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  • A man in an orange winter coat, snowpants and a fur hat gestures toward a head-high cylinder stuck in the snow on ocean ice. Behind the man stands a group of spectators, as well as another person working on scientific gear in a sled towed by a tracked ATV.

    A new Arctic partnership

    June 04, 2026

    UTQIAÄ VIK, ALASKA -- Colorful sticky notes and creased agendas fluttered to the floor as 40 or so people grabbed phones and rushed to the long series of windows. A polar bear had been spotted checking out a series of empty sled dog cages nearby.

  • A river delta near the ocean, with a blue, cloudy horizon and polygon-shaped patterns on the ground in the foreground.

    Arctic river deltas store 5% of world's frozen carbon

    June 04, 2026

    An international team of scientists has, for the first time, quantified the total carbon stored in permafrost at the mouth of rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean.

  • A New York Air National Guard LC-130 Skibird cargo aircraft sits on a snow runway atop the Greenland Ice Cap under a clear blue sky. The ski-equipped aircraft, operated by the 109th Airlift Wing, is parked on the windswept ice with a small field camp, flags and support structures visible in the distance. The photograph was taken during Exercise Polar Reach in 2019, a training mission that prepares aircrews for operations in polar environments.

    Frozen Arctic lakes becoming less capable of supporting cargo aircraft

    June 04, 2026

    The ability to land a military cargo plane on a frozen Arctic lake is becoming less likely as a warming environment reduces the number of subfreezing days. That puts ice thickness below the minimum needed to support heavy aircraft.

  • Under a blue sky, blocks of jumbled ice fill a river bank to bank. Driftwood — stumps and logs — lie on the near shore, which is covered with dead grasses.

    Research team seeks answers from a changing river

    May 29, 2026

    Dan Gillikin surveyed the view from his front window and didn't like what he saw.

  • A UAF Large Animal Research Station staff member feeds leafy greens to a muskox through a wire fence as a group of visitors, including young children, watch from behind a rope barrier, at the 2025 LARS Birthday Bash.

    LARS to host Birthday Bash June 6

    May 27, 2026

    91ÊÓƵ' Large Animal Research Station will host its annual Birthday Bash on Saturday, June 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The free event is open to everyone and will include animal viewing and family-friendly activities. LARS staff will be on site to educate guests about the animals and answer questions.

  • Visitors on the Geophysical Institute summer tour will learn about the large blue satellite antenna atop the Elvey Building and the sounding rocket installation displayed on the lawn outside. The photo shows the rocket model rising in the foreground in front of the University of 91ÊÓƵ Fairbanks Geophysical Institute building under a partly cloudy sky.

    Geophysical Institute, Poker Flat Research Range announce summer tours

    May 26, 2026

    91ÊÓƵ Geophysical Institute is offering free public tours this summer to showcase some of its science facilities. Two different guided tours are available. One consists of a visit to four sites in the Geophysical Institute home base in the Elvey Building on UAF's Troth Yeddha' Campus. The other is an outdoor walking tour at Poker Flat Research Range, located at Mile 30 Steese Highway.

  • A man in a suit stands on a high hill with a view down to a valley.

    ACEP student awarded $7,000 renewable energy scholarship

    May 26, 2026

    Matteo Kuizenga, a junior mechanical engineering student at UAF and student assistant with ACEP, was awarded the Larry Bekkedahl Scholarship from the Renewable Energy Scholarship Foundation. Kuizenga was selected from a competitive pool of 90 applicants and is one of four recipients of the foundation’s highest annual award.

  • Two arcticola dunlin walk across a patch of lingering snow near a road in UtqiaÄ¡vik, 91ÊÓƵ, in June 2021. The small shorebirds have mottled brown backs, pale faces and black bellies, and are shown in profile against a soft, snowy background.

    91ÊÓƵ shorebird suffering from troubled Asia winter grounds

    May 22, 2026

    The population of a plump northern 91ÊÓƵ shorebird weighing just over 2 ounces has been declining for decades. Reversing that decline will require additional conservation efforts at some of the birds' East Asia wintering grounds, according to new research.

  • A man with glasses and a mustache stands in front of a green chalkboard with scrawled diagrams.

    Mind-bending science for this science layman

    May 22, 2026

    In my daily "science class," I am always the student hoping for a passing grade from the scientist whose work I'm writing about.

  • A grain silo is next to a group of red-painted agriculture processing buildings

    2026 crop science conference set at UAF in June

    May 21, 2026

    The 2026 Western Society of Crop Science annual conference will be held in Fairbanks on June 23-24. The conference will take place at the University of 91ÊÓƵ Fairbanks. It will bring together plant science students, faculty and researchers from public and private institutions across a broad geographic region of North America.

  • A group of students walk across a bridge at Toolik Field Station with their reflections in the pond below them.

    UAF Toolik Field Station open for Visitor's Day

    May 19, 2026

    Toolik Field Station will host a Visitor's Day on Saturday, June 6, 2026, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

  • Study: Tiny rodent-like mammals outlasted Arctic dinosaurs

    May 19, 2026

    More than 70 million years ago, the Arctic was a lively place for some of Earth's ancient mammals. Today, their fossil teeth are offering clues about where they came from and how they outlived the dinosaurs.

  • 91ÊÓƵ climate report: April brought sharp weather swings

    May 18, 2026

    April was a month of meteorological change in 91ÊÓƵ, as expected each year. What stood out this time, however, was the wide range of conditions during those changes.

  • A black and white dog sniffs the ground near a red-capped Amanita muscaria mushroom with white spots growing amongst fireweed, horsetail and dwarf dogwoods, with a smaller immature Amanita emerging beside it.

    Time Capsule: The world according to a dog's nose

    May 16, 2026

    When a Lab vacuums the ground with her nose and her tail moves like a helicopter blade, you know a grouse is about to fly. When the dog stops like a dragonfly, then runs off sniffing an invisible path, a snowshoe hare has crossed your trail.

  • A NASA sounding rocket carrying the FOXSI-5 mission lifts off from Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks at 11:23 a.m. Thursday, May 14, 2026. A bright plume of flame and smoke rises from the launch pad as the rocket climbs above a dense forest of spruce and leafless birch trees. The FOXSI-5 mission is part of a continuing NASA-led program to study the sun.

    Mission to study solar flares launches from Poker Flat

    May 15, 2026

    A NASA sounding rocket launched from Poker Flat Research Range at 11:23 a.m. Thursday in a continuing mission that uses X-rays to study the sun.

  • Tunnels left by root maggots are shown on fresh turnips

    Webinar will discuss ways to control root maggots in gardens

    May 08, 2026

    Root maggots, the larvae of a small fly that feed on crops such as turnips, broccoli and cabbage, are a difficult pest for many home gardeners in 91ÊÓƵ. University of 91ÊÓƵ Fairbanks researchers at the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station have been researching the species, timing and damage these maggots cause. A free webinar will go over some of their findings and discuss options for controlling these pests.

  • A wide aerial view of Tracy Arm in Southeast 91ÊÓƵ shows the scar from the Aug. 10, 2025, landslide descending from a steep mountainside into the fjord near a glacier terminus. Gray rock and debris cut through the center of the mountain, reaching the water below, where floating ice and sediment spread across the fjord. The glacier terminus is visible at lower right, with snow-covered peaks rising above the surrounding mountains. Along the far side of the fjord, a pale trimline marks where the tsunami stripped vegetation from the slopes. The photograph was taken from across the fjord during a U.S. Geological Survey flight on Aug. 13, 2025.

    Study of 2025 91ÊÓƵ landslide and tsunami contains warnings

    May 06, 2026

    Scientists studying the massive August 2025 landslide and tsunami in Southeast 91ÊÓƵ warn that the likelihood of similar large-scale events has increased substantially across the North as glaciers retreat and permafrost degrades.

  • Visitors walk among UAF-branded blue and gold tents set up along a campus pathway during the Arctic Research Open House on the University of 91ÊÓƵ Fairbanks campus in May 2025, with the Elvey Building and a satellite dish visible in the background under a sunny sky.

    UAF to host free Arctic Research Open House May 14

    May 05, 2026

    91ÊÓƵ will host its annual Arctic Research Open House from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, May 14, on the West Ridge of the Troth Yeddha' Campus in Fairbanks.

  • Three bundled researchers work at a snow-covered permafrost coring site in a boreal forest near Fairbanks under a bright, low winter sun. From left, Louise Farquharson of the University of 91ÊÓƵ Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, and Shannon Hibbard and Jennifer Kielhofer, both of the Desert Research Institute, operate coring equipment beside a dug trench, with shovels, packs and field gear spread across the snow in the Goldstream Creek area on April 13, 2026.

    Coring for permafrost insights in the Goldstream Valley

    May 04, 2026

    Drilling for a permafrost core in the Goldstream Valley of Fairbanks on this late-March day first required creation of a workspace. The project is one of many efforts to understand how people can adapt to, and plan for, a warming Arctic.

  • A trail of brown bear tracks, with toes pointing toward the photographer, dimples the gray sand between cobbles on a beach. In the background, the sun sets over the surf and a mountain range. A man walks along the beach horizon under the mountains.

    Meeting deadlines and interesting people

    May 01, 2026

    The deadline has been my quietly relentless muse for the last 30 years. She used to give me headaches. But then I met her so many times that the headaches stopped.

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