Blindside by Ferocity Unleashed by Fault

A map of Japan that demonstrates seismic hazards reveals the regions of Fukishima as a fairly low risk area compared with the rest of the country, which lies on several tectonic plates. Although the entire country is in an earthquake risk zone, scientists expected the next high power earthquake to hit the areas southwest of Fukishima. Prior to the recent disaster, a government committee had initially concluded that there was a 99 percent chance of an earthquake greater than 7.5 hitting Japan within the next 30 years, and while foresight saved thousands, it did not prevent the recent massive destruction; no one expected a magnitude 9 quake. Most earthquakes are underestimated because of unknown faults, which leads to the question of how many earthquakes are actually caused by undiscovered faults. There is very little precedent to a situation like this one, and scientists are currently debating what the causes could be. While earthquakes that large would unleash massive destruction, the Japanese have prepared themselves with strict building codes and seawalls that are meant to hold back earthquake induced tsunamis. The recent earthquake was the largest ever recorded in Japan, and tied for fourth largest in the world since 1900. The largest earthquakes occur in subduction zones, places where an ocean plate collides with and slides under a continental plate, particularly around the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

This article is important because the situation in Japan affects us all and we must use the tragedy of this earthquake to prevent future earthquakes. The tsunami, earthquake, and nuclear crisis occurring at the moment could happen again with even greater consequences if we do not learn from this disaster.

This article was very well presented. It is very important for the current situation in Japan and for the future of the world. The picture of the tsunami provided a clear example of the extent of the damage. It is a complicated science that is difficult to predict. It is important to examine all the data so that a future disaster can be avoided.

Chang, Kenneth. "Blindsided by Ferocity Unleashed by a Fault." NY Times 21 Mar. 2011. 21 Mar. 2011. Web. 23 Mar. 2011. .

Japan Nuclear Crisis Still a Serious Concern - Henry Palermo

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre72a0ss-us-japan-quake/

The article essentially summarizes the impact that the recent earthquake and tsunami is having on Nuclear reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. One of the main concerns is that the plant is 150 miles north of Tokyo. The plant had been beaten by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake which has led to the need of workers to try and contain the reactors before they release excess radiation and perhaps explode. The earthquake has had a serious effect on Japan’s economy, as many countries have refused Japan’s exports. In order to hinder the potential disaster workers are using helicopters and spraying water on the reactors to prevent them from overheating. The risks that Tokyo is facing go as far as Japanese families being urged to prevent their infants from drinking tap water. Some Tokyo authorities said that water at a purification plant is more than twice the safety level for infants.
The effects that this will have on us seem pretty minimal at first. Japan is on the opposite end of the earth as us, yet the economic effects and the effects on the imports that we have from Japan are probably our greatest concern from this tragedy, aside from trying to aid the people who have been devastated in Japan. Another effect that comes indirectly from this disaster is the effect it will have on the nuclear power industry as an alternative to oil and natural gas. This is especially important to people in our area because the Indian Point power plant uses nuclear power.
Overall I thought that this article was very well done, and extremely timely. My only conniption would be that outside of mentioning the effects on people in Tokyo, the writer doesn’t delve deeper into the damage that has already been done by both the earthquake and the tsunami. Yet I still believe that this was a very informative and interesting article.

“Seawalls Offered Little Protection Against Tsunami’s Crushing Waves”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14seawalls.html?scp=2&sq=tsunami&st=cse

             

           After a destructive tsunami swept through Japan, researchers have been taking a closer look at how the wave managed to be so damaging. They have come to the conclusion that the concrete seawalls lined up along Japan’s coastline served as little or no protection. The walls were built in order to protect the country against high waves, typhoons, and even tsunamis. The risks of dependence on seawalls were most evident in the crisis at the Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants, both located along the coast close to the earthquake zone. The tsunami that followed the quake washed over walls that were supposed to protect the plants, disabling the diesel generators crucial to maintaining power for the reactors’ cooling systems during shutdown. Japan has built rigorous building codes that are resistant to earth quakes. Unlike the sea walls, this actually helped them a lot. Without these buildings, the death toll would have been a lot higher. The total devastation in coastal areas and a final death toll predicted to exceed 10,000 could push Japan to redesign its seawalls. They say that the sea walls should have been built higher or the generators should have been placed on high ground to withstand potential flooding.   

         This article was very important because it is important to understand what is going on in the world. Knowing the science and problems behind it is even more important.

posted for E. Kimak

Taming the Wild

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/featurehub

           The article "Taming the Wild" by Evan Ratliff in National Geographic is fascinating. The article is about the evolution of more "tame" animals, including sheep, goats, pigs, cats, dogs, chickens, and most memorably foxes. The article details how it has become possible for humans to make different animals more tame by selective breeding. For example, over 50 years ago an out of work geneticist in Russia began experiments to create more tame foxes for easier fur harvests. After several generations of selective breeding of the most tame, the foxes began wagging their tales, barking, and even seeking human contact. This came as a surprise to scientists, who began more carefully selecting the foxes and recording findings. Related to the domestication of foxes, the article details how chickens, cows, and other mammals have become tamed. Scientists are now asking whether the animals domesticated today approached us first, or vice versa. To determine what causes domestic traits in animals, scientists are using genome sequencing to determine the genes and their functions.
 
         The reason this article is important to science is because domesticated animals have changed humans irreversibly. Of over 700 mammals, only about 20 have been domesticated, and have changed the way humans farm, eat, and treat animals. This article is important because the link between domestic traits and genetics will give provide useful information in the future, for identifying specific genes and their functions in animal genomes.
 
          The article was very well written, informative, interesting, and even included aesthetically pleasing diagrams and additional photos. The article did a good job of meshing scientific facts and diction into a pleasant learning experience, and the subject matter was interesting and unexpected.

"Waste Wells to Be Closed in Arkansas."

On March 4th, two oil and gas companies decided to shut down wastewater disposal wells in Arkansas that many people seem to believe are connected to recent earthquakes. The State Oil and Gas Commission was supposed to shut down the wells last Friday, 6 days after Arkansas experienced its worst earthquake in 35 years. Although the directors of the companies that own the wells, Chesapeake Energy and Clarita, did not agree with the theory that their wells were the cause of the problem, they still willingly closed down the wells. These wells are made to get rid of wastewater that is a result of natural gas drilling. Scientists and researchers have been studying the relationship between disposal wells and earthquakes for a while now and these researchers are now seeing a potential connection. Since the fall thousands of earthquakes have been recorded in north-central Arkansas. Whole many of these were unnoticeable they still happened and some were stronger. This reoccurring of earthquakes is very worrisome for the people of Arkansas.

This is an interesting article because it explains how researchers have found a direct relationship between disposal wells and earthquakes. While many of the earthquakes that occurred went unnoticed, it is still a dangerous field to be messing around with and must be changed. While the wells are necessary for the disposal of wastewater, researchers and scientists must come up with a new way to dispose of the water that will keep people out of harms way. It is not worth the threatening earthquakes.

There were both strengths and weaknesses to this article. I liked it because it was concise and to the point. It did not give you unnecessary or confusing information. However it could have been better if they went into more detail about how they were going to fix this issue and what was the actual reasoning that connects the wells to causing these earthquakes.


Robertson, Campbell. "Waste Wells to Be Closed in Arkansas." Www.nytimes.com. 4 Mar. 2011. Web. 6 Mar. 2011. .

Raze of Glory: NASA Earth-Observing Climate Satellite Fails to Reach Orbit

Jack Deasy

            This article is about the failed launch of NASA’s satellite Glory. The article talks about how this satellite would have provided the intensity of solar energy reaching Earth’s upper atmosphere and measure airborne atmospheric particles that affect how much of that energy reaches the surface. If the scientists where able to receive this data it would have helped them a lot in understanding the Earth as a system. It was suppose to be one of the most important satellites in ages.

            This affects us because now we are not any closer to understanding what this satellite was going to record. And now we are not able to understand this information for a while. The reason being is that this is the second time this has happened. And NASA has to try and figure out what is wrong with the launching system and fix it and then build another satellite.

            I think that overall this was a very good article. The information it gave us was a little skimpy and did not explain it clearly. Otherwise I found that this was a very interesting article.

Matson, John. Raze of Glory: NASA Earth-Observing Climate Satellite Fails to Reach Orbit. N.p.: Scientific American, 2010. Web. 6 Mar. 2011. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=glory-observatory-crash>.