X-ray emission under electron-channelling conditions is used to distinguish between a non-centrosymmetric half-Heusler and a centrosymmetric full-Heusler crystal. For TiCo1.5+xSn the space-group determination based on a Rietveld refinement procedure became challenging for increasing Co content (x > 0.2), while electron channelling proved successful for higher Co content (x = 0.35). This technique can be used on crystals as small as (10 nm)3.

Black holes sound wildly complicated. After all, there are all sorts of bizarre things going on: intense gravity, the warping of the fabric of space, the distortion of time itself. But when it comes to describing black holes, it comes down to just two numbers: the mass of the black hole and its spin. That’s right. Everything you physically need to describe a black hole is found in just these two numbers.

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A mysterious nocturnal animal was leaving its tracks on the delicate mirrors of the telescopes at the Smithsonian's Whipple Observatory in Arizona. With a little ingenuity and a live trap, the mystery was solved. The visitor proved to be a ringtail cat, a member of the raccoon family.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The post Smithsonian ecologist John Parker discusses his work with white-tailed deer and invasive plant species 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

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The three male cheetahs that left the Zoo's D.C. campus in 2009 returned in November and are now on exhibit. The five-and-a-half-year-old brothers―Draco, Granger, and Zabini, named after characters in the Harry Potter stories―have been living at the Zoo's Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Cheetah Science Facility in Front Royal, Virginia.

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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.

The post Smithsonian geologist Liz Cottrell discusses the March 11, 2011 Japan earthquake and its mechanics appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This new PBS Newshour video takes a look at a new exhibit at the Air and Space Museum celebrating NASA's space art program.

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In 2010 Dr. Rachel Collin visited her colleagues at the Universidad Austral de Chile in Valdivia to collect some very special snails for her research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama.

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A short history of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Meet Smithsonian scientist Justin Touchon, a National Science Foundation (NSF) postdoctoral researcher at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.

Justin's work focuses on developmental ecology and reproductive plasticity of the hourglass treefrog (Dendropsophus ebraccatus) and red-eyed treefrog (Agalychnis callidryas). Justin and his advisor, Karen Warkentin, were the first to have witnessed the frogs laying eggs in water, in addition to doing so on land -- something with major implications for the evolutionary biology of similar creatures.

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

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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 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 Museum Conservation Institute research scientist Ed Vicenzi discusses his work analyzing daguerreotypes 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.

The post With the recent hatching of two Cuban crocodiles, the National Zoo just got a little snappier! appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Clip from silent edited film "Bryson Jones Travelogue: Lure of the West" (ca. 1927) shows Mount Rushmore National Memorial under construction, including blasting off cliff face, scaffolding, men working, and the completed monument.

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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.

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One of Italy’s greatest treasures, Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex on the Flight of Birds, will be exhibited at the National Air and Space Museum from […]

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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 […]

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Q?rius is a new way for teens and tweens – and their families and educators – to connect science with everyday experiences. With a name […]

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Learn how to use the Smithsonian Wild website to find amazing camera trap photos of mammals from around the world

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Ted Schultz, research entomologist at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, describes how ants use their incredible sense of smell along with their ability to […]

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How do you train a wild animal to come back to you after you have set it free? If it is a fringe-lipped bat, Trachops […]

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Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, the only museum in the U.S. devoted exclusively to design, reopens after a 3-year makeover with 60 percent more exhibition […]

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The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History released a new mobile app “Skin and Bones” Jan. 13. The free app is available for download in […]

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Get a look behind the scenes as we installed “Outside the Spacecraft: 50 Years of Extra-vehicular Activity,” a new exhibition on view at the Museum […]

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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 […]

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Seeing a massive skeleton on display in a museum gallery is the last step in a long journey from living animal to educational specimen. Where […]

The post Where Dead Whales Go To Live: Smithsonian Whale Warehouse appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Sponsored by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and created by filmmaker Frank Chi, this short film features letters that young Japanese Americans in World […]

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This video highlights the mass-digitization of the National Postal Museum’s Sidney N. Shure Collection of Israeli and Palestinian stamps and covers.

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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 […]

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