If you were dumped into the middle of a desert, your first instinct would be to look for water—it is, after all, the stuff of […]

The post In Western China’s deserts an ancient competition for water resumes appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Death Star of the movie Star Wars may be fictional, but planetary destruction is real. Astronomers announced today that they have spotted a large, […]

The post Cosmic “Death Star” is Destroying a Planet appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers have uncovered a fossil sea urchin that pushes back a fork in its family tree by 10 million years, according to a new study. […]

The post Newly discovered sea urchin fossil is oldest of its kind appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

After decades of attempts, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) scientists and researchers at Cornell University have become the first to successfully use in vitro fertilization […]

The post Smithsonian-Cornell Partnership produces First Domestic Puppies by In Vitro Fertilization appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The debate about the world’s oldest tattoos is over—they belong to Ötzi, the European Tyrolean Iceman who died and was buried beneath an Alpine glacier […]

The post Ancient Ink: Iceman Otzi Has World’s Oldest Tattoos appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The 11 farthest known stars in our galaxy are located about 300,000 light-years from Earth, well outside the Milky Way’s spiral disk. New research by […]

The post Farthest Milky Way stars might be ripped from another galaxy appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Firm though it was, Kaitlyn Wilson’s gentle grip on the rust-brown female cardinal didn’t stop the bird from twisting its head around to deliver a […]

The post Urban Nestwatch: A bird in hand awakens a lifetime of wildlife awareness appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Two separate teams of scientists have identified major challenges for the development of life in what has recently become one of the most famous exoplanet […]

The post There’s more to extraterrestrial life than planets in “habitable zone” orbits appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The next time you swat a fly ponder this: inside its belly is the DNA of whatever it ate before landing on your picnic dinner—roadkill, […]

The post Innovation: Belly gunk from flies used to survey forest animals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Covered in sharp spines, when harassed the porcupine fish inflates like a balloon. Think of a small soccer ball bristling all over with nails. Most predators […]

The post Indestructible jaws from ancient, extinct porcupine fish reveal new species appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

“Somber” is the adjective Smithsonian beetle expert Terry Erwin uses to describe the insects he collects on the forest floor in Peru and Ecuador. “They […]

The post Meet the newest New World canopy beetle species. ‘Gazillions’ await discovery. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Swimming in the frigid waters of the Arctic and surfacing in narrow gaps in the sea ice to breathe, the narwhal is one of the […]

The post Meet the world’s weirdest whale appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Imagine a place where ice cream never drips. Ice cream lovers, how far would you be willing to go to avoid that heartbreaking moment where […]

The post Space is the best place to eat ice cream appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Only the Wing is a new book by Russell Lee that recounts Horten's epic quest to stabalize and control the all-wing aircraft.

The post New Book: “Only the Wing: Reimar Horten’s Epic Quest to Stabilize and Control the All-Wing Aircraft” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Despite the importance of seasonally dry forests, little is known of their ecology. Now, a new book The Ecology and Conservation of Seasonally Dry Forests in Asia, published by Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, explores these unique ecosystems, its animals, plants, and the people that inhabit them.

The post New book: The Ecology and Conservation of Seasonally Dry Forests in Asia appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Benjamin Ziman, Peter Karabinis, Paul Barghouth, and Nestor J. Oviedo

Nutrient availability upon feeding leads to an increase in body size in the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. However, it remains unclear how food consumption integrates with cell division at the organismal level. Here we show that Sirtuins is evolutionarily conserved in planarians and specifically demonstrate that Sirtuin-1 (Smed-Sirt-1) regulates organismal growth by impairing both feeding behavior and intestinal morphology. Disruption of Smed-Sirt-1 with either RNAi or pharmacological treatment leads to reduced animal growth. Conversely, enhancement of Smed-Sirt-1 with resveratrol accelerates growth. Differences in growth rates were associated with changes in the amount of time to locate food and overall consumption. Furthermore, Smed-Sirt-1(RNAi) animals displayed reduced cell death and increased stem cell proliferation accompanied by impaired expression of intestinal lineage progenitors and reduced branching of the gut. Altogether, our findings indicate Sirtuin-1 is a crucial metabolic hub capable of controlling animal behavior, tissue renewal and morphogenesis of the adult intestine.

Kasun Buddika, Ishara S. Ariyapala, Mary A. Hazuga, Derek Riffert, and Nicholas S. Sokol

Stressed cells downregulate translation initiation and assemble membrane-less foci termed stress granules (SGs). Extensively characterized in cultured cells, the existence of such structures in stressed adult stem cell pools remain poorly characterized. Here we report that Drosophila orthologs of mammalian SG components AGO1, ATX2, CAPRIN, eIF4E, FMRP, G3BP, LIN-28, PABP, and TIAR are enriched in adult intestinal progenitor cells where they accumulate in small cytoplasmic messenger ribonucleoprotein complexes (mRNPs). Treatment with sodium arsenite or rapamycin reorganized these mRNPs into large cytoplasmic granules. Formation of these intestinal progenitor stress granules (IPSGs) depended on polysome disassembly, led to translational downregulation, and was reversible. While canonical SG nucleators ATX2 and G3BP were sufficient for IPSG formation in the absence of stress, neither of them, nor TIAR, either individually or collectively, were required for stress-induced IPSG formation. This work therefore finds that IPSGs do not assemble via a canonical mechanism, raising the possibility that other stem cell populations employ a similar stress-response mechanism.

Samantha-Su Z. Taylor, Nicole L. Jacobsen, Tasha K. Pontifex, Paul Langlais, and Janis M. Burt

Connexin 37 (Cx37) expression profoundly suppresses proliferation of rat insulinoma (Rin) cells in a manner dependent on gap junction channel (GJCh) functionality and the presence and phosphorylation status of its carboxyl-terminus (CT). In Rin cells growth arrested by induced Cx37 expression, serine 319 (S319) is frequently phosphorylated. Preventing phosphorylation at this site (alanine substitution; S319A) relieved Cx37 of its growth suppressive effect whereas mimicking phosphorylation at this site (aspartate substitution; S319D) enhanced Cx37's growth suppressive properties. Like Cx37-WT, -S319D GJChs and hemichannels (HChs) preferred the closed state, rarely opening fully, and gated slowly. In contrast, Cx37-S319A channels preferred open states, opened fully, and gated rapidly. These data indicate that phosphorylation-dependent conformational differences in Cx37 protein and channel function underlie Cx37-induced growth arrest vs. growth permissive phenotypes. That the closed state of -WT and Cx37-S319D GJChs and HChs favors growth arrest suggests that rather than specific permeants mediating cell cycle arrest, the closed conformation instead supports interaction of Cx37 with growth regulatory proteins that result in growth arrest.

Richard Wunderman is managing editor of the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network and a geologist in the Division of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian’s […]

The post Q&A: Smithsonian volcanologist Richard Wunderman answers questions about the Aug. 23, East Coast earthquake appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Restless volcano. This Feb. 10 satellite radar image shows the summit of Alaska’s Cleveland Volcano and a new lava dome within the volcano’s summit crater […]

The post A restless volcano 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.

Oysters are keystone organisms in estuaries around the world, influencing water quality, constructing habitat and providing food for humans and wildlife. Yet their populations in […]

The post Ancient Native-American methods may be key to sustainable oyster harvests appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Could the universe’s earliest stars have formed planets, and if so, what might they have looked like? That was the question Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics […]

The post Diamonds are a planet’s best friend? In the early universe, perhaps appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Looking for another Earth? An international team of researchers has pinpointed which of the more than 4,000 exoplanets discovered by NASA’s Kepler mission are most […]

The post Another Earth? Kepler astronomers pinpoint likeliest candidates appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Pan-STARRS project at the University of Hawai’i Institute for Astronomy (UH IfA) is publicly releasing the world’s largest digital sky survey today from the […]

The post Pan-STARRS Releases Largest Digital Sky Survey to the World 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.

What determines the variety of trees in a tropical forest? Is it the seed size? Perhaps seed-hungry animals? And what happens to forests that are being drastically changed by humans? Smithsonian Tropical Research Center Botanist, Helene Muller Landau, talks about her attempt to find answers to these questions.

The post Meet Our Scientist: Helene Muller Landau – Tropical Forest Science 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.

William Fitzhugh - Edward Nelson's 1877-1881 Western Alaskan Expedition

The post Smithsonian anthropologist William Fitzhugh speaks about Edward Nelson’s 1877-1881 Western Alaskan Expedition appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This film is from the collections of the Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution. Clip from silent film, Beautiful Japan (1917-18), by travel-lecturer Benjamin Brodsky. Benten Festival is celebrated on Shiraishi Island. Benten (Benzaiten) is the Goddess of the Sea and one of the Seven Lucky Gods of Japan.

The post Beautiful Japan: Benten Festival 1917-1918, from the Smithsonian’s Human Studies Film Archive appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Maintaining natural movement of animals that live in the tropical rainforest canopy in South America is important for the health of the ecosystem. As development […]

The post Tremie Gregory uses camera traps to study “bridges” in the rainforest canopy 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 […]

The post Ancient ancestors come to life appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

The post Join the longest conversation in tropical biology appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Learning from the forest. Setting up a long-term forest research plot in a tropical dry forest in the heart of Panama City. Click here for […]

The post Learning from the forest appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

NASA’s Kepler mission is responsible for history’s first detection of Earth-sized planets orbiting other suns in their temperate “habitable zones.” The team in charge of […]

The post NASA’s Kepler mission receives National Air and Space Museum’s highest group honor appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Studying lionfish’s impact in Western Atlantic appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The National Air and Space Museum will reopen the “Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall” July 1 in conjunction with the museum’s 40th anniversary. The two-year […]

The post Air and Space Museum’s “Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall” Reopens July 1! 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.

Aukeran is a professional dance troupe from Basque country founded in 1997 by Edu Muruamendiaraz. The beautiful and graceful professional dancers have backgrounds in both […]

The post Basque Dance Troupe “Aukeran” at Smithsonian Folklife Festival appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A team from the Smithsonian is starting a pilot program to aid people in restoring their damaged family heirlooms. Click photo to learn more….

The post Smithsonian starts program to help people restore storm-damaged heirlooms appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Ohkay Owingeh from Adventure Pictures on Vimeo. Currently featured in the exhibition “By the People” at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City […]

The post Restoration of the Ohkay Owingeh Tribe’s historic pueblo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Did you know the Smithsonian’s museum support center is home to the largest collection of whale bones EVER? Madeline Sofia from Joe’s Big Idea takes […]

The post Why the Smithsonian has world’s largest whale bone collection appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The circus is coming to the Smithsonian! The Big Top went up on the National Mall this week in preparation for the 2017 Smithsonian Folklife […]

The post Folklife Festival Big Top Rises in D.C. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

From lunch counters to bus boycotts, the African American fight for integration and equality touched every aspect of life. What you may not be familiar […]

The post Protesting segregation at public pools appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.