Young Arctic Muskoxen Better At Keeping Warm Than Scientists Thought Aug 25, 2009
25, 2009) A new study finds that young muskoxen conserve heat almost as well as adults, a finding that runs contrary to a longstanding assumption among scientists that young animals should be more vulnerable in extreme cold. The study, by biologist Adam Munn from the University of Sydney, Australia, will be published in the forthcoming issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. (Science Daily)
* Mad for Mars Aug 25, 2009
The place was Canadas Devon Island, which hasnt made much news outside musk oxen circles since a meteor fell on it 20 million years ago ... The Mars Society made him chief engineer of the Devon Island expedition, meaning he had to keep the tube heated and the balky incinerator toilet working ... As soon as Palaias tired crew returned from Devon Island, a study committee appointed by US President Barack Obama issued a gloomy report on NASAs manned spaceflight program. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- Sports)
Training for those who reach for the stars Aug 12, 2009
Living on Devon Island inside the Arctic Circle as part of a Mars Society program, Kristine Ferrone gathers rock samples as part of the training ... Ms. Ferrone spent July on Devon Island, the world's largest uninhabited island in distant northern Canada, well inside the Arctic Circle ... Devon Island arguably is the closest thing on Earth to a Martian environment with its barren terrain and lack of plant life. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
Florida College Students Plan to Send Rover to Moon Jun 30, 2009
They will be using this time at Devon Island in Nunavut, Canada to test the communication capabilities of the robot. "I'm going to be up there for the whole month, with a crew of five other people, living in a simulated Mars habitat," Palaia said, "and so, I offered to bring this up there with me, so they can control this, just as if they were operating their rover on the moon.". (Fox News)
Web-footed missing link in sea life evolution May 4, 2009
The fossil was found on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic, bolstering the notion that the far north was an early center of pinniped evolution, she said. Rybczynski, a researcher at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, and colleagues from the United States report the find in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Science)
Fossil hunters discover new species Apr 28, 2009
An expedition led by Canadian Museum of Nature paleontologist Natalia Rybczynski found the bones of an animal matching that description in the Haughton crater on Devon Island in the summer of 2007. Early seal-like creatures that had previously been found on the west coast of the United States already had flippers and were clearly at home in an aquatic environment. (Globe and Mail)
'Missing link' fossil seal walked Apr 28, 2009
Puijila is the term for "young sea mammal" in the Inuktitut language, spoken by Inuit groups in Devon Island where the fossil was found. Puijila is the evolutionary evidence we have been lacking for so long. (BBC News -- Science)
Seal With "Arms" Discovered -- Evolution at Work Apr 28, 2009
The inland location on Devon Island, , suggests that pinniped evolution featured a freshwater phase, according to the study. During that period the animals frequented the then temperate Arctic's lakes and rivers. (National Geographic)
Lock up your children! Mar 23, 2009
Sam Courtney from Devon Island, Canada writes: Harris hated North Bay too. He tried to gut and priviatize the ONR which is very important to the city. (Globe and Mail)
Scientists plan to drive the icy Northwest Passage Mar 14, 2009
The Mars Institute is already active in the region, using a facility on Devon Island in Canada's high Arctic to test vehicles that might eventually be used to explore the surface of Mars or the moon. (Reporting by Allan Dowd; Editing by Frank McGurty). (Scientific American)
Driving Across Northwest Passage to make Polar History Mar 13, 2009
The mission is an integral part of the Haughton-Mars Project on Devon Island, High Arctic, where research in space science and exploration is being conducted by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. The scientists from the Mars Institute will be on hand to discuss the expedition, the significance of their ground-breaking research and to unveil the unique, all-terrain Moon-1 Humvee Rover that they will use for their journey. (NASA Watch)
10 glacier getaways Feb 13, 2009
For example, some of the Devon Island glaciers, which are west of Baffin Island, are receding at up to almost a mile each year, according to Dr. Martin Sharp, professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta. And though the glacier reduction is significant here, its even more extreme to the south, in British Columbia and Alberta, which have the nations most spectacular ecotourism destinations and, in B.C.s case, will host the 2010 Winter Olympics. (MSNBC -- Travel)
Polar attraction Feb 8, 2009
Our route also included wildlife-rich Devon Island, the largest uninhabited island in the world (21,000 square miles); Croker Bay enveloped by glaciers; the communities of Pond Inlet and Clyde River; and Grise Fiord in Jones Sound, North America's northernmost civilian settlement, with a population of 141 ... Even crew members accustomed to the journey appeared overwhelmed by the beauty of the landscape: the icebergs, the jagged cliffs of Coburg Island, home to dense colonies of breeding... (Boston Globe)
