Remember the rule of headlines: If it ends in a question mark, the answer nine times in ten is "No." So when a breathless, fleshless piece in the Daily Mail asks, "Is a super-volcano just 390 miles from London about to erupt?" you know what to think. Laacher See is the "super-volcano" in question; it's a caldera in Germany that every European geologist studies in school. It last exploded about 13,000 years ago, leaving behind classic, textbook volcanic features that have been beautifully exposed in quarries. No one, not a soul, in the geoscience community considers Laacher See hazardous. Yet Mail writer Ted Thornhill claims that it "is showing worrying signs of waking up." No, it isn't. Wired Science blogger Erik Klemetti gives the article a good roasting from the scientific side, so I don't have to.
I will add that I checked at EurekAlert to see if a recent press release had triggered this story, and I can confirm that it is breathless, fleshless and baseless too. Don't worry about Lacher See—take part of your next European vacation to seek it out! Professor James Aber has posted some geologic notes and photos of this interesting volcanic region.
This story is yet another example of human credulity. As I put it elsewhere once, "The fact is, the general run of people love to be amazed. The trouble is, they aren't particular about what amazes them."
Comments
“The fact is, the general run of people love to be amazed. The trouble is, they aren’t particular about what amazes them.”
Is this an original quote or is it from some other source? I would like to quote it and want to get the credit correct. It states a view that explains so much of the world, especially politics.
Hooray! Complaints actually got the Daily Mail to take down the offending article. Details at Tabloid Watch. Remarkably, there is something called the Press Complaints Commission in the UK that can see to such a thing.