Twenty-one middle school students built, learned how to operate and took home their own small unmanned aircraft at a camp taught by pilots and engineers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute the week of June 11-15. The camp, funded by the Federal Aviation Administration, uses unmanned aircraft to encourage kids to pursue science, […]
All of a sudden, we are again the land of no night. Summer happens every year, but it is always a surprise. Maybe because winter is the normal state of middle Alaska, with a white ground surface possible from late September until late April. Over the years, I have marked this frenetic, green time by […]
The Alaska Legislature last month passed a resolution urging Gov. Bill Walker to declare a linguistic emergency for Alaska Native languages. Now, advocates from across the state are collaborating to help breathe new life into some of these languages. Approximately 140 language instructors, first-language speakers and language learners will attend the Alaska Native Language Revitalization […]
Millions of Alaska birds nest on rocky emerald islands seen by few people other than ship captains. One of the funkiest of these creatures is the crested auklet, which looks like a bassist in a punk band and smells like a tangerine. These hand-size birds have intrigued Hector Douglas for years. He just wrote a […]