Watch a keeper train the Zoo’s clouded leopard, Tai, for voluntary cheek swabs. The DNA from these cheek swabs is used to map the genealogy […]

The post Training a CLouded Leopard for Cheek Swabs appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Unlocking the mysteries of animal migration through precise, near real-time tracking can solve major conservation challenges and transform wildlife science worldwide. For the past year, […]

The post Partners in the Sky appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

How do you bring a nearly complete T. rex back to life? You send the fossils to Canada where craftsmen create a creature of steel. […]

The post First Look: The Smithsonian builds a dinosaur appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Sponsored by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and created by filmmaker Frank Chi, this short film features letters that young Japanese Americans in World […]

The post Muslim American Kids Read Letters by WWII Japanese Americans appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This video is featured in the exhibition Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial, on view at the museum February – August 2016. About: Aaron Koblin collaborates with […]

The post Aaron Koblin and Ben Tricklebank-Light Echoes appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Catherine McKenna, Canada’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, talks about the importance of bird conservation and why birds really matter. Step outside your […]

The post Why Birds Really Matter: Catherine McKenna appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A giant killer hornet war is waged between two colonies, and the resources, territories, and survival of a new generation are at stake. Watch the […]

The post Smithsonian Channel: Killer hornet war appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Last October Smithsonian Folkways released “The Brothers Nazaroff: The Happy Prince,” a boisterous, high-energy tribute to cult Yiddish troubadour Nathan “Prince” Nazaroff, who recorded the […]

The post Animated Music Video: “Ich A Mazeldicker Yid” by The Brothers Nazaroff appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Meet Nick Pyenson, one of our paleontologists at the National Museum of Natural History. His job as a time traveler is to make discoveries about […]

The post Time Travel With Smithsonian Paleontologist: Nick Pyenson appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Judy Garland’s iconic ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” are one of the most popular attractions at the National Museum of American History. But […]

The post Crowdfunding campaign to restore Ruby Slippers surpasses mark appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Smithsonian Secretary David Skorton on why he votes appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Jennifer Trask engages nature as both medium and subject matter, combining unexpected materials such as bone, vertebrae, butterfly wings, resin, metal, and antique frame fragments […]

The post Jennifer Trask – Visions and Revisions: Renwick Invitational 2016 appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Aukeran is a professional dance troupe from Basque country founded in 1997 by Edu Muruamendiaraz. The beautiful and graceful professional dancers have backgrounds in both […]

The post Basque Dance Troupe “Aukeran” at Smithsonian Folklife Festival appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Steven Young Lee blends Eastern and Western traditions with anachronistic, often playful imagery and striking pattern in his porcelain works. His process allows the clay […]

The post Steven Young Lee-Visions and Revisions: Renwick Invitational 2016 appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Click here to read more about the work of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. The Smithsonian has been celebrating innovation in American culture for more than […]

The post Stephen Hawking Congratulates LIGO Team on its Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Smithsonian Secretary David Skorton on USA Today TV appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Ohkay Owingeh from Adventure Pictures on Vimeo. Currently featured in the exhibition “By the People” at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City […]

The post Restoration of the Ohkay Owingeh Tribe’s historic pueblo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Join Dr. Elizabeth Cottrell as she explores the volcanoes of Alaska’s Western Aleutian Islands.

The post Smithsonian volcanologist Elizabeth Cottrell explores Alaskan Volcanoes appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The circus is coming to the Smithsonian! The Big Top went up on the National Mall this week in preparation for the 2017 Smithsonian Folklife […]

The post Folklife Festival Big Top Rises in D.C. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

As the world prepares to celebrate Global Tiger Day this Saturday, July 29, Great Cats keepers at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo have some big news […]

The post 2-week-old Sumatran tiger cub at National Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

“Dunkirk” director, Christopher Nolan, talks to National Air and Space Museu curator, Jeremy Kinney, about one of the movie’s stars, the Spitfire. The movie is based […]

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Ashkii, a North American river otter, at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park

The post Ashkii, a North American river otter, at the National Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

On World Elephant Day–Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017–the Smithsonian’s National Zoo celebrated Ambika the elephant’s 70th birthday. Hear her keepers of more than 30 years talk […]

The post Celebrating Ambika’s 56 years at National Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

When it comes time to eat, Abyssinian ground hornbills pick up prey with their beak, toss it into the air and swallow it whole. But […]

The post Building 3D prosthetic beak for Karl, a hornbill appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Amateur paleontologist, Ray Stanford, describes his experience of discovering the impression of a dinosaur and determining that it was a new species. This video is […]

The post What is it like to discover a new dinosaur? appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s newest female brown kiwi chick needs a name and you can help!

The post Help name the kiwi chick! appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Internationally renowned artist Mark Bradford will debut one of his largest works to date with “Pickett’s Charge,” a monumental new commission that spans nearly 400 […]

The post Mark Bradford: Pickett’s Charge at the Hirshhorn Museum appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

 Blues singer and pianist Marcia Ball performs “Louella” at the 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.      

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 The zoo extends the collecting mission of the Smithsonian into the realm of the living. From the Series: Stories From the Vault: Random? http://bit.ly/2gfy5hO

The post Keeping zoo animals happy, healthy appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

“Red Bird” from Dan Zanes and Friends’ album ‘Lead Belly, Baby’ featuring Ashley Phillips and Shareef Swindell, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. To learn more click here: […]

The post Kids’ video: “Red Bird” – Dan Zanes & Friends appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

 This video explains how the Marine and Estuarine Ecology Lab and Fish and Invertebrate Ecology Lab at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, […]

The post Chesapeake juvenile oyster study appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Aymar Ccopacatty (Aymara), NMAI Artist Leadership Program (ALP) participant, tells his personal story of the environmental impact on Puno, Peru, of all-too-commonly discarded commercial plastic […]

The post Knitting plastic Wiphalas in Peru appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

“Parallax Gap” transforms the Renwick Gallery’s Bettie Rubenstein Grand Salon into a visual puzzle. This immersive, site-specific installation explores examples of interplay between craft and […]

The post About the Renwick’s “Parallax Gap” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

An interview with National Museum of the American Indian curator Paul Chaat Smith (Comanche).  From the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian exhibition “Americans.” The […]

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Highlights of the year 2017 Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

The post 2017 Freer|Sackler Year in Review appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A Guam rail chick hatched at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute Jan. 16, 2018. The chick hatched in an incubator and will be hand-raised by […]

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At the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, curator of arachnids and myriapods Hannah Wood has examined and analyzed hundreds of pelican spiders both in the field […]

The post Pelican spiders: Ancient assassins that eat their own kind appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

New on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings: This official music video is for “Ripest of Apples” by Anna & Elizabeth, from the new album ‘The Invisible Comes […]

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 When Emma Lawton was 29 she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. As a graphic designer, drawing is a huge part of her life but […]

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A female Guam kingfisher, a brightly colored bird and one of the most endangered bird species on the planet, hatched at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology […]

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 Inspired by Steampunk design, Richard Wilks talks about his larger than life 3-point mobile contraption. Through the merging of transportation and art, he created […]

The post Artist Richard Wilkes on “Evotrope” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

White-faced capuchin monkeys in Panama’s Coiba National Park habitually use hammer-and-anvil stones to break hermit crab shells, snail shells, coconuts and other food items, according […]

The post Scientists observe stone tool use by Cebus monkeys appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This animation tells a Cheyenne story of how the Big Dipper came to be when a girl and her loyal brothers escape from a bison. […]

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In Armenia, the completion of a carpet and cutting it from its loom is a significant rite of passion for young female weavers.

The post Smithsonian Folklife Festival: Armenian carpet-cutting ceremony appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The contamination of Foster Farms chickens has provided insight into food regulation.

Steve Julian: Business analyst Mark Lacter, had we been paying attention before this happened?

Mark Lacter: You know, Steve, we often have an out of sight, out of mind attitude when it comes to food safety, and - as we're seeing with this episode - the government has a way of enabling that attitude.  What stands out, first of all, is that people started getting sick from salmonella-contaminated chicken back in March, and yet, it wasn't until the past few weeks that news stories began appearing about the seriousness of the problems.

Julian: At last check, more than 400 people have been infected, with most of them in California...

Lacter: Right, and Foster Farms, which is based in Merced County, controls two-thirds of the poultry market along the West Coast.  No fatalities so far, but many of the people who became sick had to be hospitalized - and that leads to still more concerns that the salmonella strains were resistant to antibiotics.  Now, why it took this long for consumers to be made aware that there was a problem tells you something about the way the federal government regulates poultry plants.  It was only last Friday, after the company had seen a 25 percent drop in sales, when the president of Foster Farms decided to go public.  He said he was embarrassed by the outbreak, and promised to change the company's processing facilities so that salmonella can be better identified.

Julian: Where was the US government in this?

Lacter: Apparently, the Department of Agriculture only requires testing for levels of salmonella at the time of slaughter - not later on, after the poultry is cut into parts.  Foster Farms now says it will do retesting at that later stage.  What's also interesting is that Foster Farms was not asked to recall any of its products because the chicken is considered safe as long as it's handled properly and then cooked to the right temperature, which is at least 165 degrees.  That's why some supermarkets have kept carrying the brand.

Julian: Can the government even order a recall?

Lacter: Not in a case like this - and that's because of a court case in the 1990s involving a Texas meat producer that federal inspectors were ready to shut down due to a salmonella outbreak involving ground beef.  The company sued the government, arguing that salmonella is naturally occurring, and therefore, not an adulterant subject to government regulation.  And the courts agreed.  Foster Farms has been using much the same argument.

Julian: Why isn't there more public outrage over this?

Lacter: Well, again, we go back to out of sight, out of mind.  Slaughterhouses are not exactly fun places, and they're usually not well covered by the news media until something bad happens, like the Foster Farms situation.

Julian: Chino comes to mind - a story we covered.

Lacter: That's when an animal rights group used a hidden camera to record inhumane treatment of cattle at a meat processing plant.  That company was forced into bankruptcy.  Another reason coverage is spotty is because it's not always easy to trace someone's illness to a contaminated piece of meat or chicken.  And, that leads to lots of misinformation.  The broader issue is figuring out a way to monitor these facilities without the process becoming cost prohibitive.  The Agriculture Department has been pushing a pilot program that would allow plants to speed up processing lines, and replace government inspectors with employees from the poultry companies themselves.

Julian: The idea being?

Lacter: The idea being to establish safeguards that can prevent problems before they get out of hand.  But, this is pretty controversial stuff, and advocacy groups representing poultry workers say that processing lines need to be slowed down, not speeded up.  So, you have this ongoing back and forth involving industry, government, consumer groups, and labor organizations.  And unfortunately, most of us tend to move on after one of these outbreaks gets cleared up.

Mark Lacter writes for Los Angeles Magazine and pens the business blog at LA Observed.com.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Police say TSA agent Gerardo Hernandez was shot and killed last Friday at the base of the escalators of LAX Terminal 3, and not at the checkpoint gates.  Paul Ciancia is accused of killing Hernandez and wounding several others.  Ciancia remains hospitalized in critical condition.

Steve Julian: Business analyst Mark Lacter, how did the airlines respond to shooting and its aftermath?

Mark Lacter: Generally pretty well, Steve, considering that the airport was effectively closed for several hours on Friday, and most of Terminal 3 was out of commission until Saturday afternoon.  You know, there's always this precarious balance in operating airlines and airports, even in the best of circumstances.  Just so many flights coming in and going out, and so many thousands people using the facility at any given time - and it really doesn't take much to upset the balance.  So, when you have something horrific take place and you see all those travelers stranded outside the terminals, the ripple effects are enormous - not just at LAX but all over the country.

Julian: More than a thousand flights were either canceled or delayed on Friday.

Lacter: And, there was a further complication because the airlines flying out of Terminal 3 are not the legacy carriers like United, American, and Delta that have all kinds of resources, but smaller operations with less flexibility.  It's not like there's an empty aircraft just sitting in a hangar waiting to take passengers wherever they want to go.  Actually, the airlines have gotten better at arranging re-bookings when there's a snowstorm or some other emergency that gives them advance warning.  But obviously, there was no advance warning last Friday, so the carriers needed to improvise in handling passengers whose flights were cancelled.

Julian: What did they do?

Lacter: One step was waiving the fees normally charged to re-book flights (and that's gotten to be a pretty penny).  Another was waiving the difference in the price of the original ticket and the re-booked ticket.  But, the policies varied according to the airline, and we heard about travelers not receiving hotel or food vouchers, or having to buy a brand new ticket on another airline if they wanted to avoid the wait - and that can be expensive.  Which raises another issue: planes tend to be completely full these days because airlines have been cutting back on the number of flights.  And that can be a problem if you're taking a route that doesn't have too many flights in the first place.  So, it gets really complicated.

Julian: Why do you think we haven't we heard more horror stories from passengers?

Lacter: Well, look at the cities that the airlines in Terminal 3 fly to - New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas.  They're all served by several other carriers.  L.A. to New York, in particular, is one of the busiest routes in the world, which means that it's also one of the most competitive.  So, even if your flight was cancelled, there's a good chance you'd be able to find space by Saturday (which is normally a slower day for air travel).  This is a big reason, in general, why people like LAX.

Julian: Why don't other local airports handle more of the load?

Lacter: You might remember a few years ago local officials were promoting something called "regionalization" - the idea was that as LAX maxed out on the number of passengers it was allowed to handle each year, then other airports would make up the difference - places like Ontario, Bob Hope in Burbank, and John Wayne in Orange County.

Julian: Right, and they talked about easing traffic congestion by spreading around the flights.

Lacter: Well, regionalization never happened because, first of all, passenger levels at L.A. International didn't come close to maxing out.  But, more importantly, because the airlines decided that using LAX was more efficient for everything from handling baggage to arranging international connections.  So, through the first nine months of the year, passenger traffic at LAX is up 4.2 percent from a year earlier, while at Ontario traffic was down 9.3 percent.  And, we've seen that John Wayne, Bob Hope, and Long Beach are all struggling.  Of course, the challenge at a busy place like LAX is making it as safe as possible, and that will no doubt become a priority in the weeks ahead.

Mark Lacter writes for Los Angeles Magazine and pens the business blog at LA Observed.com.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.