UC Berkeley’s latest Android app can detect earthquakes [VIDEO]

The scientists at UC Berkeley have developed an interesting new Android app that could help a lot of people. The app’s purpose is to be able to detect an earthquake while a phone is sitting on a flat surface. There’ll be minor bumps that could affect the sensors in the phone the app will read from, sure, but the app will be able to tell the difference between those.

The app runs in super low power mode and only reads the accelerometer, and if the app determines an earthquake is occurring it’ll automatically send GPS coordinates and the reading information over to Berkeley’s Seismological lab.

The app can’t replace actual scientific tools for detecting, measuring and analyzing earthquakes, of course, but it’ll help bring to light the existence of an earthquake faster and can allow seismologists to send earthquake warnings faster. To learn more about how it works you can read Berkeley’s release on it right here, and if you want to help contribute to their efforts you can grab the app from the Google Play Store and get going.