Scientists find that some Pacific cod may be more vulnerable to climate change than others. Much of the success in managing U.S. fish species has come with recognizing local differences and genetic variability within species. Pacific cod are an important commercial fish species caught throughout Alaskan waters. Cod caught in the Gulf of Alaska and […]
Genes evolved under intense poaching pressure In regions of Africa wracked by heavy poaching, scientists have observed an increasing number of African elephants without their iconic white tusks, prized in the multibillion-dollar wildlife black market. But there has been no direct evidence indicating how this was happening or why this trait was occurring exclusively in […]
What if the country’s largest earthquake in the last half century happened as you were getting ready for bed in the only cabin on a tiny island in the North Pacific? What if the epicenter was just 50 miles away? A magnitude 8.2 earthquake happened at 10:15 p.m. Alaska time on July 28, 2021. The people […]
Over 35 species of rockfish live in the waters off the coast of Alaska. Rockfish have been harvested for subsistence for thousands of years, and commercially and recreationally fished since the early 1800s. Because rockfish are slow to reproduce, they are vulnerable to overfishing and require sound management to keep populations healthy. Some rockfish populations […]
Wolves with adequate social distancing from humans tend to avoid nasty viruses, scientists have found. In a study of more than 2,000 gray wolves from near Mexico to northern Canada, researchers found that the farther wolves were from people, the fewer viruses and parasites they encountered. In the study, scientists used blood samples taken over […]
Volcanologists do what they can to provide the public enough warning about impending eruptions, but volcanoes are notoriously unpredictable. Alerts are sometimes given with little time for people to react. That may soon change. Work led by research assistant professor Társilo Girona, with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, has revealed a method by […]
With a $42,000 grant from the US Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak and the Alutiiq Museum are collaborating on a study of ancestral Alutiiq rock art. The project, which started in January, is helping museum archaeologists study areas with known or suspected petroglyphs. Petroglyphs, or rock carvings, are a traditional form […]
For centuries, humans have blamed the moon for our moods, accidents and even natural disasters. But new research indicates that our planet’s celestial companion impacts something else entirely — our sleep. In a paper published Jan. 27 in Science Advances, scientists at the University of Washington, the National University of Quilmes in Argentina and Yale University report […]
Seafood is the world’s most highly traded food commodity, by value, and the product is hard to track from source to market. Reports of seafood mislabeling have increased over the past decade, but few studies have considered the overall environmental effects of this deceptive practice. A study by Arizona State University, the University of Washington […]