Scientific community and society articles within Nature Geoscience

Featured

  • Commentary |

    Geological and biological processes have eliminated all but the faintest traces of our earliest ancestors on Earth. To understand the origin of life, we must investigate other planets — but we can find what we seek only if we do not contaminate them with Earth life first.

    • Catharine A. Conley
    •  & John D. Rummel

  • Commentary |

    Planetary protection policies aim to guard Solar System bodies from biological contamination from spacecraft. Costly efforts to sterilize Mars spacecraft need to be re-evaluated, as they are unnecessarily inhibiting a more ambitious agenda to search for extant life on Mars.

    • Alberto G. Fairén
    •  & Dirk Schulze-Makuch

  • Review Article |

    A substantial amount of atmospheric carbon taken up on land is transported laterally from upland terrestrial ecosystems to the ocean. A synthesis of the available literature suggests that human activities have significantly increased soil carbon inputs to inland waters, but have only slightly affected carbon delivery to the open ocean.

    • Pierre Regnier
    • , Pierre Friedlingstein
    •  & Martin Thullner

  • Editorial |

    Allowing authors of research papers to be anonymous to referees has long been recommended. We will offer such an option, as a trial, from 10 June 2013.

  • Commentary |

    In areas of the developing world that have benefited only marginally from the intensification of agriculture, foreign investments can enhance productivity. This could represent a step towards greater food security, but only if we ensure that malnourished people in the host countries benefit.

    • Paolo D'Odorico
    •  & Maria Cristina Rulli

  • Commentary |

    Over the past fifty years, NASA has pushed the frontiers of science and exploration to the edges of our Solar System. Declining funding for research and robotic missions may leave planetary exploration unfinished and young scientists stranded.

    • Paul O. Hayne

  • Editorial |

    With this issue, we are celebrating the fifth anniversary of the launch of Nature Geoscience — a good time to look at some numbers.

  • Editorial |

    Not enough young people enter the geosciences. A passion for the subject should be sparked early on.

  • Editorial |

    Research in Asia, and particularly in China, is catching up with the traditional hotbeds of science. The next step towards a more even geographical distribution of research will be a higher proportion of top-level publications led by scientists at Chinese labs.

  • Editorial |

    In response to a survey conducted in June, 886 of our readers have told us what they think about Nature Geoscience. We look forward to acting on the responses.

  • News & Views |

    The ancient Central Asian Orogenic Belt formed during a period of extensive continental crust formation. Comparison with modern continent-building systems suggests that the processes that operate today were already active at that time.

    • Karel Schulmann
    •  & Scott Paterson

  • Editorial |

    The world is undergoing a phenomenally fast wave of urban growth. Research that can help tackle some of the ensuing problems is likely to originate in cities themselves.

  • Commentary |

    Reluctance to deposit data is rife among researchers, despite broad agreement on the principle of data sharing. More and better information will reach hitherto empty archives, if professional support is given during data creation, not in a project's final phase.

    • Dirk Fleischer
    •  & Kai Jannaschk

  • Editorial |

    A cultural divide separates science from the media. To bridge the gulf, Nature Geoscience presents a science writer's perspective on the Earth sciences in a new monthly column.

  • Backstory |

    Samantha Joye and her colleagues donned respirators and safety suits to survive the fumes when tracing an underwater gas plume following the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

  • Books & Arts |

    • Josée Johnston

  • Commentary |

    Sea-level rise is progressively changing coastlines. The legal implications for the seaward boundaries between neighbouring coastal states are neither straightforward nor foreseeable.

    • Katherine J. Houghton
    • , Athanasios T. Vafeidis
    •  & Alexander Proelss

  • Backstory |

    John S. Pallister and Wendy A. McCausland rushed to the aid of their Saudi Arabian colleagues to advise on an emerging earthquake emergency.

  • Editorial |

    Mining could provide a steady stream of income for Afghanistan. But the mere promise of a stable economy does not justify all sacrifices.

  • Editorial |

    Climate science at the University of East Anglia is sound but lacking in transparency, according to the three official reports. But making data accessible will not be sufficient to guard against future attacks.

  • Editorial |

    Thomson Reuters has released its 2009 journal impact factors. We thank all our authors, referees and readers for their continuing trust and support.

  • Commentary |

    Aquifers are the primary source of drinking water for up to two billion people. To avoid overexploitation, lengthy renewal periods of some aquifers must be taken into account.

    • Tom Gleeson
    • , Jonathan VanderSteen
    •  & Yangxiao Zhou

  • Editorial |

    Unlike accountants, scientists need to store their data forever. This expanding task requires dedication, expertise and substantial funds.

  • Editorial |

    Online publishing has blurred the boundary between accepted and published articles.

  • Commentary |

    Twitter messages offer first-hand accounts of earthquakes within minutes. Analyses of their content and geographic distribution can be a useful supplement to instrument-based estimates of quake location and magnitude.

    • Paul Earle

  • Backstory |

    After dodging icebergs and flying fish, Jeff Standish and colleagues collected a suite of basalts from the Southwest Indian Ridge, to try and determine the mechanisms of mid-ocean-ridge formation.

  • News & Views |

    Decision makers are in need of decadal climate forecasts, for example, to help plan infrastructure investments. When — or whether — climate modellers will be able to deliver is not yet clear.

    • Mark A. Cane

  • Editorial |

    Taxpayer-funded scientific research carries with it the responsibility to communicate to the general public its relevance in an accessible, open and inspirational manner. The HiRISE project that steers a camera on Mars admirably achieves this aim.

  • Editorial |

    Self-censorship of private scientific e-mail-exchanges cannot be the solution to the threat from hackers.

  • Commentary |

    Nearly an eighth of the population in Bangladesh relies on arsenic-contaminated drinking water. Arsenic-removal filters could help to reduce exposure, but their price is high for the poor and their maintenance is cumbersome.

    • Richard Bart Johnston
    • , Suzanne Hanchett
    •  & Mohidul Hoque Khan

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