A bright orange poison dart frog with a unique call was discovered in Donoso, Panama, and described by researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Instituteand […]

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More than two million migrating raptors passed over Panama City on Sunday, Nov. 2, doubling the previous record of almost 900,000 tallied in a single […]

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Caitlin Burrell, research scientist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, returned from China last night April 20, with frozen giant panda semen that had been […]

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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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The bush dog is one of the most enigmatic of the world’s canid species, seldom seen throughout its range in Central and South America. New […]

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Cobia, a promising fish for aquaculture, lives throughout the world’s oceans except in the Central and Eastern Pacific. In August 2015, a large number of […]

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Seven fossil teeth exposed by the Panama Canal expansion project are the first evidence of a monkey on the North American continent before the Isthmus […]

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The National Zoo’s red panda habitat on Asia Trail reopened to the public Tuesday, May 10. Tusa and Asa explored their new home which has […]

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Ricardo Moreno, research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama and director of the Yaguará Panamá Foundation, reported at the 20th Congress […]

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In 1969, 60 to 100 peacock bass imported from Buga, Colombia, were introduced into a pond in Panama for sport fishing. Several individuals escaped. By […]

The post Peacock bass invasion Had devastating, long-term impact on Panama’s Fish 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 […]

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Ninety Limosa harlequin frogs (Atelopus limosus) bred in human care are braving the elements of the wild after Smithsonian scientists sent them out into the […]

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This user-friendly, portable, and extensive identification guide features large color illustrations of more than 900 species; the first range maps published to show the distribution of Panama's birds and concise text that describes field marks for identification, as well as habitat, behavior, and vocalizations.

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Aline A. Alves, Heloisa B. Gabriel, Maria J. R. Bezerra, Wanderley de Souza, Sue Vaughan, Narcisa L. Cunha-e-Silva, and Jack D. Sunter

Eukaryotic flagella are complex microtubule based organelles and in many organisms there are extra-axonemal structures present, including the outer dense fibres of mammalian sperm and the paraflagellar rod (PFR) of trypanosomes. Flagellum assembly is a complex process occurring across three main compartments, the cytoplasm, the transition fibre-transition zone, and the flagellum. It begins with translation of protein components, followed by their sorting and trafficking into the flagellum, transport to the assembly site and then incorporation. Flagella are formed from over 500 proteins; the principles governing axonemal component assembly are relatively clear. However, the coordination and sites of extra-axonemal structure assembly processes are less clear.

We have discovered two cytoplasmic proteins in T. brucei that are required for PFR formation, PFR assembly factors 1 and 2. Deletion of either PFR-AF1 or PFR-AF2 dramatically disrupted PFR formation and caused a reduction in the amount of major PFR proteins. The presence of cytoplasmic factors required for PFR formation aligns with the concept of processes occurring across multiple compartments to facilitate axoneme assembly and this is likely a common theme for extra-axonemal structure assembly.

To understand the long-term effects of a prolonged tropical storm in the Panama Canal watershed, Robert Stallard, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and research hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, and Armando Ubeda, the LightHawk Mesoamerica program manager, organized four flights over the watershed to create a digital map of landslide scars.

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Miniature camels and horses, a rhinoceros and a giant bear-dog are among fossils unearthed in the recent excavations of the Panama Canal expansion project. These […]

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A full 94 percent of the dead zones in the world’s oceans lie in regions expected to warm at least 2 degrees Celsius by the […]

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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 […]

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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.

The post A clouded leopard cub, a Przewalski’s horse and a red panda cub were all recently born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

When animal care staff at the Smithsonian's National Zoo need to know when to breed their pandas or when to expect a cub they turn to the Endocrine (Hormones) Research Lab at the Zoo's Front Royal, Va. facility.

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"I'm getting paid to do what I like doing," says entomologist David Roubik. He loved nature and being outdoors when he was a kid, and now he does fieldwork in the tropical forests of Panama. He loves to travel, and his research takes him around the world. Can his work, then, be called a job?

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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.

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Meet Rachel Collin, a staff scientist and director of the Bocas Research Station at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Rachel studies the evolution of marine gastropods (snails) and oversees multiple disciplines of marine biology at the Collin Lab in Bocas del Toro.

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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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Meet Rachel Page, a Smithsonian scientist in Panama who studies frog-eating bats (fringe-lipped bats), among other topics. Her current research focuses on learning and memory in neotropical bats, combining field studies with laboratory experiments to learn about predator cognition and its effects on the evolution of their prey.

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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.

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Giant panda Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) gave birth to a cub at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. at 5:32 p.m., Friday, Aug. 23. The […]

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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 […]

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The gates at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo re-opened to the public Friday, October 18! The live animal cams that were turned off during the government […]

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The giant panda cub at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo has started taking her first unsteady steps.

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Meg studies intergroup competition in white‐faced capuchin monkeys by tracking them through radio telemetry collars and observing their behaviors.

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A sickness called panda love: TED talk by National Zoo’s Bill McShea

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When two red panda babies are born in critical condition at Smithsonian’s National Zoo, caretakers make the crucial decision to raise them by hand.

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The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute are working together as part of the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project have […]

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Seven red panda cubs were born at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute! The cubs were born to mothers Nutmeg, Regan and Leo Mei. Keepers are […]

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A team of some 30 taxonomists, many from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, accompanied by renowned photographer Christian Ziegler, conduct a week-long bioblitz on Cobia […]

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Around 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 23, 2015 veterinarians examined the cub Mei Xiang gave birth to at 5:35 p.m. Aug. 22, 2015 at the Smithsonian’s […]

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Now eight months old, Giant Panda Cub Bei Bei is learning to come when called and undergoing ‘target’ training to teach him to respond to […]

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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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Known around the world for personal and culturally inspired choreography, Dana Tai Soon Burgess has been named the Smithsonian’s first choreographer-in-residence at the National Portrait […]

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When Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute paleobotanist Carlos Jaramillo learned that Panama was expanding its canal in 2006 and blasting 100 million tons of rock to […]

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When you look at fast growing private companies in the U.S., you need look no further than a small city next to Los Angeles International Airport.

Steve Julian: Business analyst Mark Lacter, tell us about the company that's based in El Segundo.

Mark Lacter: It's called Fuhu, Steve - that might ring a bell with some parents because Fuhu is the maker of the Nabi.  The Nabi is an Android tablet for kids, and it's a very cool device that mimics a lot of the capabilities of regular tablet, including the ability to play games and get onto the Web (with controls that parents are able to set up).  Last year, they sold 1.2 million Nabis, and that helped push the El Segundo company to the very top of Inc. magazine's list of fastest-growing businesses.  That's number one on a list of 5,000 companies, with a three-year growth rate of 42,148 percent.  Or, to put it another way, company revenue was $279,000 in 2009; it was almost $118 million in 2012.  Now, by the standards of an Apple or a Samsung, those are still not huge numbers -

Julian: - and maybe that explains why there's been relatively little media coverage of this company.

Lacter: It might also explain why local tech companies in general get short shrift.  Many of them are quite successful, but they're often on the small side, and they're also privately held as opposed to publicly-traded on a stock exchange.  That's one big difference from Silicon Valley, which has so many huge public corporations: Apple, Intel, HP.  L.A. County has only six Fortune 500 companies, and not a single one devoted solely to technology.  In Silicon Valley, there are 22 in the Fortune 500.

Julian: And yet, the L.A. economy has more than held its own without those large corporations.

Lacter: Matter of fact, the accounting firm PriceWaterhouse studied more than two dozen cities around the world to determine where it was easiest to do business (that's based on factors like access to labor), and what they found - somewhat surprisingly - was that L.A. ranked ahead of both San Francisco and Tokyo.  And, you can see evidence of that with the increase in venture capital money coming into all parts of L.A.  Now, it's important to keep an eye on all these up-and-coming companies because these businesses are helping generate higher-wage jobs.  And, for an area with a still-high unemployment rate - still over 10 percent in some places -- that's a big deal.

Julian: Speaking of companies, does anyone want to buy the L.A. Times?

Lacter: The answer is yes - most recently, the controlling owner of the Dodgers, Mark Walter, said he was interested in both the Times and the Chicago Tribune (though there's no way to know whether there are actual discussions taking place).  You also have several local groups, including one that involves billionaire Eli Broad, that have been interested to one degree or another.  But what was thought would be a fairly straightforward auction process has turned enormously complicated.  It's now to the point where the Tribune board has decided spin off the papers into a separate business, and that process will take until next year to complete and could preclude any sales for quite some time after that.

Julian: So, it's Limbo-land for the Times for who knows how long.

Lacter: Steve, it's not that Tribune really wants to keep the newspapers.  But, selling them off presents huge tax implications.  Also, there are assets that the potential buyers thought would be part of the package - assets that include real estate - that Tribune wants to hold onto.  So, what's left to sell are just the newspapers themselves, and frankly, they're among the least valuable properties.

Julian: Now, last week came word that the billionaire Koch brothers, who were believed to be interested in the Tribune properties, decided not to pursue a deal...

Lacter: ...that's right, they don't consider the Times or the other dailies to be economically viable.  You might recall a bit of an outcry over the prospect of having the Kochs, who are staunch conservatives, becoming the owners of these papers.  So, they're out of the picture.  But for the L.A. Times, it's really the worst of all worlds: no new owner and no vision for recasting the paper, at least in the near term.

Mark Lacter writes for Los Angeles Magazine and pens the business blog at LA Observed.com.

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

“Our guide celebrates the beauty of some of the most attractive inhabitants of Panama’s undersea realm and provides an indispensable, easy-to-use tool for their identification,” say the Littlers.

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W. Atlee Burpee & Company Seed Co., 1898 The seed trade catalogs document the history of the seed and agricultural business in the United States; […]

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