Quake experts develop new system to monitor underground movements

September 30th, 2009 Method to monitor quake fault strength eyedLOS ANGELES — Scientists are releasing results of a study aimed at gauging the strength of earthquake faults, which could help them pinpoint weak ones at risk of breaking and unleashing temblors. Earthquakes are caused by a sudden slip on a fault.

September 19th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An intelligent surveillance system, developed by researchers from the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), can detect aberrant behaviour by drivers and people on foot crossing pedestrian crossings and in other urban settings. The study, by David Vallejo, from the ORETO Applied Intelligent Systems research group of the UCLM, could be used to penalise incorrect behaviour.

September 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have developed a new technique that uses data collected from earthquakes, potentially allowing the Earth's seismic activity to be mapped more comprehensively. Scientists from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, developed the new method.

September 1st, 2009 LONDON - British agents foiled a desperate German plot to monitor troop movements just days before D-Day, according to newly-released MI5 files on the Nazis. During the Second World War, Iceland became tactically important for both sides and Germany sent a series of spies to gather weather information about the area to send back to the Luftwaffe.

August 19th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Engineers at UC (University of California) Irvine are planning to outfit the local water system with sensors that monitor pipes after earthquakes and other disasters. The sensors will alert officials when and where pipes crack or break, hastening repair, thanks to nearly 5.7 million dollars over three years from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and several local water groups.

August 5th, 2009 3 more quakes rattle southern NZ, no damageWELLINGTON, New Zealand — A strong magnitude-6.1 earthquake rocked southern New Zealand Wednesday, one of three quakes to hit the region in four hours and the latest of hundreds of aftershocks since a massive 7.8-magnitude quake last month, seismologists reported. Emergency services and police in the southern city of Invercargill said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the quakes Wednesday in the Fiordland region of South Island.

July 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Forming an international team with US experts, an IIT Kharagpur researcher is developing a new in-car yawn-detection system that will keep an eye on a driver while behind the wheel. Aurobinda Routray and his colleagues - including Indian-origin researchers Aurobinda Mishra of Vanderbilt University and Mihir Mohanty of ITER - say that their system will warn a drive to pull over and take a break when he/she starts to yawn.

July 17th, 2009 LONDON - Just half an hour after a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit the southwest coast of New Zealand on July 15, a scientist demonstrated a precise simulation of a tsunami that would generate as a result of the quake. Just as the quake struck at 21:22 local time, 90 leading tsunami researchers in Novosibirsk, Russia - six time zones west of New Zealand - were concluding a conference session.

June 15th, 2009 BEIJING - China has ordered software producers to create security patches following reports that its controversial new internet filtering system could allow remote monitoring and control of users' computers, and the stealing of personal information, state media said Monday. "The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology told us to make the software safer after a series of security vulnerabilities were found," the official China Daily quoted Zhang Chenmin, manager of Jinhui Computer System Engineering, as saying.

June 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Japanese scientists have announced that a 1,124-pound (510-kilogram) space probe will "collide" with our home planet in June 2010 to simulate an approaching asteroid. According to a report in National Geographic News, the Hayabusa spacecraft is currently on its way back to Earth after a successful mission that landed on and hopefully collected samples from the asteroid Itokawa.

May 24th, 2009 LONDON - Security experts have warned that extremists training in Bangladesh could pose a major threat to Britain, adding that the south-Asian country has become a "safe haven" for terrorists.ccording to a report in The Independent, a rising number of British-born fundamentalists are travelling to Bangladesh for jihadist training, prompting authorities in Dhaka to launch a database to monitor the movements of suspected terrorists. UK security services are also turning their attention to the country, fearing it may become a magnet for would-be terrorists as security forces ratchet up surveillance on Pakistan.

May 10th, 2009 LONDON - Trials of a Harry Potter-inspired tracking device which can monitor movements of family members through their mobile phones have been completed. Microsoft's Whereabouts Clock features a screen which has the ability to show the approximate location of an individual - such as "school", "work" or "gym".

May 3rd, 2009 Strong but deep quake hits GuatemalaGUATEMALA CITY — Seismologists are reporting a strong but deeply centered earthquake in Guatemala. Local radio stations say there are no reports of damages or injuries.

April 9th, 2009 LONDON - A 98-year-old women had a unique surviving strategy after she was captured in the rubble caused by the L'Aquila earthquake in Italy-busying herself in knitting. When rescue workers reached Maria D'Antuono, she revealed that in the 30 hours of being trapped in the rubble, she resorted to knitting to keep herself busy and stay alive.

March 16th, 2009 LONDON - Scientists have come across evidence for the existence of giant sand worms that lived 260 million years ago, in Torbay, UK. The worms, which grew up to 3ft long and 6in wide, are thought to have lived underground before dinosaurs roamed the earth.