Smithsonian Magazine: December 2011
Features
Into the Volcano
A trip to the floor of Maui's Haleakala Crater still promises an encounter with the "raw beginnings of world-making"
By Tony Perrottet
Chain Reaction: Hawaii's Hotspot
The fiery forces beneath the island chain still mystify geologists
By Erin Wayman
Green Cement
Concrete, the number one construction material, is a major source of climate-warming gases. Meet one engineer who hopes to build a better world
By Michael Rosenwald
An Amber Wave
Giving factory flour the heave-ho, small farmers from New England to the Northwest are growing long-forgotten varieties of wheat
By Jerry Adler
Seeing the Sublime
A new museum devoted exclusively to the work of Clyfford Still is opening in Denver. A leading critic takes a close look at one masterwork
By Peter Plagens
Call of the Leviathan
Scientists plumbing the depths to decode sperm whale signaling have discovered elaborate buzzes, clicks and squeaks that spell doom for the animal's prey
By Eric Wagner
Breaker of Rocks
That's what Africans called the explorer Henry Morton Stanley, whose astonishing determination is analyzed in a new book
By Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney
Native Journey
Now that the nation's most ambition dam-removal project is underway in Washington State, members of the Klallam tribe are poised to experience sacred sites flooded for a century
By Abigail Tucker
Departments
From the Editor
Most Interesting
Winfrey steps aside after a decade, Caruso steps in
By Terence Monmaney
Wild Things
Wild Things: Piranhas, Nazca Boobies, Glowing Millipedes
Elephant Seals, Neanderthal evolution and more news from the world of science
By T.A. Frail, Joseph Stromberg, Abigail Tucker, Erin Wayman and Sarah Zielinski
Indelible Images
Nanny Cam
A chance find has rescued the work of Vivian Maier, baby sitter and photographer
By David Zax
Phenomena
Earthquake Central
Two hundred years ago, a series of powerful temblors devastated the Midwest. Could it happen again?
By Elizabeth Rusch
The Civil War
Frozen in Place: December 1861
Lincoln addresses the State of the Union and grows impatient for action
By David Zax
Around the Mall
A Family Reunion
With the help of Smithsonian model makers, the Osage Nation is obtaining busts of ancestors who lived at a pivotal moment in the tribe's history
By Joseph Stromberg
The Object at Hand
Mischievous St. Nick
A 19th-century artist introduces a Santa prototype
By Owen Edwards
Q&A
William G. Allman
The curator of the White House talks about the history of the President's mansion and how to protect the collections from tipsy visitors
By Megan Gambino
Presence of Mind
Darrow in the Dock
Was America's most famous lawyer a felon? The author of a new biography uncovers fresh evidence
By John A. Farrell
