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What do you want done with your body after you die? It is an unnerving but important question, and for most Americans there have long been only two obvious choices: burial or cremation. But a third option, a liquefaction process called by a variety of names — flameless cremation, green cremation or the “Fire to Water” method — is starting to gain popularity throughout the United States. This week, California became the 15th state to outline commercial regulations for the disposal of human remains through the method, chemically known as alkaline hydrolysis. It may seem markedly different from the traditional...

The scale of Japan's March 11 earthquake and tsunami wasn't the only thing that surprised geologists. The 9.0 earthquake in Japan — the fourth most powerful quake ever recorded — also caused an unusually severe and widespread shift in soil through liquefaction, a new study suggests. Near coastlines, harbors and rivers, earthquakes can make the wet, sandy soil jiggle, turning it temporarily from a solid to a liquid state, a process known as liquefaction. Heavy sand and rock sinks, while water and lighter sand bubble to the surface. The slurry spreads, often toward the water, and the surface shifts. Japan's...

The videos started popping up as soon as the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan last month. They show the ground beneath japan seemingly coming alive, moving and swelling like ocean waves. Water also seems to appear out of nowhere. One video in particular caught the eye of Glenn Beck on radio this morning. It’s called “liquefaction.” But how does it happen? We have the answers for you....

Amid the human tragedy, tsunami destruction and nuclear crisis in Japan, another story has gone unreported in the densely populated suburbs of Chiba prefecture just east of Tokyo: the liquefaction of hundreds of acres of reclaimed land. We all know that sand castles on the beach do not last against the tide, and neither do sound houses built on foundations of sand. The possible liquifecation of large segments of bayside property built up since WWII has long been a concern of geologists and disaster agencies in Japan, and has recently been experienced on a large scale in Christchurch where several...