Alaska Science Forum: The year without a summer
By nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu (Ned Rozell)
An April snowstorm whirling outside my window today seems to be announcing the postponement of spring. As I sit here watching the show, it makes me think back to the shortest summer ever.
Hybrid grizzly-polar bear a curiosity
American hunter Jim Martell, left, is seen with a hybrid bear he shot while on a hunting expedition on Banks Island, Northwest Territory, Canada, in April 2006. Genetic tests showed the bear had a polar bear for a mother and a grizzly bear for a father. Roger Kuptana, center, right, was the guide on the expedition. The other men are unidentified.
AP Photo/Canadian Wildlife Service.
When he heard the news of a grizzly-polar bear hybrid shot in Canada’s Arctic last month, Tom Seaton thought back to an unusual polar bear hide he’d once seen at Nelson Walker’s home in Kotzebue.
“He had two polar bear rugs in his house — one was a huge one, and the other was special; it had lots of brown in it,” Seaton said. “It looked like a regular polar bear, but for every square inch of hide, 5 to 20 percent of the hairs were brown instead of white.”
Science Potpourri celebrates 20 years of fun and science
Lester’s Forbidden Experiment. Screaming Gummy Bears. Blowtorch in a Beaker. The three are among a host of activities on the roster for the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ 20th annual Science Potpourri Saturday, April 13 from noon to 3 p.m. The College of Natural Science and Mathematics hosts the free event, which will be in the Reichardt Building on the UAF campus.
Travel grants available for graduate students through UAF Graduate School
The University of Alaska Fairbanks Graduate School announces an opportunity for graduate students in good standing to apply for grants to partially cover expenses for travel that will substantially further their education.
Guidelines:
• Students enrolled in Masters and Doctoral degree programs are eligible.
The GI tweets information on observations from the center of the earth to the center of the sun
Last week the GI started a Twitter account. Twitter is a social media and microblog service with 500 million subscribers. We have 35 followers and counting, so follow UAF Geophysical and get the lastest GI news.
Click here to sign up.
"Views of the Boreal Forest" a success
More than 200 people visited the "Views of the Boreal Forest" First Friday Art Show on April 5. From 5 to 7 p.m., crowds perused artwork created by borough artistsans, including photography from researchers and staff at the Geophysical Institute and the International Arctic Research Center.
Alaska Science Forum: Hybrid grizzly-polar bear a curiosity
By nrozell [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu (Ned Rozell)
When he heard the news of a grizzly-polar bear hybrid shot in Canada’s Arctic, Tom Seaton thought back to an unusual polar bear hide he’d once seen at Nelson Walker’s home in Kotzebue.
Alaska mosquitoes spreading malaria in birds
Jenny Carlson of the University of California, Davis with a captured Swainson’s thrush in Coldfoot, summer 2012.
Image by Ravinder Sehgal.
Thousands of Alaska mosquitoes are now on sabbatical at the University of California, Davis. They are not pestering suntanned Californians. Researchers are analyzing their tiny corpses to see if the parasites that cause malaria are inside them.
Monitoring Alaska's volcanoes for 25 years
Twenty-five years of monitoring and studying Alaska’s volcanoes by the Alaska Volcano Observatory have improved global understanding of how volcanoes work and how to live safely with volcanic eruptions. Timely warnings from AVO throughout its 25-year history have helped reduce the impact of erupting volcanoes, protecting lives, property, and economic well-being.
Boreal forests focus of First Friday art show
The September leaves of boreal trees in Gail Priday’s backyard swirled in a mass of orange against the gray sky.
The image is now captured in Priday’s oil painting, called “Backyard,” which will be one of the many artworks featured in “Views of the Boreal Forest,” a First Friday art show.
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