Alaska

Polar bears are spending more time on land as sea ice shrinks.

Polar Bears Are Exposed to More Parasites, Viruses and Bacteria as the Arctic Heats Up

Pathogens are more common in polar bears living in the Chukchi Sea now than they were three decades ago, a new study suggests—but it's not yet clear what that means for the mammals' health

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The Enterprising Woman Who Built—and Lost, and Rebuilt—a Booming Empire During the Klondike Gold Rush

With flinty perseverance and a golden touch, Belinda Mulrooney earned an unlikely fortune in the frozen north and reshaped the Canadian frontier

Grazer (128) is a back-to-back champion of Fat Bear Week—and the first working mother to win the popular online contest.

'Highly Defensive' Mother Bear Grazer Defeats Male That Killed Her Cub to Win Fat Bear Week

For the second year in a row, Grazer bested the massive male named Chunk to take the crown in the single elimination online popularity contest at Katmai National Park and Preserve

480 Otis, a beloved brown bear made popular by the Explore.org bear cams of Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, hunts for salmon at a popular bear fishing spot known as “the jacuzzi” on July 20, 2014.

The Chonky Superstar of Fat Bear Week Is Missing, and the Competition Won't Be the Same Without Him

While other bears battled over fish in a prime spot, Otis would sit off to the side and wait for the fish to come to him. But so far this year, he hasn’t been spotted in Katmai National Park and Preserve

Intense flooding continued on August 7, after the sudden draining of a glacial lake near the Mendenhall River in Juneau, Alaska.

When a Glacial Dam Burst, an Alaskan Town Was Hit With a Sudden Flood

From Alaska to Peru and the Himalayas, glacial lakes are suddenly breaking free and causing deaths and millions of dollars in damages

Video footage captured by a remotely operated underwater vehicle shows the cable winch of the S.S. Dellwood, a 3,500-ton U.S. Army vessel that had been installing communication lines when it collided with a submerged rock pinnacle.

Unraveling the Mysteries of the Battle of Attu, the 'Forgotten Battle' of World War II

Underwater archaeologists discovered three shipwrecks submerged near the small Alaskan island, which was the site of one of the deadliest conflicts in the Pacific

Gilkey Trench in the Juneau Icefield

Alaska's Juneau Icefield Is Melting at an 'Incredibly Worrying' 50,000 Gallons per Second, Researchers Find

Between 2010 and 2020, the icefield lost 1.4 cubic miles of ice each year, according to a new study

An orange tributary of the Kugororuk River.

Alaska's Rivers Are Turning Orange as Thawing Permafrost Releases Metals Into Waterways

A new study identifies at least 75 Arctic streams where minerals, especially iron, are staining water with a rusty hue

About 75 percent of Americans are expected to travel by car this summer. Taking the scenic route along such roadways as Highway 101, seen above in Del Mar, California, can make the trip even more worthwhile.

Seven of the Most Beautiful Roads in the United States

From Alaska to Florida, these serene and exhilarating stretches beg you to take the scenic route

Male belugas were more likely than females to change the shape of their melons, or foreheads.

Belugas May Communicate by Changing the Shape of Their Squishy Foreheads

Scientists documented five different melon shapes among the marine mammals living in captivity: push, flat, lift, shake and press

The earthquake on March 27, 1964, dropped Anchorage’s Fourth Avenue and some cars on it roughly 20 feet below normal.

How the Great Alaska Earthquake Shook Up Science

Sixty years ago, the largest earthquake in U.S. history shocked geologists. It’s still driving scientific discoveries today

Tens of millions of people watched Monday's total solar eclipse.

When Are the Next Solar Eclipses? 2026 Promises Totality in Europe, While Much of America Has a Decades-Long Wait

The next total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous U.S. won’t take place until August 23, 2044—but eclipse chasers will have other opportunities to experience totality before that

Wildflowers, spongy tundra grass and Brooks Range mountains emerge from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Alaska's North Slope.

Alaska's Frigid North Slope Was Once a Lush, Wet, Dinosaur Hotspot, Fossils Reveal

Conditions north of the Arctic Circle, where dinosaurs roamed in abundance during the mid-Cretaceous, were warmer than today, with rainfall comparable to “modern-day Miami”

Hunters, trappers and other land users in the North are using Siku, a mobile app named after the Inuktitut word for “sea ice,” to share environmental information, including ice conditions. Here, an Inuit hunter prepares to test the safety of sea ice near Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, with a harpoon.

This App Lets Inuit Combine Traditional Knowledge With Scientific Data

Indigenous communities from Alaska to Greenland are harnessing information to make their own decisions

Ice worms spend most of the day burrowing their way through the cold, dark interior of the glacier, coming to the surface only in the afternoon to feed on algae and bacteria.

This Eight-Day Festival Celebrates One of Alaska's Weirdest Worms

Welcome to the Cordova Ice Worm Festival, a quirky local tradition honoring the mysterious creatures that live in glacial ice

The mineral-rich soak at Chena Hot Springs, about 60 miles northeast of Fairbanks, has been attracting tourists since the early 1900s.

You Can Soak in These Eight Hot Springs in Alaska

From resorts to remote spots, natural thermal waters throughout the state beckon tourists

To understand Elma's life, researchers cut her tusk lengthwise and took samples to study the elements present in the ivory.

Meet Elma, a Woolly Mammoth Who Roamed Far and Wide More Than 14,000 Years Ago

By analyzing a fossilized tusk, scientists have pieced together the animal's movements

Backpackers hike near Crescent Lake in Alaska's Chugach National Forest.

Alps-Style Hut-to-Hut Travel Is On Its Way to Alaska

Several ambitious projects are poised to bring a long trail and 25 new huts to the Last Frontier

A chum salmon in Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve. Salmon numbers are declining in some places due in part to climate change.

Climate Change Is Pushing Salmon North in Alaska, Scientists Say

Researchers recently found about 100 chum salmon spawning in the Arctic, suggesting the species is shifting to new habitats

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How Scientists Tracked the Movements of a 17,000-Year-Old Woolly Mammoth

Isotopes tell the epic tale of one ancient mammal’s odyssey across Alaska

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