Sea Ice in the Paleoclimate SystemThe Sea ice proxies Working Group's special issue (de Vernal et al. 2013; Quat Sci Rev 79) aims to address some of the uncertainties in sea ice modeling; lays the methodological groundwork for sea ice reconstructions for both polar regions; and makes some of the first inferences on past sea ice cover in the Arctic.Paleoecology community identifies 50 priority research questions in a recent paper from the Focus 4 Biodiversity Theme, Seddon et al. (2014; J Ecol 102) describe the process and outcomes of a workshop in December 2012, which used a unique community-consultation approach to produce a list of priority research questions in paleoecology.Using paleo-climate comparisons to constrain future projections in CMIP5 Schmidt et al. (2014; Clim Past 10) of the CLiVAr/ pAGES intersection demonstrate that paleo-climate simulations can help constrain, and thus improve future projections, and propose guidelines towards future research. CoverVarved sediment section from Lake Belauer in 1912, when Gerard de Geer established one of the first chronological methods in geosciences by examining the annual laminations i.e. varves in a sediment core, the potential of natural archives for environmental reconstruction was unrecognized.However, just over a century later modern analytical techniques allow for the measuring of environmental changes at annual to sub-annual time scales, thereby bridging the gap between proxy records and instrumental data.This image shows a beautiful example of a varved sediment section from Lake Belauer in northern Germany. News A new look and a new nameFollowing our review of 20 years of PAGES news in the last issue, we realized, based on our track record, that a facelift was overdue.But this time we've gone even further and we've also changed the name to Past Global Changes Magazine, or PAGES Magazine for short.We believe that this more accurately reflects PAGES news' evolution in recent years from a simple newsletter into more of a magazine-style publication.We also hope that our new look magazine, with its more descriptive title, will attract a broader audience. SSC Meeting in ParispAGES' Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) met in paris in January 2014. in addition to approving four new Working Groups, the SSC also reviewed Working Group annual reports, met with Future Earth representatives and discussed pAGES' strategic direction in the coming year.The article on the opposite page gives an overview of the ongoing developments.