NEWS
& VIEWS
7
COMMENT
International Collaboration in Global Science: Price or Prize?
The International Year of Planet Earth begins this month. It will challenge the world’s geological community to seek solutions to some of the greatest geoscience-based problems of our age.
Edward Derbyshire
8 NEWS NOTES
Neanderthal DNA unraveled *
Hominid teeth reveal a broad palate *
Eruptive event caught red-handed *
The color of crinoids *
Tonga’s newest island *
Meteorite pre-dates solar system *
Saturn surprises with southern storm * "Dibs" in space *
Heat flow causes magnetic reversals *
Ice reveals polar temperature seesaw *
Arctic not a refuge for oil *
A look ahead at the 110th Congress
17 POLITICAL SCENE
Diversity in the Geosciences — We Can Do Better
The geosciences are facing a recruitment predicament in education and the workforce.
Margaret Anne Baker
36 GEOPHENOMENA
National park awash with costly destruction
38 TRENDS & INNOVATIONS
More Digging Ahead to Unlock Dinosaurs’ Pasts
In the past two decades alone, paleontologists have described as many dinosaurs as have been described since 1824. Researchers suggest that another 1,300 genera may yet to be found.
David Williams
40 EDUCATION & OUTREACH
Teachers Face Desert Heat of Spaceward Bound
A fifth-grade teacher relates his experiences with NASA’s Spaceward Bound
program in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
Kathryn Hansen
42 ENERGY & RESOURCES
Shiny outlook for greener aluminum production
Did you know? U.S. oil consumption and reserves
Mineral resource of the month: Kyanite
44 GEOMEDIA
Movies: IMAX film storms into wetland issues: A review of Hurricane on the Bayou
Books: An earthquake — and fire and racism in the aftermath: A review of Yokohama Burning
On the Web: Web gets serious about Ceres
48 PROFILES
Max Mayfield: In the eye of the storm
49 BENCHMARKS
January 28, 1986: The Challenger Disaster
60 GEOLOGIC COLUMN
Words, Words, Words
Geoscientists use lots of specialized words. Could you spell them all?
Lisa Rossbacher
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