Seismology is the science of earthquakes. People in this field study why the ground shakes, where a quake began, how the waves travel, and how to warn others. It is a university and research word, but news uses it when they mean earthquake science as a whole, not one machine and not one person. It sits next to geology (the study of the earth) rather than next to everyday chat: you do not “do seismology” at the dinner table unless you are joking. Though actually, a lot of what the public hears as “seismology” is really one finding from it — a magnitude number, a map of the centre — not the whole subject. The subject is bigger than a single quake.