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Article ID: CBB534559359

Can Animals Predict Earthquakes?: Bio-sentinels as Seismic Sensors in Communist China and Beyond (2018)

Fan, Fa-ti (Author)

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
Volume: 70
Pages: 58-69

DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2018.05.009

URI: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0039368118301419

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This paper examines the international research on abnormal animal behavior prior to earthquakes, with a focus on Chinese seismology during the Cultural Revolution. China experienced a series of powerful earthquakes in the 1960s and 1970s; in response, its scientists developed approaches to earthquake prediction, including the use of bio-sentinels. The paper demonstrates that Chinese seismology did not treat an earthquake simply as a geophysical event, but rather as an amalgam of environmental phenomena, including sensory experiences. Hence, distributive experience and sensory networks of humans and bio-sentinels constituted an important component of studying the environment. This historical case suggests insights into bio-monitoring of the global environment.

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Article Lino Camprubí; Philipp Lehmann (2018) The Scales of Experience: Introduction to the Special Issue Experiencing the Global Environment. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science (pp. 1-5). unapi

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