Here’s the lead (er, lede) I pitched to Atlas Obscura, which (to my delight) they ran unchanged, giving me a welcome chance to write an interesting story I learned about at the AGU Fall Meeting from Kevin Krajick of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory: If a steep mountainside in a remote national park gives way andContinue reading “For Atlas Obscura: Why Scientists Are Worried about a Landslide No One Saw or Heard”
Tag Archives: tsunami
The beauty of nature fading away: Haruki Murakami
In the best speech I have read since the last Vaclav Havel speech I read, Haruki Murakami reflects on the tsunami that hit Japan a year ago and "mujo" — the fading of beauty. If we think about nature, for example, we cherish the cherry blossoms of spring, the fireflies of summer and the redContinue reading “The beauty of nature fading away: Haruki Murakami”
Japan Earthquake: 1000x stronger than Port-au-Prince quake
A couple of striking facts from a briefing on the earthquake in Japan, and the subsequent tsunami: According to Dave Applegate, of the US Geological Survey, this quake, measuring "almost nine" on the Richter scale, substantially ruptured the earth's crust, tearing it up for 150 or more miles. Applegate said the energy released by theContinue reading “Japan Earthquake: 1000x stronger than Port-au-Prince quake”
Kit Stolz 