Smithsonian articles from September 2011

Smithsonian archives from September 2011

Cats on camera.(Wild Things LIFE AS WE KNOW IT)(Brief article)
September 1, 2011... Endangered creatures that live only in the highest mountains of Asia, snow leopards are notoriously difficult to study. But a new survey using camera traps has generated 30 photographs of the elusive cats in 16 locations in the rugged,...

Keeping an eye on the help.(Wild Things LIFE AS WE KNOW IT)(Brief article)
September 1, 2011... It has been known that a small fish called the cleaner wrasse eats parasites off larger reef fish and that it sometimes sneaks a nibble of skin mucus. But cleaners are less likely to cheat if other potential "clients" are watching, according to...

Banana splits.(Wild Things LIFE AS WE KNOW IT)(Brief article)
September 1, 2011... People have cultivated bananas for 6,500 years or more, probably starting in New Guinea. How did the fruit take the world by storm? Using genetics, archaeology and linguistics, scientists led by Australia's Monash University say a big step was...

Mating safely.(Wild Things LIFE AS WE KNOW IT)(Brief article)
September 1, 2011... Yes, female black widow spiders often kill and eat males after copulating. But Arizona State University researchers now say some males avoid becoming meals by selecting mates that are well-fed. The key? Sated black widow females apparently emit...

Observed: the pigeon Columba livia.(Wild Things LIFE AS WE KNOW IT)(Brief article)
September 1, 2011... TOV? Flying in the V formation, as geese do, can be more aerodynamic than solo flight, helping each bird save energy. OR NOT TO V? But some birds, like pigeons, fly in what is known as a "cluster flock." In such disorganized groups, says a...

Super model: William Wegman thought he was finished with dog portraits. Fay Ray had other ideas.(Indelible Images)
September 1, 2011... FAY RAY HADN' T HAD ALOT of modeling experience when William Wegman put her on roller skates. He says that the image he titled Roller Rover was "one of the first" to feature his beloved cinnamongray Weimaraner John Reuter, a Polaroid technician...

On the March: September 1861: the war expands and Lincoln rejects an attempt at emancipation.(The Civil War 150 YEARS AGO)
September 1, 2011... FIVE MONTHS INTO THE CIVIL WAR--on September 9--Richmond, Virginia's Daily Dispatch editorialized that the time for debate had passed. "Words are now of no avail: blood is more potent than rhetoric, more profound than logic." Six days earlier,...

The ultimate tearjerker.(FEATURING)
September 1, 2011... What movie do researchers rely on to measure sadness in human subjects? Find out about their surprising choice at Smithsonianxom/sadmovie

Life list 2011.(FEATURING)
September 1, 2011... Explore our latest must-see world travel destinations--and suggest your own--at Smithsonian.com/lifelist2011

The first global warming debate.(FEATURING)
September 1, 2011... Thomas Jefferson and Noah Webster argued with each other about climate change 200 years ago. Check it out at Smithsonian.com/webster

Welcome to the future.(FEATURING)
September 1, 2011... Discover the new ideas that will shape our world in Department of Innovation, a new blog at Smithsonian.com/innovations

On second thought.(FEATURING)
September 1, 2011... Another new blog, Pas Imperfect, delves into surprising facts about U.S. and world history. Read the unexpected at Smithsonian.com/historybiog

Best facial hair of the civil war an online reader poll.(NOW ON OUR WEBSITE Smithsonian.com)
September 1, 2011... COMBATANT VOTES Ambrose Burnside 18,385 J. E. B. Stuart 7,870 Alpheus Williams 7,559 John Haskell King 4,037 Christopher C. Augur 3,866 W. B. Hazen 3,546 Adelbert Ames 3,270 * George...

47 percent of Americans.(NOW ON OUR WEBSITE Smithsonian.com)(Brief article)
September 1, 2011... surveyed use at least one social-networking website, such as Facebook, Twitter or Linkedln. The research, reported by the Pew Research Center, contradicts the notion that Americans' use of such technology increases their isolation. from...

Pedaling bamboo.(NOW ON OUR WEBSITE Smithsonian.com)(Brief article)
September 1, 2011... "I've sold most of our bikes just by taking mine on public transit," said Lars Jacobsen, 25, co-founder of Stalk Bicycles in Oakland, California. "People approach me. 'Is that really bamboo? Is it strong? How much does it weigh?'" Read more:...

Fun with plate tectonics.(NOW ON OUR WEBSITE Smithsonian.com)(Brief article)
September 1, 2011... "I felt like I was hiking through a geology textbook. Iceland has glaciers, volcanoes, fjords, geysers, mud pots, lava fields, lava tubes, flood plains and waterfalls. Most spectacularly, its one of the few places where you can walk along the...

Beyond Bourbon Street: from out-of-the-way jazz joints to po' boy shacks, a native son shares his favorite haunts in the big easy.(My Kind of Town NEW ORLEANS)
September 1, 2011... WHO CAN RESIST NEW ORLEANS? GUMBO AND OYSTER po' boys, jazz and funky blues, the French Quarter and the Garden District. Eyes light up, mouths water, toes tap. I'm obsessed with New Orleans--explaining its uniqueness to myself and to visitors....

90 years ago American idol.(This Month In History)(Margaret Gorman)(Brief article)
September 1, 2011... To attract postseason tourists to Atlantic City, New Jersey, boosters stage a contest for the "Most Beautiful Bathing Girl in America" in September 1921. The winner, Margaret Gorman, 16 (above), of Washington, D.C., returns in 1922 to defend her...

110 years ago killer handshake.(This Month In History)(Leon Czolgosz's assassination of President William McKinley on September 6,1901)(Brief article)
September 1, 2011... A revolver hidden under his handkerchief, Leon Czolgosz, a self-avowed anarchist from Detroit approaches President William McKinley in a receiving line at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, on September 6,1901, and fires two shots...

20 years ago of ice and men.(This Month In History)(Brief article)
September 1, 2011... While hiking in the Alps on the border of Austria and Italy on September 19,1991, German tourists Erika and Helmut Simon discover a man's body half buried in the snow. Archaeologists determine he is Europe's oldest natural mummy, preserved in...

70 years ago if you build it.(This Month In History)(Brief article)
September 1, 2011... In Arlington, Virginia, construction begins on the Pentagon on September 11,1941, to house the rapidly expanding War Department. "I like it," President Franklin Roosevelt says of its five-sided plan of concentric "rings"--designed to fit an...

70 years ago cold days in hell.(This Month In History)
September 1, 2011... Three months after invading Russia in June, German troops set siege to Leningrad--Russia's former capital and a key objective in Hitler's advance toward Moscow--on September 8, 1941. By November, largely surrounded by Germans and their Finnish...

Sound scholarship.(FROM THE CASTLE)
September 1, 2011... A rare concert captivated guests as they celebrated the 150th anniversary of the republic of Italy earlier this year at the Italian ambassador's residence here in Washington. Kenneth Slowik, a music scholar and world-class cello virtuoso,...

Mail pooch: for nine years, Owney rode the rails and the wagons on top of mailbags. Today, a stamp honors his odd service as the mascot of the mailmen.(BEHIND THE SCENES)
September 1, 2011... HE WAS ONE OF the most recognized celebrities of the late 19th century. Born of humble beginnings, he made frequent public appearances alongside those of noble lineage. He traveled the nation, receiving medals and gifts wherever he went. Later...

Down but not out: fans still argue about who really won the 1927 "long count" fight between Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey.(THE OBJECT AT HAND)
September 1, 2011... MOST SPORTS CONTROVERSIES live for only a season or two. But some, like the athletes involved, have stronger legs. One of the most enduring of these events occurred on September 22, 1927, in a heavyweight championship bout between the...

Q&A.(CONVERSATION)(Tony Hawk)(Interview)(Brief article)
September 1, 2011... TONY HAWK was skateboarding's world champion for 12 years. His donation of a 1986 pro model Powell-Peralta deck with truck and wheels to the National Museum of American History launches its collection of skateboarding artifacts. Smithsonian's...

What's up.(EDITOR'S PICKS)(Brief article)
September 1, 2011... BEYOND STEREOTYPES Artist CYJO creates portraits to explore "ancestral heritage and contemporary life" (below: Maggie Kim, 2005). She's one of seven artists in "Asian American Portraits of Encounter" at the Portrait Gallery through October...

What ails the Taj Mahal? Preservationists say the 350-year-old marble masterpiece is falling prey to shoddy repair work, graffiti, air pollution--even a deteriorating foundation. We sent a veteran correspondent to evaluate the claims.
September 1, 2011... TO VIEW THE TAJ MAHAL far from the hawkers and crowds, I had hoped to approach it in a small boat on the Yamuna River, which flows in a wide arc along the rear of the majestic 17th-century tomb. My guide, a journalist and environmental...

In a personal essay, the former editor of the New York Times raises questions about the nation's response.(WHAT 9/11 WROUGHT)(Essay)
September 1, 2011... The military had a name for it--"asymmetric warfare." But until 9/11 hardly anyone imagined how surreal and coldblooded, how devastating, it could actually be: that 19 would-be suicides from distant parts, armed only with box-cutters, their...

Road music: long before country was cool, settlers and slaves created the heartfelt "crooked tunes" that still enliven the mountains of southern Virginia.(Essay)
September 1, 2011... Virginias Blue Ridge Mountains are known for their speed demons. The moonshiners of old tore over country roads in 1940 Ford coupes, executing 180-degree "bootleg turns" and using bright lights to blind the revenue officers shooting at their...

Picky eaters: California sea otters have highly specialized diets. That might just be their problem.
September 1, 2011... SCIENTISTS HAVE LONG DESIGNATED THE CALIFORNIA sea otter a "keystone predator," meaning what the animal eats has a large impact on its environment. The otters devour extraordinary amounts of sea urchins that otherwise would gobble up the kelp...

[A.sup.+] for Finland: kids aren't required to go to school until they're 7. Standardized tests are rare. And yet the Nordic nation's success in education is off the charts.(Essay)
September 1, 2011... It was the end Of term at Kirkkojarvi Comprehensive School ii Espoo, a sprawling suburb west of Helsinki, when Kari Louhivuori, a veteran teacher and the school's principal, decided to try something extreme-by Finnish standards. One of his...