A Traveler Waits in the Stars for Those Willing to Learn How to Look
Chris Cannon, a red-haired astronomy educator, did not know any of this one overcast morning in 2011, when he ventured past a black bear's carcass and a faded sign reading 'trespassers will be shot' and knocked on Paul Herbert's door in Fort Yukon, Alaska.
Dr. Cannon, at that time a number of years from earning his Ph.D. in cultural anthropology, tried to introduce himself in the Gwich'in language, of which Mr. Herbert is among only a few hundred surviving native speakers. Then Dr. Cannon asked about the stars.
'What the hell you mean, stars?' Mr. Herbert said. 'It's cloudy out there.'
Over tea at Mr. Herbert's kitchen table, Dr. Cannon produced documents showing star names that Western ethnographers and anthropologists had recorded from Indigenous cultures across the region. Existing research suggested that Northern Dene societies like the Gwich'in had only managed to map or study the Big Dipper and no other parts of the night sky. One 20th-century ethnographer had gone so far as to dismiss the region's Indigenous astronomical knowledge as 'extremely slight' and 'small.'
But Mr. Herbert holds far more in his head alone than the sum total of all that published research.
'I said, 'That stupid little map right there, throw that in the garbage,'' Mr. Herbert recalled in a recording of a launch event for Dr. Cannon's new book on Northern Dene star knowledge that was hosted by the Tanana Chiefs Conference, a consortium of Alaska Native communities.
The book, 'In the Footsteps of the Traveller,' grew from that first meeting with Mr. Herbert and replaces earlier scholarly condescension with a clearer picture of a huge, ancient and intricate astronomical system shared by Elders across more than 750 miles of subarctic landscape. Alongside Mr. Herbert, some 65 Indigenous knowledge holders contributed to the book. More than a third have passed away since Dr. Cannon began the research.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Medscape
2 hours ago
- Medscape
Simple, Noninvasive Eye Tracking May Flag Cognitive Decline
Naturalistic gaze patterns appear to be a simple, noninvasive, and reliable indicator of cognitive decline, new research suggested. Investigators found that gaze patterns during image viewing mirrored memory performance and distinguished healthy adults from those at risk for, or with, cognitive impairment. 'We are still in the early stages of establishing eye tracking as a marker of memory and cognitive status,' lead investigator Jordana S. Wynn, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, told Medscape Medical News . Although larger, more diverse, and longitudinal research validation is warranted, 'this work lays important groundwork by demonstrating that naturalistic eye movement patterns are meaningfully related to memory function,' she added. The study was published online on August 11 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Novel Research Because the fovea — a small, cone-dense region at the center of the retina — captures high-resolution detail only in the center of the visual field, the eyes must constantly move to sample the full environment. These movements provide a precise, noninvasive measure of how visual information is encoded and retrieved from memory. While prior research has linked certain gaze metrics to memory decline, it remains unclear how multivariate gaze patterns — considering multiple eye movement features together — relate to memory function. For the study, which researchers note is the first work to analyze how eye movements differ across a range of brain health and memory function levels, Wynn and colleagues assessed 106 individuals across five groups — young adults, healthy older adults, individuals at risk for significant cognitive decline, those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and those with amnesia. They hypothesized that changes in gaze patterns would correspond in a linear fashion to cognitive function from the healthiest participants to those with amnesia. The study included two experiments. In the first, participants viewed a series of 120 distinct images, each for 5 seconds, to assess 'idiosyncratic gaze similarity,' or the uniqueness of their viewing patterns. As expected, memory function declined across groups — from young adults to healthy older adults, then to the at-risk group, followed by individuals with MCI and those with amnesia, showing a 'meaningful linear relationship.' In the second experiment, investigators used the same set of images, presenting 60 images once and another 60 three times for 5 seconds each to measure 'repetitive gaze similarity.' This approach revealed whether participants consistently encoded the same image features each time on repeat viewings or if they updated their memory with different features, indicating stronger or more flexible memory encoding. The researchers found that the healthy young adult group encoded unique image features with each image presentation. In contrast, participants with decreased memory and/or hippocampal/medial temporal function tended to focus on the same features each time they saw the same image. These results confirm that memory decline is associated with reduced visual exploration, less effective updating of encoded representations over repeated exposures, and lower differentiation of the images. Exciting, but Not Surprising Wynn said she was not particularly surprised by the study findings. 'Our previous work in healthy populations provided evidence that the brain and cognitive systems supporting eye movements and memory are closely linked. In past experimental work, we found that certain gaze patterns were predictive of memory performance,' she said. Therefore, Wynn and colleagues postulated that memory decline from aging, disease, or injury would yield similar changes in eye movements. 'That our prediction was confirmed was certainly exciting, but not surprising,' she added. The investigators concluded that the results provide 'compelling evidence that naturalistic gaze patterns can serve as a sensitive marker of cognitive decline.' This research lays a foundation for future work using multivariate gaze metrics to diagnose and track memory and/or hippocampal/medial temporal lobe function, they added. It's too early to determine whether naturalistic eye movements could become a first-line screening tool for cognitive decline, Wynn said. 'The value of eye tracking compared to standard neuropsychological tests is that it is noninvasive, cost-effective, and perhaps most importantly, universal,' she noted. Nearly anyone — regardless of age, ability, or language — can view pictures on a screen, so creating a screening tool that doesn't rely on written or verbal responses would be particularly practical, Wynn said. It is still too early to know whether naturalistic eye movements could serve as a first-line screening tool for cognitive decline. Wynn noted that eye tracking is noninvasive, cost-effective, and broadly accessible — anyone, regardless of age, ability, or language, can view images on a screen. With further refinement, she said, these measures could provide a high-resolution way to monitor memory and brain function in clinical settings. Novel Insights Commenting on the research for Medscape Medical News , Mariam Aly, PhD, acting associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, said the study 'yields novel insights into how the way people move their eyes can contribute to, and reflect, memory impairments.' 'This elegant study uses sophisticated analyses to provide a comprehensive picture of how eye movement patterns differ across groups that span a continuum of memory abilities.' Importantly, these differences in eye movements were apparent even though participants had no explicit task, added Aly, who was not affiliated with the research. 'This means that assessment of eye movements during natural viewing of images has the potential to be developed into an important tool for detecting memory decline in clinical settings,' she said.
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
A 'glacial outburst' prompted a flooding crisis in Alaska. What is that?
Water from a melting glacier has caused a river near Alaska's capital city of Juneau to swell to historic levels amid a "glacial outburst" event that has prompted flooding fears and evacuations. On Aug. 13, emergency barriers protecting Juneau appear to be holding, but the risk from summer glacial flooding is on the rise as climate change increases temperatures, causing more ice melt. Glacial lake outburst flooding is a flood that's produced by the quick, unexpected release of water from a glacial lake. These lakes can exist behind unsteady dams made of ice or bedrock, and when these dams fail, the water rushes out, often resulting in catastrophic downstream flooding. A glacial outburst like the one in Alaska this week occurs when an ice dam holding back a lake – in this case Suicide Basin – collapses amid summer heat, releasing the water in a short period of time. Suicide Basin is part of the Mendenhall Glacier. Aaron Jacobs, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service office in Juneau, said that as these events continue to unfold, scientists need to continue to improve their understanding of these glacial systems, especially as the climate continues to change and warm throughout Alaska. Previous studies have tied glacier loss with climate change Thanks to climate change, Earth's glaciers continue to melt away, losing up to 390 billion tons of ice and snow per year, a 2019 study said. The largest losses were glaciers in Alaska. And a 2014 study found that since 1990, humans have been the primary cause of melting glaciers worldwide. In that study, researchers found that, from 1990 to 2010, about two-thirds of the world's glacier loss was due to rising temperatures from the burning of greenhouse gases, along with land-use changes. "In our data we find unambiguous evidence of anthropogenic (human-caused) contribution to glacier mass loss," said study lead author Ben Marzeion, a climate scientist at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. A 2023 study also found that millions of people worldwide are at risk of glacial lake outburst flooding, primarily in Asia. Glacial outburst floods on the rise amid climate change These glacial outbursts in Alaska are not a new phenomena and have been occurring annually in the Suicide Basin, sometimes more than once, since 2011. What is new in the last few years is the amount of water being released all at once during these events, which led to back-to-back years of record flooding downstream in Juneau in 2023 and 2024, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Compared to the rest of the country, Alaska has warmed twice as fast over the last several decades, and its average annual temperature has risen 3.1 degrees Fahrenheit in the past century, according to the federal National Centers for Environmental Information. In other parts of the world, glacial outburst floods are also known as Jökulhlaups (an Icelandic word pronounced yo-KOOL-lahp), according to the National Park Service. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is a 'glacial outburst'? Juneau, Alaska flooding fears explained.
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
Timelapse video captures dramatic rise of glacial lakes in Alaska that prompted floods
Timelapse video captured the dramatic increase in water level at a glacial lake near Alaska's capital city of Juneau, which was bracing for flooding after a "glacial outburst" inundated a nearby river. It's the third consecutive year that significant summer glacial flooding has threatened parts of the city of more than 30,000, as authorities warned Wednesday morning, Aug. 13, that the Juneau area would remain in "major flood stage area for several more hours." Scientists say each flood, including the current one, were all due to climate change. Alaska is warming faster than any other state, and its many glaciers are among the fastest melting, or retreating, glaciers on Earth, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Watch: Timelapse video captures dramatic water level increase Video footage captured rising water levels from July into August at Mendenhall Lake and a lake roughly 2.5 miles north of Nugget Creek. 'Glacial outbursts' have become more common in area Glacial lake outburst floods in Mendenhall Valley, where the majority of Juneau resides, have become a yearly occurrence since 2011, NOAA scientists say, as a once ice-covered basin formed from a retreating glacier above the city regularly fills with rain and snowmelt, similar to a lake. In this case, the Mendenhall Glacier north of Juneau acts as an ice dam for the meltwater that fills the basin, named Suicide Basin, but fails each summer amid higher temperatures. It gives way and sends waters that have collected in the Suicide Basin to drain past the glacial dam and empty into Mendenhall Lake and Mendenhall River, increasingly leading to major flooding. As of the latest updates from the National Weather Service, Mendenhall River levels surpassed what was seen in 2023 and 2024, when a similiar glacial lake outburst flood, or GLOF, events set records and damaged dozens of homes and structures. As of 8:30 a.m. local time, the river stood at 15.92 feet and was falling after reaching 16.65 feet about an hour prior, according to monitors at the National Weather Service. City officials said in a statement that affected areas downriver would remain in major flood stage area for several more hours. City officials said in statements to social media that power has been cut to swaths of the city and said it will be restored once flood waters recede. During the 2023 flood, Mendenhall Lake reached a peak water level of 15 feet, and in 2024, it rose a foot higher to 16 feet. In the 2024 flood, which broke records at the time, scientists with the the University of Alaska and the U.S. Geological Survey said river flow jumped to 42,000 cubic feet per second − a 25% increase − about half the flow rate of Niagara Falls. Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a preemptive disaster declaration on Aug. 10, citing the devastation caused by "glacial outbursts" in 2023 and 2024. Juneau city officials, with federal assistance, installed emergency flood barriers over the past year along more than two miles of riverbanks in areas considered most at risk of overflowing from these glacial lake outburst floods. Although the new barriers are designed to hold back a flood of this potential magnitude, officials asked some residents to evacuate as a precaution. Official updates and resources are available at and mergency preparedness information can be found at Contributing: Trevor Hughes and Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY; Reuters Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at kapalmer@ and on X @KathrynPlmr. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Timelapse video shows glacier lakes rise, causing Juneau floods Solve the daily Crossword
