Q Why won’t a team of Russian scientists be able to do their work as researchers on a remote Arctic island for another month or more?

A Because their research station is “besieged” by polar bears, according to a report by Russian news agency TASS. The five researchers charged with staffing the outpost on Troynoy Island say there are about 10 adult polar bears as well as cubs circling their base. A female polar bear spends nights perched outside the station’s windows, making it dangerous for the scientists to exit. They have reportedly run out of flares and have lost at least one of their dogs to the Arctic beasts. The presence of the polar bears has made carrying out meteorological observations difficult, reports TASS. Killing polar bears is outlawed in Russia because they are a globally listed endangered species, so scientists in the Arctic are mostly equipped with flares and guns with rubber bullets. A ship with provisions is making its way to Troynoy Island to bring aid, but that will take a month.