The Young Earth Scientists Network

Are you looking to join a global network of earth scientists? The Young Earth Scientists Network (YES Network) is an association of earth-scientists who are primarily under the age of 35 years that represent geological organisations and companies from across the world. The network has been established quite recently, in 2007, and has been running annual meetings since then. Each meeting has been held in different countries such as China, USA, and Austria during the EGU.

The network main aim is that Earth sciences should meet the needs of society hence the motto “Earth Sciences for Society”.  YES works to provide young and early career earth scientists with information on how to obtain relevant skills and experiences, establish collaborative working relationships, and create global interdisciplinary networks. Thus, providing the tools young scientists will need to address some of society’s greatest challenges. Excited about the whole idea? You can join YES for free online: http://www.networkyes.org/index.php/yes_membership_form

This year, the YES Network are organising the 3rd World YES Congress, between the 11th – 16th August 2014. The congress will be held at the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre-MJNICC in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in conjunction with the 25th Colloquium of African Geology.

For more information visit: www.yescongress.org/2014.

The deadline for session submission is 15th March 2014. 

EGU Seismology Division on Facebook

The Seismology Division within EGU has launched its Facebook page. The page is public and can be viewed without having a Facebook account. The scope of this page is for the Seismology Division to reach out further to its EGU members. The page will be used to share EGU related information, feature recent papers or discussions, and to share seismology-related news. EGU members who have a Facebook account are encouraged to subscribe to the page by pressing ‘like‘. Facebook users will thus get notifications of recent posts, and will be allowed to interact with the page.

The new EGU Seismology Division Facebook page. Login and press like

EGU Video Competition: Communicate Your Science

Try something different this EGU General Assembly. Take the challenge and communicate your research to a wider audience and through video! Young scientists pre-registered for the EGU General Assembly are invited to take part in the EGU’s first ever Communicate Your Science Video Competition. The aim is to produce a video up-to-three-minutes long to share your research with the general public. The winning entry will receive a free registration to the General Assembly in 2015. Your video can include scenes of you out in the field and explaining an outcrop, or at the lab bench showing how to work out water chemistry; entries can also include cartoons, animations, or music videos – you name it! As long as you’re explaining concepts in the Earth, planetary and space sciences in a language suitable for a general audience, you can be as creative as you like.

The aim is to produce a short and sweet (under 3 minutes) video to communicate your research with the general public. See this example video by Sam Illingworth, who represents young scientists on the Programme Committee of the General Assembly

For more information and guidelines for how to enter can be found on the EGU young scientists’ website

Send your video to mynott@egu.eu. Deadline is 21 March 2014. Good luck.

The unexpected seismic hazard

Public places such as airports are often designed to withstand strong earthquakes particularly in modern cities that are prone to earthquakes. When the ground shakes people have to be careful from objects falling off walls … or eagles falling from the roof!

The giant eagle has fallen from the roof of Wellington airport after an earthquake shake

Two large eagles each having a wingspan of 15 meters and weighing 2 tonnes were suspended from the roof of Wellington Airport to promote the Hobbit trilogy. Clearly these birds cannot fly – one of the eagles fell down as a result of the shaking from a 6.2-magnitude earthquake last month. Thankfully no one was injured when it came down.

Read the full story here.

The EGU photo contest

Are you out and about taking photos during fieldwork? Or, simply good at taking interesting photos? The EGU runs a photo contest for all the participant pre-registered for the EGU General Assembly. Submissions are open up until 1 March. All finalists will receive a book of their choice from the EGU library, and the winners get to win a free registration to next year’s General Assembly.

Check out awesome photos already available on the open access geosciences image repository of the European Geosciences Union:  http://imaggeo.egu.eu/

Share your talent by taking part !
For more information, and competition guidelines, please check the EGU Photo Contest page: http://imaggeo.egu.eu/photo-contest/information/.

Painted Hills after a storm by Daniele Penna, Universita di Padova, Italy. A storm is leaving the Painted Hills, geological wonders in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monuments, Oregon, USA.