Scientists Say Toads Can Predict Earthquakes 66
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."
Pfft (Score:5, Insightful)
They didn't predict it. They CAUSED it.
Facepalm (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't RTFA (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.
Real funny thing (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.
Re:Don't RTFA (Score:4, 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.
Re:Don't RTFA (Score:2, Insightful)