A small piece of Pacific Ocean floor, brought up 10 years ago by a Chinese research vessel from a depth of 16,500 feet and 2,700 miles from the San Francisco coast, has a large story to tell. Researchers say a one-fifth-inch slice of that marine ferromanganese nodule, which measured 1 by 1.4 inches before it […]
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 […]
Robert McCoy, director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, was driving to the movie theater in Fairbanks on a Saturday in mid-February when his cellphone showed an incoming call. It was from someone with the Department of Defense’s Alaskan Command, a person he knows well. The caller had a request: Could the Geophysical Institute […]
Alaska Airspace is the first frontier in the UAS industry. (ANCHORAGE, Alaska) — Alaska is the first state to be able to grant permission for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to operate and test with the aim of securing certification for national airspace flight. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted the waiver this week, which was requested […]