As you might expect, however, that's not quite as simple as a firmware upgrade, and currently requires a 34-node network to keep watch on a standard living room, which is apparently enough to pin down moving objects within a meter or so.

ENGADGET: Researchers create Amazing X-Ray Wireless Network!

Dr Bilham says that the Indian government has even forbidden him to use a gravity meter in the region (such a meter measures whether a point is moving away from the centre of the earth, and therefore indicates a build up of strain that might be released as an earthquake).

ECONOMIST: Earthquakes in India

The men, who were paid by the meter and not the hour, were anxious to keep moving forward.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Legends'