Earthquake

By understanding the upper limits of the wobbling that precariously balanced rocks have endured in the past, researchers can gain a picture of future earthquake risk, and a cutting-edge new technique could improve the accuracy of this modeling.

Google has started using the vast number of Android smartphones across the planet to help detect and warn people about seismic events. Your phone will begin transmitting accelerometer data if it detects something similar to an earthquake.

As you might imagine, installing seismic sensors on the ocean floor isn't an easy task. Recently, however, scientists were able to detect seabed seismic activity using something that was already down there – a fiber optic telecommunications cable.

NASA has released a symphony of sounds captured by InSight on Mars including quakes, howling winds, metallic “dinks and donks” and other eerie sounds.

​How safe would you feel, going back into a multi-story building that had just been through an earthquake? A new sensor system could allay your fears, as it optically measures how much a building has swayed, and thus how damaged it may be.

According to a new study, Earth's surface is smooth compared to the landscapes found deep within the planet. Using data from one of the biggest earthquakes on record, geophysicists have now found massive mountain ranges hundreds of kilometers beneath our feet.

​Although traditional seismographs are essential for warning of earthquakes, they can be difficult to access when placed on the sea floor. Well, that's where the MERMAID underwater seismic floats are designed to come in, and they've recently been successfully tested in the Galápagos.

Following an international architecture competition, LBR&A Architectos' Torre Reforma has been declared the winner of the International Highrise Award. Chosen from over 1,000 towers built in the past two years, the office building was hailed for its innovative earthquake-resistant design.

It’s long been thought that the Earth's inner core is a solid ball of iron, but direct evidence is hard to come by. Now, researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) have detected a type of seismic wave passing through the core that only propagates through solid objects.

​Scientists have developed what they claim is the “smallest and cheapest” electronic nose for sniffing out people, designed with earthquake and avalanche rescue in mind. The nose detects various substances which would provide the crucial “chemical fingerprint” showing the presence of human life.​

The Leaning Tower of Pisa has stood at a precarious angle for more than 600 years, surviving numerous large earthquakes without damage. Now, a team of engineers has identified how it managed that feat.

While current seismometers can pick up tremors with precision, they’re short-ranged and expensive. Now a Stanford study has demonstrated that an extensive earthquake-detection network could already exist right under our feet: the optical fiber cables piping high-speed internet throughout cities.