-alpha technology. –Sam Chan

Tokyo Lighting Fair [Impress]

The scary thing about earthquakes is not so much about falling ceilings anymore, at least in Japan. More injuries are incurred due to the fact that the power is off and people can’t see (along with gas explosions, fire and falling shelf objects). Most commercial office buildings are equipped with emergency lighting, but what if you want them at home? A Japanese company, Anzen-net (safety-net), has developed this automatically lighting system that can light up automatically when it detects an earthquake greater than Richter Scale 5 or smoke in times of fire. A 70dB siren is also built in should you want to be woken up. Since it runs on lithium battery, it will not be affected by the powercut. Thanks to its relatively small size, you can put as many as you want in your room, but that will cost you a fortune; these lights are selling for $147 each. — Sam Chan

Pioma product page [Anzen-net]