UAF in the news: Week of April 17, 2006

Submitted by Marmian Grimes
Phone: (907) 474-7902
04/21/06

Northern Exposure
Boston Globe
FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- Having once lived in Fairbanks, my appreciation for Alaska’s second-largest city is grounded in details many visitors never experience: vibrant potluck dinners in wood-heated cabins, the colossal vegetables produced during the short but light-filled growing season, and the dazzling displays of the aurora borealis on cold, dark nights. Read more ...

Listening to Alaska
Living on Earth
In an empty white room in a museum in Fairbanks, composer John Luther Adams has created a soundscape of geological and environmental scenes of Alaska. Amy Mayer reports. Read more ...

Wildlife expert tracks Arctic pollution
Earth & Sky
JB: This is Earth & Sky, on pollution in the Arctic.
DB: Todd O’Hara is a wildlife toxicologist at the Institute of Arctic Biology in Fairbanks. He studies how contaminants - PCBs, DDT, and other pesticide - reach the Arctic and move through the food chain. O’Hara talked about what happens to a pesticide applied to a field in the lower 48 states. Read more ...

High school, college students team up for a taste of the senses
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
A lot of weird stuff was happening in the West Valley High School library on Tuesday morning.
There were Barbie dolls with paralyzing phobias, sobriety-test demonstrations with "drunk goggles," and taste tests involving bowls of Skittles. There were examples of poorly designed earphones, "phantom limb" sensations and unreliable visual memories.Read more ...

Are taggers the Old Masters of tomorrow?
San Bernardino County Sun
If you hate graffiti, here’s a theory that will drive you up the wall.
In a new book called ‘‘The Nature of Paleolithic Art," scholar R. Dale Guthrie argues that primitive cave drawings are not early attempts at artistic expression, as we always have thought, but rather prankish acts of vandalism. Read more ...

Warming climate adds to woes in Alaska
Helena Independent Record, MSNBC, Juneau Empire and Wyoming News
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The internal time clock for Alaska’s boreal forest calls for a good, healthy forest fire every 150 years or so. The trouble is, fires in the forest that covers Alaska from below the Brooks Range to above the Panhandle have been coming fast and frequently. Climate warming has accelerated conditions ideal for conflagration, contributing to record fire seasons in America’s largest state and starting a trend that forest managers fear has changed the forest into the next century. Read more ...

Beyerle makes U.S. rifle team
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
University of Alaska Fairbanks senior Jamie Beyerle has made her mark at the USA Shooting Spring Selection Match that is currently taking place at Fort Benning, Ga. Read more ...

Young researchers earn trips to national science competitions
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
DISCOVERY: Kennan Jeannet and Harpreet Sangha didn’t meet until recently, but the two young Fairbanks scientists will get to know each other over the next few weeks as traveling companions. Read more ...

Shipwrecks yield bounty of information
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Cyber Diver News Network
There are more than 4,000 sunken ships throughout the coastal regions of Alaska. Those historical sites, though shrouded under chilly waters, hold a trove of historical value to the state. Read more ...

Gubernatorial hopefuls answer questions at UAF discussion
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
In an amicable discussion, five candidates for the office of governor outlined their positions Monday night on how the state should manage and develop its natural resources. Read more ...

Maori education
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Although this year’s Festival of Native Arts is over, the University of Alaska Fairbanks is providing another opportunity to learn about an indigenous culture. Read more ...