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  • Marcel Gietzmann-Sanders and Michael Courtney prepare to release a tagged Chinook salmon from a boat near Sand Point, Alaska.

    Salmon tagging data could help trawlers reduce bycatch

    June 08, 2026

    A Â鶹ԭ´´ research team has translated a trove of data from a Chinook salmon tagging program into a predictive model that could help reduce bycatch by fishing trawlers. Chinook salmon range from the ocean's surface to depths where trawl nets target groundfish species. The researchers' model uses more than 700,000 data points between Southeast Alaska and the Bering Sea to predict how Chinook will be distributed across the water column. With that information, trawlers can potentially adjust their operations to reduce inadvertent salmon catches.

  • A muskox bull at the Â鶹ԭ´´F Large Animal Research Station.

    LARS open for summer tours

    June 08, 2026

    The Â鶹ԭ´´' Large Animal Research Station is open for the 2026 summer season. Public tours are available every day at 10 a.m., noon, and 2 p.m. Tour guests will see and learn about muskox, reindeer and wood bison.

  • A larvacean drifts in the midwater in an image recorded by a remotely operated vehicle.

    Deep-sea expedition uncovers dozens of new species

    June 05, 2026

    An international team of experts discovered over two dozen new marine species on a recent expedition off the coast of Brazil in the tropical South Atlantic Ocean. The science team, which included Â鶹ԭ´´ researcher Russ Hopcroft, used advanced technologies to explore the ocean's midwater, the zone between the sunlit layer and the seafloor. It can take scientists decades to identify and describe new species, but the combination of technology and expertise enabled the team to confirm 31 new species within a matter of days.

  • 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 Â鶹ԭ´´F 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

    The Â鶹ԭ´´' 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 Â鶹ԭ´´ Geophysical Institute building under a partly cloudy sky.

    Geophysical Institute, Poker Flat Research Range announce summer tours

    May 26, 2026

    The Â鶹ԭ´´ 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 Â鶹ԭ´´F'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 Â鶹ԭ´´F 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, Alaska, 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.

    Alaska shorebird suffering from troubled Asia winter grounds

    May 22, 2026

    The population of a plump northern Alaska 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 Â鶹ԭ´´F 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 Â鶹ԭ´´. 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.

    Â鶹ԭ´´F 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.

  • Alaska climate report: April brought sharp weather swings

    May 18, 2026

    April was a month of meteorological change in Alaska, 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 Alaska. Â鶹ԭ´´ 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 Alaska 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 Alaska landslide and tsunami contains warnings

    May 06, 2026

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

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