Wire Service

By Mary F. Willson For the Juneau Empire My pond has been rather quiet lately. Two or three unemployed male mallards loaf around companionably while their females are egg-sitting. Sometimes, just one male is...

By Ned Rozell To the delight of the local mosquitoes, Nicholas Hasson steps through a tangle of prickly spruce branches while wearing a backpack that holds a scientific instrument. Hasson is walking as straight...

By Christina Larson AP Science Writer TAKOMA PARK, Md. — A plump robin wearing a tiny metal backpack with an antenna hops around a suburban yard in Takoma Park, then plucks a cicada from...

By Ned Rozell I just so happened to be stretched out on good ol’ Mother Earth the other night when an earthquake happened. On a Memorial Day overnight canoe trip, a friend and I...

By Jeff Lund For the Juneau Empire Any weekend adventure typically has a few objectives with varying levels of enthusiasm. You’re excited about everything, but scaling does happen. The main objective for my...

By Mary F. Willson For the Juneau Empire As readers of these essays know, I like to take a walk every day, just to see what I can see (or hear). I’m...

By Mary F. Willson For the Juneau Empire A big tide-stranded log on the wetlands was studded with lots of little tufts of “moss.” It didn’t look a bit familiar to any...

By Ned Rozell On a fine June day about 100 years ago, in a green mountain valley where the Aleutians stick to the rest of Alaska, the world fell apart. Earthquakes swayed the alders...