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Science
Friday > Archives
> 1997
> July
> July 18, 1997
Hour One: Landmines / Earthquakes
Landmines can maim, even kill -- that's their purpose. But although
the U.S. has refused to join other nations and sign a treaty banning
their use, efforts in this country are still ongoing to develop ways
to minimize the risks to people from these hidden explosives. Some of
these efforts are focused on protecting soldiers in battle, who need
a quick way of clearing an area of mines. Other projects worldwide focus
on so-called "humanitarian demining" -- removing or deactivating mines
before they can harm civilians.
On this segment of Science Friday ®, we'll talk about the science
behind demining, and find out what efforts are being made to make the
ground a safer place.
Then .... In 1985, scientists from the United States Geological Survey
predicted that the odds were 20 to 1 in favor of an earthquake striking
Parkfield, a tiny town in California, sometime before 1993. Four years
later, they're still waiting. Instruments around the town are starting
to show changes that might mean something is about to happen -- but
no one is sure.
Quakes have hit Parkfield, which sits on part of the San Andreas fault,
about every 22 years since 1857. But is the 22-year cycle real, or is
it just a coincidence, an artifact of random events?
On this segment of Science Friday ®, we'll talk about earthquakes,
what we know about them, current monitoring efforts, and whether or
not prediction of earthquakes might someday be possible.
Guests:
Richard Davis
Director for Defense Programs
Oak Ridge National Lab
Oak Ridge, TN
Dana Priest
Pentagon Correspondent
The Washington Post
Washington, DC
Allan Lindh
Geophysicist
U.S. Geological Survey
Menlo Park, CA
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related links:
A look at
mines around the world from the DOD.
A
radar-based effort at Ohio State.
An article
on chemical methods, from Chemical and Engineering News.
The Demining Technology
Center
The CalTech
Record of the Day.
A map of current
quakes
Quake photos
from EQIIS
The USGS
More from the USGS
The Global Eartquake Response Center
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