Can 200,000 women cause a Boobquake?

Purdue student rebuts Iranian cleric's claim

Updated: Monday, 26 Apr 2010, 4:48 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 26 Apr 2010, 4:02 PM EDT

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Women gathered on Purdue campus this afternoon as part of "Boobquake," an event which boasts over 200,000 participants across the world.

Purdue Senior Jennifer McCreight is the mind behind Boobquake. She heard that Iranian cleric Kazem Sedighi had suggested that immodestly dressed women caused earthquakes by angering God.

McCreight, a Genetics and Evolution major at Purdue, had an idea for a lighthearted rebuttal: why not treat this religious assertion as a serious scientific hypothesis and test it?

Thus, Boobquake was born.

McCreight created a Facebook event and invited 30 friends to dress immodestly for a day and see if there was a significantly higher number of earthquakes. She was stunned when she checked the event later to see that tens of thousands had signed up.

McCreight said last week that she isn't imposing a specific dress code, just asking people to dress as immodestly as they feel comfortable with.

"Even showing an ankle to some people would be immodest, so you can interpret that however you wish,” said McCreight.

McCreight said she will study today's seismic activity to see if there were a greater number of earthquakes or more severe earthquakes during the event. A 6.5-magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan earlier today, and a minor 2.7-magnitude quake hit Ohio, a little closer to McCreight's home in Indiana. 

On her blog , McCreight said that the quakes so far are likely not statistically significant. She said that several other high-magnitude quakes would be required today to indicate that immodest women were the driving force.

 LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.wwlp.com/dpps/news/strange/can-200k-women-cause-a-boobquake_3330816