Sports
I Went to the Woods: Numbers worth noting
Everything is being reduced to numbers which my math department friends down the hall cite as evidence of…
Sports
Alaska Science Forum: Ancient beavers, sea floor bumps, thick air
It’s time to start emptying the notebook following the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, which happened…
Sports
On the Trails: Pygmy owls
This little owl was quite frequently detected in the trees at the edge of the wetlands this fall.…
Sports
Alaska Science Forum: More familiar news of the North
WASHINGTON, D.C. — I am once again elbow-to-elbow with thousands of scientists, at a meeting I first attended…
Sports
On the Trails: Hairy and downy woodpeckers
A male hairy woodpecker is a regular visitor to my peanut butter feeders, also sampling from the suet…
Sports
Alaska Science Forum: Alaska continues to change, fast
With his eyes on Alaska weather and climate for many years, Rick Thoman saw a need for a…
Sports
On the Trails: Fish locomotion
There are about 28,000 species of bony fishes — the largest taxonomic group of vertebrates — and they…
Sports
Alaska Science Forum: The secret life of red squirrels
Stan Boutin has climbed more than 5,000 spruce trees in the last 30 years.
Sports
On the Trails: Hot spring snails
From a visitor from England who visited Calgary on the way to Juneau, I learned about the Banff…
Sports
On the Trails: Critter watching in fall
I like living in a place where I can encounter wild critters in so many places and so…
Sports
On the Trails: Mimicry in animals and plants
Mimicry in animals is a common form of protection from predators. For instance, two distasteful or toxic butterflies…
Sports
On the Trails: Owls and voles and other observations
In the middle of October, bird watchers estimated about 40 short-eared owls were seen hunting on the wetlands…
Sports
Alaska Science Forum: The numbers behind a weather forecast
A meteorologist from the National Weather Service’s local office recently told a newspaper reporter that heavy, wet, snow…
Sports
On the Trails: Evolution constantly ongoing among many populations in many places
Someone once asked me “Is evolution still happening?” My brief answer was “Of course, it’s always happening.” I…
Sports
Alaska Science Forum: Weasels are cute, natural born killers
Weighing as much as a cup of walnuts and resembling a squeaky dog toy, the short-tailed weasel is…
Sports
On the Trails: Crows and their relatives
Crows, jays, ravens, magpies and their various other relatives (nutcrackers, choughs, jackdaws, etc.) belong to the taxonomic family…
Sports
On the Trails: Parasitic and hemiparasitic plants
In our region there are a few fully parasitic plants, totally dependent on other plants for carbon, water,…
Sports
On the Trails: Woolly bears and spider webs
It’s early fall and we sometimes enjoy seeing fuzzy orange and black caterpillars trekking over the trails on…
News
Ten years in, Fat Bear Week has drawn millions of viewers to a live webcam in Alaska
Weeklong competition in Katmai National Park culminates Tuesday after delayed start due to a death.
Sports
Alaska Science Forum: Alaska peregrine falcon numbers drop again
Skip Ambrose has floated the upper Yukon River almost every year since Richard Nixon was President. Back then,…