Diesel-soaked clothing, 90-hour work weeks, and the constant groaning of a multimillion-dollar oil rig towering overhead: Welcome to life in Williston, N.D., home of the United States' latest oil boom. In this month's issue of EARTH Magazine, R. Tyler Powers, a young geologist thrust into the middle of the new boomtown, offers his perspective on what life is like today in the new Wild West.
Press Release By Date
Celebrate the first-annual Geologic Map Day! On October 19, as a part of the Earth Science Week 2012 activities, join the American Geosciences Institute (AGI), the Association of American State Geologists (AASG), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in promoting the importance of geologic mapping to society.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - 16:05
With less than two months before Election Day, AGI and its federation of 50 professional geoscience societies have come together again to provide a list of critical issues and policy recommendations for the next presidential administration. The document, Critical Needs for the Twenty-first Century: the Role of the Geosciences, is meant to inform policymakers of the unique knowledge, experience, and ingenuity of the geoscience community, and to address some of society's most pressing issues.
Monday, September 17, 2012 - 00:00
"Warm" and "Antarctica" are not commonly used in the same sentence; however, for scientists, "warm" is a relative term. A team of researchers has discovered that, contrary to previous thinking, the Antarctic continent has experienced periods of warmth since the onset of its most recent glaciation.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 - 16:05
On September 11th, the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) will participate in a focus group to discuss the United Nations process of defining Article 15 in the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Article 15 recognizes the human right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications." "
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 - 16:05
The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is proud to support Protect your Groundwater Day (PYGWD) on September 11, 2012. Protect Your Groundwater Day, sponsored by AGI member society, the National Ground Water Association (NGWA) - promotes the responsible stewardship of groundwater through educational and outreach initiatives that help raise societal awareness.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - 16:05
Technology is creating a new breed of scientist. I'm talking about citizen scientists - ordinary people and volunteers from all walks of life coming together to help monitor, and possibly mitigate, the next big earthquake through an innovative program called NetQuakes.
Monday, August 27, 2012 - 16:05
It's not every day that lava flows through a college campus parking lot. But, since January 2010, Syracuse University has been bringing the lava to Central New York. Using commercially available basalt gravel and a coke-fired furnace, the geologists involved with the Syracuse University Lava Project are able to produce a wide range of flow morphologies and other features at a scale comparable to natural flows.
Monday, August 20, 2012 - 16:05
A team of researchers may have discovered a way to hear earthquakes. Not the noises of rattling windows and crumbling buildings, but the real sounds an earthquake makes deep underground as rock grinds and fails catastrophically. Typical seismic waves have frequencies below the audible range for humans, but the August issue of EARTH shows you where to find the voice of one seismic monster: March 11, 2011, magnitude-9.0 Tohoku earthquake in Japan.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012 - 16:05
Through collaborative efforts with other top scientific societies, the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) has helped formulate a list of critical science policy questions to pose to President Barack Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the upcoming presidential election.
Sunday, July 29, 2012 - 16:05
As a part of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 2012 Global Diaspora Forum, the American Geosciences Institute (AGI), other top scientific organizations, and the U.S. Department of State have signed a mutual memorandum of understanding establishing the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Expert Partnership.
Thursday, July 26, 2012 - 16:05
December 21, 2012 - the purported last day of a 5,125-year cycle in the Mesoamerican calendar has been added to an endless list of days when the world has been expected to end. But what are our real chances of being wiped out by a catastrophic event - the kind that has happened in the past and will inevitably occur again someday? In the August issue of EARTH, we explore four of the most probable global events that could change life on Earth forever.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - 16:05
One man's trash is quickly becoming society's new treasure. In the August issue of EARTH Magazine, we explore how materials that were once considered garbage are now being recognized for their true potential as valuable energy resources capable of solving multiple problems at once. If successful, these waste-to-energy" options could serve as a silver bullet - displacing fossil fuels, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and decreasing the amount of trash that winds up in already teeming landfills. "
Saturday, July 21, 2012 - 16:05
Resting in the Karakoram Range between northern Pakistan and western China, the Karakoram glaciers are stumping scientists. Unlike most mountain glaciers, the Karakoram glaciers, which account for 3 percent of the total ice-covered area in the world, excluding Greenland and Antarctica, are not shrinking. On the contrary, a team of French glaciologists has recently confirmed that these glaciers on average have remained stable or may have even grown slightly in recent years.
Monday, July 9, 2012 - 16:05
The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is pleased to announce its intention to launch a new initiative to address the critical need of increasing geoscience literacy.
Friday, July 6, 2012 - 16:05
What are today's biggest unanswered questions in earth science? In the July issue of EARTH Magazine, experts from a variety of disciplines weigh in on what they consider to be the biggest unsolved mysteries across the geosciences and how they think we may solve them.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 16:05
In the 1980s, acid rain was a big topic of conversation. Everyone knew about it. Today, just a couple of decades later, it's all but been forgotten. Why and how did this happen?
Thursday, June 21, 2012 - 16:05
Big Ideas in Geoscience, a DVD created by AGI to bring the Nine Big Ideas from the Earth Science Literacy Principles to life, has just won three prestigious awards: Digital Video (DV) Winner in Education, DV Winner in Nature/Wildlife and Videographer Award of Excellence.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 - 16:05
In celebration of Earth Science Week 2012, the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is sponsoring three national contests honoring this year's theme "Discovering Careers in the Earth Sciences." This year's competitions will feature a photography contest, a visual arts contest, and an essay contest. "
Tuesday, June 12, 2012 - 16:05
In the Late Quaternary, Australia was home to an array of megafauna. The half-ton Palorchestes azael, the rhinoceros-sized Diprotodon, and even the giant koala, Phascolarctos stirtoni, roamed Australia's interior. However, between 50,000 and 45,000 years ago, they all vanished. Although recent studies indicate human colonization as a potential cause of their extinction, the exact mechanism has never been resolved. Now, geologist Gifford Miller from the University of Colorado at Boulder and his colleagues believe they have uncovered the answer.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - 16:05