Background Articles

Seal meat makes up a good portion of what’s in subsistence hunters’ freezers in Kotzebue. But the sea ice the seals haul out on is diminishing, and new research shows that's shortening the window to hunt seals.

Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives.

Researchers have recently found that several long-lasting human-made contaminants have been building up in Arctic lakes, polar bears and ringed seals and other wildlife. These contaminants belong to a family of chemicals called polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and are used in food packaging, waterproof clothing and firefighting foams.

Citizen scientists fill an important gap in helping understand when and how Cook Inlet belugas use the river.

A sobering warning on Earth Day: Scripps researchers say record-breaking ocean temperatures and toxin levels are harming local sea life.

Plastic pollution is threatening the wildlife in the Mekong River Basin.

An endangered species of whale that lives off the East Coast is having its best season for new babies in several years.

Enlarged tooth projecting from upper jaw of males offers window onto life in frozen seas as far back as 1960s. From 1990 until 2000, ice in northwest Greenland began to decline and the diet of the narwhals shifted to open-ocean prey such as capelin and polar cod. Narwhals accumulated small quantities of mercury as the new items of prey sat lower in the food chain.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, at least 358 manatees have died in Florida since Jan. 1. This is a staggering number compared to just 122 deaths by this time last year.

A new study has found evidence connecting the rapid warming of the region with a physical decline in three species of Alaska seals.

There is a unexplained trend with sea otter carcasses on the beaches in Katmai National Park and Preserve. Many of the dead animals appeared to be in their prime.

Researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration believe they have identified a new species of whale in the Gulf of Mexico. The Rice's whale is a filter feeder that can grow to 42 feet. It's also critically endangered. There are believed to be fewer than 100 of them left.

A closeup view of a bottlenose dolphin shows signs of skin lesions associated with a deadly skin disease known as ulcerative dermatitis. The increasing frequency and severity of storm systems drastically decrease the salinity of coastal waters, causing fatal skin disease in dolphins worldwide.

It turns out that a bit of melting helps support larger populations of seals, which are the bears’ main food supply. But this benefit will likely dwindle as sea ice continues to melt due to climate change, said Brandon Laforest, senior specialist of Arctic species and ecosystems with WWF-Canada.

The appeal was sent to president Putin on 30 October on behalf of Moscow and St Petersburg surfing federations, pointing his attention to the fact that traces of rocket fuel were found in samples from the polluted area. It means that the anthropogenic version of the recent environmental catastrophe mustn’t be brushed aside, the surfers say.

The event caused a die off of up to 95% of marine life along the seabed. The Russia's Academy of Sciences announced that the mass death was due to the effects of toxins from single-cell algae. Environmentalists are conducting their own inquiries and were not yet able to confirm the official probe's findings.

Environmental campaigners said they were conducting their own inquiries and were not yet able to confirm the official probe's findings.

Now believed to be caused by an unprecedented algae bloom, the decimation of bottom-dwelling sea life may have devastating ripple effects.

Bottlenose dolphins on Scotland’s east coast are expanding their range and swimming further south, according to one of the world’s longest-running studies of the species.

The size of salmon returning to rivers in Alaska has declined dramatically over the past 60 years because they are spending fewer years at sea, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

There were no bugs buzzing around the lights in the parking lot.