Tag Archive | "Tropical Research Institute"

Giant prehistoric turtle from Colombia chomped everything in sight–including crocodiles!

Giant prehistoric turtle from Colombia chomped everything in sight–including crocodiles!

The specimen’s skull measures 24 centimeters, roughly the size of a regulation NFL football. The shell which was recovered nearby – and is believed to belong to the same species – measures 172 centimeters, or about 5 feet 7 inches, long. [...more]

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Heliconius butterfly genome explains wing pattern diversity

Heliconius butterfly genome explains wing pattern diversity

More than 70 scientists from 9 institutions including the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, sequenced the entire genome of the butterfly genus Heliconius, a brightly colored favorite of collectors and scientists since the Victorian era. [...more]

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Heavyweight trees are forest champs at sequestering carbon

Heavyweight trees are forest champs at sequestering carbon

Just a few towering white fir, sugar pine and incense cedars per acre at Yosemite National Park are disproportionately responsible for photosynthesis, converting carbon dioxide into plant tissue and sequestering that carbon in the forest, sometimes for centuries, [...more]

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Global forest science research center moves from Harvard to the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.

Global forest science research center moves from Harvard to the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.

The move enhances coordination efforts for the 46-plot research network, which partners with more than 75 institutions in 21 countries. [...more]

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Killer carnivores: Titanoboa vs. T-Rex — Premieres April 1 on Smithsonian Channel

Killer carnivores: Titanoboa vs. T-Rex — Premieres April 1 on Smithsonian Channel

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Largest snake the world has ever seen is being brought back to life by Smithsonian Channel

Largest snake the world has ever seen is being brought back to life by Smithsonian Channel

Slithering in at 48 feet long and weighing an estimated one-and-a-half tons, the largest snake the world has ever seen is being brought back to life. Sixty million years ago, in the mysterious era after the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, scientists believe that a colossal snake related to modern boa [...] [...more]

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Fancy footwork and non-stick leg coating helps spiders not stick to their own webs

Fancy footwork and non-stick leg coating helps spiders not stick to their own webs

Researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and University of Costa Rica studying why spiders do not stick to their own sticky webs have discovered that a spider's legs are protected by a covering of branching hairs and by a non-stick chemical coating. Their results are published online in the journal, Naturwissenschaften. [...more]

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Wayne Clough & Carlos Jaramillo, at a research site near the Panama Canal.

Wayne Clough & Carlos Jaramillo, at a research site near the Panama Canal.

Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough, left, talks with Carlos Jaramillo, scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, at a research site near the Panama Canal. Jaramillo and his team are collecting and examining prehistoric fossils exposed during the recent widening of the Canal. To date, they have discovered the fossils of a 12-inch-tall [...] [...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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