Mole

Mole is the JCS resident insectivore who shares his views on various aspects of life-science research. In this series, called The Corona Files, Mole talks about how the COVID-19 pandemic is changing the landscape for researchers.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History recently acquired four remarkable gemstones and jewelry pieces for the Smithsonian’s National Gem Collection in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the museum.

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The prehistoric Xenicibis used its wings like two clubs hinged at the wrist joint in order to swing at and attack one another.

The post Prehistoric bird able to yield extreme fighting force with club-like wings appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian Research Online program recently surpassed the mark of 10,000 publications in the Digital Repository. This collection of digital publications by Smithsonian staff represents a broad review of research done by researchers at the Institution.

The post Smithsonian Digital Repository Now Contains 10,000 Items appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

During a press conference Friday, July 22 at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, NASA announced that Gale Crater will be the landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory. Scheduled to launch in late 2011 and arrive at Mars in August 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory is a rover that will assess the planet’s “habitability”—if it ever was, or is today, an environment able to support microbial life.

The post Gale Crater to be landing site for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

More than 500 carats of rough diamonds were recently donated to the Department of Mineral Sciences of the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum by Jewlers Mutual Insurance Co. of Neenah, Wis.

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The National Museum of Natural History will permanently display the Dom Pedro Aquamarine, which is the largest single piece of cut-gem aquamarine in the world, beginning Dec. 6.

The post Magnificent Dom Pedro aquamarine to go on view in the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Many traits unique to humans were long thought to have originated in the genus Homo between 2.4 and 1.8 million years ago in Africa. A […]

The post Human Evolution Rewritten: We owe our existence to our ancestor’s flexible response to climate change appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Left-handed snails, giant wombats, spiny trilobites, zombie ants, glyptodonts…these are a few of the fascinating animals and plants whose fossils spring to life across the […]

The post New Book: A History of Life in 100 Fossils appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Great white sharks, killer whales, sea lions, even polar bears—the ocean is full of giant predators. But one of the ocean’s worst enemies is not […]

The post Beautiful plastic sculptures tell ugly story of human garbage in the ocean appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Structural investigations of amorphous and nanocrystalline phases forming in solution are historically challenging. Few methods are capable of in situ atomic structural analysis and rigorous control of the system. A mixed-flow reactor (MFR) is used for total X-ray scattering experiments to examine the short- and long-range structure of phases in situ with pair distribution function (PDF) analysis. The adaptable experimental setup enables data collection for a range of different system chemistries, initial supersaturations and residence times. The age of the sample during analysis is controlled by adjusting the flow rate. Faster rates allow for younger samples to be examined, but if flow is too fast not enough data are acquired to average out excess signal noise. Slower flow rates form older samples, but at very slow speeds particles settle and block flow, clogging the system. Proper background collection and subtraction is critical for data optimization. Overall, this MFR method is an ideal scheme for analyzing the in situ structures of phases that form during crystal growth in solution. As a proof of concept, high-resolution total X-ray scattering data of amorphous and crystalline calcium phosphates and amorphous calcium carbonate were collected for PDF analysis.

Appendices B4 and B5 of Cayron [Acta Cryst. (2019), A75, 411–437] contain equations involving the point group and the metric tensor in which the equality symbol should be substituted by the inclusion symbol.

Relativistic electron diffraction depends on linear and quadratic terms in the electric potential, the latter being neglected in the frequently used relativistically corrected Schrödinger equation. The quadratic electric potential term modifies atomic scattering amplitudes in particular for large-angle scattering and backscattering. The respective correction increases with increasing scattering angle, increasing atomic number and increasing kinetic energy. Conventional tabulations for electron scattering and its large-angle extrapolations can be amended in closed form by a universal correction based on the screened Coulomb potential squared.

John Ososky, preparator in the Osteology Laboratory at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., explains how skeletons of animal specimens are prepared for exhibtion and for study—with the assistance of nearly 1 million flesh-eating beetles.

The post Flesh Eating beetles help prepare skeletons for study at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Crab Nebula is one of the most studied objects in the night sky. First observed by Chinese astronomers in 1054 A.D., and possibly others, this supernova remnant and its neutron star have become favorite targets for amateur and professional astronomers alike. The Chandra X-Ray Observatory is operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass.

The post Chandra X-Ray Observatory podcast: The crab nebula appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Conservators challenged by contemporary artworks at the Hirshhorn Museum appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Chip Clark came to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in 1973, with a degree in biology and an interest in photography. He has been a photographer on staff ever since, documenting thousands of specimens and exhibits, and accompanying scientists on research trips around the world. He died June 12, 2010. This video interview was made by Lauren Dare, an intern with the Smithsonian Institution Archives, on May 27, 2010, as part of an oral history project for the National Museum of Natural History's Centennial (2010-2011). To learn more about Chip Clark, see his page on the Centennial website-- www.mnh.si.edu/onehundredyears/profiles/Chip_Clark.html -- where you also can find more videos and stories about the people and the work of the NMNH.

The post Interview with Chip Clark, National Museum of Natural History photographer appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers at the Smithsonian's National Zoo's new genetics lab use animal DNA to diagnose new diseases, discover new species help in conservation efforts and solve mysteries.

The post Scientists at a new National Zoo laboratory use DNA to diagnose illnesses and discover new species of animals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

What does it take to care for a pride of lions? Go behind the scenes with Great Cats Curator Craig Saffoe as he works with animal keepers and veterinarians to prepare the National Zoo's frisky lion cubs for their public debut. For more about the Zoo's growing pride and to watch them on live webcams: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GreatCats/default.cfm?cam=LC4

The post Great Cats curator Craig Saffoe discusses his work caring for the National Zoo’s seven frisky lion cubs appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post After a bulldozer unearthed five statues in Ain Ghazal, Jordan in 1984, Smithsonian conservators carefully restore these otherworldy figures appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Roland Kays, curator of mammals at the New York State Museum, discusses a new Smithsonian Website for sharing camera-trap images of wild animals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Mark Torchin, a marine ecologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama, talks about how he studies the parasites of invasive marine animals such as snails. Much of his research focuses on biological invasions and the dynamics between the host, the parasites and the surrounding ecosystem.

The post Meet our Scientist–Mark Torchin tracks invasive marine species and their parasites in Panama appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

On June 7 the Sun unleashed an spectacular solar flare with a substantial coronal mass ejection. A large cloud of plasma mushroomed up, and while some parts fell back into the Sun, most rushed off into space. The first two segments of this video are seen through the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly aboard NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. The AIA was developed by Smithsonian scientists.

The post Spectacular June 7 solar flare seen through the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly aboard Solar Dynamics Observatory appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Digging up early human and animal remains from the field in Africa, performing examination and publishing research about her findings, then enticing and educating the public about the implications are all in a week's work for Briana Pobiner.

The post Meet Our Scientist–Briana Pobiner, human origins researcher at the National Museum of Natural History appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Tom Crouch, Senior curator in the National Air and Space Museum's Aeronautics Division, discusses Thaddeus Lowe and the birth of American aerial reconnaissance during the Civil War. This presentation was recorded on May 11, 2011 on the National Mall.

The post Tom Crouch, Senior curator in the National Air and Space Museum’s Aeronautics Division, discusses Thaddeus Lowe and the birth of American aerial reconnaissance appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Kari Bruwelheide, forensic anthropologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, discusses how she came to work at the museum, the power of human remains and the information that bones can contain. She and her colleagues continue to discover new ways to interpret evidence from bones and burials.

The post Kari Bruwelheide, forensic anthropologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, discusses the power of bones. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Meet the Smithsonian's Matthew Carrano, curator of Dinosauria at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Matthew studies all things dinosaur, but focuses on the evolutionary history of predatory (meat eating) dinosaurs.

The post Meet Our Scientist: Matthew Carrano, curator of dinosauria at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Members of the Human Origins Program team at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History describe why they love their job.

The post Human Origins Program team members at the National Museum of Natural History on why they love their job appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post How do paleontologists identify dinosaur teeth? Smithsonian Curator Matthew Carrano identifies Cretaceous dinosaur teeth from the Washington D.C. area. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post How do we know if dinosaurs cared for their young? Smithsonian curator Matthew Carrano reveals the fossil evidence. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Learn about the ash that comes from volcanoes with Dr. Liz Cottrell, a geologist from the National Museum of Natural History appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Natural History Museum curator Nick Pyenson explains how scientists know what dinosaurs and other extinct animals ate appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post The amazing story of adaptation and survival in our species, Homo sapiens. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Creating a dictionary: Gabriela Pérez Báez, Curator of Linguistics appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Smithsonian conservators open 2001 Jim Thorpe Wheaties Box from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Don your clean room clothing and take a glimpse into the Smithsonian's new Antarctic meteorite storage facility in Suitland, Md., where all of the Antarctic meteorites in the national collection are kept under tight security and tight airlocks.

The post Glimpse into the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s new meteorite storage facility appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Kepler 11: A Six-Planet Sonata by Alex Parker, postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Marine biologist Tuck Hines and a local Chesapeake crabber narrate the fall of the blue crab, and what may be the start of a recovery. […]

The post Blue crabs: Top predator in peril appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Bocas Research Station’s research assistant Arcadio Castillo ran into these curious looking fish babies while working close to the dock. After some investigation, we found […]

The post Toadfish (Batrachoididae) babies in Bocas del Toro, Panama appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

See our ancient ancestors come to life through paleoartist John Gurche’s realistic human likenesses for the Smithsonian’s Hall of Human Origins. “The human story is […]

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What is it like to be the curator of Great Cats at the National Zoo? We interviewed Craig Saffoe to hear firsthand.

The post What is it like to be curator of Great Cats at the National Zoo? appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Scientists from the Migratory Bird Center of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute are using transmitters to track the movements of shorebirds–the long-billed curlew, red knot, […]

The post Studying migratory connectivity of shorebirds on the Texas coast appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Identifying and understanding the migratory connectivity of birds throughout an entire annual cycle (not just the times of year they are in your back yard), […]

The post Video: Protecting songbirds by Better Understanding their Migratory connectivity appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Knowing what we take from our oceans matters. Smithsonian scientists are developing tools to better understand and protect our oceans. One project they are working […]

The post Monitoring seafood catch data appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Gwen Ifill sat down with Lonnie Bunch, the director of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, which is due to open this […]

The post PBS Newshour interview with Lonnie Bunch, African American Museum director appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

National Museum of African American History and Culture grand opening Sept. 24, 2016.

The post Grand Opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Meet Amy Homma, the Director of Digital Learning at Art Lab+. Learn how Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has created a dynamic program to […]

The post An Active Environment With Smithsonian Educator: Amy Homma appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Judy Garland’s iconic ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” are one of the most popular attractions at the National Museum of American History. But […]

The post Crowdfunding campaign to restore Ruby Slippers surpasses mark appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.