WASHINGTON (Dec. 22, 2016)—Researchers have discovered that a species of dinosaur, Limusaurus inextricabilis, lost its teeth in adolescence and did not grow another set as adults. The finding, published today in Current Biology, is a radical change in anatomy during a lifespan and may help to explain why birds have beaks but no teeth. […]
Biologist Susan Sharbaugh, formerly of the Alaska Bird Observatory, once spoke about the strategies birds employ to survive in our season of darkness and cold. She talked about the flighty birds that split, and the hardy few that stay. I thought I knew something about birds, but she kept delivering facts that were new to […]
YUKON FLATS — Out here, in a smooth plain stretching over Alaska’s wrinkled face, water and tree and mud dissolve to fuzz at each horizon. No hills or bumps. An ocean of sky. An observer once said Yukon Flats looks like a place where God forgot to put something. Garrett Jones and I are camped […]
ATTU ISLAND, Alaska – Against the backdrop of a crisp, blue sky and snow-scattered mountains, a bright orange excavator sharply claws at the earth near Massacre Bay. With each dip of its bucket, contaminated soil, tar and old, rusted diesel drums are unearthed from their decades-long resting place. Once a bustling active military site, the […]