Time for another creature spotlight! Many of our spotlights so far have been on slightly obvious animals- reindeer, Arctic foxes, lynx, and Arctic terns, to name but a few. We’ve dipped out toes into the water with narwhals and phytoplankton too, but this week we are going to jump right in with an Arctic giant … Continue reading 66: The Lion’s Mane Jellyfish

Science is a heavily vetted and reviewed field. It has to be to make sure that the science out there is accurate and trustworthy. When dodgy science appears, the scientific community are often quick to question it, perhaps point out its inaccuracies, and replace it with better research. This whole process involves a whole lot … Continue reading 65: The Philosophy of Science

As we approach the winter season, many of our thoughts with be on food. Festive food, comfort food, cosy food. Food is an important thing- not only does it keep us alive, but it can bring us together, make us smile, connect us to our cultures, traditions and to the landscape around us. This week … Continue reading 64: Food in the Arctic

Welcome back to another leaf out of the pages of Notebook from the North. This week we will be looking at the nature/science side of things, reminding ourselves that animals can be a lot more complex than we give them credit for, and that sometimes they are not so different from us as we may … Continue reading 63: The Complexity of Animals

Ever wondered what is scientifically the fluffiest animal? It’s this week’s animal spotlight, the sea otter! These balls of fluff are known best for being, quite frankly, adorable, but they are also pretty clever, and have had to show a lot of resilience. In this plog we will be looking at their clever behaviours, their … Continue reading 62: Sea Otters

A few times in our wanderings of the Arctic so far, we have come across the creatures that live under water, but when we talk about narwhals, bowhead whales, salmon and chad, what really is the difference between these animals, apart from size obviously. Well, that’s what we’ll be finding out this week when we … Continue reading 61: Whale vs Fish, what’s the difference?

The news seems to be full of scientists lately. Scientists developing vaccines and trying to understand how COVID 19 is spread, scientists commenting on the extent and issues related to climate change, scientists finding gases on mars and discovering new species in the Amazon. What really is a scientific researcher though, and how do you … Continue reading 60: How to become a scientific researcher

In plog 11: The Inuit, I said I'd write some plogs about various indigenous groups in the Arctic. Well, it’s been a long time coming but here is the second in that series! This time we're exploring the Evenki in Northern Russia, looking at their history, beliefs, stories and activism. I should of course mention … Continue reading 59: Evenki- People of the Russian North

The animal kingdom is an incredible place. It was once only enjoyed by those in the countryside or those who have gone out of their way to venture into nature and study the wildlife there. However, thanks to folks like David Attenborough who have made documentaries in recent years, we have all become more accustomed … Continue reading 58: Tracking animals with tech- Camera traps and GPS tags