Latest Research News and Events
Mountain goats live and die on the edge
May 09, 2024
Kevin White has placed his hands on the long, white fur of more than 400 Alaska mountain goats during the past 20 years. His diligence in studying this Ice Age wanderer of high, steep, country has led to a new understanding -- a surprising number of the creatures die by snow avalanche.
Searching for microplastics on Denali
May 03, 2024
Two college students will soon be stuffing snow from the slopes of Alaska's highest mountain into Nalgene bottles. Their goal is to see if that precipitation contains tiny plastic particles that are ubiquitous everywhere else on Earth.
Treasures found within a volcanic cave
April 26, 2024
Ben Jones suspected he had found something special when he squeezed into a volcanic cave and saw pale wooden poles, some with ends shaped like a willow leaf.
51·çÁ÷¹ÙÍø researchers head to Anchorage for nation's largest seismology conference
April 25, 2024
51·çÁ÷¹ÙÍø seismologists, staff and students will be in Anchorage next week for the annual national meeting of the Seismological Society of America. Organizers say this year's meeting will be the largest ever for the society, with nearly 1,100 people registered.
Number of Alaska glaciers is everchanging
April 18, 2024
A glaciologist once wrote that the number of glaciers in Alaska "is estimated at (greater than) 100,000." That fuzzy number, perhaps written in passive voice for a reason, might be correct. But it depends upon how you count.
Waiting for the sun at Poker Flat
April 12, 2024
Under a bluebird sky and above a resilient winter snowpack, two sounding rockets point upward, ready to blast through the thickness of our atmosphere to gain a better look at the sun.
Dinosaur study challenges Bergmann's rule
April 05, 2024
A new study led by scientists at the 51·çÁ÷¹ÙÍø and the University of Reading calls into question Bergmann's rule, an 1800s-era scientific principle stating that animals in high-latitude, cooler climates tend to be larger than close relatives living in warmer climates.
Siberian tiger takes final rest at museum
April 05, 2024
It's a safe bet that Aren Gunderson's Toyota Tundra is the only one in Fairbanks that has had its bed filled with a Siberian tiger.
Long winter bike ride aided by naps
March 29, 2024
If you could have read that frost-covered fat-biker's mind as he rolled toward McGrath, Alaska, "as if Velcroed to the snow," you might have suspected he was a scientist.
Ice experts aid U.S. military in Arctic Ocean exercise
March 23, 2024
Finding a good spot for the U.S. military's biennial Operation Ice Camp falls to people at the 51·çÁ÷¹ÙÍø Geophysical Institute.