Most of the large animals that have walked the surface of Earth are no longer here. Why? Dan Mann thinks it’s because our recent climate has been too stable, at least when compared to the wacky ups and downs of the last ice age. Mann, a University of Alaska Fairbanks professor, presented his idea at […]
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Alaskans this fall will vote for the third time whether they prefer open primary elections to choose their favorite candidates for Congress, governor and the state Legislature. For the third time, they will decide how much clout political parties should have in deciding which candidates make it past the primary and onto the general election […]
Read MoreAs I was driving down the highway one spring day eight years ago, I saw a shaggy, gray-black canine cruising along on the snowpack, right next to the road. Could it be one of the hardest animals to spot in Alaska, a wolf? Yes. I pulled over and stopped. The wolf padded along the treeline, […]
Read MoreThe Alaska Legislature will reconvene in Juneau in less than two weeks, with a stack of difficult issues weighing on lawmakers: School funding, disaster rebuilding, chronic vacancies in the state workforce, low oil prices (less state revenue), taxes, the mythical natural gas pipeline project that wants a massive tax break, backfilling for the loss of […]
Read MoreMore than 35 years have ticked away since I turned my pickup left onto a North Pole road and noticed the clutch pedal remained on the floor. In a panic, I reached down with my mittened hand and pulled. The frozen plunger oozed back into position. Driving at minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit is not a […]
Read MoreI went ice skating for the first time in years last week, during the annual community Christmas Eve skate at Kevin Bell Arena. The last time I was there for something other than hockey photos, I was celebrating a friend’s birthday. That time, it’d been a while again since I’d put on skates. It didn’t […]
Read MoreMatthew Wooller couldn’t believe his ears after a California researcher rang his cellphone recently. The radiocarbon expert said a few of Wooller’s submitted fossils were from woolly mammoths that stomped the grasslands of middle Alaska thousands of years more recently than expected. “I was pretty much gobsmacked,” Wooller said. “But then the rational science side […]
Read MoreIt’s the season of warm wishes, goodwill, families and friends. It’s a time for gifts, sharing old memories and making new memories with the new year. It’s a break in everyday life to remember the past and think about the future. Too bad Alaskans need to be thinking about how the state will come up […]
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Gov. Mike Dunleavy, now in his final year in office, has spent more time talking about Alaska’s resource potential, whether getting oil and gas and minerals out of the ground or getting paid to store climate-warming carbon dioxide underground, than he has spent dealing with the reality of today’s state checkbook. It’s kind of like […]
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“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” This is a quote from the ancient Greek philosopher Plato that I find to be consistently insightful and true today. Whatever medium of “play” or “recreation” an individual engages in, we instinctively and often unknowingly show our […]
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A few days ago, the forces beneath Alaska rattled people within a 500-mile radius: A magnitude 7 earthquake ripped under Hubbard Glacier. The earthquake’s main shock and aftershocks have revealed something else — a possible slash across the face of Alaska long buried by glacial ice, a feature that professionals speculated upon decades ago. Before […]
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Most mornings I wake up, take my vitamin D supplement and drive to the office or plop down at the desk in my living room. When I get up from my laptop to refill whatever warm beverage I’m sipping on and look out the window, it’s usually grey outside and there’s usually something falling from […]
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I don’t ever throw away leftovers. I figure anything wrapped in petrochemical-based plastic and stored in the refrigerator will last longer than my memory, which means I will forget how old the food is anyway. I have a strong stomach and an even stronger cheapness. Besides, I figure the microwave will kill anything that doesn’t […]
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Alders, alders, everywhere. When you follow scientists in the Alaska wilderness, you’ll almost certainly get alder-snagged. In November, near Homer, alders grew considerately on Grewingk Glacier till, with space to maneuver ourselves and our heavy packs. A few days later, on Kodiak Island, the alders were a bit more rude. My fieldwork companion, University of […]
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In this quiet, peaceful time of year, with all the noisy birds flown south and all the scary bears in hillside dens, little things catch our attention. Like wires that move as if by magic. The late aurora scientist and interested-in-all-things guy Neal Brown once asked if I had written about why power wires sometimes […]
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Most people have seen news reports, social media posts and business charts that show a line moving up in good times, pointing down when business or employment numbers are bad, or bouncing back and forth between the two when the economy is confused. Economists, commentators and politicians can look at the charts and declare life […]
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It’s November in Fairbanks, when the sun reminds you of where on the globe you’re leaving the snowy imprint of your boots. Our favorite star now drops beneath the mountains about 3:30 p.m. That’s one hour earlier than at the beginning of the month. Two if you count the time change that slingshots us, ready […]
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Too many residents, business owners and politicians of Southcentral Alaska — we’re talking the state’s population center of Anchorage, the Mat-Su and Kenai Peninsula — are all agog in anticipation that a multibillion-dollar North Slope natural gas pipeline will save them from unaffordable heating and electric bills. It’s the time of year for holiday dreams […]
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Charles Deehr will never forget his first red aurora. On Feb. 11, 1958, Deehr was a student at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. He asked a Fulbright student from Norway named Tone to the Portland Symphony that night. They went for a stroll on a golf course after the concert. Looking past the treetops, they […]
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Used to be, a bagman was the guy in the movie who picked up or delivered the takings from a robbery. They tried not to look shady, carrying a bag or briefcase full of stolen cash or jewelry. The idea was not to draw attention delivering the goods, while the robbers were making their getaway. […]
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I was fortunate enough to have attended the Boys and Girls club here in Homer for most of my childhood, and losing that central location for youth has left a huge void for kids in the community. Many have hoped to see a youth center open in Homer for years, but have watched woefully as […]
Read MoreIf I were to tally up the hours I’ve spent trying to find the aurora borealis, they would likely add up to weeks. Searching for them is like trying to bake cookies with a pantry some invisible entity stocks at random. The recipe calls for just three ingredients: Geomagnetic activity powerful enough for the human […]
Read MoreA lot of time, energy and legal fees have been spent on political and court fights to limit donations to political campaigns. Supporters of campaign contribution laws say unlimited donations buy favorable treatment for people and business that write the big checks — effectively buying elections to protect and promote their own interests. Opponents of […]
Read MoreI once asked a snowmachiner heading out on a trail from Nome where he was going. “Boston,” he said before speeding off. Not knowing of any Boston within 3,600 miles, I thought I had misheard him. But later that day I looked at a map of the route of the All-Alaska Sweepstakes dog race that […]
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Walking a storm-scoured Alaska beach, archaeologist Rick Knecht knelt to pick up a wooden figurine the size of his palm. He squinted at it and identified the piece as a doll that might have belonged to a little girl, one who had lived and died there centuries before. He handed it to Alice Bailey, who […]
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I use a tablet to read newspapers. It started maybe a decade ago, when an increasing number of national newspapers stopped shipping their print editions to Alaska. I am addicted to reading papers, so I dropped my resistance to the electronic world and bought a tablet. Of course, before that, I let my cheapness get […]
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Here is a trivia question for readers. What do Dave Cloud, Carole Hamik, Charlotte Moss and Anita Harry have in common? If you guessed it has something to do with years of supporting youth in the Homer area, you are close. If you guessed it relates to helping operate extra-curricular activities at Homer High School […]
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“I told the president, it’s like Christmas every morning,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said at last week’s staged event in Washington, D.C., where the Department of Interior secretary signed off on federal approvals to expand oil drilling, mining and road building in Alaska. “I wake up, I go to look at what’s under the proverbial Christmas […]
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Just when you thought you’d seen everything in the boreal forest, a reader points out white whiskers sprouting from the ground. Chris Greenfield-Pastro of Fairbanks sent in photos of what she called “hair ice” blooming from the forest floor behind her house. In her images, delicate white lashes of ice curve from woody debris and […]
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Years ago, while Juneau friends were house hunting in Washington state, they left their middle school son with me for the weekend. The instructions were easy: Only one bowl of sugared cereal and pay attention to homework. The kid outsmarted his parents on the one-bowl rule for Frosted Mini Wheats. He pulled a large mixing […]
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This column is for people who remember — or who heard stories from their parents or grandparents — that staticky, buzzing melody of beeps when someone would dial in for a connection to the internet, and an equally static-sounding machine at the other end would answer. It was called a “handshake.” It sounded a bit […]
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