Suzan Murray, chief veterinary medical officer at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park, recently returned from Hanoi, where she led a team of scientists training pathologists from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to better sample, recognize and detect wildlife diseases in hopes of preventing emerging pandemic disease.

The post Q&A: National Zoo veterinarian Suzan Murray is working to halt pandemic disease in hotspots around the world appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Today, Marra is helping launch an Animal Mortality Monitoring Program in Africa intended to serve as an early warning system for emerging infectious diseases that can pass from animal populations into the human population.

The post Uganda park rangers with cell phones may help stop next world influenza epidemic appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Observations by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have come up with a new class of planet, a waterworld enshrouded by a thick, steamy atmosphere. It’s smaller than Uranus but larger than Earth.

The post Waterworld enshrouded by a thick, steamy atmosphere is new class of planet appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Slithering in at 48 feet long and weighing an estimated one-and-a-half tons, the largest snake the world has ever seen is being brought back to […]

The post Largest snake the world has ever seen is being brought back to life by Smithsonian Channel appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Coral reefs worldwide are being destroyed by changes in ocean temperature and chemistry faster than at any time since the last reef crisis 55 million years ago, thousands of marine scientists warned from the International Coral Reef Symposium in Cairns, Australia.

The post Coral reef emergency: 2,600 scientists call for worldwide rescue appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This copepod Aleutha potter,officially named and described in 2007, is found in Potter Cove, King George Island, Antarctica. Copepod (Kope = Greek for “oar” Podos = […]

The post World of Copepods appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

All bear species except for one live in either temperate or tropical woodlands. Only the polar bear is a stranger to the forest, living and […]

The post Polar bears in a warming world: Q&A with Don Moore of the National Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

In our solar system, only one planet is blessed with an ocean: Earth. Our home world is a rare, blue jewel compared to the deserts […]

The post Astronomers discover two water worlds orbiting star Kepler-62 appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Mortlock Islands flying fox, a large, breadfruit-eating bat native to a few remote and tiny Pacific islands, has long been regarded as one of […]

The post Scientists shine light on world’s least-studied bat: Mortlock Islands flying fox appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Kepler-78b is a planet that shouldn’t exist. This scorching lava world circles its star every eight and a half hours at a distance of less […]

The post Mystery lava world baffles astronomers appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Among the bats, rats and other ferocious animals that lie within the storage drawers of the mammal collection in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural […]

The post The world’s scariest rabbit lurks within the Smithsonian’s collection appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A bird’s nest is a small bowl-shaped collection of twigs and straw built on a tree branch. Right? Well…maybe. As Chris Milensky, museum specialist in […]

The post Bird nests: Variety is Key for the world’s avian Architects appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Batteries power virtually every aspect of modern life. So small, so portable, and so easy to forget—but how many times have you simply started your […]

The post Unplugged: 5 batteries that gave the world a jolt appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Contrary to popular imagery, massive volcanic eruptions or an asteroid impact may not have been the cause of the world’s first mass extinction. Rather, some […]

The post Did mystery worms cause world’s first mass extinction? appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Here’s some good news that should hit you in the gut. A team of scientists searching thousands of environments for bacteria that produce the deadly […]

The post Survey pinpoints where toxic mercury accumulates in world environments 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.

If you were an average person in the 18th and early 19th centuries, chances are your wardrobe was 50 shades of beige, with maybe a […]

The post A Purple Accident and Its Vibrant Impact on the Modern World appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

It is rare but not entirely uncommon to see a manatee swimming in the Atlantic waters of Maryland and Virginia. This one was dead, however, […]

The post In face of mass extinctions, Smithsonian’s Global Genome Initiative quietly saves world’s DNA appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Earlier this year scientists presented evidence for Planet Nine, a Neptune-mass planet in an elliptical orbit 10 times farther from our Sun than Pluto. Since […]

The post Planet 9: A world that should not exist appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

One of Earth’s most evolutionarily unique species is also the world’s most trafficked mammal: pangolins, or “scaly anteaters.” A new study from the Smithsonian Conservation […]

The post Using genetics to help save world’s most trafficked mammal: the pangolin 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.

A team of astrophysicists and planetary scientists has predicted that Neptune-like planets located near the center of the Milky Way galaxy have been transformed into […]

The post Black hole blasts may transform “Mini-Neptunes” into rocky worlds appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The number and diversity of tectonic landforms in our solar system “is truly remarkable,” Watters and Schultz write. Photographs of these structures have stimulated a range of scholarly investigations.

The post Book Review: Planetary Tectonics examines otherworldly landforms 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.

To the Hopewell Culture, ancient Native Americans who sought out the exotic from near and far, metal was a rare and precious resource. Copper, found […]

The post Ancient Native American beads traced to otherworldy source: an iron meteorite 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 Smithsonian Libraries offer a vast amount of resources to the general public. This video gives you a peek into the amazing world of discovery […]

The post Video: A peek into the amazing world offered by Smithsonian Libraries appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian has launched an ambitious project to scan millions of items and make them available to the world on a searchable database. CBS reporter […]

The post 3-D imaging takes Smithsonian from Washington to the world 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 post Afghan Refugee inspires in solo flight around world appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Yellow lady’s slippers, watercolor by Kathleen Garness, from the National Museum of Natural History exhibit “Losing Paradise? Endangered Plants Here and Around the World,” opening […]

The post Exhibition: Endangered plants here and around the world appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Now the Global Plants Initiativeis catapulting biodiversity research to a new level by sharing these historic plant collections in a massive online database of high-resolution scans.

The post Online initiative makes massive database of herbarium specimens accessible worldwide appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For centuries untold numbers of this tiny arachnid (cousin to spiders and ticks) have ended up in teapots, invisibly steeping alongside the leaves of the tea plant on which it lives.

The post Primitive, bizarre, beautiful: New mite species reveal a lost world awaiting discovery appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Dead zones affect dozens of coral reefs around the world and threaten hundreds more according to a new study by Smithsonian scientists published in the […]

The post Dead Zones May Threaten Coral Reefs Worldwide appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Canada-based digital transaction processor Carta Worldwide teamed with

Focused attention by world leaders is needed to address the substantial challenges posed by disposal of spent nuclear fuel from reactors and high-level radioactive waste from processing such fuel for military or energy purposes.

Representatives from academies and research organizations around the world sent messages of condolence and support to members, officials and staff of the U.S. National Academies in the wake of terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The following are excerpts from some of these messages.

More than 13,000 people – including industry leaders, policymakers, administrators, and researchers from government, industry, and academia – are expected to gather for the Transportation Research Board’s 98th Annual Meeting.

International thought leaders will join the next generation of engineers in London from Sept. 16 to 18 for the Global Grand Challenges Summit 2019. The summit aims to help inspire and equip future engineering leaders to address the rapidly evolving challenges of an unpredictable world.

Medicine regulatory authorities — including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — should strengthen cooperation with other countries’ regulators to ensure the quality, safety, and efficacy of medicines, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Nearly 14,000 people – including industry leaders, policymakers, administrators, and researchers from government, industry, and academia – are expected to gather for the Transportation Research Board’s 99th Annual Meeting, taking place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., from Jan. 12-16, 2020.

It is critical for the U.S. to continue its funding for the World Health Organization in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic given the WHO’s lead role in coordinating an international response, especially in developing countries.

National Academy of Medicine President Victor J. Dzau will provide remarks on behalf of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board during a virtual event on May 4 to launch an online pledging effort, the Coronavirus Global Response.

There are still a couple dozen tickets left for one of the most interestingly-cast performances of H.G. Wells, Orson Welles and Howard Koch's "War of the Worlds." On Saturday, Jan. 17,  generations of Star Trek actors will take on the world's most famous radio show.

The cast — directed by Jim Fall — features: René Auberjonois (“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”), Michael Dorn (“Star Trek: TNG”), Dean Haglund (“The X-Files”), Walter Koenig ("Star Trek"), Linda Park ("Star Trek: Enterprise"), Jason Ritter (“The Event”), Tim Russ (“Star Trek: Voyager”), Armin Shimerman (“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”) and Wil Wheaton, playing... Orson Welles.

The performance is a fundraiser for Sci-Fest LA, the new annual science fiction play festival, so tickets aren't cheap — but they're scarce, and this looks like a memorable night.

KPCC and "Off-Ramp" celebrated the 75th anniversary of the broadcast last year by distributing the original 1938 performance, and a new documentary, internationally... introduced by George Takei, another original Trek actor you might have heard of.

War of the Worlds: Sat., Jan. 17,  8 PM; The Acme Theatre, 135 North La Brea Ave. LA CA 90036

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Patt Morrison's outfit for May 20. ; Credit: Michelle Lanz/KPCC

Here’s another version of those capris – these are a lace print from H&M – and while I’ve seen women wearing them with high heels, it just doesn’t seem right somehow. It so sullies the legacies of Mary Tyler Moore and Audrey Hepburn to pair them with anything but flats!

This is my version of a cutaway coat. In a coat like this I could attend Royal Ascot, or invent the telegraph. Obviously it’s a girl version, but I feel empowered, even … princely. At least Fred Astaire-ish. Maybe a pair of spats would make me feel more so. And I could waltz facing forward, not dancing backward, a la Ginger.

As for the adornments, I am not a hearts-and-butterflies kind of girl, but I do like to wear themed brooches in clusters or multiples, and this pair of hearts – just like a poker hand – seemed to work. One is the arrow-pierced one [not to be confused with the Pierce-Arrow, one of the handsomest motorcars ever made].

And the other, the enormous bogus diamond heart, I got from Butler & Wilson, the imaginative London costume jewelry [or better yet ‘jewellery’] designer. It’s my homage to a recent auction of what may be the largest perfect diamond in the world, 101.73 carats.

Harry Winston, the legendary jeweler, bought it for nearly $24 million and has chosen to call it, I am sorry to say, the “Harry Legacy,” which is not the kind of name a diamond like this deserves, one redolent of romance and myth, like “the Hope Diamond” or “the Koh-I-Noor Diamond.”

If you have any suggestions about what to name this magnificent perfect diamond, I’d love to hear them.

My own faux diamond’s name, I have decided, is “The Rhinestone Corazon.” How do you like it?

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick in Trolls World Tour.; Credit: Universal Pictures/Trolls World Tour (2020)

Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Lael Loewenstein, Amy Nicholson and Charles Solomon review this weekend’s new movie releases and share some of their recommendations for movies and TV shows to discover, rediscover and binge-watch while you’re at home.

• "Trolls World Tour" on VOD (Vudu, FandangoNOW, AppleTV, Amazon Prime Video , Microsoft Store & more)

• "The Quarry" on VOD (FandangoNOW, Google Play, DirecTV On Demand)

• "A White, White Day" on The Frida Virtual Cinema

• "Away" on Laemmle's Virtual Cinema and Amazon Prime Video

• "Selah And The Spades" on Amazon Prime Video

• "The Booksellers" on VOD (Google Play) and virtual cinemas, including Laemmle's and The Virutal Frida Cinema

• "Endings, Beginnings" on VOD (iTunes and FandangoNOW)

• "Sergio" on Netflix

Want to see what our critics are watching and recommending you watch during stay at home? Click here to see a full list of our FilmWeek critics' favorite TV shows and films to binge-watch during COVID-19.

Guests:

Amy Nicholson, film critic for KPCC, film writer for The Guardian and host of the podcasts ‘Unspooled’ and the podcast miniseries “Zoom”; she tweets @TheAmyNicholson

Lael Loewenstein, KPCC film critic and film columnist for the Santa Monica Daily Press; she tweets @LAELLO

Charles Solomon, film critic for KPCC, Animation Scoop and Animation Magazine

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Camera brings unseen world to light