National Museum of Natural History
Mystery on the Mall: Case Closed
Last week, we asked for help identifying a picture.You were all wrong. No, it wasn't a specimen from the moon. Or Anne Coulter's pet, or a portrait of Nixon, or, um, a baby panda embryo.Paleontologist Brian T. Huber from the National Museum of Natural History's department of paleobiology reveals t...
November 05, 2007 |
By Beth Py-Lieberman
A Myth in the Making
Native American Douglas Chilton (or Yaa nak.ch, his Native name) started carving a canoe this fall, when a raven alighted near his workspace. Chilton, who belongs to the Raven clan of the Tlingit Indians, viewed the raven’s appearance as a blessing, especially because he and his colleague Rosita ...
October 18, 2007 |
By Sarah Grusin
Encounter with a Humboldt
This summer, news reports rang with concern that the mighty Humboldt squid was expanding its home turf off the coast of California. Known to congregate in Baja’s Sea of Cortez, at least for the last 30 years, jumbo squid, up to seven feet long and weighing as much as 100 pounds, have been found in...
September 18, 2007 |
By Megan Gambino
Smithsonian Says No to "Lucy"
"Lucy," the renowned fossil skeleton of one of the world's earliest known human ancestors, which was recovered in Hadar, Ethiopia, in 1974, recently began a six-year tour in the United States, organized by the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The fossil, however, will not go on view at the Smith...
September 04, 2007 |
By Beth Py-Lieberman
Comic Phyllis Diller's Cabinet Keeps the Jokes Coming
The stand up comic's archive holds a lifetime of proven punch lines
March 2007 |
By Owen Edwards
Diamonds Unearthed
In part two of this series, Smithsonian diamond expert Jeffrey Post, curator of the National Gem and Mineral Collection, discusses conflict diamonds, colored diamonds and synthetic gems grown in the lab
January 01, 2007 |
By Cate Lineberry
Diamonds Unearthed
In the final installment of this three-part series, Smithsonian diamond expert Jeffrey Post, curator of the National Gem and Mineral Collection, discusses the fascinating stories behind the Smithsonian's diamond collection
January 01, 2007 |
By Cate Lineberry
Diamonds Unearthed
In the first installment of a multi-part series, Smithsonian diamond expert Jeffrey Post, curator of the National Gem and Mineral Collection, explains how the rare crystals form
December 2006 |
By Cate Lineberry
Camelot
In the mid-1800's, "ships of the desert" reported for duty in the Southwest.
July 2006 |
By Owen Edwards
Romance And The Stone
A rare Burmese ruby memorializes a philanthropic woman
February 2005 |
By Owen Edwards
Head's Up
From a computer-generated model, sculptors cast a bronze triceratops that Looks like the real thing
October 2001 |
By Michael Kernan
Bone Specialist On Call
A Smithsonian anthropologist applies his expertise to cases of missing children and disaster victims
April 2000 |
By Michael Kernan
Saving the Nation's Flag
After nearly two centuries of exposure, the Star-Spangled Banner gets a much needed overhaul
October 1998 |
By Michael Kernan
A Tale of Two Rocks
Retrieved from a mile beneath the earth's surface 65 million years after their creation, they bear witness to a cataclysm - and the death of the dinosaurs
April 1998 |
By Valerie Jablow
In Honor of Struggle
Life came hard for people like historian Lonnie Bunch's ancestors; he strives to commemorate them
January 1998 |
By Michael Kernan
The Object at Hand
A young war-horse helped Phil Sheridan win the day in the Shenandoah Valley and, made famous by a poem, helped Abraham Lincoln win re-election
November 1996 |
By John Fleischman
The Object at Hand
It took four years, a shipwright and help from the British to create the blue whale model installed in the National Museum of Natural History. After 33 years, it still attracts millions annually
October 1996 |
By Adele Conover
The Object at Hand
The story behind the Smithsonian's display tiger leads back into tiger history, man-eating and otherwise, and sadly, back to the fact that tigers are now endangered
November 1995 |
By Adele Conover
