Welcome to the Inside Science Blog

Hello everyone,

I landed in San Francisco tonight and am preparing to attend the meeting of the American Geophysical Union tomorrow morning. Monday is the first day and there are at least 9 scheduled press conferences on many of the topics that interest researchers in the organization -- including climate change, planetary science, weather, natural disasters and more. There are hundreds or even thousands of academic presentations about the latest research in these areas as well.

Inside Science is planning to cover several areas of research in this blog and also highlight some hidden stories that deserve more attention. We'll have coverage here and deliver stories during and after the meeting at http://insidescience.org & with the thorough treatment typical of Inside Science News Service.

Just on a personal note I want to add the two things that stood out as welcomes to San Francisco -- one was the very able and quick, but nerve-wracking airport van service to the hotel, and the other was the streetcorner saxophone player that serenaded us with the theme to the Godfather. I'm sure that means something.

Next up: tomorrow -- coverage of research presented at the meeting: possible topics include the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan, drought research, astronomy, and much more.