AGU - Earth | Oceans | Atmosphere | Space | Planets

The slate of nominees for open AGU Board and Council positions is now available. This includes nominees for AGU President-Elect, International Secretary, Board Directors, Section and Focus Group Officers, and newly created student and early-career-scientist positions on the Council. The election will be held in September.

Although China's dominance in the production of rare earth elements is lessening, U.S. experts express continued concern about these and other critical minerals.

Photo: Powders of six rare earth element oxides (Peggy Greb, USDA)

The first draft of the Next Generation Science Standards is now available for public review. The standards are based on A Framework for K–12 Science Education, issued by the National Research Council in the summer of 2011, which defines the major practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas that all students should be familiar with by the time they finish high school.

AGU's Twitter feed topped 10,000 followers over the weekend of 12 May. Thank you to all who follow us! @theAGU has put out almost 4,300 Tweets to alert followers to AGU updates, important meeting deadlines, new blog content, and other happenings in the Earth and space science community.

AGU's inaugural Science Policy Conference, which took place in Washington, D.C. on 1 – 2 May, brought together scientists, policymakers, and other stakeholders to talk about key issues of national and international importance. Read the Eos stories from the conference on The Law of the Sea and Agriculture and Food Security .

Learn more at the AGU Science Policy Website

Nearly 25 children gathered at AGU headquarters for the organization's second annual Take Your Child to Work Day. The children participated in a variety of activities, including designing and launching paper rockets, examining fossil samples, and learning about Earth and space science careers.

Two years ago, on 20 April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and releasing almost 5 million barrels of oil. Much research has been done in the years since the disaster that improves our understanding of these types of events and their overall impact.