As EARTH details in its September feature, Thinking Outside the Rocks in the Search for Ancient Earthquakes," modern-day scientists are getting creative in the search for information about past quakes. Read more about how researchers are turning to old newspaper articles and photographs, folklore, petroglyphs, crumpled buildings and toppled monuments - and how learning about past quakes can help seismologists to assess future seismic risk."

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. Instead, just minutes after launch, the rocket carrying Glory into space failed catastrophically and Glory's remains crashed into the southern Pacific Ocean near Antarctica. What happened? In A Day Without Glory" in the September issue, EARTH explores how Glory came to be, what scientists hoped it would show us, and ultimately, how it failed. The loss was heartbreaking."

The American Geological Institute (AGI) is expanding eligibility for its annual 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.

Earth Science Week 2011 will kick-off with the fifth annual International EarthCache Day on Sunday, October 9th. 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.

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. "

The American Geological Institute Foundation announces Mr. William N. Barkhouse as its new Executive Director.

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. Ningaloo's twin," the now-dry Devonian-aged "Great Barrier Reef," is widely recognized as the world's best example of an ancient barrier reef, with creamy limestone layers providing an unparalleled window into the past."

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.

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 zinc.

The American Geological Institute (AGI) is sponsoring three national contests as part of Earth Science Week 2011, celebrating the theme of "Our Ever-Changing Earth," October 9-15.