Leading up to Earth Science Week 2016, the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is pleased to invite students to enter its new “One Shared Place” contest. Each team will submit a 30- to 90-second video about an outdoor place that is special in terms of geoheritage (natural features, settings, and resources formed over vast periods) and geoscience (the study of Earth systems). Places selected for videos may range widely, including school yards, nature center grounds, parks, recreation areas, cultural landmarks, past industrial sites, and other locations. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - This issue, EARTH Magazine explores the world’s top weather-related killer: exposure to extreme heat. Human response to extreme heat leads to heat stress, an illness related to the body’s inability to cool down. Humidity plays a crucial role, because as humidity increases, the ability of sweat to evaporate and cool the body decreases. When past studies have looked at potential heat stress vulnerabilities in a warming world, they only considered projected air temperatures. [Read More]

Educators and students worldwide will celebrate Earth Day 2016 on April 22 with cool experiments, and investigations exploring how our world works – and those in the know can take advantage of a wealth of education resources available through Earth Science Week. Although Earth Science Week 2016 will be celebrated on October 9-15, this international public awareness program offers education materials, information, and tools throughout the year. Since the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) founded the program in 1998, Earth Science Week has supported teaching and learning about Earth system science, the study of how the planet’s geosphere (land), hydrosphere (water), atmosphere (air), and biosphere (life) interact. [Read More]

Iceland, located in the North Atlantic, is a prime geological environment for volcanoes due to its position straddling a mid-ocean ridge and possibly riding over a Hawaiian-style hot spot. With more than 100 volcanoes, 33 of which are active, Iceland is home to examples of every type of volcano on Earth, each with its own eruptive pattern. This makes the island nation a special challenge to volcanologists and an ideal natural laboratory for studying how volcanic processes evolve. [Read More]

In 2013, researchers uncovered the graves of two infants laid to rest about 11,500 years ago outside of what is now Fairbanks, Alaska. Researchers understood that these graves represented some of the earliest human migrants to North America, but were they more closely related to their Asian ancestors, or the modern-day residents of North and South America? Using mitochondrial DNA analysis of the infants, what could we learn about our own human history? [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - We’re most accustomed to flooding causing levees to fail, like they did in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. So although the El Nino-induced floods are making the most news in California right now, it’s not actually the floods that are threatening some California levees the most. Instead it’s the severe drought over the last four years that has taken its toll on thousands of kilometers of century-old earthen levees. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is pleased to announce the 515th edition of The Directory of Geoscience Departments. The Directory of Geoscience Departments is the premier guide to geoscience organizations worldwide and a vital resource for thousands of scientists, policymakers, publishers, students, and the general public to find various geoscience programs and connect with colleagues. The 515th Edition provides listings of nearly 2,000 university departments, museums, federal agencies, geological surveys, and research institutes. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - A magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck Chile on January 2, 2011. Or so scientists thought. With increasing sensor sensitivity and advances in the quantitative analysis of earthquakes, scientists have revealed that this quake was actually a doublet. This means that instead of just one massive quake, two similarly large earthquakes struck very near to one another within seconds. The closely spaced doublet was missed by global monitoring networks during the initial aftermath of the quake and, as EARTH Magazine explores, it presents a major challenge to earthquake and tsunami warning systems. [Read More]

More than half of the total human population on Earth lives in urban areas, where geology affects us every day. Yet when we think about “geology,” most of us think of the hinterlands. That needs to change, argue the authors of a new feature in EARTH Magazine discussing what the role of urban geology is, what it can be and the potential role geoscience organizations can play in curating the geologic data revealed during construction, excavations and surveys. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - Dianna McDowell, a teacher at Kemps Landing Old Donation School in Virginia Beach, Virginia, has been named the 2016 recipient of the Edward C. Roy, Jr. Award for Excellence in K-8 Earth Science Teaching. McDowell, who earned her Master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Virginia, started as a Naval Oceanography Officer and switched careers to a middle school Earth science teacher in order to foster natural curiosity about the world. [Read More]