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Scientists Say Toads Can Predict Earthquakes

Posted by samzenpus on from the does-the-toad-think-it's-safe? dept.

reillymj writes "Researchers claim toads sensed a severe earthquake last year five days before it hit. Last spring's L'Aquila earthquake devastated the medieval city of the same name in Italy. Five days earlier, a group of biologists noticed some toads behaving strangely in a pond nearby that would later be the quake's epicenter."

6 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. Pfft by somersault · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They didn't predict it. They CAUSED it.

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    which is totally what she said
  2. Facepalm by DryGrian · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The pinnacle of scientific achievement, obviously.

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    For optimal comment enjoyment, take red pill now.
  3. Don't RTFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's right. Don't read it. I'm going to summarize it for you:

    Some scientists noticed frogs acting "strange". A couple days later, an earthquake followed. Scientists wondered if the frogs were somehow aware of the earthquake. They had no particular reason to believe they were. Other scientists interviewed on this matter say probably not. People retroactively attribute all kinds of things to big events that follow.

    The article ends: "For now at least, the hunt for a way to predict earthquakes must continue."

    That's it. You're welcome.

    1. Re:Don't RTFA by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, I heard the researcher on the radio yesterday; the toads unexpectedly left the area for a few days & whilst they were gone, the quake hit; the toads returned after the quake

      I'm sorry to be the one to have to burst this bubble, but toads cannot travel far enough in a couple of days to leave the large area affected by an earthquake. And if they just so happened to be right out the outlying portion of the area affected by the earthquake, then they would have been too far away from the epicenter to have detected it anyway, if they could, which they can't, because they are toads.

    2. Re:Don't RTFA by shock1970 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So the researchers studying the toads obviously don't know much about them other than their mating habits. The toads in my area leave sometime around the mid to late fall. But it's not like they're packing their bags and catching the cheapest Southwest flight to Miami. They really can't leave because even if they hop 5 miles away, its still going to be cold. Perhaps a more astute observation would be that the frogs were not observed to be in the area, which doesn't necessarily imply that they left the area, but possibly, like they do in the winter, burrowed themselves in the ground.

  4. Real funny thing by oldhack · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nowadays, I can't tell the difference between your typical slashdot stories and April Fool's Day stories.

    Everyday is April Fool's day here.

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    Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.