Those of you who subscribe to Geology Today will have noticed that its Editor is no longer Peter J. Smith.  He was the founding editor of this, the leading digest of news, comment and articles for “lay” geoscientists.  Geology Today arose out of Peter’s determination to develop a truly independent forum in the Earth sciences, which appeared as Open Earth back in the 1970s.  One of the original five members of the Open University’s Department of Earth Sciences in 1969, Peter took early retirement in March 2003.  His replacement at Geology Today is Peter Doyle.