The newest additions at the Reptile Discovery Center at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo are eight tentacled snakes, born Oct. 21 to parents that have not produced viable […]

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Two Andean bear cubs born at the National Zoo in the early morning of Dec. 13 to 6-year-old Billie Jean.

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With the tap of a finger, keepers are introducing the Zoo’s six orangutans to iPads, which provide unique stimuli.

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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 […]

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The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum announced that it will receive a $6 million donation from the Thomas W. Haas Foundation to establish an […]

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Scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute are celebrating the birth of a female Przewalski’s (Cha-VAL-skee) horse—the first to be born via artificial insemination. The […]

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Scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics have confirmed that the giant panda cub born at the National Zoo […]

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Santa Claus and his sleigh full of gifts has been upstaged early this holiday season by news of autonomous drones possibly delivering packages to your […]

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The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute rung in 2014 with the hatching of the most endangered species in its collection—a Micronesian kingfisher—Jan. 1. The chick, whose […]

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On April 15 the National Museum of Natural History took delivery of a nearly complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. Called the Nation’s T. rex, it will be the centerpiece of […]

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Scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va., are celebrating the anniversary of the first birth of a Przewalski’s horse by artificial […]

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One hundred years after the extinction of the passenger pigeon, the nation’s top bird science and conservation groups have come together to publish The State […]

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You too can meet a kiwi! Micaela Jemison from Smithsonian Science takes us to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo where she gets up close and personal […]

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The genomes of modern birds tell a story of how they emerged and evolved after the mass extinction that wiped out dinosaurs 66 million years […]

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Reptiles have a rough exterior that make them seem like they don’t need a lot of very specific care. The reality is quite the opposite. […]

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Salamanders are typically elusive animals and adept at hiding, but National Zoo visitors will have a chance to see a variety of different amphibian species […]

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Bei Bei, Bao Bao, Tian Tian. Many people recognize the names of the giant pandas that reside at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Yet Juan Rodriguez […]

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Snowstorms and blizzards send people to raid supermarkets and prepare their homes for days of staying indoors, but how do the animals at the Smithsonian’s […]

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Higher acidity in coastal waters can make fish more sensitive to low oxygen, causing them to become debilitated and suffocate in water with oxygen levels […]

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For the first time in 25 years, primate staff at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo are celebrating the birth of a male Bornean orangutan. He was […]

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The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery celebrates the accomplishments of astronaut and Senator John Glenn (1921-2016) with a watercolor and graphite portrait by Henry C. Caselli […]

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Great Cats keepers at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo are celebrating the birth of a Sumatran tiger, a critically endangered species. The cub’s mother, 8-year-old Damai, […]

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People often use the words turtle and tortoise interchangeably, but these reptiles have distinct differences: Turtle shells are typically more flattened and not as deeply […]

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Every queen deserves a castle, and the ruler of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s naked mole-rat colony is no different. After 27 years in a maze […]

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When the heat and humidity of the Washington, D.C. summer sends its residents scrambling for air conditioning and iced coffee, the animal care specialists at […]

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Xian Hu, Salma Jalal, Michael Sheetz, Oddmund Bakke, and Felix Margadant

Despite progress made in confocal microscopy, even fast systems still have insufficient temporal resolution for detailed live cell volume imaging, such as tracking rapid movement of membrane vesicles in three-dimensional space. Depending on the shortfall, this may result in undersampling and/or motion artifacts that ultimately limit the quality of the imaging data. By sacrificing detailed information in the Z-direction, we propose a new imaging modality that involves capturing fast "projections" from the field of depth which shortens imaging time by approximately an order of magnitude as compared to standard volumetric confocal imaging. With faster imaging, radiation exposure to the sample is reduced, resulting in less fluorophore photobleaching and potential photodamage. The implementation minimally requires two synchronized control signals that drive a piezo stage and trigger the camera exposure. The device generating the signals has been tested on spinning disk confocals and instant structured-illumination-microscopy (iSIM) microscopes. Our calibration images show that the approach provides highly repeatable and stable imaging conditions that enable photometric measurements of the acquired data, in both standard live imaging and super-resolution modes.

Fluorite is well known and prized for its rich variety of colors, most commonly pale green, purple, yellow, orange, blue, pink and colorless. “We acquired this specimen because it is a very nice quality fluorite with an attractive color and it is large enough to be exhibited,” Curator Jeff Post says.

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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 pendant took Grand Prize in the National Saul Bell Design Competition in 2008 and features a beautiful 3.76-ct pink tourmaline from Nigeria.

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The National Museum of Natural History’s gem collection has a new addition: the Cindy Chao Black Label Masterpiece Royal Butterfly Brooch. Created by Chao in […]

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As you read here
In a 24-hour-period between July 9 and 10, 2009 a clouded leopard cub, a Przewalski's horse, and a red panda cub were all born at Smithsonian's National Zoo's Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia.

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Keeper Tracey Barnes talks about Billie Jean, an Andean bear, and her two new cubs at the Smithsonian's National Zoo.

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Dr. JoGayle Howard of the Smithsonian's National Zoo discusses her work to breed and study one of the world's most endangered cats, the clouded leopard. More about the National Zoo's work to save clouded leopards: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/SCBI/ReproductiveScience/ConsEn...
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/support/annualappeal/cloudedleo... ... (more info)

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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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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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National Zoo Veterinarian Katharine Hope treats about 2,000 animals from 400 different species. She and her colleagues care for a variety of animals, from small baby flamingos to adult Asian elephants, so there's no such thing as an average day.

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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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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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Keepers at the Smithsonian's National Zoo perform an artificial insemination procedure on a pair of Stanley Cranes. A Stanley Crane chick was successfully hatched on May 23, 2011.

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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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School's nearly back in session, but the seven young lions at the Smithsonian's National Zoo have been working hard through the summer months!

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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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