The post Belize’s South Water Caye Marine Reserve protects biodiversity of Belizean Barrier Reef appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

One of Italy’s greatest treasures, Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex on the Flight of Birds, will be exhibited at the National Air and Space Museum from […]

The post da Vinci’s “Codex on the Flight of Birds” will be on view at Air and Space Museum, Sept. 13-Oct. 22. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Giant panda Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) gave birth to a cub at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. at 5:32 p.m., Friday, Aug. 23. The […]

The post Giant panda Mei Xiang gives birth at Smithsonian’s National Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Bocas Research Station’s research assistant Arcadio Castillo ran into these curious looking fish babies while working close to the dock. After some investigation, we found […]

The post Toadfish (Batrachoididae) babies in Bocas del Toro, Panama appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

The post Join the longest conversation in tropical biology appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

  In honor of its 125th anniversary, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo is once again home to American bison, the animal that began the Zoo’s living […]

The post American bison return to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The nation’s top bird science and conservation groups have come together to publish The State of the Birds 2014—the most comprehensive review of long-term trend […]

The post The State of the Birds: Q&A with Peter Marra appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The moon passed between the Earth and the sun on Thursday, Oct. 23. While avid stargazers in North America looked up to watch the spectacle, the […]

The post Polar-orbiting satellite captures amazing X-ray footage of solar eclipse appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

How 3D technology is used at the Smithsonian to create world class exhibits!

The post Smithsonian X 3D – Exhibits appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History released a new mobile app “Skin and Bones” Jan. 13. The free app is available for download in […]

The post Museum specimens come to life in new “Skin and Bones” mobile app appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Get a look behind the scenes as we installed “Outside the Spacecraft: 50 Years of Extra-vehicular Activity,” a new exhibition on view at the Museum […]

The post “Outside the Spacecraft,” a new exhibition at the Air and Space Museum appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Scientists from the Migratory Bird Center of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute are using transmitters to track the movements of shorebirds–the long-billed curlew, red knot, […]

The post Studying migratory connectivity of shorebirds on the Texas coast appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute are working together as part of the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project have […]

The post New Amphibian Rescue Lab in Panama appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Seven red panda cubs were born at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute! The cubs were born to mothers Nutmeg, Regan and Leo Mei. Keepers are […]

The post Red Panda Cubs Born at Conservation Biology Institute appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Identifying and understanding the migratory connectivity of birds throughout an entire annual cycle (not just the times of year they are in your back yard), […]

The post Video: Protecting songbirds by Better Understanding their Migratory connectivity appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A team of some 30 taxonomists, many from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, accompanied by renowned photographer Christian Ziegler, conduct a week-long bioblitz on Cobia […]

The post Bioblitz!! Cobia Island, Panama appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell talks about the importance of bird conservation and why birds really matter. Step outside your house in the […]

The post Why Birds Really Matter: Sally Jewell 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.

Oct. 4, 2016—The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute welcomed an Eld’s deer fawn Oct. 2 around 4:30 p.m. Both the fawn and her mom Sienna appear […]

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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.

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.

“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.

Tweaks in muscle and wing form give different hummingbird species varying levels of agility. The deft turns of hummingbirds in flight, as shown in a […]

The post Hummingbirds dodge and weave appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Dried specimens of nearly 800 flowering plants were acquired by the Botany Department of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History from the National Botanical Research Institute in Windhoek, Namibia, Africa. The collection includes nearly 160 specimens from the Compositae, or sunflower family.

The post Namibian specimens come to the herbarium of the National Museum of Natural History appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

What they observed was unique among all bird species: successful male caribs maintained and defended territories with nectar supplies that were two to five times greater than their daily needs and also isolated part of their crop for the exclusive feeding rights of visiting females.

The post A well-defended territory is what some female hummingbirds find most attractive in a mate appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Yellow lady’s slippers, watercolor by Kathleen Garness, from the National Museum of Natural History exhibit “Losing Paradise? Endangered Plants Here and Around the World,” opening […]

The post Exhibition: Endangered plants here and around the world appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A 48 million-year-old fossilized leaf has revealed the oldest known evidence of a macabre part of nature – parasites taking control of their hosts to turn them into zombies.

The post Fossil reveals 48-million year history of zombie ants appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For the first time researchers from the Smithsonian, South Dakota State University and the University of Nebraska described the immature stages of the switchgrass moth, first collected in Denver in 1910.

The post Potential biofuel pest, the switchgrass moth, under renewed scrutiny of entomologists appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A team of scientists, including several from the Smithsonian Institution, discovered that leaves of flowering plants in the world's first rainforests had more veins per unit area than leaves ever had before.

The post First rainforests arose when plants solved their plumbing problem appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Introducing Leafsnap, an electronic field guide to North America trees run on a mobile phone app appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Bird species in rainforest fragments in Brazil that were isolated by deforestation first disappeared and then reappeared during the next quarter-century.

The post “Extinct” birds reappear in rainforest fragments in Brazil appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For centuries untold numbers of this tiny arachnid (cousin to spiders and ticks) have ended up in teapots, invisibly steeping alongside the leaves of the tea plant on which it lives.

The post Primitive, bizarre, beautiful: New mite species reveal a lost world awaiting discovery appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For Smithsonian ornithologist Gary Graves it was a captivating spectacle. At an outdoor café in Kingston, Jamaica, Graves watched three mornings in a row as […]

The post Sweet survival: Some birds have a sugar edge appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Although useful to Tarzan, vines endanger tropical forests’ capacity to store carbon. In a major experimental study in Panama, Smithsonian researchers showed that woody vines, […]

The post Climbing plants disturb carbon storage in tropical forests appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

With net in hand and eyes peeled, Mauren Turcatel spent two-weeks last October chasing blood-thirsty predators through the Amazon jungle of Brazil. One-by-one they appeared […]

The post Blood-thirsty jungle horse-flies catch big chill from Smithsonian entomologist appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

What can we discover in just a cubic foot of Earth? As it turns out, a whole lot! Biocubes—the life in a cubic foot of […]

The post Life in One Cubic Foot appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Profound ideas don’t need to be complicated. A simple cube made of aluminum tubing, a centerpiece of a new exhibit “Life in One Cubic Foot,” […]

The post From Rochester to Polynesia, a simple cube unveils Earth’s dazzling biological diversity appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Finding a mouse in your morning coffee might give you an unwelcome jolt, but there’s a strong connection between small mammals, birds and the plantations […]

The post Of mice and macchiato: Bird Friendly coffee gives a paw-up to small mammals as well appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Most of us can’t begin the day without a cup of coffee. Coffee is a major agricultural crop in many Central and South American countries […]

The post A Cup of Joe That’s Also Good for the Birds appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Global forest network cracks the case of tropical biodiversity appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Visitors to the tropics are amazed by the huge variety of colorful, complex and sometimes ferocious creatures living near the equator. Smithsonian scientists and colleagues […]

The post Is This the Long-Sought Answer to the Question of Tropical Biodiversity? appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

When a mosquito lands and begins to feed, the saliva it deposits in the skin stops blood from coagulating and makes the bite itch. A […]

The post The beautiful and bizarre treehopper appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

(A male golden-collared manakin cleans up his display area.) Few of us would find a marriage proposal made amidst dirty dishes and messy clutter particularly […]

The post Clean = Sexy for this Panamanian Bird appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

According to a new study by biologists at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and Virginia Tech the offspring of a certain songbird, the wood thrush, […]

The post Study: Large shady forest plots essential to survival of post-fledgling songbirds during drought appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Each year from summer into fall, ornamental crape myrtle trees in the southern and central U.S. lay out a visual feast of vibrant flowers in […]

The post Crape myrtle trees aren’t native to the US, but hungry native birds still find them tasty appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The addition of tert-butyl hydro­peroxide (tBuOOH) to two MnII complexes, differing by a small synthetic alteration from an ethyl to a propyl linker in the ligand scaffold, results in the formation of the high-valent bis-oxo complexes, {[MnIV{N4(6-Me-DPEN)}]2(μ-O)2}2+ (1) and {[MnIV{N4(6-Me-DPPN)}]2(μ-O)2}2+ (2).

In the structure of the title salt, second-order Jahn–Teller distortion of the coordination octa­hedra around V ions is reflected by coexistence of short V—O bonds and trans-positioned long V—F bonds, with four equatorial V—F distances being inter­mediate in magnitude. Hydrogen bonding of the anions is restricted to F-atom acceptors only, with particularly strong N–H⋯F inter­actions [N⋯F = 2.5072 (15) Å] established by axial and cis-positioned equatorial F atoms.

The title complex, Cu(L)2 or [Cu(C15HF10O2)2], comprising one copper ion and two fully fluorinated ligands (L−), was crystallized with 3,4-ethyl­ene­dioxy­thio­phene (EDOT, C6H6O2S) as a guest mol­ecule to give in a di­chloro­methane solution a unique co-crystal, Cu(L)2·3C6H6O2S.