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Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Ana K. Spalding and 23 other women scientists from around the world, advocate for a shift in the value system in science, to emphasize a more equal, diverse and inclusive academic culture.

Women in Science Propose Changes to Discriminatory Measures of Scientific Success

The scientists advocate shifting the current value system, which is biased against women and minorities, towards a more diverse and inclusive model of science

In her lab at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Annette Aiello usually rears caterpillars to find out which butterflies they become as adults, but in this case, she focused her attention on cicadas emerging from a houseplant on her porch in Arraijan, Panama. (J. Aleman/STRI)

A Smithsonian Researcher Caged and Reared Cicadas From Nymphs to Adulthood

An observation of an insect exoskeleton on a potted plant may lead to the identification of a new insect species

Happy Earth Day 2021! Hillary Hughes, Panamanian actress, visits the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's Agua Salud Project during the filming of videos in Spanish and English to share hope for the success of tropical forest reforestation informed by the largest experiment of its kind in the tropics. (video still)

Watch These Two Videos and You Will Feel More Hopeful About the Future of Tropical Forests

The Agua Salud Project's new bilingual videos share the results of tropical reforestation experiments at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.

Clavelina puertosecensis, a species of tunicate, taken by Shih Wei, a student of the Tunicates course at the Bocas del Toro Research Station, in Panama. Experts teach courses and create instructional videos on how to collect, preserve and observe marine invertebrate groups. (Credit: STRI)

Like A Cooking Show With Worms: Smithsonian Videos Teach Tropical Taxonomy of Diverse Marine Creatures

A program at the Smithsonian’s Bocas del Toro Research Station, in Panama, allows marine invertebrate experts to pass down their very specific knowledge to aspiring taxonomists.

Illustration from the graphic novel 'Martina and the Bridge of Time' by Aaron O'Dea and Ian Cooke Tapia. (Ian Cooke Tapia)

A Young Comic Book Heroine Travels Through Panama’s Deep History

'Martina and the Bridge of Time'' tells the story of the Isthmus’ formation and evolution through the adventures of a young Panamanian girl

The purple-flowered crown of Dipteryx oleifera, one of the biggest trees on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, towers above the forest. Big trees may be most exposed to the effects of climate change: more frequent and severe drought, and the high winds and lightning of monster storms. (Evan Gora)

How Will the Biggest Tropical Trees Respond to Climate Change?

The death of these giants would have a major impact on the forest, but because they are few and far between, almost nothing is known about what causes them to die

Cranium of an individual recovered from beneath the Cathedral of Panama Viejo. (Javier Rivera Sandoval, ArtEmpire)

An 'oral' history: Archaeologists search for the origin of dental modification in Panama

A new study asks when and how the Ngäbe indigenous group began to practice dental modification

Foster mother, BD, feeds her adopted vampire bat pup in a captive bat colony at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Gamboa, Panama (surveillance camera image from Gerry Carter lab)

Baby Vampire Bat Adopted by Mom's Best Friend

The strong relationship formed between two female adult vampire bats may have motivated one of the bats to adopt the other’s baby.

Bryophytes in the tropics are threatened due to lack of information and research. (Jorge Alemán, STRI)

Tiny Plants in a Big Changing World

Bryophytes are an important part of our environment, but in the tropics, there's still much to learn about them.

Fighting conch with lime as prepared in Bocas del Toro, Panama. (Felix Rodriguez, STRI)

The Genetics of Shrinking

To find out if hunting and harvesting act as evolutionary forces that "shrink" animals, researchers isolated DNA from tropical shells for the first time

When STRI staff scientist Annette Aiello first arrived in Panama to study butterflies in 1976, she lived and worked at the Smithsonian research station on Barro Colorado Island. Credit: STRI Archives.

Females in Flatland

STRI butterfly researcher, Annette Aiello’s remarkable calendar (1976-present) is an accurate catalog of natural history events in Panama.

Lucia Torrez and Grace Davis identify fruit that monkeys on Barro Colorado Island in Panama have been eating. Do primate leaders know where the best fruiting trees are to be found? Credit: Sean Mattson, STRI

Here's the Scoop on Monkey Leadership

What makes a great leader? Grace Davis and Lucia Torrez lead a team working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute to understand leadership in capuchin and spider monkeys.

Because her research group knows a bird's age based on its song, a tropical soap opera unfolds as ornithology graduate student Laura Gómez records interactions between antshrikes in Panama.

How to Tell a Bird's Age By Its Song

On Pipeline Road in Panama’s Soberania National Park, birdwatchers on high-end tours rack up two hundred bird species in a day and move on. But Corey Tarwater and Patrick Kelley have made it their life’s work to understand the daily melodramas of black-crowned antshrikes, first as students and now as faculty at the University of Wyoming. Meanwhile, their own family has grown to include not only 2 children, but a whole tribe of intellectual offspring.

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Milton Garcia’s Bird’s-Eye-View

When he’s not racing his bike cross-country, Milton Garcia is in demand for his expertise driving drones. In the last month, he monitored mangrove deforestation on Panama’s Pacific coast, mapped a new research station in Coiba National Park and tracked blooming trees on Barro Colorado Island, the first plot in an international network of forest monitoring sites.

Katie Griswold

How I Landed My Dream Job in the Caribbean

Katie Griswold's STRI intern experience

Sanchocho

Chicken Soup with Yams: where Old and New Worlds Meet

Sanchocho recipe

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