Science

A Hypochondriac Knows Those ‘Germs’ That Threaten Him Are Real

June 1997

Mining the Scrap Heap for Treasure

Across America, a network of scrap-metal firms is supplying much of the raw materials, iron to aluminum, that fuel the growing global economy

April 30, 1997

Condors: Back From the Brink

Hopes for the endangered vultures’ survival soared recently after six captive birds were released on a clifftop in the Arizona wilds

May 1997

Cybercops Take a Byte Out of Computer Crime

A detective working the computer crime beat still needs street smarts, but there’s a lot of uncharted legal territory out there

April 30, 1997

Phenomena, Comment and Notes

Life not only thrives in the heat and violence of Earth’s submarine volcanoes, it may have started there

May 1997

Golf Gets Back to Nature, Inviting Everyone to Play

Using natural landforms and native grasses and plants, golf course designers are creating links that are environmentally up to par

April 1, 1997

Everyone Knows the Dragon Is Only a Mythical Beast

But try telling that to the people who live on a few islands in Indonesia where several thousand real dragons subsist in the wild

April 1, 1997

Traveling Light’ Has New Meaning for Jet Laggards

From light therapy to melatonin, research into our bodies’ daily rhythms has led to promising treatments for weary travelers

April 1, 1997

Mapping the Margins

It’s a violent world at the edges of our continental shelves, which could serve as a geology textbook

April 1997

Smithsonian Perspectives

The Smithsonian’s gardens and greenery are things of beauty and delight as well as utility

April 1997

Unearthing Secrets Locked Deep Inside Each Fistful of Soil

To scientists at the National Soil Tilth Lab in Ames, Iowa, it’s not just dirt they are probing — it’s the planet’s sustaining surface

March 1, 1997

Not Your Average Backyard Gardener

Ganna Walska pursued life with a passion, from husbands to opera to plants. Her legacy is Lotusland, an exotic California garden

March 1, 1997

An Orphanage for Some Big Babies

Daphne Sheldrick has turned her Nairobi home into a nursery and rehabilitation center for infant elephants who have lost their families

March 1997

Around the Mall & Beyond

An all-day Saturday seminar on spices - one of the many programs on the Mall, around the world, even in cyberspace, offered by the Smithsonian Associates

March 1997

If Rocks Were Worth Money, a Hilltop Farmer Could Get Rich Quick

March 1997

When Uncle Sam’s “Fish Cops” Reel in a Suspect, He’s Usually a Keeper

Agents of the National Marine Fisheries Service often work undercover gathering the evidence needed to make arrests stick

February 1, 1997

You Can Call Him ‘Cute’ or You Can Call Him ‘Hungry’

The much-maligned weasel is always on the lookout for something to eat, and the rest of us should be grateful he usually finds it

February 1, 1997

Phenomena, Comment and Notes

As scientists probe deeper into whether animals really have consciousness, questions arise. If they think, do we want to know what they think about us?

February 1997

Following the Footsteps of Fox and Bear

Naturalist-sleuth Susan Morse and her fellow conservationists at Keeping Track monitor wildlife in order to pinpoint critical habitat

January 1, 1997

When One of the National Zoo’s Gorillas Goes In For Tests, It’s Not Just Standard Operating-Room Procedure

By discovering heart disease early, echocardiograms have improved life; now Washington cardiologists are using them to help great apes at the National Zoo

January 1997