Sometimes a couple of scientific instruments, in just the right place, can trigger all sorts of new investigations. Take the three strainmeters that the Carnegie Institution of Washington placed along the eastern coast of Taiwan starting in 2003. Alan Linde and Selwyn Sacks, working with their Taiwanese colleagues, were trying to figure out why the area didn’t seem to have as many large earthquakes as it should – being located on the boundary of two tectonics plates and all.

Instead, the scientists arrived at a whole new theory. Typhoons passing over the island, the team argues, release pressure on the land and allows the faults there to slip at very high, but very slow and non-dangerous, rates. In essence, tropical storms enable a lot of very small earthquakes and prevent the large and dangerous ones.

It’s a very cool concept that, unfortunately, may not apply other areas of the world. The US Gulf Coast, for instance, is not at high risk of killer earthquakes and thus could conceivably be saved by hurricanes. But Japanese scientists are interested in extending the work to their country, Sacks told me at his poster session this morning.

“This is a big surprise for us,” he said. “It’s the kind of finding that is driven by data, not by insight.”