The Unicode Consortium decides which emojis live or die. As they prepare to release the next batch of emojis, we ask the emoji gatekeeper’s president about the approval process.
Science & Tech
Water politics forum begins Thursday
The forum kicks off at the UAS Egan Library at 7 p.m. Thursday and continues through Saturday afternoon.
Scientists identify dead killer whale found in Southeast
The next step for the scientists is testing the samples retrieved from the carcass to search for what killed this animal.
Online map plots coastal erosion in 8 Western Alaska locations
Each year, coastal communities in Western Alaska watch feet – even yards – of shoreline disappear into the waves. Now, a new online mapping tool will let them look at past erosion and see where coastlines might be in future years.
Who do you call to fix failing earthquake monitors? Volcano scientists.
A backlog of deferred maintenance and a lack of funding, coupled with the extreme environment, have caused some of the seismic monitoring stations to quit working over the past several years.
Did Life Begin On Mars?
If life did arise on Mars, the trek to Earth might not have been that difficult. Modern tests have shown that microbes could survive such a journey on a meteorite, says guest blogger Bill Mesler.
NOAA investigates dead orca whale north of Petersburg
Greg Lutton was moose hunting on Kupreanof Island this week and said he saw the dead whale on his way out of Portage Bay.
Petersburg library, newspaper recognized for archiving 100 years of history
The Alaska State Historical Records Advisory Board has recognized The Petersburg Public Library with a certificate of excellence for partnering with the Petersburg Pilot to digitize and archive the weekly newspaper going back 100 years.
Kachemak sea otter sickness, deaths under investigation
“Something is hitting them harder and faster, in addition to the disease that we’re familiar with seeing, something else seems to be involved,” says Marc Webber with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Homer,
Alaska berry-picking survey shows increasing variability in harvests
Ninety-six people from 73 Alaska communities responded. They were specifically asked to compare the berry picking experience of the past 10 years with berry picking before that.