Alexandria, VA — On a clear night in March, engineers and researchers gathered in Southern California and tuned into NASA TV to watch the launch of Glory, a potential game-changer in the climate change debate. Glory, a satellite a decade in the making, was designed to deliver critical information about small airborne particles called aerosols. The elusive particles account for much of the uncertainty in climate models, and data from the satellite would have helped scientists determine more of the aerosols’ key properties than ever before. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA – The American Geological Institute (AGI) is expanding eligibility for the Earth Science Week photography contest to allow members of AGI International Affiliates to participate for the first time. Previously open only to residents of the United States, the photo contest has always been a major part of Earth Science Week, which this year is being celebrated October 9-15. “By celebrating the theme of ‘Our Ever-Changing Earth,’ Earth Science Week 2011 focuses attention on the natural forces that shape our planet,” says Ann E. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA — Earth Science Week 2011 will kick off with the fifth annual International EarthCache Day on Sunday, October 9. The public is invited to join the Geological Society of America (GSA), organizer of the global EarthCache program, and the American Geological Institute (AGI), Earth Science Week coordinators, in exploring this exciting and educational earth science experience. International EarthCache Day is a time when EarthCachers around the globe organize small gatherings where people can learn something about the Earth. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA — The American Geological Institute (AGI) publication, One Man’s Planet: Earth in Today’s Political Culture by Stephen Testa, can now be read on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch through iTunes. About One Man’s Planet One Man’s Planet is a slightly off-centered geologist’s introduction to how politics, pop-culture and the earth sciences mix it up every day. The book takes a humorous look at the issues that fill the news and drive political debates from local councils to large-scale international discourse. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA — The American Geological Institute Foundation announces Mr. William N. Barkhouse as its new Executive Director. Mr. Barkhouse has been a longtime supporter of AGI and its Foundation, having served as a trustee of the Foundation. He has also served as Secretary of the AGI Executive Committee (2008-2010), as well as serving in leadership and foundation roles for several of AGI’s Member Societies. Currently he is serving as a Foundation Director at the Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society and Vice Chair of the Association for Women Geoscientists Foundation. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA — In Western Australia, visitors can tour two unusually accessible coral reefs. The reefs look similar enough to be fraternal twins, but they are separated in time by 400 million years. Ningaloo is a modern reef where visitors can snorkel amid spectacular reef-building organisms just a few meters from shore. It boasts one of the planet’s healthiest reef environments, where 500 species of fish, 600 species of shellfish and more than 250 species of coral thrive. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA — Shipwreck enthusiasts find a bounty of nautical relics preserved in the chilly depths of the Great Lakes. But only within the last decade have explorers and scientists begun to reveal the secrets of a much different — and much more ancient — sunken treasure in Lake Huron: sinkholes. As EARTH explores in its August feature “Great Lakes Geologic Sunken Treasure,” researchers have recently begun exploring several mysterious sinkholes in Lake Huron. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - China sent the high-tech industry and markets reeling last fall when it blocked exports of raw rare earth minerals to Japan, Europe and the U.S. The sudden severing of rare earths supply was a frightening prospect as the minerals are key ingredients in a broad range of high-tech products, from smartphones to wind turbines and hybrid cars. Although the bans have since been lifted, governments around the world saw the ban as a kind of wake-up call and started looking at ways to develop their own mineral resources — for rare earths as well as basic industry metals like copper and nickel. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA — The American Geological Institute (AGI) is sponsoring three national contests for Earth Science Week 2011, celebrating the theme of “Our Ever-Changing Earth,” which takes place October 9-15. Photography Contest: A World of Change in My Community Use your camera to capture evidence of long- or short-term changes taking place around our planet and even in your own backyard. Visual Arts Contest: Picturing Our Ever-Changing Earth Students in grades K-5 are eligible to enter the visual arts contest, “Picturing Our Ever-Changing Earth. [Read More]

Alexandria, VA — The American Geological Institute (AGI) is pleased to offer several top-selling publications as ebooks for both the Kindle and Nook e-readers, including for the first time Geowriting, 5th Edition and the Status of the Geoscience Workforce 2011 report. Geowriting, 5th edition, is now available digitally for your Kindle or Nook. Geowriting has long been the go-to introduction to writing, editing, and printing in the geosciences. Now a new generation of geoscience students and professionals will be able to more easily and affordably access the information found inside Geowriting. [Read More]