Advancing earthquake science worldwide
20 September 2021–Growing up in the mountains in China, Songqiao “Shawn” Wei never saw the ocean until he was 23, flying over the Pacific from Beijing to San Francisco for an American Geophysical Union meeting. “But when I was a kid I liked the sea, from books and movies, and … Continue Reading »
16 August 2021–Earthquakes are happening all the time inside Louisa Brotherson’s lab. Tiny ones, at least—and the strike-slip faults involved occur in Perspex plastic, not rock. Using a machine called a triaxial deformation apparatus, Brotherson can apply different pressures and stresses on the plastic to mimic the conditions that lead … Continue Reading »
15 July 2021–For Amir Salaree, the road to studying tsunamis began when he was a physics major at the University of Tehran, “looking for simple, real-world applications of all the beautiful math and physics that I was learning which would be useful to people,” he recalled. Visiting a friend in … Continue Reading »
15 March 2021–Rengin Gök’s work day starts early, with text messages and email from all around the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and the Caucasus regions. Even before the pandemic, she kept odd office hours, responding to her colleagues in these regions late into the night and on weekends. … Continue Reading »
16 December 2020–Big earthquakes may grab the headlines, but for Takahiko Uchide, the small events are just as interesting. For one thing, studying small earthquakes is a good way to learn about the physical properties of underground faults at a fine scale, he says. “Earthquakes reflect factors including the applied … Continue Reading »
16 November 2020–Costa Rica is home to about 15,000 earthquakes a year, and its citizens are well-educated when it comes to the science behind all the seismic activity, says Esteban Chaves. “If you ask a Costa Rican where the subduction zone is, they are able to respond. Most of them … Continue Reading »