Dirty Glaciers all over the World
When my boss, Sue Mitchell, was in Tibet recently, she asked a local guide if the glaciers there were shrinking. The guide told her no, the glaciers were fine. When…
Which came first in Alaska: cabins or bats?
Wow, do Alaskans love bats! Last week’s column on little brown bats inspired three times the comments I usually get. People rang in with bat sightings from Nikiski to North…
Little Brown Bats Remain a Northern Mystery
Image: This little brown bat was photographed near Haines Junction in the Yukon. The species, Myotis lucifugus, is Alaska’s most common bat. Photo by Lea Randall “There really could be…
Mystery Organism Comes to Light
Image: Cynthia Pflughoeft found this tapeworm at Eielson Air Force Base. Photo by Cynthia Pflughoeft A few times each week, someone carries something dead or alive through the doors of…
Living Dead Scattered Across Alaska Landscape
Their bodies cooling with the October air, wood frogs are now snug in leafy blankets all over Alaska. Down there inside those thumb-size frogs, even smaller creatures are hitching a…
Middle Alaska Once Again Part of the Cryosphere
With a whisper, middle Alaska is undergoing its biggest change of the year. Billions of snowflakes waft to the dark, wet ground, linking their spiky, broken arms as they collide,…
Sifting Volcano Paydirt to Help Forecast Eruptions
More than 100 volcanoes pimple the adolescent skin of Alaska, spreading from ear to ear. Some are loud, flamboyant and obnoxious. Others are sneaky and quiet, escaping notice until a…
Raccoons, Wild Pigs and Other Bad Ideas
After reading my column about biologists who once stocked a Southeast Alaska island with wolves, a reader mailed me a book. In it, the author detailed people’s attempts to import…
Planet Walk puts Things in Perspective
It is a pleasant day for a walk in middle Alaska, with blue sky overhead, sandhill cranes croaking above the University of Alaska Fairbanks farm, and the sharp scent of…
