The whole-genome analysis of two Tasmanian devils—one that died of a new contagious cancer known as Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD) and one healthy animal—is at the center of a new management strategy to help prevent the extinction of this species.

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New excavations in Indonesia and dating analyses by scientists at the Smithsonian and their colleagues show that modern humans never co-existed with Homo erectus.

The post Scientists show that modern humans never co-existed with <em>Homo erectus</em> appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new study has revealed information about the way tungara frogs in the tropical rain forest hear, sort, and process sounds which is very similar to the way humans do. The knowledge could be applicable to communication disorders associated with hearing loss and attention deficits or difficulties.

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A new study on the dodo’s island home of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, paints a picture of this unusual bird as an intrepid survivor on par with the giant tortoise for its resiliency.

The post Dodo bird a resilient island survivor before the arrival of humans, study reveals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Roy Clarke, curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, is shown in 1977 with the Old Woman Meteorite, the second largest meteorite ever […]

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To celebrate the 10th anniversary of researchers producing the first complete human genome sequence — the genetic blueprint of the human body — the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, will open a new high-tech, high-intensity exhibition in 2013.

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The newly reported reconstruction of Amazonian prehistory by a Smithsonian scientist, Dolores R. Piperno, and her colleagues suggests that large areas of western Amazonia were sparsely inhabited.

The post Report paints a new picture of early human impact on the Amazon River Basin appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A rising spike in West Nile virus is taking health officials across the country by surprise as this year more than 2,600 people in 45 states and the District of Columbia, have been stricken with severe symptoms of this mosquito-transmitted disease.

The post As robins disperse, West Nile mosquitoes switch diet to humans: Q&A with Smithsonian ornithologist Peter Marra appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian scientists and partners find that technique meant to keep animals and humans safe has opposite effects.

The post Relocating elephants fails to decrease human–wildlife conflict appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Archaeologists working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama have discovered a cluster of 12 unusual stones in the back of a small, prehistoric rock-shelter near the town of Boquete.

The post 4,000-year-old shaman’s stones discovered near Boquete, Panama appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Striking Caribbean sunsets occur when particles in the air scatter incoming sunlight. But a particulate shadow over the sea may have effects underwater. A research […]

The post Human shadow cast over the Caribbean slows coral growth appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Douglas Owsley, the division head for physical anthropology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, presented today a forensic analysis of 17th-century human remains […]

The post Forensic analysis of 17th-century human remains at Jamestown, Va., reveals evidence of survival cannibalism appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Fond of a range of marine and freshwater vegetation such as turtle grass and eelgrass, the Florida manatee spends most of its waking hours grazing […]

The post Algae bloom toxins may make Florida’s manatees and sea turtles susceptible to deadly accidents appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Grow fast, die young is not a lifestyle normally associated with trees. But in the forests of the Northeastern United States the red maple follows […]

The post Effects of human impact are long lasting for forests in Northeast U.S. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas and oceans, Dolabrifera dolabrifera is a species of sea hare, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Aplysiidae. […]

The post Sea hare chemical fights leishmaniasis appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Save the Rhinos! Save the Elephants! Save the humans?! It seems strange to be connecting our own fate to that of wildlife but new research […]

The post Losing large mammals increases human risk from rodent-borne diseases appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The name Panama is said to mean “abundance of fish.” Now a new study estimates that between 1950 and 2010, the amount of fish taken […]

The post Panamanian fish catch is vastly under-reported, study reveals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

How did the earliest birds take wing? Did they fall from trees and learn to flap their forelimbs to avoid crashing? Or did they run […]

The post Baby bird study proves innate ability for midair maneuvers appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Unless you live under a lunar rock, you’ve probably heard about or seen director Christopher Nolan’s latest blockbuster “Interstellar.” Starring Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey, […]

The post Interstellar exploration – five planets where humans may (or may not) be able to live someday appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Two rovers are active right now on the surface of Mars: Opportunity, which landed in January 2004, and Curiosity, which started exploration in August 2012. […]

The post Sol Man: John Grant is on a road trip across Mars appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Size isn’t the only thing that’s small about the pygmy sloth―its population is too. But scientists at the Smithsonian say things may be looking up […]

The post Study reveals more Pygmy Sloths, But There Still Aren’t Many appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Salamanders are typically elusive animals and adept at hiding, but National Zoo visitors will have a chance to see a variety of different amphibian species […]

The post National Zoo Opens New Home for Appalachian Salamanders appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The debate about the world’s oldest tattoos is over—they belong to Ötzi, the European Tyrolean Iceman who died and was buried beneath an Alpine glacier […]

The post Ancient Ink: Iceman Otzi Has World’s Oldest Tattoos appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new analysis of the fossil record by scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has revealed that the structure of plant and […]

The post Smithsonian Scientists Trace Anthropocene Roots to Early Human Activity appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

According to a new study, eating sea turtle eggs increases the health risk of heavy metal exposure in local communities in Panama and may provide […]

The post Human health risks of eating sea turtle eggs could benefit species appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Leucocyte common antigen-related protein (LAR) is a post-synaptic type I transmembrane receptor protein that is important for neuronal functionality and is genetically coupled to neuronal disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To understand the molecular function of LAR, structural and biochemical studies of protein fragments derived from the ectodomain of human LAR have been performed. The crystal structure of a fragment encompassing the first four FNIII domains (LARFN1–4) showed a characteristic L shape. SAXS data suggested limited flexibility within LARFN1–4, while rigid-body refinement of the SAXS data using the X-ray-derived atomic model showed a smaller angle between the domains defining the L shape compared with the crystal structure. The capabilities of the individual LAR fragments to interact with heparin was examined using microscale thermophoresis and heparin-affinity chromatography. The results showed that the three N-terminal immunoglobulin domains (LARIg1–3) and the four C-terminal FNIII domains (LARFN5–8) both bound heparin, while LARFN1–4 did not. The low-molecular-weight heparin drug Innohep induced a shift in hydrodynamic volume as assessed by size-exclusion chromatography of LARIg1–3 and LARFN5–8, while the chemically defined pentameric heparin drug Arixtra did not. Together, the presented results suggest the presence of an additional heparin-binding site in human LAR.

Nearly 20 years since Kennewick Man was serendipitously discovered along the banks of the Columbia River in Washington State, the scientific saga of his life […]

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Olga Kopach, Noemi Esteras, Selina Wray, Dmitri A. Rusakov, and Andrey Y. Abramov

Frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism (FTDP-17) caused by the 10+16 splice-site mutation in the MAPT provides an established platform to model tau-related dementia in vitro. Human iPSC-derived neurons have been shown to recapitulate the neurodevelopmental profile of tau pathology during in vitro corticogenesis as in the adult human brain. However, the neurophysiological phenotype of these cells has remained unknown, leaving unanswered questions over the functional relevance and the gnostic power of this disease model. Here we used electrophysiology to explore the membrane properties and intrinsic excitability of the generated neurons to find that human cells mature by ~150 days of neurogenesis to become compatible with matured cortical neurons. In earlier FTDP-17, neurons, however, exhibited a depolarized resting membrane potential associated with increased resistance and reduced voltage-gated Na⁺- and K⁺-channel-mediated conductance. The Na_v1.6 protein was reduced in FTDP-17. These led to a reduced cell capability of induced firing and changed action potential waveform in FTDP-17. The revealed neuropathology may thus contribute to the clinicopathological profile of the disease. This sheds new light on the significance of human models of dementia in vitro.

Richard Wunderman is managing editor of the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network and a geologist in the Division of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian’s […]

The post Q&A: Smithsonian volcanologist Richard Wunderman answers questions about the Aug. 23, East Coast earthquake appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The humble salamander may provide evidence to support a controversial claim that North and South America were joined together much earlier than previously thought. The […]

The post Salamander DNA reveals evidence of older land connection between Central and South America appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Left to themselves, coastal wetlands can adapt to sea-level rise. But humans could be sabotaging some of their best defenses, according to a review paper […]

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Many traits unique to humans were long thought to have originated in the genus Homo between 2.4 and 1.8 million years ago in Africa. A […]

The post Human Evolution Rewritten: We owe our existence to our ancestor’s flexible response to climate change appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Great white sharks, killer whales, sea lions, even polar bears—the ocean is full of giant predators. But one of the ocean’s worst enemies is not […]

The post Beautiful plastic sculptures tell ugly story of human garbage in the ocean appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A 3-D rendering of the Apollo 11 Command Module with a view inside the hatch. The seats inside are where astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin […]

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In this study, the atomic structure of the ternary icosahedral ZnMgTm quasicrystal (QC) is investigated by means of single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structure is found to be a member of the Bergman QC family, frequently found in Zn–Mg–rare-earth systems. The ab initio structure solution was obtained by the use of the Superflip software. The infinite structure model was founded on the atomic decoration of two golden rhombohedra, with an edge length of 21.7 Å, constituting the Ammann–Kramer–Neri tiling. The refined structure converged well with the experimental diffraction diagram, with the crystallographic R factor equal to 9.8%. The Bergman clusters were found to be bonded by four possible linkages. Only two linkages, b and c, are detected in approximant crystals and are employed to model the icosahedral QCs in the cluster approach known for the CdYb Tsai-type QC. Additional short b and a linkages are found in this study. Short interatomic distances are not generated by those linkages due to the systematic absence of atoms and the formation of split atomic positions. The presence of four linkages allows the structure to be pictured as a complete covering by rhombic triacontahedral clusters and consequently there is no need to define the interstitial part of the structure (i.e. that outside the cluster). The 6D embedding of the solved structure is discussed for the final verification of the model.

Rick Wunderman of the Global Volcanism Program at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History talks about the current volcanic activity in Iceland.

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Smithsonian Scientist Helen James dives into dormant Hawaiian volcanoes to find bird fossils. Her work to identify these species (some new species, some extinct) helps us learn about the past--specifically, how humans might have caused the extinction of certain bird species.

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The post Many years of research are celebrated in the December 2010 birth of two cheetah cubs at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Jim Zimbelman, planetary geologist in the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, shares his three favorite images from the exhibition "Beyond: Visions of Our Solar System.” On view at the Air and Space Museum through May 2, 2011, the exhibition by artist Michael Benson combines art, science, photography and exploration to unveil the diverse landscapes found on the planets in our Solar System.

The post A new perspective on the Solar System with Planetary Geologist Jim Zimbelman appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Digging up early human and animal remains from the field in Africa, performing examination and publishing research about her findings, then enticing and educating the public about the implications are all in a week's work for Briana Pobiner.

The post Meet Our Scientist–Briana Pobiner, human origins researcher at the National Museum of Natural History appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Salamanders: The Hidden Jewels of Appalachia appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Members of the Human Origins Program team at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History describe why they love their job.

The post Human Origins Program team members at the National Museum of Natural History on why they love their job appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Pam Wintle, senior film archivist, describes the moving image collection of the Human Studies Film Archives appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Japanese acrobats ca. 1927, footage from the Smithsonian’s Human Studies Film Archive appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

This film is from the collections of the Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution. Clip from silent film, Beautiful Japan (1917-18), by travel-lecturer Benjamin Brodsky. Benten Festival is celebrated on Shiraishi Island. Benten (Benzaiten) is the Goddess of the Sea and one of the Seven Lucky Gods of Japan.

The post Beautiful Japan: Benten Festival 1917-1918, from the Smithsonian’s Human Studies Film Archive appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Clip from silent edited film "Bryson Jones Travelogue: Lure of the West" (ca. 1927) shows Mount Rushmore National Memorial under construction, including blasting off cliff face, scaffolding, men working, and the completed monument.

The post Construction of Mount Rushmore National Memorial from the Smithsonian’s Human Studies Film Archives appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Silent black & white archival film clip from "Japan: Promotional and Theatrical Footage, ca. 1927". The full film, which is 17 minutes long, includes segments from what are believed to be a theatrical film, a promotional film and, possibly, amateur film - all of unknown origin.

The post Geisha Hairstyling, ca. 1927, a silent black & white archival film clip from the Smithsonian’s Human Studies Film Archives appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., has closed its Dinosaur Hall for a five-year renovation. But before the overhaul can begin, the […]

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To mark the 47th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon-landing mission, the Smithsonian has made available a high-resolution 3-D scan of the command module “Columbia,” […]

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