About v12n3, Proposing Topics, and Elements Online

About This Issue

Anyone who lives in an arid environment can attest to the seemingly endless task of cleaning dust off furniture. The Elements editorial office is located in sunny eastern Washington (USA) where tumbleweeds and sagebrush are in abundance. And so is the dust. Even though, as contributor Don Brownlee indicated, the dust that quickly coats the editorial office furniture is predominantly not extraterrestrial in origin, it is intriguing to think at that maybe just one or two tiny grains of that dust might just be genuinely cosmic. Not being a specialist in cosmic “anything”, I was amazed to learn from the articles in this issue just how remarkable cosmic dust really is. These tiny cosmic dust particles are recorders of the history of our Solar System, comets, asteroids, planets, and moons. They can also be used to date and understand terrestrial phenomena. And, with the rapid advancement of analytical methods available, the information gleaned from these particles about our cosmic neighborhood (and our home) will only increase in the future. I suspect that the extent of future cosmic dust research will be, as Disney's Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear likes to say, “To infinity … and beyond”. Now, if I can only get as equally excited about cleaning those multiplying dust bunnies… -- Jodi Rosso, Executive Editor

Proposing Topics for Future Elements Issues

Do you think your research area would make an interesting issue of Elements? Consider submitting a proposal. Would you like to read about a certain topic? Let the editors know! Many potential guest editors first send an e-mail of inquiry to one of the principal editors or executive editor about their idea for a thematic issue. These “feeler” e-mails are circulated amongst the editorial team and feedback on the topic and/or proposal is provided.

The principal editors meet twice a year to evaluate proposals (in May and December) and determine the lineup for future Elements issues. Currently, we are accepting proposals for consideration for the August/October/December issues in 2018. This 3 issue lineup will be determined during our early December 2016 meeting.

See www.elementsmagazine.org for further information about publishing in Elements.

Elements Online

Did you know that ALL participating society members have electronic access to every Elements issue published since 2005? As a member, you can download individual articles or entire issues (in PDF format) from the Elements website. Editorials, general articles (e.g. Parting Shots, Elements Toolkit, CosmoElements), meeting calendars, and society news items can be accessed by anyone. Accessing the thematic articles and full issues requires you to login with your e-mail and society member number. If you can’t remember what your number is or the e-mail address registered with your member society, contact them and they will be happy to provide you that information. And, if you can’t remember how to contact your member society, the contact information for all the societies that contribute to Elements can be found on the Elements website.

Stayed tuned! In the next few months, we will be launching a new Elements website. Accessing new/past magazine content; connecting with our participating societies, editors, or executive committee; learning about how to publish or advertise in Elements; and so much more, will be just a click away. This new site will be desktop and mobile device friendly. Be sure to bookmark www.elementsmagazine.org in your browser. It is a great resource.