According to scientists at U.C. Berkeley, an earthquake early warning system sent an alert ten seconds before a 6.0 magnitude quake hit the Napa area. Researchers think they can get that number up to 40-50 seconds. What good would it do if such a system could be implemented before the next big one? A lot. As the LA Times reports, an alert of even less than a minute could give “time for elevators to stop at the next floor and open up, firefighters to open up garage doors, high-speed trains to slow down to avoid derailment and surgeons to take the scalpel out of a patient.”

+ How responsible are scientists when it comes to providing warnings about the risks of quakes? Matter’s David Wolman takes a look back at the case of seven Italian scientists who got their predictions very wrong and were convicted of manslaughter.

+ Different faults make different quakes. From NatGeo: What caused California’s Napa Valley earthquake?

+ Some wineries lost as much as fifty-percent of their wine.

+ Don’t worry. You’re not sleeping. You’re providing data and a marketing opportunity for Jawbone.

+ And this is just how we (shake, rattle, and) roll in California: An immediately iconic image captured shortly after the weekend’s quake.