Although many recent advances, such as building codes and construction techniques, have reduced some aspects of risk to natural disasters, other features of modern society— including population density and the networking of transportation, power facilities, and communications systems—have led to increased vulnerability in California and beyond. Lucy Jones, Science Advisor for Risk Reduction, U.S. Geological Survey, discusses and answers questions about interdisciplinary research to measure the vulnerabilities of modern society and ways to increase society’s ability to respond to future events. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Science] [Show ID: 30175]