Without even knowing it, your phone is part of a global network of sensors detecting earthquakes in real time.
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Every smartphone is equipped with a gyroscope — a motion sensor.
Its original purpose was to enable automatic screen rotation when you flip your phone sideways.
Researchers at Google Labs realized these sensors had far greater potential, and so they developed an earthquake detection system built on those very sensors.
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An earthquake propagates in two waves.
The first are called P-waves, and they are not particularly dangerous. The second are called S-waves, and these are the ones responsible for widespread damage and structural collapse.
When an Android device detects sudden movement through its gyroscope, it transmits its location to Google's servers.
When an earthquake occurs, tens of thousands of devices transmit their locations simultaneously, allowing Google's servers to detect the ring-shaped propagation of the earthquake and pinpoint the location where it originated.
At that point, an emergency alert is sent to all devices in danger zones, providing 10 to 60 seconds of warning time before the earthquake's second wave arrives.
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Between 2021 and 2024, the system detected more than 11,000 earthquakes, including in areas inhabited by billions of people around the world.
Of those, a danger was identified and alerts were issued in 1,279 cases — with only 3 false alarms (2 caused by unusual thunderstorms).
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The system demonstrates a sophisticated and remarkable use of distributed power.
The combined strength of millions of devices operating simultaneously is incomparably greater than that of any single system attempting to achieve the same results.
Another example of this is the Bitcoin network — and it's possible that the next breakthrough in artificial intelligence capabilities will be built on the distributed computing power of millions of personal devices.
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In the image: each yellow dot represents the location of a device that detected an unusual tremor. A high concentration of yellow dots can be seen forming a ring shape, expanding outward from the earthquake's epicenter.