Which “Eraser” Reigns Supreme?
MCI Postdoctoral Fellow hosts a conservation workshop on the “Dry Cleaning of Soot-Coated Papers”
Using current technological and scientific advances, we are able to observe a snapshot of a plant group that is rapidly diversifying.
The Journey of Craig Saffoe, Curator of Great Cats at the Smithsonian's National Zoo
Research and conservation of paintings at the Lunder Conservation Center in Washington, DC.
MCI Postdoctoral Fellow hosts a conservation workshop on the “Dry Cleaning of Soot-Coated Papers”
Tess CramerWhile we often think negatively of plant diseases in the context of agriculture, in a natural forest, disease-causing fungi (fungal pathogens) can promote overall health and diversity.
Erin R. SpearGlass is often thought of as a very stable, unchanging material. That, unless you drop it, it will be around forever. This, however, is far from the truth. Glass undergoes a unique and insidious type of degradation. It interacts with the humidity in the atmosphere, swapping out some of its own components for water, forming a brittle layer that most will recognize as the white scum that forms on glasses that have been run through the dishwasher a few too many times. This degradation, referred to as glass alteration, happens slowly, taking decades if not centuries to be noticeable. For most glass, glass alteration doesn’t really matter – the object is likely to be dropped or lost before anyone notices a change. But for glass objects in museums, some of which have been around for millennia, and all of which are intended to last a lot longer, the slow time scale of alteration can become a problem.
Miriam HiebertThe desire to apply color to a surface is intrinsic to human nature and humans have searched for natural sources of color since prehistoric times. They found out that some minerals could be ground to obtain a fine powder, and this was the origin of the mineral pigments. But they also found out that some plants and animals (insects and mollusks) could yield color when mixed with hot water, and this was the origin of natural dyes. Pigments are suitable to be applied on surfaces by mixing them with a binding medium. Dyes can be applied to fibers in several ways in a water solution. This discovery led to one of the most spectacular forms of art and craftsmanship: dyed textiles.
Diego TamburiniAs a palynologist, I study microscopic fossil spores and pollen that were produced by plants for reproduction. Pollen is highly important to the future of every plant and is made of an incredibly resilient substance (sporopollenin) ensuring that pollen can be preserved in rocks for hundreds of millions of years.
Vera KorasidisImagine this: you drive home from work, flip on the light switch, check your phone, and consider what to make for dinner. In the course of your routine, chances are you aren’t thinking about where your vehicle, light bulbs, electronics, appliances, or side of rice came from. In today’s world many raw commodities and finished goods are produced and traded globally. The items we depend on in our everyday lives, the materials we use to build our homes and roads, and the energy we consume to produce and operate them may originate from distant shores. Exports are often shipped, quite literally, on ships, creating a maritime network that reaches coastal ports around the world and supports our daily activities.
Danielle VernaThe spectacular biodiversity of the northern Pacific region of South America has drawn our attention since early botanical expeditions to the tropics conducted by European naturalists mostly during the 19th and 20th centuries. The Chocó region in northwestern Colombia, one of the rainiest places on Earth with a mean annual rainfall exceeding 10000 mm (1) is a remarkable example, which is home to an incredibly biodiverse tropical forest with ca. 3% and 6% of all known species of plants and vertebrates, respectively (2). However, a protracted history of social conflicts and sociopolitical isolation, dating back to the Spanish colonial period, has plagued the local afro and indigenous communities. As a result, our ability to carry out scientific research in this astounding region has been hindered, and in consequence, our knowledge on the evolution of this biodiversity hotspot and its hosting landscape is still limited.
Santiago LeónThe silent killer fungus, Bd, was described by Smithsonian’s National Zoo veterinarians working with a scientist from the University of Maine (Longcore et al. 1999). This new fungus to science was found to cause the skin disease chytridiomycosis — which leads to a ‘heart-attack’ and death to frogs and salamanders. We now know that the killer fungus originated in Asia and that humans unintentionally spread it around the world causing dramatic declines and disappearances of many amphibians. The killer fungus threatens the survival of more than 500 species of amphibians across the globe. Bd is now known as one of the most destructive pathogens ever recorded in wild animals.
Randall Jiménez QuirósIt’s hard being a plant leaf - being eaten is a major risk. In tropical forests, ~10-15% (>70% in some species) of leaf area can be lost via herbivory (Cardenas et al., 2014; Coley & Barone, 1996). Plants may counteract herbivory via resistance, where chemical or mechanical defenses are used to deter herbivores, or resilience, where the effect of unavoidable damage is mitigated (Kursar & Coley, 1996).
Benjamin Blonder & Luiza AparecidoSustainability is not a novel thing. Some studies have shown that most of the existing hunter-gatherers in the world (such as Pigmies in Congo, Agta Philippines and Ache in Paraguay) employ management strategies to protect the group from free-riders and guarantee sustainable use of resources. Thus, if we consider them as the closest societies to historical hunter-gatherer groups, sustainability has been part of our goal for as long as our species has occupied the planet. For over 300 thousand years, humans have been seeking strategies to develop in ways that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” 2. However, we may not all make it. Sustainability has changed from “the norm” to a rare and uncommon habit. Thus, how we can convince people to start to be conscious about something that seems to be an integral part of our own strategy to live as a group?
Rafael ChiaravallotiNo one would ever imagine that digging up 50 cm into the ground could be a difficult task; it surely does not sound as impressive as climbing a 50 m tree in South American jungles or going into the depth of the ocean looking for secretive marine creatures. But I can assure you that it is somehow adventurous when you are looking for colonies of the ant Ectatomma ruidum – particularly when you are trying to collect the whole colony.
Dumas GálvezWhen looking at forests, we hardly get to see beyond a bunch of green. However, for a plant ecologist, forests represent a much more complex world consisting of different species. This diversity of species also reflects diverse forms and functions that define how plants work. Using information of plant function could help predict forests' responses to changing environments.
Jenny Zambrano & María Natalia UmañaDo you prefer low, well-upholstered furniture? Do you like to sleep nude? Do you have a poor poker face? These questions may sound like another kooky BuzzFeed quiz, but they are actually taken from a test entitled “Who Are You?” The test, developed by psychologist William H. Sheldon, categorized people into one of three different body types: endomorph (fat), ectomorph (thin), and mesomorph (muscular) based on their responses to questions about their daily habits, traits, and preferences.
Kimberly ProbolusMuseums have a lot of stuff. Wandering through the collection “pods,” as we call them at the Smithsonian, you can find mummies, ancient textiles, and taxidermized polar bears. You can even find jars of fish caught in the 1800s by some of the first documented naturalists. These fishes can tell us what coral reefs were like in the past and can help us figure out how we have changed these vibrant ecosystems over the past two centuries.
Madison WillertFor years, the dangerous virus currently making global headlines was circulating in wild animals, replicating and spreading with little notice from the host that carried it. This virus, that scientists now believe originated in bats, quickly turned from a benign hitchhiker to a deadly producer of disease when it was introduced to an animal population it had never come in contact with before – humans.
Raven Capone Benko