Rural schools everywhere struggle to maintain adequate buildings, but the quest for a new school has been especially long and fraught for this remote Old Believer village.

A group of high school students from Anchorage spent spring break at a remote Native Village as part of an unusual cultural exchange program in Alaska. See what they learned.

This Quality Counts 2019 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.

Alaskan schooling developed on many fronts. An illustrated timeline adds historical context for the growth of the state's education system, from the territory’s earliest Native inhabitants to today.

Recruiters already are offering bonuses, free housing, and airfare to entice teachers to their remote districts—and the competition is about to get worse.

When it comes to education, the 49th state faces its own challenges, some of which are unique to Alaska and some that it shares with other rural states. This series explores how cultural and geographic barriers, teacher shortages, historical developments, and more have shaped schooling in Alaska.

This Quality Counts 2020 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.

Teachers in seven districts are striking for higher pay—and Seattle may be next.

The latest update of the College Football Playoff rankings was officially released Tuesday night on ESPN, with the Alabama Crimson Tide seeing some movement as a result of their dominant 42-13 road win over the LSU Tigers on Saturday. In the rankings

Alabama basketball is on the hunt for win No. 3 of the 2024-25 season.

The Lady Vols beat Middle Tennessee 89-75 on Tuesday at Food City Center. Talaysia Cooper led Tennessee with 18 points

Mahsa Altafi
Oct 23, 2024; 44:e0518242024-e0518242024
Systems/Circuits

John M. Beggs
Dec 3, 2003; 23:11167-11177
BehavioralSystemsCognitive

Thalamocortical pathways from the rodent ventral posterior (VP) thalamic complex to the somatosensory cerebral cortex areas are a key model in modern neuroscience. However, beyond the intensively studied projection from medial VP (VPM) to the primary somatosensory area (S1), the wiring of these pathways remains poorly characterized. We combined micropopulation tract-tracing and single-cell transfection experiments to map the pathways arising from different portions of the VP complex in male mice. We found that pathways originating from different VP regions show differences in area/lamina arborization pattern and axonal varicosity size. Neurons from the rostral VPM subnucleus innervate trigeminal S1 in point-to-point fashion. In contrast, a caudal VPM subnucleus innervates heavily and topographically second somatosensory area (S2), but not S1. Neurons in a third, intermediate VPM subnucleus innervate through branched axons both S1 and S2, with markedly different laminar patterns in each area. A small anterodorsal subnucleus selectively innervates dysgranular S1. The parvicellular VPM subnucleus selectively targets the insular cortex and adjacent portions of S1 and S2. Neurons in the rostral part of the lateral VP nucleus (VPL) innervate spinal S1, while caudal VPL neurons simultaneously target S1 and S2. Rostral and caudal VP nuclei show complementary patterns of calcium-binding protein expression. In addition to the cortex, neurons in caudal VP subnuclei target the sensorimotor striatum. Our finding of a massive projection from VP to S2 separate from the VP projections to S1 adds critical anatomical evidence to the notion that different somatosensory submodalities are processed in parallel in S1 and S2.

Neural circuits supporting innate behaviors, such as feeding, exploration, and social interaction, intermingle in the lateral hypothalamus (LH). Although previous studies have shown that individual LH neurons change their firing relative to the baseline during one or more behaviors, the firing rate dynamics of LH populations within behavioral episodes and the coordination of behavior-related LH populations remain largely unknown. Here, using unsupervised graph-based clustering of LH neurons firing rate dynamics in freely behaving male mice, we identified distinct populations of cells whose activity corresponds to feeding, specific times during feeding bouts, or other innate behaviors—social interaction and novel object exploration. Feeding-related cells fired together with a higher probability during slow and fast gamma oscillations (30–60 and 60–90 Hz) than during nonrhythmic epochs. In contrast, the cofiring of neurons signaling other behaviors than feeding was overall similar between slow gamma and nonrhythmic epochs but increased during fast gamma oscillations. These results reveal a neural organization of ethological hierarchies in the LH and point to behavior-specific motivational systems, the dysfunction of which may contribute to mental disorders.

The work, now on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, tells the story of two characters on the island—the last people alive in the world

In 1925, an Alaskan adventurer and his trusted Siberian husky completed a grueling 600-mile journey across the frozen plains. Their exploits would end up saving the lives of 2,000 people.

In about four billion years from now, the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies will crash together Visualization: NASA, ESA, and F. Summers, STScI Simulation credit: NASA, ESA, G. Besla, Columbia University, and R. van der Marel, STScI

Sally, a Labrador retriever, sniffs sock samples and then pauses on the sample worn by a child with malaria. (Durham University/Medical Detection Dogs/London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)

Read more about Haleakala: http://j.mp/ufv44s The Hawaiian volcano, with its unique vegetation and meditative winds, has a spiritual connection to the native population

Anthony Atala | Smithsonian Magazine’s 2016 American Ingenuity Award Winner for Life Sciences The director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Atala is a surgeon and leading expert in creating living human tissues and organs to replace those that are defective or damaged. He has spent the past decade attempting to construct living organs using 3-D printing technology. Atala implanted the world’s first laboratory-grown organ into a human in 1999 and, this year, he and his colleagues “printed” cartilage, bone and muscle tissue before successfully implanting them into a lab animal. That’s a crucial first step toward Atala’s long-term goal of overcoming the dire shortage of donated organs with custom-made body parts. Read more about Atala's work: http://smithmag.co/SiiV2J | #IngenuityAwards And more about the American Ingenuity Awards: http://smithmag.co/77xPqy

Christopher Nolan's epic new film "Oppenheimer" is no mere biopic… nor is it the first attempt to capture the father of the atomic bomb in fiction. We look at prior dramatizations of this very complicated man—including one wherein J. Robert Oppenheimer played himself!—and examine why they worked or didn't. In the episode: Physicist-turned-photographer Minesh Bacrania shares his experience photographing inside the top-secret labs at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where J. Robert Oppenheimer and other scientists created the first nuclear weapon. Next, with Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer exceeding commercial expectations, Smithsonian magazine writer Andy Kifer discusses the complexities of Oppenheimer's genius and how prior attempts to depict him in film and television and on stage have fared. Read Andy Kifer’s “The Real Story Behind Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer” here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-real-history-behind-christopher-nolans-oppenheimer-180982529/) . See Minesh Bacrania’s photographs of Los Alamos and read Smithsonian senior editor Jennie Rothenberg Gritz’s text here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/exclusive-behind-scenes-look-los-alamos-lab-where-robert-oppenheimer-created-atomic-bomb-180982336/) or in the July/August 2023 issue of Smithsonian. There’s More to That is a production of Smithsonian magazine and PRX Productions. From the magazine, our team is Chris Klimek, Debra Rosenberg and Brian Wolly. From PRX, our team is Jessica Miller, Genevieve Sponsler, Adriana Rozas Rivera, Terence Bernardo, and Edwin Ochoa. The Executive Producer of PRX Productions is Jocelyn Gonzales. Episode artwork by Emily Lankiewicz. Music by APM Music.

Research in Tanzania shows that impalas follow baboons to sausage trees to share fruits and feel safer from predators. (Video courtesy Brooke Davis)

A shipwreck discovered off New Zealand dates to a time before Cook's arrival

The noisy-but-shy bird, known as the hoiho, has earned the most votes for a second time amid threats to its survival

Ai-Da creates art using A.I. algorithms, cameras and robotic arms. Her abstract painting will be the first-ever artwork made by a humanoid robot to be sold at Sotheby's

When the National Transportation Safety Board office in Alaska first hears about a plane going down, protocol is to begin gathering information

Waterloo region’s food landscape is more than farm stands and restaurants. There's a vast array of food producers, food makers and organizations that make up the food scene. And now, a new directory aims to make them easier to find. CBC KW's food columnist Jasmine Mangalaseril explored the directory.

What would you do if you'd just been dealt a devastating, extremely public defeat? If your answer is "drink wine in leggings," then Vice-President and former Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Kamala Harris can do you one better: Drink wine in leggings, sporting a messy bun, while playing Connect 4.

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and advised him not to escalate the Ukraine war, a source familiar with the conversation said, but the Kremlin denied the two had spoken.

Robust design helps withstand challenging competitive conditions as team takes first round in America 's Cup qualifying races

Computer Engineer Masters Design Software to Pursue His Dream of Creating High-Performance Vehicles from Scratch

The vision of OM Madagascar is to partner with the Malagasy Church in every ministry. This vision is being realised in Manakara.

Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi has said his department will look into scrapping luxury tax on smartphones.

On 1 December, 22 women hiked Tongariro Alpine Crossing to raise awareness and funds for women and children trafficked in France and India.

About 110 men, women and children climbed five volcanoes in Auckland in the Freedom Climb New Zealand on Saturday, 16 August.

Over 1.2 million people have been affected by the earthquake that hit Guatemala on 7 November. OM Guatemala asks for prayers.

As a climax to OM´s just-completed Love Guatemala outreach, six teams carry out aid distribution and evangelism in an impoverished area.

When specific medicine is not available during a medical outreach, OM Guatemala sees God miraculously provide for one mother in need.

OM Malawi endeavours to make its projects and workers self-sustainable, while transforming lives and communities at the same time.

Over an eight-day period, 18 Ride2Transform cyclists travelled 690 kilometers, participating in a personal journey with the Lord and praying for the country of Malawi.

Report from the Salamu Aleikum outreach among Arabs in Zel am See in Austria.

A group of Costa Ricans visit a local church in an indigenous region of the country and bring encouragement by serving.

People in Talamanca, an indigenous reserve of Costa Rica with a history of witchcraft, share their problems with OM workers and receive hope in Christ.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica :: A group of indigenous people from the Talamanca region have a horizon-expanding visit to Logos Hope.

Presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., made her first policy pitch on the campaign trail Saturday: A new federal program to boost teacher pay.

The vice presidential candidate was bused to school as child. Her experience could inform national education policy, writes Jonathan E. Collins.