PrintThe Naturalist - Phytoplankton Is Our Friend
October 2nd, 2006In this column, I have often extolled upon the virtues of the various seaweeds, or the macroalgae to be more precise. However, there are distant cousins to the macroalgae that, despite their miniscule size, are responsible for life on earth as we know it.
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What Causes the Aurora Borealis?
September 7th, 2006During the early 19th century, some of the best scientific minds of the period believed that the aurora was caused by the reflection of sunlight from tiny ice crystals suspended high in the atmosphere.
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Alaska's fish are very clean
August 29th, 2006Though buffered by many hundreds of miles from the world's industrial centers, the far north is not as pristine as it seems. Scientists have found dioxins in the breast milk of Native women in Canada's Arctic and pesticide in the bark of Alaska trees, but a study shows extremely low levels of toxins in Alaska fish.
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The dominant predator of North America?
August 24th, 2006In the days when Alaska was a vast grassland, a massive bear hunted the treeless plains. Walking on four lean legs, the giant, short-faced bear loomed larger than the biggest brown bear today. A researcher once described the extinct bear as "the dominant predator of North America."
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Removing the mystery from Alaska's washboard roads
August 10th, 2006While driving Alaska's graveled highways, countless people have no doubt wondered about how an unpaved road surface turns into a bouncing bed of corduroy.
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Denali, Alaska weather station up high back on the Web
July 21st, 2006Yoshitomi Okura stopped into the office the other day. His cheeks had the color of rare steak; they were the cheeks of someone who has spent lots of time on the snow in summer.
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Lessons from the oldest man in Alaska tests
July 17th, 2006An obituary for the man whose bones are the oldest ever found in Alaska might read as follows: He died on Prince of Wales Island around 9,200 years ago.
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Scientist sees changes on warmer North Slope of Alaska
June 19th, 2006Truck-size wedges of underground ice that have remained in place for thousands of years on Alaska's North Slope seem to be thawing.
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Gray whales thrive in the Alaska Arctic, for now, effects of global warming not clear
June 27th, 2006The number of baby gray whales born along the Pacific Coast has increased over the last five years, leading scientists to believe that for now the pregnant females are doing all right feeding in a warming Arctic environment.
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Scientist sees changes on warmer North Slope of Alaska
June 19th, 2006Truck-size wedges of underground ice that have remained in place for thousands of years on Alaska's North Slope seem to be thawing, according to a scientist doing work for an oil company there.
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Did climate kill Alaska mammoths?
June 18th, 2006To the untrained eye, Bonanza Creek forest is breathtaking, a vibrant place alive with butterflies and birds, with evidence of moose and bear at every turn.
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Alaska is Ground Zero for Global Warming Studies
June 15th, 2006To the untrained eye, Bonanza Creek forest is breathtaking, a vibrant place alive with butterflies and birds, with evidence of moose and bear at every turn.
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