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George Argus collects samples of willow shrubs on a slope near the town of McCarthy, Alaska in 1955. (Courtesy Photo / Neil Davis)

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Alaska Science Forum: A man of the mountain, and its willows

When you are a young boy growing up in Brooklyn in the 1930s, sniffing warm pastries your father…

This photo available under a Creative Commons license shows a lawn wolf spider in its funnel web in Laos. (Courtesy Photo / Basile Morin)

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On the Trails: A wide world of webs

There are wonderfully diverse ways of using silk to detect and capture prey.

Spruce tip fireweed jelly. (Vivian Faith Prescott / For Capital City Weekly)

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Planet Alaska: The magic of jam and jelly

There’s a lot of magic happening around us in nature and even in our kitchens.

Finding where bucks were isn't a problem this time of year. Finding where they are is the challenge. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

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I Went to the Woods: Really skilled or really lucky

My success may come in spite of my method, not because of it.

"I have a close relationship with my computer. I’ll call her Betty, as long as when she calls me, she doesn’t call me Al," writes Peggy McKee Barnhill.(Peggy Mckee Barnhill / For the Juneau Empire)

Neighbors

Gimme a Smile: My computer—my BFF

Let me tell you about my best friend…

(Szabó János / Unsplash)

Neighbors

Slack Tide: Halloween isn’t just the name of an overplayed movie franchise

Help bring the ratings up: celebrate Halloween 2022!

The conference began Wednesday night, September 7, with Warming of the Hands, a greeting by local clan leaders. (Peter Metcalfe / Sharing Our Knowledge Conference)

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Resilient Peoples & Place: When a time for peace is facilitated through partnership

There was a light mist in the air as I walked across the wooden bridge…

This photo shows a cauldron of halibut chowder around the firepit on a Fall evening. (Vivian Faith Prescott / For the Capital City Weekly)

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Planet Alaska: Chowder season

Fall reminds me of cupping my hands around a bowl of warm halibut chowder…

A platypus in the Sydney Aquarium chases fish and crayfish in this photo available under a Creative Commons license. (Alan Wolf / Flickr)

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On the Trails: The eclectic marvels of electric ecology

What do a platypus, salamander and dolphin have in common?

UAA associate professor of public health Philippe Amstislavski collects samples of some of the fungi found in the forests around UAA which are similar to those his team has used to develop a lightweight packaging alternative to Styrofoam. (Courtesy Photo / James R. Evans, University of Alaska Anchorage)

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Alaska Science Forum: Home insulation from wood and fungus

Alaska researchers are working to create insulation that removes carbon from the atmosphere.

The author's wife navigates a steep section of the secret deer hunting spot that has been objectively underwhelming, but subjectively epic-in-the-making. Hopefully. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

News

I Went to the Woods: Subjective facts and truth

I find what I want to find and proclaim certainty. This is not helpful.

Bears greet each other on Chichagof Island. (Courtesy Photo / Elleana Elliott)

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Planet Alaska: Elleana Elliott — traveling an island of bears

This award-winning article has been moved in front of the Juneau Empire’s paywall.

Debby Hudson / Unsplash

Neighbors

Slack Tide: October? I hardly even know ‘er!

To -er is human.

Kelsey Aho holds a jar of clay she collected while fishing for hooligan on Turnagain Arm near Anchorage in 2021. (Courtesy Photo / Kelsey Aho)

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Alaska Science Forum: Grains of Alaska made into art

“I can hand a piece of the Yukon River or Mendenhall Glacier to someone thousands of miles away…”

A developing willow rose shows brilliant red on a background of still-mostly-green willow leaves. (Mary F. Willson / For the Juneau Empire)

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On the Trails: Local color in late September

Golden cottonwoods, yellow willow leaves, and the red/pink/yellow leaves of highbush cranberry.

“Hurricane Hal” Needham smiles on a benign day on a Galveston, Texas, beach. The extreme weather and disaster scientist for CNC Catastrophe & National Claims recently drove to a parking garage in southwest Florida to document Hurricane Ian. (Courtesy Photo / Hal Needham)

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Alaska Science Forum: Alaska megastorms vs. East Coast hurricanes

Unlike the giant storm that hit Alaska in mid-September, hurricanes and typhoons both have eyes.

People work together to raise the Xa’Kooch story pole, which commemorates the Battle of the Inian Islands. (Shaelene Grace Moler / For the Capital City Weekly)

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Resilient Peoples & Place: The Xa’Kooch story pole — one step toward a journey of healing

“This pole is for the Chookaneidi, but here among us, many clans are represented…”

The author grew up near this mountain, but never hiked it until he moved home in 2013 and started hunting. (Jeff Lund / For the Juneau Empire)

News

I Went to the Woods: A look in the archives

Reading old writing is an experience.

A bracket fungus exudes guttation drops and a small fly appears to sip one of them.( Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)

News

On the Trails: Water drops on plants

Guttation drops contain not only water but also sugars, proteins, and probably minerals.

The hoverfly can perceive electrical fields around the edges of the petals, the big white stigma, and the stamens. (Courtesy Photo / Bob Armstrong)

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On the Trails: Electric flowers and platform plants

You cannot see it, it’s electric.