Lessons from California Mudslides: Science's Credibility Is At Stake

For applied scientists--that intrepid cadre who get their hands dirty in the sometimes dangerous world beyond the ivory tower, participating in difficult decisions with little time and major consequences--getting the right answer is only half the battle. The other half is successfully explaining what they've found, and what it means. This winter's debris flows in the posh community of Montecito, California, which led to more than 20 deaths, provided examples of success and failure on both counts. And those successes and failures have ramifications far beyond managing geophysical risks. Sean W. Fleming is a geophysicist by training and author of Where the River Flows: Scientific Reflections on Earth's Waterways.