How much is the Hope Diamond worth? Ask Smithsonian.

Our inquisitive readers are rising to the challenge we gave them last month. The questions are pouring in and we’re ready for more. Do you have any questions for our curators? Submit your questions here.

How much is the Hope Diamond worth? — Marjorie Mathews, Silver Spring, Maryland

That’s the most popular question we get, but we don’t really satisfy people by giving them a number. There are a number of answers, but the best one is that we honestly don’t know. It’s a little bit like Liz Taylor’s jewels being sold in December—all kinds of people guessed at what they would sell for, but everybody I know was way off. Only when those pieces were opened up to bidding at a public auction could you find out what their values were. When they were sold, then at least for that day and that night you could say, well, they were worth that much. The Hope Diamond is kind of the same way, but more so. There’s simply nothing else like it. So how do you put a value on the history, on the fact it’s been here on display for over 50 years and a few hundred million people have seen it, and on that fact it’s a rare blue diamond on top of everything else? You don’t. – Jeffrey E. Post, mineralogist, National Museum of Natural History

What’s the worst impact of ocean acidification so far?- Nancy Schaefer, Virginia Beach, Virginia

The impacts of ocean acidification are really just starting to be felt, but two big reports that came out in 2011 show that it could have very serious effects on coral reefs. These studies did not measure the warming effect of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but rather its effect of making the ocean more acidic when it dissolves in the ocean. Places where large amounts of carbon dioxide seep into the water from the sea floor provide a natural experiment and show us how ocean waters might look, say, 50 or 100 years from now. Both studies showed branching, lacy, delicate coral forms are likely to disappear, and with them that kind of three-dimensional complexity so many species depend on. Also, other species that build a stony skeleton or shell, such as oysters or mussels, are likely to be affected. This happens because acidification makes carbonate ions, which these species need for their skeletons, less abundant.

Nancy Knowlton, marine biologist
National Museum of Natural History

Art and artifacts from ancient South Pacific and Pacific Northwest tribes have similarities in form and function. Is it possible that early Hawaiians caught part of the Kuroshio Current of the North Pacific Gyre to end up along the northwest coast of America from northern California to Alaska? — April Croan, Maple Valley, Washington

Those similarities have given rise to various theories, including trans-Pacific navigation, independent drifts of floating artifacts, inadvertent crossings by ships that have lost their rudders or rigging, or whales harpooned in one area that died or were captured in a distant place. Some connections are well-known, like feather garment fragments found in an archaeological site in Southeast Alaska that appear to have been brought there by whaling ships that had stopped in the Hawaiian Islands, a regular route for 19th-century whalers. Before the period of European contact, the greatest similarities are with the southwest Pacific, not Hawaii. The Kushiro current would have facilitated Asian coastal contacts with northwestern North America, but would not have helped Hawaiians. The problem of identification is one of context, form and dating. Most of the reported similarities are either out of their original context (which can’t be reconstructed), or their form is not specific enough to relate to another area’s style, or the date of creation cannot be established. To date there is no acceptable proof for South Pacific-Northwest Coast historical connections that predates the European whaling era, except for links that follow the coastal region of the North Pacific into Alaska.

William Fitzhugh, archeologist
Natural History Museum

Giants and patriots come in all forms, as seen in "Giant Demon Attacks a Ship," an Indian watercolor ca. 1775. Photo courtesy of the Freer and Sackler Galleries

Take a look at our photo gallery of giants and patriots in the Smithsonian Institution.

In honor of Super Bowl Sunday, we’ve come up with our own contest of “giants” and “patriots.” A disclaimer, though: it has nothing to do with football. We’ve combed through archives and collections across the Smithsonian Institution to come up with a unique set of patriots and giants for you to check out to get ready for the game.

If you’re a Giants fan, we’ve got everything from giant pandas to giant sequoias to “Elaganeek: the Eskimo Giant.” “Giant’s Thumb,” a 1926 woodcut by Howard Cook in the American Art Museum, depicts one of the artist’s favorite natural spots in New Mexico, his adopted home.

For New England fans, though, the Smithsonian is filled with patriots both real and invented. Uncle Sam, of course, is the country’s iconic patriot, but real-life figures like George Washington and Samuel Adams were the original embodiments of patriotism during the birth of the country. The concept of patriotism is so powerful that the U.S. military has named missiles after it.

“Giant Demon Attacks a Ship,” an Indian watercolor painted by a Jain artist sometime around 1775, is the one piece that Giants fans might interpret as a good omen for the game. In the painting, a large blue demon seems poised to destroy a British ship, filled with sailors dressed not so differently from the Patriots original mascot, Pat Patriot. Watch on Sunday to see how the real life matchups turns out.

Photo by Lisa Ware, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

All together now: Awwwww!

Today the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI), the Zoo’s research facility in Fort Front Royal announced the births of four maned wolf pups. The pups were born on January 5 and have been kept under close watch by zookeepers ever since. This is the first litter in two years, as the South American species is extremely difficult to breed in captivity. “They’re very shy and get stressed,” says Nucharin Songasen, a SCBI research biologist working with the pups. ”The mom tends to move the pups a lot, which can hurt them, and sometimes they do end up eating the pups. This year, one female [at another zoo] gave birth to three pups and she ended up eating all of them.”

So the SCBI researchers are keeping their distance while the mother, 8-year-old Salina, nurses the pups and moves them from den to den. They were a little concerned when she left one of the pups, a male, in a different den from the others. “The mom usually doesn’t want to spend energy taking care of the pups that are not doing well,” Songasen explains. “But he is very fat and strong, so we think maybe he’s really aggressive and she’s trying to give the others a chance to nurse.” When the male pup got left out, his father, Nopal, picked up the slack and cared for him until his mother returned. “The father has a big role in taking care of the young,” Songasen says. “The first six weeks the mom will take most of her time with the pups, but when they start running around and leave the den, the dad provides a significant role in providing food for the pups and protecting them.”

Photo by Lisa Ware, Smithsonian Conservation BIological Institute

These four little furballs are good news for the maned wolf population: there are only about 20,000 of them left in the wild and their natural habitat is shrinking due to human encroachment in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Peru. According to Songsasen, 80 percent of their habitat has already been converted to farmland, and only 5 percent of the remaining territory is protected. This leaves the wolves very vulnerable to conflict with farmers and other people in the area.

Photo by Lisa Ware, Smithsonian Biology Conservation Institute

Out of the four breeding pairs at SCBI, this is the first to successfully produce a litter. Currently, the breeding habits of the maned wolf are something of a mystery to scientists. The SCBI is working in conjunction with 18 other institutions researching the effect of plant-based diets on the wolves’ reproductive rates. “In the past two years, we’ve had young wolves die from intestinal disorders. Right now we don’t know what the optimal diet is. This species has very sensitive digestive tracts, and this might be another reason why they have reproductive problems,” Songasen says. These four pups bring the SCBI’s population up to 12; you can see two of them at the Zoo in the Cheetah Conservation Station.

In the meantime, take some time out of your afternoon to squeal over the just-released wolf pup photos.

Now that you’ve probably burned through the lists of historians, innovators, and food-writers to follow this year, we’re bringing it back home to the Smithsonian. As always, the Mall is cooking up some fascinating, crazy, and sometimes grotesque stuff for 2012. Bookmark these people and projects to keep up with this year:

Nicholas Pyenson: Pyenson studies and curates fossils of marine mammals. Get a feel for what is going on inside his lab and follow his team into the field—fresh from an expedition in Chile—at his blog, Pyenson Lab.

Postal Museum: Time for a pop quiz: A “hamper dumper” is:

a) machine in postal processing

b) bin of misprint stamps

c) failed mail vehicle

d) philatelic tool.

If you know the answer, you should be following the Postal Museum (@postalmuseum) for their daily #PostalQuiz and other philatelic factoids.

Biodiversity Heritage Library: As part of the Biodiversity Heritage Library consortium, the Smithsonian Libraries collects and digitizes biodiversity research for open online access—essentially, a bio-wiki. Check out @biodivlibrary for the species of the day: plants that eat worms, albino penguins and other bizarre creatures you never knew existed.

Archives of American Art Pinterest: The American Art Pinterest lets you browse the archives and “pin” the images you like to your virtual board. Mix and match from collections like “facial hair of note” and “ain’t no party like an artist’s party.”

Book Dragon: The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program’s Book Dragon is the pet project of former APA Media Arts Consultant Terry Hong, featuring reviews of “books for the multi-cultural reader.” Hong highlights literature for kids and adults alike that speaks to the Asian American experience. Follow her at @SIBookDragon.

Smithsonian Vids: For a moving view of the Institution, follow @SmithsonianVids. Meet a scientist studying frog-eating bats, or get a video tour of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings from Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart.

Smithsonian Marine Station: This Natural History Museum field station, located in Fort Pierce, Florida, tweets news updates and photos from the field (er, coral reef) @SmithsonianSMS. Plus, there’s #followfriday trivia every week.

Field Book Project: Also, from the Natural History Museum and the Smithsonian Institution Archives check out this blog, where researchers post updates on their initiative to compile an online database of field books and journals documenting biodiversity research. Besides progress updates, you’ll also find excerpts of century-old field notes from explorers, birdwatchers and scientists (including lots of fun, old-timey sketches) and learn a lot more than you ever thought there was to know about indices.

Encyclopedia of Life: Take your best shot and enter the picture in the Smithsonian’s Encyclopedia of Life Flickr photo contest. The bi-weekly contest could be (and has been) any theme from “backyard life” to “sexual dimorphism.” Even if you don’t enter, be sure to browse the entries for gems like this.

And of course, if you’re not following them already, the museums are always Tweeting up a storm. Here’s the checklist:

American Indian Museum: @SmithsonianNMAI

National Portrait Gallery: @npg

American Art Museum: @americanart

Anacostia Community Museum: @anacostiamuseum

American History Museum: @amhistorymuseum

Air and Space Museum: @airandspace

Museum of Natural History: @NMNH

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: @hirshhorn

Freer and Sackler Galleries: @FreerSackler

Museum of African Art: @NMAfA

National Zoo: @NationalZoo

Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum: @cooperhewitt

Smithsonian: @Smithsonian

Come see the ZooLights holiday festival on January 1st. Photo courtesy of the National Zoo.

Friday, December 30 Treasures at the Museum

Treasures at the Museum, by Deborra Richardson, chief archivist of the American History Museum, is a chapter book that introduces children to archives through the imaginative journey of young characters Robbie and Brittany. On Friday, come meet the author and have a copy of the book autographed. A terrific gift idea for children in grades K-4, this book is sure entice young readers to the preservation of history. Free. 2 to 4 p.m. American History Museum, Archives Center, 1st Floor West

Saturday, December 31 Flights of Fancy

Bring children of all ages to the Air and Space Museum‘s Flights of Fancy story series. Museum staff read tales of legendary aviators, hot-air balloons and space exploration, and each session also includes a hands-on art activity. This week, the book is Comets, Stars, the Moon and Mars, a collection of space poetry and paintings by Douglas Florian. Free, with sessions at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Air and Space Museum.

Sunday, January 1 Last Day of ZooLights

This New Year’s Day, visit the Zoo for your last chance to see Zoo Lights until the next holiday season. The nighttime holiday festival features light displays, special animal exhibits, entertainment and the Zoo’s new “iceless” skating rink featuring a high-tech acrylic material. Come to the area’s only free holiday light show and enjoy an extensive LED display illuminating the trees, walkways and buildings, along with life-size animal light silhouettes. 5 to 9 p.m. National Zoo.

For a complete listing of Smithsonian events and exhibitions visit the goSmithsonian Visitors Guide. Additional reporting by Michelle Strange.

At the National Zoo’s annual ZooLights holiday festival, the skating rink resembles a typical winter scene. Crowds of children skate across the rink, laughing and occasionally taking a fall. Because of Washington, D.C.’s mild climate, though, there’s something unusual about this rink, which skaters might not notice until they lace up their skates and start skating. It’s not made of ice.

The rink is a high-tech innovation, created by the company All Year Sports Galaxy, and made of a recycled acrylic material. “It’s really very similar to an ice skating rink,” says Joe Sacco, Associate Director of Education at the Zoo. “The way an ice skating rink works is that you’re really skating on a thin layer of water—as the blade cuts across the ice, the friction melts the ice. This is a very similar process: as you skate across the plastic, you’re skating on a lubricant that’s caused by the friction.” The acrylic polymers that make up the rink are specially designed to release the chemical lubricant in the presence of friction.

Despite the unusual material, skating on the iceless rink is very much like skating on a conventional rink. Visitors rent normal ice skates and have a very similar experience as they traverse the rink. “If you’re an experienced skater, I think what you’ll notice is that you’ll have to push a little harder,” says Sacco. “But if you’re a skater like I am, you’ll notice nothing—you’ll be down as much as you’re up.”

The Zoo chose the iceless rink for a number of reasons, including the ease of setup and installation, but the problems posed by warm weather for a traditional ice rink were the deciding factor. “This type of ice rink really fits our climate better. Last weekend was warm, it was over 60, so if we had a regular ice rink it really would have been water skating,” Sacco says. “This skating rink can be used in any kind of weather—it can be 90 degrees, or it can be 20 below.”

The environmental benefits of this type of rink were also appealing to Zoo staff. “It’s made of recycled acrylics, and they’re non toxic,” says Sacco. “It’s really great to think of that with all these plastics that we’re throwing out, that they’re used, and not put in the trash.” In a traditional rink, the cost of temperature control and adding water can add up.

Setting up the rink is also much easier than installing an ice rink. The pieces of plastic are 4 foot by 8 foot, and fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. No zamboni is necessary: the rink is cleaned simply by vacuuming or using a leaf blower to remove debris, and can be returned to a like-new condition with a pressure washer.

This is the fifth year of the ZooLights festival, but the first with a skating rink, and the iceless rink is the first of its kind in the area. “Every year we try to have something new and exciting, and since ZooLights is a celebration of the winter, having a rink where people skate was a great fit,” Sacco says. “I was talking to some kids earlier this evening, and they were just having a great time. There really aren’t many places to skate nearby, so this is a great option.”

Visit ZooLights, the Zoo’s free holiday light festival, from 5 to 9 p.m. through January 1st. The ice rink is $5 for a 30-minute session, and skate rentals are $2.

Come see BK Adam's "Exercise Your Mynd" exhibition and make your own walking figures. Photo courtesy Anacostia Community Museum.

Friday, November 25 Zoo Lights

Zoo Lights is the National Zoo’s annual holiday show of light displays, special animal exhibits and entertainment. Starting this Friday, come to the Zoo during the evening and enjoy an LED light show illuminating the trees, walkways and buildings, life-size animal light silhouettes and the Zoo’s new “iceless” skating rink featuring a high-tech acrylic material. The area’s only free holiday light show runs from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday through Sunday nights, November 25 to December 11 and December 16 to January 1. National Zoo.

Saturday, November 26 Make Them Walk

Join local artist BK Adams for a creative and hands-on journey through his exhibition “Exercise Your Mynd.” After a personal tour of the show, Adams will work with attendees in helping them make their own 3-dimensional walking figures. Free, with reservations required at 202.633.4844. 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Anacostia Community Museum.

Sunday, November 27 What’s in the Castle?

Come for a guided tour of the Smithsonian Institution’s iconic Castle. Learn about founder James Smithson, as well as the architecture of the building. The docent-guided tour will cover all public areas of the building, including Smithson’s crypt, the Great Hall and the West Wing. Free. Tours are conducted Sundays at 10:30 a.m., Mondays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m., and at both times on Saturdays. Smithsonian Castle, meet at information desk.

For a complete listing of Smithsonian events and exhibitions visit the goSmithsonian Visitors Guide. Additional reporting by Michelle Strange.

Rosebud, the Zoo's black-footed ferret youngster. Photo by Lawrence Layman, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

The votes are in: one of the zoo’s newest residents, the black-footed ferret newborn, has been named Rosebud. The name won the voting contest held for the past two weeks with 1048 votes out of 2809 total votes cast, and refers to the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, is one of the wild-release sites for ferrets bred in captivity.

Rosebud was born April 15 to mother Jambalaya and father Lido at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia. The species was severely endangered as of the 1980s, and though still at risk, has enjoyed a resurgence over the past few decades due to conservation efforts. Zoo staff have chosen Rosebud to become one of the breeding ferrets, used to produce litters that are reintroduced to the wild to further strengthen the population.

For now, according to zookeepers, the young ferret is relatively shy and enjoys playing her sister in her enclosure. To meet Rosebud, come visit the Prairie Animal Exhibit at the Zoo’s Small Mammals House, or catch a glimpse of her on the zoo’s online ferretcam anytime.

What if we could make masks to look like these models in the Natural History Museum's Hall of Human Origins? Artist: John Gurche. Photo by Chip Clark, NMNH.

In past years, our ATM team of bloggers has collectively pored over the Smithsonian’s collections to bring you museum-inspired costume ideas. Last year was a banner year for us, as we ginned up ideas for dressing as Carol Burnett in her curtain rod dress, from when she spoofed Gone With the Wind on her comedy show, and Abel the Monkey, who paved the way for human space flight. For a group costume, we went conceptual, suggesting you and six friends each wear a white t-shirt inscribed with one of the seven words in artist Lawrence Weiner’s “A RUBBER BALL THROWN ON THE SEA,” on display at the Hirshhorn.

This year, however, I decided to turn to the Institution’s resident experts—curators at the museums—for their insider’s insight. Here is what they suggest:

1. Man Ray’s Nut Girls

Melissa Ho, assistant curator at the Hirshhorn Museum, has had collage on the brain, as she has been busily working on an upcoming show of collage and assemblage works called “Over, Under, Next.” She suggests cobbling together a costume inspired by Man Ray’s 1941 photograph and mixed media collage, Nut Girls. In it, the American artist puts a walnut, in place of a head, on a cutout of one woman, and on another figure, the walnut covers the woman’s head and torso. “Carve a big walnut out of Styrofoam and slip on a romper,” says Ho.

Another idea for a costume party, she says, is to dress as Swiss sculptor Jean Tinguely’s The Sorceress (1961). “This is one of his motorized kinetic sculptures,” says Ho. “When turned on, it shakes and vibrates until its bits and pieces start to fall off—so perfect outfit for dancing!”

2. Dracula

According to Thomas Lera, the Winton M. Blout Chair in Research at the National Postal Museum, Dracula is the Halloween character that postal administrations around the world have depicted the most on stamps. In 1997, the U.S. Postal Service issued a “Classic Movie Monsters” stamp set, featuring five villains from Universal Studio films. Dracula was one. “As a special security feature, a process called ‘scrambled indicia’ was used, which overlaps symbols and images that are not seen by the naked eye when printed,” says Lera. “The Dracula stamp has three vampire bats in the blue background, which can only be seen by a precision optical device using elongated lenses called lenticules.” Lera suggests modeling a Dracula costume after this or the many other portrayals—a Canadian stamp honoring the 100th anniversary of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula in 1997, a Samoan stamp from 2000 featuring the Sesame Street’s Count von Count and a British stamp from 2008 with actor Christopher Lee as Dracula commemorating the 50th anniversary of Hammer Horror Films.

3. Dr. John Jeffries

Seeking input from Smithsonian curators certainly brought some little-known characters to light. When I asked Tom Crouch, senior curator of aeronautics at the National Air and Space Museum, who or what he might be inspired to dress up as for Halloween, he was quick to answer Dr. John Jeffries. Who, you might ask? Jeffries is not exactly a household name, but his story may be an interesting one to tell at a party. On January 7, 1785, Jeffries flew the English Channel in a balloon with Pierre Blanchard, making him the first American to make a free flight. “He wore a great costume, which included a leopard skin hat to keep his head warm, a cork jacket to keep him afloat in case of a channel landing and a Jerry Seinfeld style ‘puffy shirt,’ complete with frilled cuffs, so that, I suppose, he would look good in the post-flight interviews,” says Crouch. NASM has the large barometer and thermometer that Jeffries carried with him in its collection. As it would have it, some pieces of the outfit are at Harvard’s Houghton Library, where his papers are kept. “Fortunately, some years ago my friend and Smithsonian curator of costume, Claudia Kidwell, studied the Jeffries garments and prepared patterns for them, so sewing up my costume would not be all that difficult,” says Crouch. Over three decades, Crouch has researched the life of Jeffries. “I could step right into the good doctor’s shoes and answer any questions that might arise,” he says.

4. Empress Dowager Cixi

Although he does not think he would make a convincing Empress Dowager, David Hogge, head of the archives at the Freer and Sackler galleries, offers it up as a suggestion to others. Empress Cixi reigned as sovereign of China for 45 years in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nineteen portraits of her are currently on display in the exhibition “Power | Play: China’s Empress Dowager,” which Hogge curated, at the Arther M. Sackler Gallery, if you are in need of some inspiration. Empress Cixi wore her fingernails about an inch long, and on her third and pinky fingers, notes Hogge, she wore elaborate jeweled, gold filigreed fingernail protectors. “Those seem to give people the creeps,” says Hogge.

5. An Early Human

Rick Potts, curator of anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History, is a self-described Halloween fanatic. “What could be better than to skulk around the neighborhood or delight party-goers on Halloween night by dressing up as a realistic early human?” he says. “I wish I could turn some of the amazing visages in our Hall of Human Origins into masks.”

6. Annie Oakley

In 2007, the National Portrait Gallery purchased a photograph at an auction of sharpshooter Annie Oakley taken in 1885. “She was a cowgirl, known as “little sure shot” for her extraordinary ability to hit a moving target, most famously a small coin, even on horseback, all while maintaining ‘lady-like’ composure and elegance,” says Anne Collins Goodyear, associate curator of prints and drawings at the museum. “Wonderful inspiration for the imagination!” In the photograph, Oakley holds a rifle and is wearing a hat, blouse and fringed skirt with embroidered flowers.

7. Bob Dylan

Gail Davidson, head of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum’s department of drawings, prints and graphic design, considers Milton Glaser’s famous 1966 poster of singer Bob Dylan great costume fodder. Glaser, an artist and graphic designer, created the poster early in his career, to be included in the packaging of Dylan’s “Greatest Hits” LP. In terms of the poster’s composition, Glaser was influenced by a 1957 self-portrait by Marcel Duchamp. But, he gave it a psychedelic feel by adding bold colors to Dylan’s tousled hair. “I would dress up by dying my hair in wavelets of the different colors in the poster,” says Davidson.

8. A Zoo Animal…Take Your Pick

Cute baby animals born at the National Zoo are our bread and butter here at the ATM blog. But Craig Saffoe, the Zoo’s curator of Great Cats and Andean Bears, reminds us, “What’s cuter than an infant dressed as a full-maned lion?” Animals make fine costumes for adults too. Dressing as an endangered species gives one the opportunity to have an awesome costume and educate friends, notes Saffoe. There is also great potential for themed family costumes. “A mother and her infant could dress as a kangaroo and her joey, a banana and a monkey or a eucalyptus tree and a koala bear. A family could dress as a pride of lions, a gaggle of geese or a flock of flamingos. Whatever animal costume you choose, don’t forget you’ll need a zookeeper!” says the curator, whose son attended this year’s Boo at the Zoo event at the National Zoo in a zookeeper uniform.

A tree shrew recently born at the National Zoo. Photo by Clyde Nishimura

In August, at the National Zoo, the efforts of keepers and biologists finally came to fruition as two baby tree shrews were born. But because of the secretive rearing habits of the species, zoo staff had no way of knowing until nearly two months later, when the shrews were fully grown.

“One of the many things that’s interesting about them is the way they’re cared for as young,” says David Kessler, a biologist at the Zoo. “What happens is, as soon as they’re born, they’ll nurse, and they will drink up to 50 percent of their body weight in one nursing. Then they’re in a nest, and the female has her own nest separate from where they are, and she’ll only come and nurse the young once every 48 hours.”

This lack of contact means that the tiny babies—each one just six to ten grams in weight—are effectively hidden for their entire maturation period.

When the offspring finally emerged almost fully grown last week, Zoo staff learned that the plan put in place last spring as part of a nationwide population management plan was a success. “We have been very successful in the past breeding them, so it was recommended that we swap one of our castrated males for an intact male,” Kessler says. “The population in zoos all around North America is now 47, after the birth of these two.”

The National Zoo's pair of baby tree shrews. Photo by Clyde Nishimura

The National Zoo is now home to six of these fascinating small creatures. Despite their name, they are not true shrews, and are no longer classified as insectivores, but rather in their own order Scandentia. Native to southeast Asia and China, they can live in both tropical and temperate forests, at elevations up to about 10,000 feet.

“Even though they’re called tree shrews, not all of them live up in the trees all the time,” says Kessler. “They’ll eat fruits, vegetables and insect material. Here at the Zoo we feed them crickets, meal worms, wax worms, fruits and vegetables.”

Perhaps the strangest facet of tree shrew life is the symbiotic relationship they share with carnivorous pitcher plants in the wild. “They defecate in the pitcher plants—they use them like little toilets,” Kessler says. “The shrews get some food from being around the pitcher plants, and the feces of the tree shrew account for 57 to 100 percent of the plants’ nitrogen intake.”

The rapid maturation of the Zoo’s tree shrew babies is now nearly complete. “Their ears are open around ten days, their eyes at 20,” says Kessler. “They come out of the nest at around four weeks or so, and then they’re sexually mature within two to three months.”

Kessler reports that Zoo visitors can come see the shrew offspring, which are becoming more active each day. “They are on exhibit, and can be seen at the Small Mammal House,” he says. “They still do not emerge from the nest that much yet, but they’ll be out more and more frequently as the days go on.”

Film still from 55 Days at Peking (1963). Courtesy of Freer/Sackler Gallery, SI.

There’s a wonderful little nip in the air that’s invaded the Metro area, and finally taken the edge off that dreadful humidity that had been lingering like in-laws that just won’t take the hint to leave. It’s the perfect time for you and that special someone to go out for the evening and kick up your heels, or get out to learn something.  And wouldn’t you know it, the Smithsonian museums have a full slate of varied evening events scheduled for pretty much every night this month. We’ve selected an uneven eleven, because that’s just how we roll.

1. See a film: If you’re a fan of Asian cinema, Friday nights at 7:00 at the Freer Gallery this October could be your bag, baby. The ambitious Boxer Rebellion tale, 55 Days at Peking, featuring Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner, is playing October 7. You can check out Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor, the aptly-titled film about Puyi, the last emperor of China on October 14. And in Rebels of the Neon God, October 21, a street hood gets a overly zealous student admirer.

2. Gaze into the starry, starry night: Get all romantic and hold hands with that special someone while you do some stargazing at the museum’s Public Observatory at the Air and Space Museum. No excuses, guys. You’ve got three dates to chose from—October 8, 21 or 22.

3. Get your dose of intellectual: Share an art outing Wednesday, October 12 at 7:00 and head over to the Smithsonian American Art Museum for figurative painter and portraitist Elizabeth Peyton’s lecture on the creative experience. Peyton is best known for her smaller-scale paintings of stylized, elongated, androgynous figures.

4. Play ball: True, the Nationals didn’t make the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to stop loving baseball. The authors of Baseball Americana: Treasures from the Library of Congress will be on hand for signing and discussion at the National Portrait Gallery Wednesday, October 12 at 6:00 7:00. The book uses the Library of Congress’ vast trove of baseball goodies to cover over two centuries of baseball history.

5. Expand your music horizons: Go hear the performance of American composer Daron Hagen’s new concerto for Japanese koto and string quartet Thursday, October 13 at the Freer Gallery. The piece is based on the eleventh-century work of Japanese literature, Tale of Genji, and the soloist Yumi Kurosawa has appeared at Carnegie Hall.

6. Go the sophisticated route: Take your date to After Hours at the Hirshhorn for modern art, cocktails and live music October 14 at 8:00. Tickets are $25 in advance, and the event usually sells out!

7. Chase storms like the pros do: Head over to the IMAX Theater at the Natural History Museum October 20 at 7:00 to catch Tornado Alley 3-D. Director Sean Casey, along with featured scientists Josh Wurman and Karen Kosiba, will be on hand to answer questions like, “Why the heck do you go outside while there’s a gigantic tornado going on?” Tickets are $10 for members, $13 for general admission.

8. Do the locomotion: Receive a history lesson in cinematic form, courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. American Experience: Transcontinental Railroad covers the six-year construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, in all its laborious glory Thursday, October 20 at 6:30.

9. Be a problem solver: Head over to the Anacostia Museum Thursday, October 20 for the lecture and book signing The Heart of the Race Problem: The Life of Kelly Miller. Author Ida E. Jones will be discussing the accomplishments of Miller, the first African American admitted to Johns Hopkins University in 1887. Miller, who pursued a doctorate in mathematics, physics and astronomy, later became interested in improving relationships between the races.

10. Go trick or treating: Have kids, or just want to remember the good old days of trick-or-treating? Head over to Boo at the Zoo at the National Zoo on either October 21, 22 or 23 at 5:30. Throw a costume on your child, or don one yourself and enjoy wildlife and treats. Tickets are $20 for FONZ members, $30 for non-FONZ members.

11. Take flight: If you and your special someone happen to dig airpower, check out the lecture over at Lockheed Martin IMAX Theatre by Captain Rosemary Bryant Mariner October 27 at 8:00. Mariner was one of the first eight women to enter military pilot training back in 1973, and was the first woman to fly a front-line attack aircraft.

Update 10/12/2011: The baseball event this evening takes place at 6 and not 7 p.m., sorry for the inconvenience.

Dr. Pierre Comizzoli, one of the two Smithsonian scientists to receive the Presidential Award, at work in the lab. Photo courtesy Smithsonian's National Zoo

Earlier this week, President Obama announced the recipients of the annual Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Among those honored were two scientists who have conducted innovative research at the Smithsonian Institution: Dr. Justin Kasper, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and Dr. Pierre Comizzoli, a biologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI).

The award is the highest honor the government confers on scientists in the early stages of their careers, and is given to researchers across a wide range of disciplines.

“I’m very honored to receive this,” says Comizzoli, who was nominated through his work with the National Institutes of Health. Throughout his career, he has been involved in researching reproductive biology within a variety of species, including domestic cats, cheetahs, deer and frogs. His current research seeks to find new ways to preserve eggs and sperm without freezing.

“The project I’m working on now is exploring drying techniques, so you can keep your samples at an ambient room temperature, instead of storing them in liquid nitrogen,” he says. “It’s way more flexible, and way less expensive. And in some parts of the world, liquid nitrogen is just not available.”

Comizzoli’s work is mainly intended to preserve animal sperm and eggs as a tool for species conservation. “It’s really important to preserve the fertility of any individuals from a rare population,” he says. “If the genomes of those animals are still available to be mixed in the current population, you can preserve the genetic diversity.”

But many are excited about the potential of this research to assist in human fertility, as well. “Fertility preservation is used a lot in human reproductive medicine, for people who need to preserve their fertility before any medical treatments that are detrimental to the reproductive tissue,” Comizzoli says. “We have this fantastic opportunity at the SCBI of working with many different species and generating this huge database of comparative data, that is then extremely useful for human reproductive medicine.”

Dr. Kasper studies the transfer of energy in astrophysical objects, including the solar corona and solar wind. He received the award for his current work on the Solar Probe Plus, which will be humankind’s first mission to send a probe to the sun’s outer atmosphere.

Kasper’s research has helped with the design of SWEAP (Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons) an instrument that will provide scientists with information on how the solar corona and upper atmosphere are heated. “I am honored to have received this recognition and encouragement to pursue the mysteries of our sun,” Kasper said in a press release. “By flying a spacecraft through the upper atmosphere of the sun, we will expose the fundamental physics responsible for the million-degree corona and help understand and forecast space weather.”

Meet Pili and Damini, pictured here with their mother Shama. Photo Credit: Mehgan Murphy, National Zoo

On the stormy night of June 17,  as thunder and lightning surrounded the National Zoo, two red panda cubs were born. Last week, as part of a voting contest, they received their names. The twin cubs are now known as Pili and Damini, which mean “clap of thunder” in Chinese and “lightning” in Nepalese, respectively. Their births and successful rearing bring the Zoo’s total population of red pandas to five.

“There are about 10,000 red pandas in the wild, but there are only about 2,500 that are breeding, so they are an endangered species,” says Stacey Tabellario, a keeper at the Zoo. Working with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, where two other red panda cubs were born earlier in the summer, the Zoo has had a breeding program in place for the species for decades.

One of the red panda cubs born at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. Photo by Mehgan Murphy

“Their name, ‘panda,’ just like the giant panda, actually means bamboo,” Tabellario says. “Their diet is around 80 percent bamboo, and the rest is filled with fruit. They might occasionally catch a bird or eat mushrooms.”

Because the species is native to the mountainous environment of Nepal and China, she says, “They’re very fuzzy, and they don’t bear warm weather well at all. They love the snow, and when they’re out in the snow they actually have fur on their paws so they can walk around on snow and ice without getting cold feet.”

Breeding and caring for the quickly growing cubs has presented new challenges for the Zoo staff. Initially, keepers gave them a wide berth so as not to upset them or their nursing mother, Shama. “After they got a little bit more comfortable with us, we were able to go in, examine them, and get their weight,” says Tallie Wiles, another keeper at the Zoo. “And then when we had the hurricane, we had to move all of them inside into the giant panda enclosure.”

The cubs, now more than four months old and in good health, have recently started venturing out of their den, giving Zoo visitors a great opportunity to see the young animals. “They have just started coming out on exhibit a lot, so the public is getting a great look at them,” Wiles says. Through the Zoo’s red panda webcam, observers can go online to see what the pandas are up to, day or night.

The red panda adults typically breed once annually. “Normally, we see a lot of breeding behaviors. Last year, it was about a week where they were just going crazy—chasing each other, playing, and we saw a lot of breeding attempts,” says Wiles. A cub was born last year, but didn’t survive infancy, which is common for the species.

This year, Zoo staff were less confident that the pandas had successfully conceived, because they saw breeding behaviors from the animals for just one day. The pandas, though, picked the right day to mate. “The one day that we saw breeding happened to be February 14th: Valentine’s day,” Tabellario says.

Visit the Peacock Room, restored to its 1908 condition. Photo courtesy Freer Gallery of Art

Monday, September 26 Great Ape Research Demonstration

What can researchers learn from orangutans and gorillas? Come visit the National Zoo to meet a cognitive researcher and learn about the crucial role of these great apes in discoveries made about behavior and the cognitive sciences. Free. This kid-friendly demonstration is held daily at 1:30. National Zoo, Think Tank

Tuesday, September 27 The Peacock Room: Renowned and Reinstalled

In 1908, Charles Lang Freer bought the Peacock Room, a masterpiece of interior decorative Anglo-Japanese art, and transported it to his mansion in Detroit, adding to it his legendary collection of china and Asian art. At the Freer Gallery, the Peacock Room is one of the museum’s centerpieces. For the first time, the room has completely been restored to its 1908 condition. As part of this event, art historian Linda Skalet will discuss Freer’s significance as a major American art collector in the early 20th century. Then, curator Lee Glazer will discuss Freer’s innovative approach to collecting Asian art and the behind-the-scenes details of curating it. The event is $30 for Smithsonian Resident Associates Members, $40 for the general public. 6:45 to 9 p.m. Freer Gallery, Peacock Room.

Wednesday, September 28 Immigrants and Revolutionists

The National Portrait Gallery is having a Pop Quiz. Don’t worry about studying for it, just come and answer trivia questions based on the museum’s collection. This month, the topic of the multimedia game will be the history of immigration in America and the roles immigrants have played in our country’s history. This “After Five” event is for participants ages 18 and up. Free, with snacks and refreshments available for purchase at the Courtyard Cafe. National Portrait Gallery, Kogod Courtyard

Thursday, September 29 Talking about Andy

Join one of the world’s foremost art historians and critics of modern art for an evening talk about Andy Warhol. Hal Foster, who serves as the chair of the Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University, has written several works on Andy Warhol, and his book, The First Pop Age: Painting and Subjectivity in the Art of Hamilton, Lichtenstein, Warhol, Richter, and Ruscha, will be published next month. See the newly opened “Shadows” exhibition featuring Warhol’s landmark 102-panel work, then come to the talk, entitled “They Were All Diseased: Distress in Warhol, Early and Late.” Free. 7 p.m. Hirshhorn Museum, Ring Auditorium

Come learn about the Zoo's Aldabras tortoises. Photo by Muhammad Mahdi Karim

Monday, September 19 The Life of Cleopatra

Come learn about the life of Cleopatra through a discussion with her Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Stacy Schiff. Cleopatra: A Life, Schiff’s latest bestseller, sheds new light on the world of ancient Egypt and its royal court. Along with Lynn Neary, NPR’s arts correspondent, Schiff will discuss the work that went into the book and the widespread fascination with Cleopatra that she shares with her readers. Schiff will be signing books after the program. $15 for Smithsonian Resident Associates, $20 for general public. 7 to 8:30 p.m. Natural History Museum, Baird Auditorium

Tuesday, September 20 Aldabras Galore

What’s an Aldabras? Native to the Seychelle islands in the Indian Ocean, they’re some of the biggest tortoises in the world. Visit the Zoo to see and learn about the resident Albadras from the caretakers as they move them from their outdoor habitat into the Reptile House for the night. Free. 4 p.m. daily. National Zoo, outside Reptile House

Wednesday, September 21 Celebrate the Land

Shout, a Smithsonian education program designed to help students worldwide take an active role in environmental issues, hosts the online seminar “Celebrate the Land.” Students and teachers can join Smithsonian experts to discuss the U.S. Forest Service (11 a.m.), learn about environmental trends observed from satellite images (1 p.m.), hear about the Smithsonian Tree Banding program (2 p.m.) and ask curators their own questions (3 p.m.). Seminars are online only. This event is free, but online registration is required.

Thursday, September 22 La Buena Vida

Writer, educator and folklorist Fabiola Cabeza de Baca‘s legendary radio broadcasts of the 1930s and 40s were a home for discussion of agriculture, home economics, personal stories and other aspects of rural New Mexican life. At this Historic Theater event, relive and participate in the broadcasts, learning about Ms. Cabeza de Baca’s stories while sharing some of your own. Free. This event will begin on Sept. 22 and be held on most Thursdays through Sundays, at 11 a.m, 1, 2:30, and 4 p.m. American History Museum, meet at 1st floor visitor center.

For a complete listing of Smithsonian events and exhibitions visit the goSmithsonian Online Visitors Guide. Additional reporting by Michelle Strange.