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Tag Archive | "materials science"
Video: Zen and the art of fine art conservation: Behind the scenes in the Freer Gallery’s art conservation lab
What's possibly the most calming yet nerve-racking job in the world? Come behind the scenes of the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art to find out! [...more]
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Fungi still visible in wood charcoal centuries after burning
Scientists from the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, the University of Valencia in Spain and the University of Minnesota, recently made an important observation regarding charcoals from wood fires excavated at ancient archaeological sites. They verified that the remains of fungi that had been living in the wood before it was burned could clearly be seen [...] [...more]
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Conservators challenged by contemporary artworks at the Hirshhorn Museum
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Digital Stradivari: computer models of violins reveal master luthier’s techniques
In a pilot study that used seven Stradivari violins made between 1670 and 1709, the researchers scanned each violin with a CT scanner then used the data to create digital, 3-D images of each violin. [...more]
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Problem plastics in museum collections have conservators on alert
While society at large frets about plastics that pile up and seem to last forever— grocery bags clogging landfills and soda bottles washing up on beaches—museums worry about the thousands upon thousands of artifacts in their collections made of plastic, objects that in many cases are crumbling and cracking and sometimes damaging other artifacts as they break [...] [...more]
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Meet our Scientists—Videos!
Science Spotlight
Scientists from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center have found that fledgling catbirds living in the suburbs are extremely vulnerable. Almost 80 percent are killed by predators before they reach adulthood. Nearly half of the deaths are connected to domestic cats. The team studied catbird nests in 3 suburban neighborhoods in Maryland: Spring Park, Opal Daniels Park, and Bethesda. Learn more about this 2011 study by clicking here. (Catbird photo by Gerhard Hofmann)
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