Scientists in northern Alaska are learning about polar bears by scraping snow samples from the tracks they leave behind. That snow contains tiny flecks of the massive creatures — mostly cells shed from their foot pads. From the DNA within those cells, scientists have been able to identify individual polar bears. Lisette Waits of the […]
Two staff members of the University of Alaska Fairbanks recently rode 1,000 miles across Alaska on bikes with tires fat as a loaf of bread. Jamie Hollingsworth is a do-all field guy with the Institute of Arctic Biology and site manager of Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research program. Jay Cable is a research programmer […]
Last week, while getting ready to climb into a bunk, I heard the yell of a raven outside. And then another, and a few more. I pulled on my boots. Outside, a steady stream of black bodies glided overhead, many of them swooping down to check me out. Their wings pushed the air in soft […]
CREAMER’S FIELD STATE MIGRATORY WATERFOWL REFUGE — Five scientists have padded their way on snowshoes into the middle of this frozen swamp in Fairbanks. They are here to measure the pillowy, perfect snowpack that has fallen here, flake by flake, since last October. Not far away, a dog musher yells “gee” to urge her lead […]