It is not difficult to predict the possibility of a future earthquake, which can be done by measuring the stress and plasticity of rocks or monitoring micromovements in faults. In countries located between active tectonic continental plates, an earthquake might strike at any moment – yet it is impossible to say when and where. Although it is possible to measure stress, pressure, and vibrations using devices like seismographs, it is not possible to predict which plate will break when and with what force. We may not know when it will strike, but still we can be prepared for it and minimize the destruction. Erecting high-rise buildings on a ground which is not solid enough and with insufficient construction techniques is certainly not a good preparation for earthquakes.

Although humans cannot predict earthquakes in advance, there has been an increase in the number of laboratory studies into animals predicting earthquakes. This isn’t a new phenomenon: former generations are known to have made extensive observations about the matter, yet none were presented as scientific evidence that could withstand scrutiny. Evaluated objectively, these conclusions are not completely irrelevant or groundless; however, they never confidently predict the time, place, and force of an earthquake.

Numerous sources include observations about strange pre-earthquake behavior of many domestic animals such as dogs, cats, cattle, chickens, and rabbits, as well as non-domesticated animals like insects, birds, and various sea creatures. But such behavior could well stem from other factors such as hunger, inter-group competition, and other adverse conditions.

Ants and snakes

Ants and snakes deserve special emphasis thanks to their anatomical and physiological features. Although both species are somewhat deaf to the sounds coming from the air, evidence suggests that they might be able to detect sounds, electromagnetic radiation, and gas emissions coming from the depths of the Earth. In a remarkable story in the Qur’an (chapter al-Naml), an ant detects Solomon’s approaching armies and warn other ants not to be crushed. One may think here of an allusion to the ant’s skill to detect the vibrations generated by the clopping of the horses.

Monitoring ant behavior closely could help with earthquake preparations. If there is a significant increase in the number of ants at one location; if they have left their nests and move differently; or if there is an increase in the number of dead ants for no obvious reason, then an earthquake might be imminent.

A body like an electronic communication center

Despite its tiny body, the ant has a variety of sensory organs. It’s almost as if it were a fully-equipped center for picking up and evaluating pulses. The ant has three small eyes on its head that enable it to detect the intensity and polarization of light, as well as compound eyes on the sides of its head, each with multiple lenses providing 180 degrees of vision. The pair of antennae on its head, filled with receptors for taste, smell, and humidity, make it possible to detect all types of chemicals in the environment and are more important than the ant’s eyes. Some types of ants are almost blind and rely completely on their antennae.

Desert ants have about one thousand lenses in their eyes, while we humans have one in each eye. Rüdiger Wehner and his colleagues at the University of Zurich discovered that each ant eye has 80 lenses specialized in detecting polarized light across the ultraviolet range of the spectrum. Each lens focuses on a different point in the sky. One lens, for example, receives light from 180 degrees, another from 270 degrees, and so on. Even if they cannot see the sun, they can locate it thanks to the specialized cells in their eyes. This enables them to find the right compass direction and to determine the distance they have covered.

Sensory hairs

Especially mind-boggling about ants is the keenness of the special sensory hairs in various regions of their exoskeleton (Figure 1). The hairs on the antennae and the underside of the legs are particularly sensitive. Each hair is attached to the exoskeleton through a delicate joint and moves with the slightest vibration. The sensory cell under the hair is connected to a nerve fiber, and even a slight vibration of the hair causes a chemical exchange signal by which the ant “feels.” Some of these hairs respond to sound waves. These hairs group in certain regions (Figure 2). Considering the complex sensory organs on their head, the fact that they can perceive more than a million chemical and light signals, that the sensory hairs under their mouth and on their legs can send signals, and that they have a brain with as much as 500,000 nerve cells, it seems reasonable to assume that ants can detect an earthquake before it strikes.

A group of scientists from the University of Duisburg-Essen led by Gabriela Berberich studied more than 15,000 red wood ant mounds that lay along some of Germany’s biggest and most active earthquake fault lines, between 2009 and 2012. They monitored the insects’ movements with video cameras, entered the movements into a special software, and kept track of any deviation from the ants’ normal behavior patterns. The ants typically scooted around actively all day and went back to their mounds to rest at night. Yet, right before an earthquake they did not enter their mounds but loitered outside throughout the night. Once the earthquake was over, the ants would relax and go back to their regular routine. Even more interesting was that they did not change their behavior for tiny tremors below 2.0.

To Berberich, red wood ants (Formica pratensis and F. polyctena) can detect shifts in gas emissions with the chemoreceptors in their antennae and shifts in the Earth’s magnetic field with the magnetoreceptors in some of their sensory hairs. It is also possible that ants possess sensory organs that can respond to short-lived thermal anomalies or radioactivity.

Haicheng earthquake

Animal responses to earthquakes has been a topic of interest in China. It has led to survey and research studies. A network of experimental stations has been set up in areas with high seismic activity in order to evaluate extraordinary phenomena and other abnormal behaviors. The majority of the Chinese population lives in agricultural areas, so their proximity to animals makes them close observers. They have reported a great number of abnormal incidences preceding earthquakes, especially in the last 24 hours before a quake. It was found that the irregular behaviors of rats, fish, and snakes started three days before big earthquakes and continued until a few hours or even minutes beforehand.

Snakes came out of hibernation for two months in December 1974 and January 1975. It was as if they were committing suicide. Rats emerged from their dens and started to loiter in groups. These were both unexpected behaviors. The experts who evaluated the situation stated that a big earthquake was imminent.

There was first a series of small tremors. Snakes continued emerging from under the snow; bigger creatures such as cattle, horses, pigs, and dogs displayed restlessness. Thousands of such abnormal animal behavior were reported in the following month. Finally, on February 4, 1975, an earthquake of magnitude 7.3 struck the Haicheng County of Liaoning Province in northeast China. Far fewer people perished because they were warned of the quake thanks to the extensive observations of animals. Officials ordered the evacuation of one million residents of Haicheng a day before the earthquake, so there were only about 2,000 casualties. If the county had not been evacuated, fatalities and injuries would have been expected to exceed 150,000. The Haicheng earthquake is believed to be the only big earthquake that has ever been successfully predicted.

Geophysicist Friedmann Freund from NASA states that rocks under extreme tectonic stresses release electrically charged particles into the atmosphere before an earthquake. The particles react with air or water when they reach the Earth’s surface; they cause the formation of new molecules, like hydrogen peroxide, when they react with water. This chemical chain of events is believed to affect the organic material dissolved in the pond water, turning it into toxic substances for many aquatic animals.

Although there are supporting observations about the abnormal behavior of eels and toads, the findings are inconclusive. Still, there are considerable records of abnormal toad and snake behavior before earthquakes.

Snakes can perceive tremors and infrared radiation, which might help them detect possible weak shock waves or shifts in electromagnetic fields in a region before a powerful earthquake. Because rocks under stress emit infrared radiation – the anomalies of which were recorded by the NASA Terra satellite before a magnitude 7.9 earthquake that hit Bhuj, India, on January 21, 2001 – it is believed that snakes – nighttime hunters that possess a thermal camera for scanning the body temperature of their prey – can detect the infrared radiation that builds up before an earthquake. This infrared thermal “camera” is located inside a cavity between a snake’s nose and eyes.

It was once believed that snakes were unable to hear because they did not respond to loud noises. Snakes do not have external ears, and there is only one bone in their middle ear (columella aurii). However, they should be able to sense incoming vibrations, as they have inner ears. Indeed, a study at Princeton showed that snakes have a very keen sense of hearing. Voltmeter measurements of neural activity indicated that the vibrations from the air reached the inner ear through the jaw bone and had an effect on the brain. It seemed that the sense of hearing in snakes was tuned to the sounds and vibrations made by larger animals.

Studies have shown that snakes can detect sound by using sound pressure and sound-based mechanical vibrations. Experiments that measured the electrical responses of snakes’ head neurons and brain stems found that snakes can hear sounds of very high frequency. Snakes were found to hear sounds 10,000 times lower than is possible for human ears to hear. But how were the sounds transmitted to the inner ear of the snake, which was sensitive to vibrations? As low frequency sounds can be carried through solid substances, the research team wondered whether sound vibrations were transmitted from the ground to the snake’s body.

Subsequent research showed that skull vibrations had the same intensity as the minimum mechanical vibrations snakes could perceive. They directly responded to the vibrations that came from the air to the skeleton, rather than to sound pressure. A snake cannot possibly hear sounds from the air, but they can perceive the sound in a way that is unfamiliar to us. Snakes do not just hear what we perceive to be a sound: their entire body acts like a single organ designed for receiving vibrations, and their brains can perceive these vibrations as if they were sounds. It’s likely that the ribs and spines, covered with keratin scales, play a role in this transmission.

As research develops, we will be able to better understand what other creatures are equipped with troves of wisdom. It could open new windows into our world, allowing us to build safer cities and to appreciate the incredible intelligence of animals we consider to be “simple.”

“Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning”
William A. Ward

When I visited my family last time, I realized that my two-year old nephew, who could not speak fluently and knew only a few words, wanted to learn about everything he saw. For instance, while I was using an iPhone, he wanted me to show him how to unlock its screen. I taught him how; he tried to use it and started asking questions about the applications: What is that? What is it doing? In fact, he sometimes couldn’t speak, but he implied what he wanted to ask. Moreover, he could easily learn and repeat what I said and did.

He is a curious bundle of joy, and so are most toddlers. I believe that if toddlers – who are usually defined as being between the ages of one and three – don’t lose their curiosity, each of them will grow into accomplished members of our future’s intellectual society.

Curiosity: What is it?

Curiosity basically means a desire to know or learn. Dr. Reiss states that curiosity is one of the 16 basic desires which guide human behaviors, and comes from the need to learn^[1]. Curiosity triggers various questions about events around us, and in a broader perspective, about the universe. The interaction between the desire to learn and the universe usually brings about scientific development. So, curiosity is the key to learning and science. And talking about children, curiosity is imperative to their learning.

“What is that?” is a phrase that is usually heard from a toddler who can speak at least a few words. Toddlers have a great curiosity to understand what happens around them. They are new in this world and everything grabs their attention. Because of this curiosity, they want to learn. According to Bruce Perry, there is a big learning cycle [2], which starts with curiosity and exploration, and goes on to discovery, pleasure, repetition, mastery, new skills, confidence, self esteem, security and more exploration. While one of the main characteristics of mankind is learning by curiosity early in his life, as time passes, his curiosity fades. What causes this change? Why does it fade away? Can it be delayed? What can be done to invigorate his passion for learning, exploring and discovering if it fades? How can schools, as a secondary environment for learning after the family, be designed so that the initial curiosity is not lost?

Why does curiosity fade?

The eagerness of children to scientifically understand the world is restrained by various factors. These factors vary due to the complex nature of human beings and the environment they live in. The three significant and common factors are fear, disapproval, and absence^[2].

One of the common factors is fear that can arise implicitly or explicitly. The definition of fear is “a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid”^[3]. It causes uncomfortable conditions for people. When experiencing fear, a human cannot act normally until either the fear subsides or he deals with the cause of the fear. For example, parenting styles, events that cause internal family distress, violence, a teacher’s disciplinary style, restrictions, rules, and an unhealthy classroom environment can be some of the reasons behind fear. Human curiosity is fostered by healthy, comfortable environments^[4].

The second factor behind fading curiosity is disapproval. If a child is raised by phrases that start with “don’t,” he will learn not to do things. He will not be eager to attempt to learn new, different ways. For instance: If a child is raised by saying don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t get dirty, don’t take that apart, don’t touch, don’t, don’t, and don’t… To learn, they need to try these things. These attempts can be wrong or not essential, but children achieve a great sense of learning by doing.

The last, but certainly not least factor, of losing curiosity is absence. The meaning of absence is that the child has no sense of safety and opportunity to share new discoveries. The existence of caring people around them provides the optimal environment for exploration, discovering new things and increasing the capacity of sharing one’s discoveries. This is because of the sense of safety.

Invigorating faded curiosity

In terms of renewing curiosity for a child who has lost his passion for examination and critical observation of the world, we can start by eliminating the reasons for faded curiosity: fear, disapproval and absence. Eliminating these factors will give children a chance to reconstruct their passion, safety, and courage to repair their lost and curiosity to learn.

One who is responsible for a child needs to recognize individual differences in them, and to encourage their unique kinds of curiosity. Each individual is recognized as a different world; therefore, each individual has his or her own unique framework about the world. In some points, there can be similar and overlapping ideas but it does not mean their conceptual framework is the same. Curiosity triggers them to enhance their conceptual framework by learning with understanding. So we need to let them run after their different styles of learning, which will help them to advance in a discipline without enforcement. By doing so, children feel free to choose their area of interest and with a strong sense of their curiosity, they will move forward in that discipline.

At this point, we come up with a question: what can be done for timid children? Being timid does not mean that they are not curious. They just require more encouragement and reinforcement to feel safe and familiar with situations.

Generally, parents or teachers assume that some creative attempts of children are failures; thus, we need to redefine “failure.” If a child wants to learn to jump rope, which is not an easy task for younger children, he or she can do it hundreds of times, and trip every one of them. On one hand, this can be defined as failure; on the other hand, parents can think that it is a determination to reach success and that these trials and trips are necessary to develop that skill.

Another mistake, which can hinder a child’s curiosity, is that parents mostly make a judgment about a child’s larger personality rather than their specific behaviors. If we continue on the same example: jump rope, to encourage and reinforce them to learn, we can judge their behavior and lead them how to overcome it rather than critiquing their personality.

New approaches in the scientific environment in Curiosity is a common topic, not only for children but also within scientific communities. Through curiosity, human beings start to understand the universe and realize its wonderful and unique design. When you scientifically dig deeper into the environment and the world, your astonishment will increase about how perfectly designed things are. For instance: while I was watching a documentary, a man was interested in cobra snakes, and he dedicated 40 years of his life to exploring snake’s hidden and mysterious world. He was still so excited about talking about snakes and the details of their life; moreover, he mentioned that he needed to do more exploration to master his knowledge about snakes. You can easily catch the point: 40 years to explore only snakes, but it is not enough.

To raise a scientifically literate generation, to make them well skilled in understanding the world and willing to explore the world and universe, just like the man who is interested in snakes, the classroom environment needs to change. There should be a focus on the students and their learning with understanding, rather than being teacher-centered and based on rote learning. The United States and other countries have passed various reform acts in education to have more student-centered classrooms and better environments for learning with understanding. The most popular term in reform acts is inquiry. Although a century has passed since first appearance of the term “inquiry” in the science-education literature, there is no compromise on inquiry; you can find a lot of definition and different types of inquiry.

Inquiry-Based Learning

In a general perspective, inquiry is not only a method to teaching science, but also a result of teaching science. Learners have hands-on and minds-on activities both during the process, and after teaching and learning; learners should be able to imply new situations of scientific inquiry in their daily life. The inquiry should start with curiosity and a question about phenomena. Curiosity and the questioning phase start with some awareness of phenomena, and continue with experiments, research, observations, designs, and so on. Moreover, according to previous activities, students have some evidence, results, or assumptions to answer the initial questions, then give an explanation in keeping with his or her findings. Students need to make a comparison between his or her answers, peers, and the larger scientific literature, and also be able to justify their findings and answers.

After this process, the student learns both the scientific concepts and scientific process, and, as a member of a scientifically-literate society, uses it in new conditions in daily life. This process is a kind of imitation of what scientists do in their research. Moreover, these activities provide high retention later in the learning process. Increasing average retention rates would make students more proficient with science, keep them familiar with scientific content, and the scientific method; thus, they may keep their curiosity vigorous to sustain their scientific readings and investigations. By doing so, little students are going to be little scientists based on the strength of their curiosity.

To sum it up, curiosity is a significant factor for learning and science; it’s an essential part of human behavior. Most of the explorations, inventions and discoveries originate with curiosity. But curiosity is not a static power; most of us can lose our curiosity about the universe and the world because of various reasons, including fear, disapproval, and absence. To invigorate faded curiosity we need to eliminate the factors that are the reason for such lapses. Moreover, parents and teachers should be careful about individual differences, and we need to redefine the term “failure.” Finally, curiosity is the feature of scientific communities that are eager to understand the world and the universe. If their scientific method, which is known as “learning with inquiry,” can be applied in the classroom, children can follow the mysteries of the world and universe. Throughout little students’ journey, and during their studies, curiosity, as a wick in a candle, will enlighten our world. Let them to keep their candle sparkling!

References

1- Reiss, Steven (March 5, 2002). Who am I? The 16 Basic Desires that Motivate Our Actions and Define Our Personalities. Berkley Trade. ISBN 978-0425183403.

2- Perry, Bruce Duncan. http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/bruceperry/curiosity.htm

3- http://dictionary.reference.com/

4- Berlyne, D. E. 1960. Conflict, Arousal, and Curiosity. New York: McGrawhill.