Teen Skepchick’s Reality Checks 3.14

Horrifying and mind-boggling tragedy edition.

Earthquake moves Japan 8 feet and shortens the day by 1.8 microseconds. “‘By changing the distribution of the Earth’s mass, the Japanese earthquake should have caused the Earth to rotate a bit faster, shortening the length of the day by about 1.8 microseconds,’ [Richard] Gross told SPACE.com in an e-mail. More refinements are possible as new information on the earthquake comes to light, he added.”(via CBS News)

Earthquakes: How do they work? (via BoingBoing)

Did the moon cause the earthquake near Japan? Spoiler alert: NO! (via Bad Astronomy)

On a lighter note, in honor of Pi Day (in the U.S. at least), here is a beautiful expression of the number in music. (via Neatorama)

Photo credit: U.S. Navy