Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended Olga Shpak’s life—and a generation of science. Jackie Flynn MogensenJuly+August 2023 Issue The first time I spoke with Olga Shpak, I made the mistake of beginning as I often do when interviewing researchers: by asking for some basic biographical information. “I used to be a scientist,” she said, not sounding bitter, only a bit nostalgic. Now, she clarified,...

With Alaskans’ help, Ukrainian woman gets much-needed supplies to her war-torn country By Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media - Anchorage May 8, 2023 An aid group with roots in Alaska has been working to get much-needed supplies to Ukraine, as that war-torn country continues to battle Russian invaders. At the end of what is now an international chain of volunteers and donors is a Ukrainian woman...

The People Fueling Ukraine’s ‘Will to Win’ It’s been one year since Russia invaded Ukraine, setting off the bloodiest land war in Europe since World War II. Since then, the bravery and ingenuity of the Ukrainian people has been on full display while its military has defied the odds and inflicted staggering losses on the Russian army. In today’s episode, we hear some of their stories and look at...

The volunteer. Olga Shpak made headlines around the world in 2017, when she captured the first footage of a pod of orcas using teamwork to hunt a young bowhead whale in the Sea of Okhotsk. The drone video was a sensational moment in her 2 decades of methodical fieldwork investigating bowheads, belugas, and other whale species—studies that had thrust the Ukrainian marine mammologist into the...