As many of you know, I launched the Northern Soundings podcast more than a year ago, about six months later KUAC picked it up as a show to air every other week. Well, I’m excited to report that thanks to funding from the University of Alaska Fairbanks I’m able to expand the show to a weekly hour-long exploration of Alaskan people and ideas. For this first show in the new format, I decided to salute those researchers who put life and limb on the line for science. As you’ll hear, they often do it because they love the outdoors and exploring the north.

Later in the show we’ll hear from my friend and snow scientist Matthew Sturm on the Norwegian explorer Nansen, but when Matthew was picking his crew for a 2,500-mile snowmachine expedition across arctic Alaska and Canada one of his first choices was Daniel Solie. Daniel is not only a scientist who has designed a physics course for Alaska villagers that draws on their experience, but he is also an accomplished mountaineer. Dan is the fellow on the left in the photo taken during the excursion. As you’ll hear my discussion with him, Daniel also had covered some of the same territory when he was a younger man.