News tagged with alaska
Scientists isolate new antifreeze molecule in Alaska beetle
Scientists have identified a novel antifreeze molecule in a freeze-tolerant Alaska beetle able to survive temperatures below minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Unlike all previously described biological antifreezes that contain ...
Dec 14, 2009 |
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New data: Mega-quake could strike near Seattle
Using sophisticated seismometers and GPS devices, scientists have been able to track minute movements along two massive tectonic plates colliding 25 miles or so underneath Washington state's Puget Sound basin. Their early ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 16, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (14) |
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Vast expanses of Arctic ice melt in summer heat
(AP) -- The Arctic Ocean has given up tens of thousands more square miles (square kilometers) of ice on Sunday in a relentless summer of melt, with scientists watching through satellite eyes for a possible ...
Aug 09, 2009 |
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Research shows part of Alaska inundated by ancient megafloods
(PhysOrg.com) -- New research indicates that one of the largest fresh-water floods in Earth's history happened about 17,000 years ago and inundated a large area of Alaska that is now occupied in part by the ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 28, 2010 |
4.7 / 5 (10) |
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US opens ways for Shell Arctic Ocean drilling
US officials have granted oil giant Shell conditional approval to begin drilling exploration wells in the Arctic Ocean from next year, a move swiftly slammed by conservationists as "inexcusable".
Aug 05, 2011 |
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'Benchmark glaciers' shrinking at faster rate, study finds
Climate change is shrinking three of the nation's most studied glaciers at an accelerated rate, and government scientists say that finding bolsters global concerns about rising sea levels and the availability of fresh drinking ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 07, 2009 |
3.9 / 5 (10) |
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Can evolution outpace climate change?
(PhysOrg.com) -- Animals and plants may not be able to evolve their way out of the threat posed by climate change, according to a UC Davis study of a tiny seashore animal. The work was published today (June ...
Jun 08, 2011 |
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Study reveals for first time true diversity of life in soils across the globe, new species discovered
(PhysOrg.com) -- Microscopic animals that live in soils are as diverse in the tropical forests of Costa Rica as they are in the arid grasslands of Kenya or the tundra and boreal forests of Alaska and Sweden, ...
Oct 18, 2011 |
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Frequent, severe fires turn Alaskan forests into a carbon production line
(PhysOrg.com) -- Alaskan forests used to be important players in Mother Nature’s game plan for regulating carbon dioxide levels in the air. It’s elementary earth science: Trees take up carbon dioxide ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Feb 10, 2011 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
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Plants could override climate change effects on wildfires
(PhysOrg.com) -- The increase in warmer and drier climates predicted to occur under climate change scenarios has led many scientists to also predict a global increase in the number of wildfires. But a new ...
Apr 21, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (7) |
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Simple approach could clean up oil remaining from Exxon Valdez spill
Traces of crude oil that linger on the shores of Alaska's Prince William Sound after the Exxon Valdez oil spill remain highly biodegradable, despite almost 20 years of weathering and decomposition, scientists are reporting ...
Sep 29, 2010 |
5 / 5 (6) |
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World's smallest whale population faces extinction
The world's smallest known whale population has dwindled to about 30 individuals, only eight of them females, according to a study released Tuesday.
Jun 30, 2010 |
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Where's the snow? Not in Lower 48, but elsewhere
(AP) -- Snow has been missing in action for much of the U.S. the last couple months. But it's not just snow. It's practically the season that's gone AWOL.
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.8 / 5 (5) |
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Research finds higher acidity in Alaska waters
(AP) -- Erosion threatens to topple coastal Alaskan villages. Melting ice threatens polar bears. Now, a marine scientist says the state's marine waters are turning acidic from absorbing greenhouse gases faster ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 24, 2009 |
3.1 / 5 (7) |
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Seaglider sets new underwater endurance and range records
(PhysOrg.com) -- A University of Washington Seaglider operated for 9 months and 5 days in the Pacific Ocean, an endurance record more than double what any other autonomous underwater vehicle has accomplished ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 10, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
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Alaska
Alaska ( /əˈlæskə/ (help·info)) is the largest state of the United States of America by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait. Approximately half of Alaska's 683,478 residents reside within the Anchorage metropolitan area. As of 2007, Alaska remains the least densely populated state of the U.S.
The U.S. Senate approved the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million at two cents per acre, about five cents per hectare. The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized territory on May 11, 1912 and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959. The name "Alaska" was already introduced in the Russian colonial time, when it was used only for the peninsula and is derived from the Aleut alaxsxaq, meaning "the mainland" or more literally, "the object towards which the action of the sea is directed." It is also known as Alyeska, the "great land," an Aleut word derived from the same root.
For more information about Alaska, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
