Earthquakes... Is there a pattern??

One of the main questions I keep hearing after the recent Japanese earthquake is 'Are earthquakes becoming more frequent and/or stronger??'
These concerns come as the Japanese earthquake struck just 2 and a half weeks after the New Zealand earthquake on the 22nd of February, this earthquake was also of a relatively high magnitude and caused extensive damage and loss of life on the country's south island.

EDIT:: Also got a video below of how the Japanese earthquake and tsunami was caused by the shifting plates..



Below I have highlighted on a map, the largest and the deadliest (causing the highest loss of life) earthquakes which have occured since 1999.
The largest are marked with a blue marker,
The deadliest are marked with a red marker,
and for earthquakes which were the strongest and the deadliest of that year,
they are marked with a red exclaimation mark..
(I have had trouble with this map, as it seems to like to zoom in on the sea near greenland..
you may have to zoom out using the (-) button to view the map)


View Earthquakes in past 12 years. in a larger map

All information in this map obtained from U.S Geological Survey. 

So does this map show a higher frequency of earthquakes?? Or does it just show the natural process of the world and it's techtonic plates moving around? 
I am more likely to agree with the second thought as most of the earthquakes which have occured and plotted on the map from the past 12 years are in/on the 'ring of fire' where 80% of the worlds largest earthquakes each year occur, and is home to 452 volcanoes -& 75%  of the worlds active dormant volcanoes. 

The only worrying thing I can see to support the worrying people's 'theories' that 2012 is coming is that 3 of the earthquakes which have happened in the past 7 years have been both the largest and the deadliest killing at the least the current number in Japan of 28, 050 - unfortunately I fear that number may rise. 

As for all these theories coming about around 2012.. my thoughts? Well.. I think that calls for another blog post soon.. but who knows? Maybe it's all happened before, but there wasn't people like me writing about it, and google maps to track it all... ahh the wonders of technology, making us more informed but also more scared about our demise! 
Just Kidding guys... I'm not so down about it all, it's gotta happen sometime ;)

Religion and Science - Do they 'go together' ??

I saw a comment on a tv show last night - granted it was only 'Waking the dead' - and it made me think about how people see science in relation to religion. One of the characters in the show was asked if his son was a religious person and his response was "He was a scientist..".

This is something I have heard quite alot, the idea that a person who is relgious cannot hold religious beliefs because the ideas clash somewhere in the middle.
I at the moment am not sure on the subject but in my years I dont think someone can believe in creationism and evolution but this shall be explained more in s in another post soon -
to be titled 'The age ol' debate - Evolution or Creationism'

So.. to answer my initial question - I went onto ask500people.com and set up a poll to see what people around the world thought - below are the results from people's responses! :)






EDIT: You can now see the results in the map above. These results are not what I expected, with 72% of the 76 votes cast in favour of being able to believe in God and also alot of scientific ideas.
I find it interesting however that the vast majority of 'yes' votes came from the United States 'bible belt' and south America and well as other stereotypical highly religious countries such as India and the East. I think this has proved that you can never predict what the outcome of a social experiment will be!

People, Discoveries and thoughts; An introduction to my blog...

Hello, and welcome to my blog!
This is a small introduction to my blog, what will be featured, and
how it all came about!

I decided upon this topic as it is a subject I love, and which i feel has much scope with there being
3 main 'sections' of science - Biology, Chemistry and Physics, but there also being a much, much
wider net which these 3 spread out into.
I also feel that science is becoming more 'cool' in recent years,
with Brian Cox winning awards, and educating us all on the 'Wonders of the solar system'
and now with his new series -  'Wonders of the universe'.

As well as many more people in science, my own opinions on him
and his work in making science cool will be posted in this blog.

Also posted will be: 
- new scientific discoveries
- possible reviews of museums
- Views and opinions of myself and others on popular science debates
- and my own explainations of some science theories that have been around for a while/just coming to the forefront.

Hope that has made you understand my blog and what I hope to do more than when you started reading!

Thanks for reading!!