An example of simile used in science writing:
"We have, also, seen that, when the island of Chiloe was strongly shaken, some men at work on the flanks of the Cordillera, between the volcanos of Osorno and Minchinmadom, (which both sent up dark columns of smoke, like signals to mark the new period of violence,) were quite unaware of the great convulsion, which then caused the shores of the Pacific to vibrate throughout a space of more than a thousand miles."
Charles Darwin, 1840, On the connexion of certain volcanic phenomena in South America; and on the formation of mountain chains and volcanos, as the effect of the same powers by which continents are elevated. (Transactions of the Geological Society of London)
Read about examples of science similes
Note: when volcanoes "sen[d] up dark columns of smoke", this can certainly be read as a sign of a possible "new period of violence"; however clearly the volcanos are not sending up the smoke as signals. To read these signs as (intended) signals would be to amthropomorphise the volcanos.
Read examples of anthropomorphism in science
