Videos
Podcasts
Blogs
Quizzes
GamesPosts Tagged: ‘earthquake’
Podcast Goodness: Organ Donation and The Sun
by Charles W. Bryant | January 15, 2010
Good day, sirs and madams… I said GOOD DAY. I hope the sun is shining in your neck of the woods. It’s Friday at SYSK headquarters and things have finally thawed out here in the previously frozen South. If you wonder why I always seem to lead the Friday podcast recap with a weather report, [...]
How is an earthquake measured on the Richter scale?
by Marshall Brain | January 14, 2010
You Asked: How is an earthquake measured on the Richter scale? — Shivaram, Hyderabad, India Marshall Brain Answers: An earthquake causes the earth to move. You can see the movement in a typical earthquake if you watch this video: Note how the poster, cabinets and the computer monitors are moving when the earthquake hits. The [...]
Three Perfect Words — Doctors Without Borders
by Charles W. Bryant | January 14, 2010
Hello, folks. No doubt everyone is keeping close tabs on the tragedy in Haiti, wherever you are on this big chunk of planet. That’s kind of how things feel to me during times like this… small. Kind of like we humans are all just temporarily hitching a ride here on Earth. And there’s not much [...]
World Record #114 – The world’s largest earthquake-proof building
by Marshall Brain | November 24, 2009
The world’s largest earthquake-proof building is an airport terminal built in Istanbul: Istanbul Opens World’s Largest Earthquake-Safe Building Stretching across more than 2 million square feet, the terminal doesn’t sit directly on the soil, but rather on more than 300 isolators, bearings that can move side-to-side during an earthquake. The whole building moves as a [...]
Lakes are usually tranquil bodies of water, but in rare instances, they can be deadly. Tune in to this podcast from HowStuffWorks.com to hear Josh and Chuck discuss lakes that have exploded — and the factors that create a killer lake.
Slumbering Italians in Pescara experienced a rude shock around 3:30 a.m. when a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the town and surrounding areas in central Italy. At least 100 people have died and 10,000 homes were damaged, according to the LA Times.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is saying that the earthquake resulted from “normal faulting on a NW-SE oriented structure in the central Apennines,” in its event summary.
The USGS has a cool feature called “Did You Feel It?” where you can report your location and what you felt at the time of the earthquake. So far, more than 500 people have weighed in on this natural disaster. Individuals from as far away as Nuremberg, Germany (801 kilometers or 498 miles away) and double that distance in Nottingham, U.K. are reporting that, yes, in fact, they did feel weak shaking.
CNN.com reports about the pre-dawn earthquake that struck central Italy this morning. The Interior Minister said that at least 92 people have been confirmed dead so far from the quake that registered a magnitude of 6.3. Tremors were felt in the capital city of Rome, about 60 miles from where it hit in L’Aquila. It only lasted about 30 seconds, but the 13th century buildings were no match for the scale of the earthquake.
Italy has two geological faultlines that cross the country, making it one of the most earthquake-prone regions in Europe. What’s surprising is this story from Reuters — an Italian scientist claims to have predicted the earthquake several weeks ago and was reported to the authorities for spreading panic. Seismologist Gioacchino Giuliani drove around town in a van with loudspeakers broadcasting a warning of the impending quake.
Earthquakes are measured using the Richter scale, a factor of ten scale. Learn more about the Richter Scale in this HowStuffWorks podcast.
Recent Postings by Category
BrainStuff
- Thank You and Best Wishes to Marshall Brain
- Contest – Design a $300 house and win $25,000
- How the Philtrum works – the place under your nose where your face comes together
The Coolest Stuff on the Planet
- Sun, Sand and a Passenger Jet Coming Right for You
- Golden Fields of Canola
- The Park That Never Sleeps: Central Park
Keep Asking
- Why can a 5 foot 8 inch man dunk a basketball on a 10 foot rim while some people of taller stature can’t?
- What happens to our sun once it runs out of fuel?
- How do we know the age of the universe?
Stuff Mom Never Told You
- Who invented the Christmas card?
- How the Kinsey Report Fueled Whiskey Sales
- How to Get Your Wedding Announcement into The New York Times
Stuff to Blow Your Mind
- Blow Your Mind: Nebula in a Box
- Blow Your Mind: Three Minutes Till Impact
- Touching the Void: Psychedelics and Death
Stuff You Should Know
- Stuff You Should Know at SXSW
- The Southern Death Cult, the Maya and Georgia
- Deformed Baby Spider Brains
The Stuff of Genius
CarStuff
- Listener Mail: What’s the world’s largest engine?
- Listener Mail: What makes a “classic car” classic?
- Was Chrysler’s “It’s Halftime in America” Super Bowl commercial a little too political?
How-to Stuff
- How to Enjoy the Fruits of Your Labor
- How to Travel the World in 4 Days
- How to Smell Like Someone at HowStuffWorks
PopStuff
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 69: Perfume: The Culture of Scent
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 68: Astrology: What’s PopStuff’s Sign?
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 67: Collecting: PopStuff’s Cabinet of Curiosities
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
- Good News from the Oldest Mayan Calendar
- One Year Later: Colony Collapse Disorder
- Who Killed Martin Luther King, Jr.?
Stuff to Change the World
- Who will own the Arctic?
- Obesity: The New Global Crisis
- Bill Gates Makes For A Pretty Decent Cartoon
Stuff You Missed in History Class
- Butch Cassidy: Should we read between the lines?
- Are we rooting for D.B. Cooper?
- Party Time: A Look at Unconventional Politics
