What the hell is with people's disbelief of science in this country

[exboyfil]

95. I am a rationalist

and it appears that the bison are moving normally. I do think they we too easily dismiss that animals can sense something like an earthquake or an eruption. A good way to test this would be to pull tapes from zoos that experience earthquakes for example. Any reaction prior to the earthquake that is unusual. One thing some animals can detect that we cannot include Magnetoception (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetoception). I think it is kind of unlikely because earthquakes/volcanoes are such one off events that I do not see the evolutionary pressure to adapt, but asking the question is still valid.

As far as scientists knowing about the next eruption. They are getting better but their ability to assess risk is not foolproof. Here is one example where a team of scientists did not believe a prediction Nyiragongo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prediction_of_volcanic_activity
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1777671.stm

Here is a Nova story talking about prediction. They say we are good but not perfect.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vesuvius/predict.html