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Alaska

After researchers aboard the Okeanos Explorer ship couldn't figure out the orb's identity, they sent it to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History for a more thorough investigation.

Cool Finds

Scientists Found This Mysterious Golden Orb on the Seafloor Nearly Three Years Ago. Now, They Finally Know What It Is

After a long, winding road of tests, researchers at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and other institutions determined that the strange blob once attached a large sea anemone to a rock

Students at Anne Wien Elementary School in Fairbanks pilot test the Fresh Eyes on Ice data collection protocol with project team member Allen Bondurant in 2019.

‘Fresh Eyes on Ice’ Teaches Kids to Collect Vital Ice Data in Remote Alaskan Communities

Students measure ice thickness and monitor spring break-up to help save lives in areas where frozen rivers are used as roadways

Female caribou grow antlers, which they shed just a few days before giving birth.

Caribou Are the Only Deer Species in Which Females Grow Antlers. Scientists Just Figured Out Why

New research suggests female reindeer antlers serve as postpartum snacks, with new moms munching on them after giving birth to get a much-needed boost of protein, calcium and phosphorus

The growth plates, known as specimens UAMN3760 and UAMN3724, were discovered near Fairbanks in the early 1950s.

Mysteriously Young ‘Mammoth’ Fossils Discovered in Alaska Turned Out to Be Whale Bones

When researchers learned the fossils were merely 1,900 to 2,700 years old—which would be the youngest woolly mammoth fossils ever found—they suspected something was amiss

Smithsonian magazine's picks for the best books about science in 2025 include Replaceable You, Dinner With King Tut and North to the Future.

The Best Books of 2025

The Ten Best Science Books of 2025

From “experimental archaeology” to the mysterious appeal of exploration, the wide-ranging subjects detailed in these titles captivated Smithsonian magazine’s science contributors this year

For more than four decades, the Athabascan Fiddle Festival has filled community halls in Fairbanks with a sound that is both global and distinctly Native.

How Old-Time Fiddle Music Took Root in Indigenous Alaska

In Fairbanks, fiddling thrives—bridging cultures, sustaining traditions and filling the dance floor with life

Archaeologist Rick Knecht (right), shown here in 2019, has been working with community members in Quinhagak, Alaska, to excavate and preserve artifacts from a site called Nunalleq, which was likely inhabited by Yup’ik ancestors from around 1300 to 1650 C.E.

A Storm Battered Western Alaska, Scattering Thousands of Indigenous Artifacts Across the Sand

Archaeologists and community members in Quinhagak are racing to recover as many Yup’ik objects as possible

Scientists gathered samples from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Permafrost Tunnel Research Facility in central Alaska.

Scientists Resurrect 40,000-Year-Old Microbes From Alaskan Permafrost. What They Found Raised Worries About the Future of a Warming Arctic

The experiments offer new insights into one of the “biggest unknowns” in how the climate will change in the years to come

New research suggests that the Salmon River in northwest Alaska is full of toxic metals.

Why Is This Remote and Rugged River in Alaska Turning Orange?

New research suggests the Salmon River is full of toxic metals that are likely harming fish and other aquatic creatures

Bear 32, nicknamed Chunk, was crowned the 2025 Fat Bear Week champion.

After Two Years as Runner-Up, Chunk Is Finally Crowned Winner of Fat Bear Week

The brown bear heavyweight persevered through a jaw injury this year that will permanently hinder his ability to fight and hunt

Moms and dads of just about every species can relate to this image of a cub climbing on its parent’s back.

Smithsonian Photo Contest Galleries

Behold These 15 Photographs of Big, Beautiful Bears

Get an up-close look at these massive mammals … from a safe distance

Alsek Glacier disconnected from the shoreline of Alsek Lake sometime this summer, transforming a mountain known as Prow Knob into an island.

Glacial Melting in Alaska Has Created a New Island

Alsek Glacier disconnected from a mountain called Prow Knob sometime this past summer, making way for Alsek Lake to surround the landmass

The new study suggests that 73 million years ago, birds and dinosaurs lived side by side in the Arctic.

Scientists Find the First Evidence of Birds Nesting in the Arctic Alongside Dinosaurs

The researchers analyzed rare fossils of hatchling birds found in northern Alaska, which offered the earliest evidence of the creatures reproducing in a polar region

A grizzly bear walks along a road in Lake Louise, Alberta. 

To Reduce Human and Grizzly Bear Conflicts, Both Species Must Change Their Behavior

Rural Alaskan and Canadian communities are trying to get along with the large mammals

The Barry Arm landslide in Alaska’s Prince William Sound

Studying This Slow-Moving Alaskan Landslide May Help Avert Future Disaster

If the landslide at the Barry Arm fjord collapses, its falling ice and rock could generate a devastating 650-foot-high tsunami

Ever since it debuted in 2008, the Running of the Reindeer has become one of the signature events of the Fur Rendezvous Festival.

Every March, Runners Race Reindeer Through the Streets of Anchorage

For three and a half blocks, athletes and ungulates share the road during the headlining event of Alaska’s Fur Rendezvous Festival

Alaska’s hardiest residents have gathered around the frozen waterfalls of Valdez—some of them up to 900 feet tall—to hone their skills, test their mettle and celebrate the state’s tight-knit ice climbing community.

Learn to Ice Climb at Alaska’s Most Extreme Community Festival

For more than 40 years, Alaskans have been gathering in the tiny coastal town of Valdez to celebrate the art of climbing ice

Crater Peak (photographed here on February 7, 2025) is the most likely site of a future Mount Spurr eruption.

‘Volcanic Unrest’ at Alaska’s Mount Spurr Suggests 50-50 Chance an Eruption Could Be Coming

Volcanologists are closely monitoring the 11,070-foot-tall stratovolcano, located roughly 75 miles from Anchorage, after a recent uptick in earthquakes

With a sunny “halo” to point the way, a truck climbs into the Brooks Range towards Atigun Pass, heading for Fairbanks after departing the oilfields of Prudhoe Bay.

Discover Alaska

See the Glorious Beauty of Alaska With 15 Images From the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

See why the 49th state is a No. 1 destination

The cache pit was discoverd on a hill overlooking the Knik Arm, a thin brach of the Gulf of Alaska.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Rare 1,000-Year-Old Food Storage Pit in Alaska

Initial findings suggest the cache was used to preserve moose and caribou meat in the harsh climate of southeastern Alaska

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