Getting Through It

The San Andreas is a complicated fault. It has the potential to have the biggest earthquakes in Southern California, yet in the last half century, there has only been one earthquake on it that no one really remembers. In this episode, Dr. Jones explains what makes a weak fault and why this legendary fault fits in that category.

In this episode, we look at the Afghanistan earthquake of June 2022 that killed more than 1,000 people, how we know what we know, and how Dr. Jones' work in the country in the 1970s shapes our understanding of the seismology there.

Disaster hazards being faced by societies around the globe are monumental. The work each nation has undertaken has been notable, but it’s especially apparent in New Zealand, with just five million people and a third smaller than the state of California. After spending the week in New Zealand as part of a science advisory board, Dr. Jones discusses how the same science within a different framework...

One of the most common beliefs about earthquake prediction is that animals know before the earthquake comes. In this episode, telling the story of her experience researching this question, Dr. Jones cuts to the chase: we want it to be true, but there is no evidence animals can predict earthquakes. 

Whenever there is a significant geological event along the Pacific Rim, people take to social and conventional media to conjure the mythical impacts of the “Ring of Fire”! Once again, people look for a pattern when one doesn’t exist. With plate tectonics, subduction zones, and volcanoes, Dr. Jones explains in this episode how the “Ring of Fire” has no geologic significance and naming the complexit...

From normalizing risk to making patterns, people have dealt with the uncertainty of the pandemic in many ways. In this final episode of our three part series on randomness, Dr. Jones discusses our current relationship with randomness as we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

From the early humans to the modern humans of today, we are wired to enjoy theorizing and finding patterns. In this second episode of our three part series on randomness, we go back in time to these early civilizations to explore the multi-thousand year relationship humans of all cultures have had with what will happen… and why!

Earthquakes are currently not predictable…and may never be! This episode is the first in a three part series on randomness, starting first with earthquakes. Dr. Jones builds the foundation for what randomness is and explains why we might have to accept the fact that earthquake distribution is random.

We have spent every week since the beginning of the podcast talking remotely at home about how to get through earthquakes, risks, natural disasters through the perspective of science. In this special episode celebrating 100 episodes of Getting Through It, join John and Dr. Jones in the field as they visit a fault and see this feature through the eyes of a geologist.

Plate tectonics controls things you didn’t know about! It impacts the formation of our atmosphere, our oceans, our continents, and our local geology. So natural hazards, including tornadoes and earthquakes, are connected to plate tectonics. In this episode, Dr. Jones explains why plate tectonics matters to you.

As we experience increased intensity, frequency, and geographic occurrence of natural disasters, the climate crisis can feel overwhelming, with dire headlines leading to further despair and inaction. While the answers aren’t black and white, Dr. Jones reacts to the latest calls for action, UN reports, and what it means to each of us.  

Thirty years ago, April 22, 1992, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake occurred under Joshua Tree National Park. It was also the closest we have ever gotten to a short-term earthquake prediction in California! Dr. Jones sets the scene for how this prediction was issued and what could have followed the Joshua Tree earthquake. 

This week marks the 116th anniversary of the great San Francisco Earthquake on April 18, 1906. It inspired many classic, yet inaccurate, Hollywood movies and many fears about earthquakes in California! In this episode, Dr. Jones explores how this quake from over a century ago is impacting us today as we plan for another big earthquake.

In this special episode, Dr. Jones and John answer questions from community and business leaders in a live webinar, hosted in collaboration with Together for LA. From lessons learned during the pandemic to recommended resources, Dr. Jones and John discuss how this information can actually be used in communities to prepare for the next disaster. 

Seismology has seen major technical developments in the last few decades! And those technologies allow for some pretty innovative and impressive applications, from building health to human health to revealing if you washed your hands after using the bathroom!

How do we know what just happened after the Earth stops shaking? It’s all about the instruments that measure what is happening - sometimes many miles - below the surface! In this episode, we look at the history of earthquake recordings, how that has moved from analog to digital processes, and the vulnerabilities present in those systems.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, Dr Jones shares her stories as a woman in science! She offers insights on how things have changed for women in science based on her experience from first gaining interest in science, to college, to getting a job with the USGS, and beyond.

What if you knew what would happen in the next disaster before it did? Scenarios provide a story that can be related to and remembered! Scenarios are pretty powerful tools… if they’re actually used. This episode explores what makes a good scientific scenario and how you can use them.

This week, we discuss the history of nuclear weapons and their connection to the science of earthquakes— specifically, the history of the seismic network and how it monitors the Earth’s movement. Dr. Jones explains the difference between the waves generated by an earthquake and a bomb.

After nearly two years of living with COVID-19, here in California, the mandates for masking are being lifted, and some people are acting as though the pandemic is over. As we move to endemic, Dr. Jones tells us why our risk has not changed and how to manage the next phase of living with this virus in our communities.

Fear is our fundamental response to danger and a driver of action, but it doesn't allow us to truly manage what we are facing in potential (and actual) disasters! Don't be afraid to deal with your natural emotions in this episode!

While Dr. Jones always says that earthquakes can't be predicted, volcanic eruptions, on the other hand, can be. In this episode, Dr. Jones discusses the Three Sisters volcano in Oregon, its reported “uplift”, and the key to volcano predictions - and why they matter to you even if you don't live anywhere near one of the more than 150 volcanoes in the U.S.!

The San Andreas Fault was described as “locked, loaded, and ready to roll” in 2016. Many people thought, when they heard this, that the big earthquake was imminent. In this episode, considering geologic time, Dr. Jones explains what this really means.

This week marks the anniversary of the Cascadia Earthquake in the Pacific Northwest on January 26, 1700, the largest known earthquake in the continental U.S. In this episode, Dr. Jones explains how we know the exact date (and time!) of this earthquake and how sometimes an earthquake's ramifications can be felt three centuries later as we plan for what might be coming.

What is considered the largest volcanic explosion in three decades, the global impact of the underwater volcanic eruption near the South Pacific Kingdom of Tonga on January 15, 2022 raises more questions than answers. To clarify some common questions, Dr. Jones discusses pressure waves, VEI categorization, and tsunami warnings.