earthquakes
Design
5:00AM Chris Jacob | The new terminal at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport is the world’s largest earthquake-safe building. You’re looking at over 185,000sqm of scaffolding that supports it, all resting on top of giant geological roller skates. More »
The World’s Largest Earthquake-Safe Building
5:00AM Chris Jacob | The new terminal at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport is the world’s largest earthquake-safe building. You’re looking at over 185,000sqm of scaffolding that supports it, all resting on top of giant geological roller skates. More » 
Science
This Is How An Earthquake Spreads Through The Entire Planet
1:00PM Jesus Diaz | Wired thinks that Roy A. Gallant’s 1950 classic science books need to be updated with 21st-century style and information. They’re right, but while their artwork may be flashier and more accurate, it is not necessarily clearer. Take these two examples. More »
Gadgets
Japanese Vending Machines Dole Out Free Beverages During an Emergency
1:10AM Adam Frucci | Some new vending machines in Japan are designed to hand out free drinks to all comers—but only in case of an emergency. More »
Robots
Meet the Newest Member of Yokohama’s Mechanised Earthquake Rescue Brigade
2:10AM John Mahoney | After you’re discovered by this horrifying cilia-covered snake bot, this robotic coffin-on-treads will help extricate you from the earthquake rubble, measuring your vitals all the while. It’s soon to be deployed in Yokohama. [New Launches] More »
Science
Massive Hydroelectric Dams Could Have Caused the Sichuan Earthquake
3:00PM Elaine Chow | Some scientists are claiming that the Sichuan Earthquake, which killed over 70,000 people, might have been caused by a 150m-high dam constructed just 170m from the fault line. More »
Gadgets
Tokyo’s E-Paper Disaster Signs Help You Escape Earthquakes, Godzillas
10:44PM John Herrman | While we’re still fawning over tiny e-paper displays in e-book readers, the Japanese government is installing panels in Tokyo to aide evacuation in disaster situations—a very good idea, as it turns out. More »
Vehicles
Old Beijing Subway Trains Get Second Life As Homeless Shelters
2:30PM Elaine Chow | Ever wonder what happens to old subway cars when subway lines upgrade to newer trains? In Beijing at least, the ones used pre-Olympics have been shipped to Sichuan and converted into temporary winter shelters. Ten DK-16 trains, each with six cars, are now in Guangyuan, a city north of Sichuan’s capital Chengdu. More »
Vehicles
Notes: Greetings From Japan, Land of Earthquake Education Trucks
6:50AM Brian Lam | Hello there, I’m in Tokyo for a few weeks. The remnants of the summer heat linger like a mosquito; even as it rains you can feel. My first morning here, a 4.8 earthquake rumbled through the city. Judging from the poise Lisa’s family displayed, Japan’s citizens are far better at responding to earthquakes than even Californians. Part of that comes from the common frequency of quakes in the region, but I’d also like to give credit to the good old Earthquake simulation truck, pictured in the video above. Advanced technology, indeed. More »
Hardware
SentrySafe Hard Drive Endures Trial by Fire (and Water)
12:15AM Wilson Rothman | Whenever our journalistic brethren get to set something on fire and douse it with water, we like to commemorate the moment. Wired’s Gadget Lab just performed such a battery of tests on the SentrySafe fire-and-flood proof hard drives, ones we first saw almost a year ago. On one hand, the test went as predicted, but on the other hand, data doesn’t seem as protected as you might think. More »
Cameras
