John,

He's not employed by NASA:
"A few years ago, Friedemann Freund, a professor at San Jose State University in California, embarked on the study of rock deformation. When you squeeze a rock very hard, asked the physicist, what are the physical processes that take place? The data he is collecting with an infrared spectrophotometer promise to provide insights into the geological phenomena that precede earthquakes."

He seems to make perfect sense to me and the connection to something that can be seen at times prior to earthquakes from a satellite are rather interesting. From some of the discussions I've had with scientists at the AGU, piezo electrics is fascinating to quite a few of them especially in regard to earthquake lights.

Maybe ULF, energy particles, light forms and such are a new element in geo-physical research which is rather coming to the fore these days. What may create breakthrough science in earthquake prediction could be a multi-disciplinary effort, with people working together for a solution instead of everyone claiming they have the corner on the market.

Have you ever eaten Grape Nuts cereal? Compared to other cereals its very loud when chewed. Not only is it loud to the person who is chewing it, as it is so close to the ear from the tooth, but others around can hear it too. Do you ever wonder what animals hear before earthquakes? I have. Some of the stuff I hear is rather alarming and I'd hate to think about what a dog or cat would perceive if they heard the same thing. The fright and flight response is really quite understandable. The good news about animals and their behavior before earthquakes and tsunami's is that they don't have to reason as to why they know to get out of harms way. People take time to think it over and in a few precious seconds it may mean life or death.

I'm glad someone is testing rocks in the lab and noticing lights from space and heat from faults. You can't learn anything if you don't explore new ideas. From Columbus to plate tectonics to maybe signals that sound like ear tones the future could be really fascinating. I'm sure you'd agree.

Petra