The More You Know- Anyone who has ever visited the Air and Space Museum, probably leaves with lots of questions; the most popular of which has to be “How did you get an airplane inside the building?”  Well, wonder in silence no more, because the Air and Space Museum is here to help. “Ask an Expert,” is a weekly series, held Wednesdays at noon, where a museum expert speaks for 10-15 minutes on a given topic and then answers questions.  If you can’t make it in person, don’t worry, you can always watch the videos online.

The Revolution Will Be… Airmailed? - These days, everyone is talking about revolution, as change is happening in countries around the world. But what happens after the revolution? Well, after the Mexican revolution of 1910, airmail was used to “promote a progressive national image worldwide.” See how they did it in the bilingual online exhibit “Mexico Via Airmail.” So, the next time you find yourself in conversation about current events, you can add a little historical context.

Math Made Interesting- For the child who dreams of becoming an astronomer when s/he grows up (and the parents/adults who want to encourage those dreams), NASA introduces “Space Math @ NASA,” online math and science problems designed to challenge the mind and the imagination. Perfect for students in (at least) grades three and higher.

Art History- In honor of Black History Month, the Archives of American Art presents its digitized collection of papers on African American art in the 20th century, with a particular focus on artists from the Harlem Renaissance.  Read the papers of influential artists like: Palmer C. Hayden, William H. Johnson, Charles Henry Alston, Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden, online for free.

Renaissance Man Solomon G. Brown in 1891. Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian Archives.

Business Plan—Calling all business execs and start-up ventures. Get in at the bottom on this deal. The National Museum of American History is planning a new exhibition on the history of business and innovation and is looking for your help. The museum has launched a site, American Enterprise, so that anybody with a good idea can log in and help plan the exhibit. Curators will blog about research trips and artifact collecting and you can offer tips on anything from artifacts to topics and even test ideas. The exhibit is slated to go on view in 2014.

Renaissance Man— In honor of Black History Month, The Bigger Picture remembers Solomon G. Brown, the first African-American to work at the Smithsonian. Brown, born a free man in 1829, worked at the institution for more than 50 years, serving in a variety of capacities, including: building exhibit cases, moving and cleaning furniture, and helping prepare maps and drawings for lectures. Learn more about Brown’s life and work at the Smithsonian, including his close relationship with the second Smithsonian Secretary, Spencer F. Baird, in the first in a series of related posts this month.

What Goes Up— What happens when you drop 200 paper planes from “the edge of space?” Well, that’s what Project Space Planes is trying to find out. The team dropped the planes, each containing a memory card with a message for the person who finds it, back in January. They are hoping to see a) whether the memory cards are tough enough to survive the journey and, b) how far the planes travel. Check out their site for more information and updates on the project. Thanks to the team over at The Daily Planet for the heads up.

Artists on Art— The Archives of American Art has made available excerpts from its oral history interviews with artists like: Robert Bechtle, Judy Chicago, Dennis Oppenheim and Joan Snyder. Hear their thoughts on photography, controversy, public vs. studio art and changes in their work. In addition to the podcasts, summaries of each interview, as well as transcripts of the conversations are available online.

Goldfish Gulping as captured by the Los Angeles Times on April 30, 1939. Photo courtesy of the American History Museum

And the Gold Medal Goes To— What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever eaten on a dare? Well, how about 101 goldfish? That’s the record for the largest number eaten in a single sitting, set back in April 1939, when goldfish gulping was a competitive collegiate sport. Check out the piscine cuisine over at O Say Can You See and see where your alma mater stood.

Dreaming in Outer Space — I’m sure we all thought we’d be flying cars by 2011 and possibly even living on another planet. Well, we may have to keep dreaming about that, but space travel for the common man may not be as far off as you think. Space Adventures, a Virginia-based company that organized the flights for the first “private space explorers,” plans to begin offering seats on the Soyuz spacecraft to commercial customers as soon as 2013. Next stop, the International Space Station. The Daily Planet has more details.

What’s in a Name? — There’s an insightful conversation happening over on the National Museum of the American Indian blog. Dennis Zotigh, a researcher and historian who also acts as a liaison for the museum, fields a lot of questions in his role as a cultural ambassador. He shares his answer to a popular one— “What do we call you, American Indian or Native American?” and invites readers to chime in. Join the discussion.

Fatherly Pride— Luke, the only adult male lion at the National Zoo, has been busy over the past few months. Last year, he sired two litters of cubs with two lionesses and, within a month, increased his family size from three to ten. The cubs must certainly keep him busy, but how do they all get along?  The National Zoo has a new video of Luke spending time with all seven of his cubs. Check out what quality time with dad means in the lion’s den.

Fly Like a N1-M — On our list of 11 Things to Do Around the Smithsonian in 2011, the ATM blog team suggested visiting the Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center. Well, Udvar-Hazy is a huge space and can seem overwhelming, so the good people over at AirSpace have done you one better and listed the 5 Coolest Things to See while you’re there. So, preview their list, get additional details (parking, food, helpful tips) at gosmithsonian.com and then make plans to check it out. See, we make visiting easy.

Designing Men— Most of us use Wikipedia, almost all of us know what it is. But how much do you know about its founder Jimmy Wales? Bill Moggridge over at Cooper-Hewitt’s Design Blog interviewed Wales for his new book, Designing Media. What’s Wales like in person? What does he think about his creation? Check out Moggridge’s post and short video interview. You might learn something.

Bird Brain— With all the recent stories about birds falling out of the sky, I’ll admit, I’ve got bird on the brain. And, apparently, I’m not the only one. Did you know there was such a thing as a Bird Census? Well there is and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center’s Blog has got it. Each week (or so), they check out what birds are still around and in what types of numbers. The results may surprise you.

The Secret Lives of Postal Workers— We all know what postal workers do at the office, but what about after hours? Intrigued? Then head on over to Pushing the Envelope and visit the Postal Employees After Hours microsite. Signed, sealed, delivered, it’s yours.

Learn more about the night the baby anteater was born at the Zoo. Photo courtesy of the National Zoo

Nurturing An Anteater—On December 7, the night the new baby anteater was born at the Zoo, Maripi the mother, experienced in caring for her young, had tucked her baby warmly beside her for the night. Watchful keepers left late that evening after assuring themselves that mother and infant were safely snuggled together and bonding. But something went wrong and by morning, the baby was on the floor, cold to the touch. The keeper Marie Magnuson reports that she hastily grabbed a towel and gently wrapped the little youngster up, holding him warmly to her body. Magnuson says that when the team arrived, Maripi “raised her head to acknowledge us but then curled back up with her head under her tail.” Veterinarians rushed both baby and mom to the Zoo’s hospital. Both are doing fine now. But the keepers’ firsthand account of the dramatic story and what may have happened in the night to cause separation of the mother and the pup can be found at the Bulletin From the Barn.

Muscle Man—And if you love behind-the-scenes stories at the museums, check out the Smithsonian Collections Blog, where we learn that heavy lifting is apparently a skill set for archivists. David Haberstich, a staffer at the National Museum of American History Archives Center, recalls the day in 1988 when a voluminous collection arrived in cartons at the museum’s loading docks. These contained thousands of copies of published sheet music assembled by collector Sam DeVincent (1917-1997) and Haberstich was the strong man who go to move all the cartons into the Archives Center. He says the collection is not organized as one would suspect by musician or composer but by topic or theme. “Songs about transportation—planes, trains, and automobiles—were grouped together. . . .The ease of viewing and comparing popular songs devoted to narrow themes and subjects—both in terms of their lyrics as well as cover illustrations—has thrilled many Smithsonian fellows and researchers.” Researchers, I know this because I am one, are easily entertained.

Toy Story—Stressed out at work? Overwhelmed at home? Well, take a moment to feel like a kid again. You may be too old to play with toys, but you’re not too old to watch someone else do it. The Cooper-Hewitt Museum’s Design Blog features a new electronic toy from Norwegian designer Lars Marcus Vedeler that promises to brighten up your day. Literally. And, the best part? You can watch it play all by itself.

Back to the Future—Did you miss World Expo 2010, held in Shanghai back in October? Me, too. But thanks to our friends over at O Say Can You See?, you don’t also have to miss out on the conversation. Find out what may lie ahead for cities around the globe by doing the next best thing and taking a virtual tour.

The first commercial Christmas card was sent in 1843 by Henry Cole, a philanthropist who wrote hundreds of cards by hand. Courtesy of Pushing the Envelope

Total Eclipse of the Moon—Early yesterday morning (or late Monday night for those on the west coast), an astronomical event took place that only happens once in a blue moon. Well, okay, it wasn’t a blue moon, but it was a total lunar eclipse. This was the first lunar eclipse to fall on the winter solstice since 1638. By the time this happens again in 2094, most of us will be long gone. The AirSpace blog has more information on how lunar eclipses form and what they look like in case you happened to miss out.

Christmas Sweater Archives—I have certainly seen some festive holiday sweaters around the Mall this winter; my personal favorite (worn by ATM’s own Beth Py-Lieberman!) featured chiming jingle bells, appliqued gingerbread men, Christmas trees and red bows. The Archives of American Art has done their own archival roundup of holiday knitwear donned by poets, painters and explorers.

Winter Wonderland—The Bigger Picture blog has a slideshow honoring the onslaught of cold the Washington area has received in recent weeks. The pictures are from the Smithsonian Institution Archives and include snowflake art, icy expeditions, and the Smithsonian covered in snow in the early 1900s. The post also has links to snowflake templates for cutting your own winter decorations.

Solstice—If you thought the weather here was cold, SIRIS has posted photos of Alaska Natives buckling down for the dead of winter from the archives of scientist Leuman M. Waugh, who visited the area in the early 20th century. The photos are likely to make you want a fur-lined winter parka to brave the icy chill. Another post on SIRIS shows images of winter landscape paintings from the National Art Inventories.

Birth of the Christmas Card—Pushing the Envelope has published a guest post by Skidmore College professor Catherine Golden that reveals the first Christmas card ever, from 1843. The card depicts a merry gathering of people eating and drinking, and reads, “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year To You.” Read about the history of the holiday card, as well as Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, which Golden writes was arguably more popular for its philanthropic message than even the author’s expert prose.

Poinsettia Video—Recently, Around the Mall brought you the true story of the Poinsettia, which involved Joel Poinsett and his idea to create a national museum. Watch Monty Holmes, a horticulturist at Smithsonian Gardens, talk more about the history of this holiday plant.

The "Godmother of Punk" performs at a benefit for the Archives of American Art in 2008. Courtesy of the Archives of American Art

First Aircraft Moved to New Hangar: This week, AirSpace reports that the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver was the first aircraft to move into the Udvar-Hazy Center’s new Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar. Designed in 1938 and manufactured in 1942, the scout bomber flew in World War II. The Air and Space Museum’s plane is one of only a handful still in existence. The plane is scheduled to be restored over the course of the coming year, along with several other aircraft that will soon move into the new hangar. Later in 2011, the mezzanine level of the hangar will open so that visitors can see the aircraft refurbishment in action.

Patti Smith Wins National Book Award: Singer Patti Smith, perhaps best known as the “Godmother of Punk,” just won the National Book Award for her memoir, Just Kids, which chronicles her friendship with photographer and artist Robert Mapplethorpe. The Archives of American Art blog has a sound clip of Smith reading at a 2008 benefit, or your can hear her on NPR.

Twain Galore: It seems that in addition to Around the Mall’s post honoring Mark Twain’s would-be 175th birthday, a couple other blogs around the Smithsonian have paid their own tributes to the 19th century American author. Face to Face has posted some of their favorite Twain quotes as well as Edwin Larson’s 1935 portrait of the writer. The Smithsonian Libraries blog has a list of further reading straight from the Smithsonian’s collections.

Flamingo-Keeping: Now on the Smithsonian Science homepage, a video from the National Zoo features footage of the Zoo’s 61-bird flock of flaming pink Caribbean flamingos. Sara Hallager, flamingo keeper, says the birds are extraordinarily social animals (their squawks can be heard in the background). She discusses how she and the other keepers prevent inbred chicks during mating season by putting different colored bands on the flamingos’ feet to keep track of who’s who.

National Museum of “Dad-Trolling”? The web comic XKCD has proposed a new Smithsonian museum that specializes in enabling fathers to tell little white lies to their children. Click on various parts of the museum’s floorplan and see what waits inside the “Hall of Misunderstood Science,” “Regrettable Pranks: An Interactive Experience” or the “Rotunda of Uncomfortable Topics,” among others.

Alan Shephard's Apollo 14 space suit was X-Rayed and is now featured in NASM's new book. By Roland H. Cunningham and Mark Avino, courtesy of AirSpace

Inner Workings of the Space Suit: This week, the AirSpace blog exposes one of their spacesuits from the inside out using X-Ray imaging. Until now, the only way to glimpse the inside of these high-tech uniforms was to shine a flashlight down the wrist or neck of the outfit. But recently, Mark Avino, chief of photographic services at the Air and Space museum undertook the challenge of doing a complete X-Ray of Alan Shephard’s Apollo 14 spacesuit. The result is now featured in the book, Spacesuits: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Collection.

Thanksgiving in the Smithsonian: Mary Henry (1834-1903) was the daughter of Joseph Henry, the very first Smithsonian Institution secretary. Her diary provides a firsthand account of a pivotal period in the history of the United States, spanning the years of the Civil War and early Reconstruction. One personal anecdote, quoted in a post this week on The Bigger Picture, describes Henry’s Thanksgiving day in the Smithsonian Castle, where she lived.

Up Where He Belongs: The American Indian Museum’s Current exhibit, “Up Where They Belong: Native Americans in Popular Music” tells the stories of Native Americans in every genre of music, from rock to hip-hop to jazz (see my article on the exhibit in the October issue). The NMAI blog has posted an interview with one of the most well-known musicians in the exhibit, Robbie Robertson, who is perhaps best known as a member of The Band and for writing the song “Up on Cripple Creek.” Robertson talks about his favorite artists and what he’s learned in his long career as a Native musician.

Freer/Sackler Annual Auction: The Freer and Sackler Galleries opens its annual auction today in conjunction with their benefit gala, “Dancing Dragon, Roaring Tiger,” this evening. The gala celebrates the opening of the museum’s Chinese jades and bronzes exhibit.  The auction features four works by the renowned Asian artists Mei-Ling Hom, Sun Xun, Hai Bo and Cai Guo-Quiang. View the works and short biographies of the artists. Bids must be emailed to  fsgala@si.edu before midnight tonight.

World Folk Music Map: Smithsonian Folkways Records has contributed folkloric music from around the world to an interactive map posted on the “Preserving Intangible Culture” section on America.gov. Click on any country or region, from Mongolia to Norway to Sierra Leone, and listen to a Folkways music sample from there.

Time for Butterflies: As the first chill of fall sweeps the National Mall, folks at the Smithsonian Gardens are thinking about how best to take advantage of the seasonal change. As it turns out, fall is a great time to plan for those butterflies that everyone wants fluttering around in their gardens come springtime. In a new video, Smithsonian Gardens horticulturist Jonathan Kavelier shares a few tips for how to fill your garden with enough host plants for caterpillars to live on and nectar plants with plenty of sweetness for the butterflies to drink.

Rain or Shine? The Smithsonian encompasses a multitude of smaller projects that one might not hear about just by visiting the museums on the National Mall. The Smithsonian Weather Records Project is one of these—the Biodiversity Heritage Library features weather records from as far back as 1862. Want to know what the weather was like the year your grandparents were born? Or whether the temperature in a particular region has increased over the course of the past 150 years? The Weather Records Project will have all the answers.

A World of Turned Wood: In conjunction with their current exhibit, “A Revolution in Wood: The Collection of Fleur and Charles Bressler,” the Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery have released a video interview with turned wood collector Fleur Bressler, who has amassed an unparalleled collection of wood art over the past several decades. Fleur, who is a docent at the Renwick, appeared in our recent post about the opening of the exhibit. She shares how she first got involved in collecting turned wood and shows off a few of her favorite pieces. The video also features some action shots of a few artists, whom Fleur has become close with over the years.

With the Void Comes the iPad: If the Yves Klein retrospective came and left the Hirshhorn too fast, fear not—the Smithsonian has created their first iPad application, which allows anyone owning one of Apple’s nifty new toys to peruse the exhibit virtually. Anthropometries, Cosmogenies, fire paintings and blue monochromes abound (if none of these ring a bell, there are explanations to go with). High resolution images of the works on view, audio of the artist discussing his work and video clips give the sense of being right there in the exhibit halls.

The Bigger Picture suggests dressing as one of the first ladies in American History for Halloween this year. Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Halloween Costumes of the Past: Not sure what to be for Halloween? The Archives of American Art blog has dug up some photos from Halloweens gone by to spark the imagination. Beginning with an old invitation to a Crazy Costume Dance held by 20th century architect Spencer Fullerton Weaver, a series of pictures (not all of which were actually Halloween costumes at the time) illustrates a few artsy costume ideas. As “L’Artiste,” “The Gunslinger,” or “The Arabian Prince,” you’ll be ready to dance the night away at your own costume party.

The Bigger Picture: If none of those ideas stick, you can also turn to The Bigger Picture, where in honor of Archives Month, blogger Courtney Esposito has compiled several archival photos of possible costumes. Bearded lady, mad scientist, and first lady are but a few of the original disguises in the post.

The Biodiversity of Creepy-Crawlers: In honor of All Hallows’ Eve, the Biodiversity Heritage Library, a digital natural history resource, has featured the Spined Micrathena, a horned spider that would scare even the least skittish trick-or-treater. The spider, which lives west of the Rocky Mountains (lucky for those of us on the East Coast), comes in a variety of sizes and colors, with females growing nearly twice as large as males. These spiders spin orb-shaped webs. Another orbweaver, Darwin’s bark spider was featured on Surprising Science earlier this month.

Phantoms of the Natural History Museum: Anyone who’s watched Night at the Museum knows that museums can be strange places to be on a dark and stormy night. Currently under renovations, the Smithsonian Arts and Industries building, which once housed the first-ever Smithsonian museum, is no exception. According to a post from Natural History at 100, the scientists that once roamed the halls of the building when it first opened as the National Museum in the late 19th century continued to haunt them after they died. The post details a number supernatural events: figures coming to life, ghosts of scientists watching over their collections and even classical music emanating from the shadowy recesses of the building. Can you say ‘boo’?

Pumpkin Carving, Smithsonian Style: Sick of carving jack o’lantern after jack o’lantern, with the same triangle eyes and toothless smile every year? This year you can carve pumpkins using our specially-customized Smithsonian-inspired stencils of Tai Shan the panda, the Smithsonian castle, the elephant from Natural History or even a Neanderthal. Smithsonian magazine’s Brian Wolly and Jamie Simon have teamed up to bring you a group of the scariest, zaniest, cutest, and most Halloween-like things they could uncover around the mall. Use our Smithsonian stencils to carve your pumpkin, and your squash is guaranteed to be the most cultured on the block! If you send us your photos of your carved pumpkins, we’ll even post them in our photo gallery.

The sun, as photographed by Erin Braswell, Smithsonian Public Observatory Project on Sept. 8, 2010

Just Close Enough To The Sun—This week, the folks at the “AirSpace” blog treat us to a few photos of that fiery red giant near and dear to our hearts, the sun. Using a telescope from the Public Observatory Project made especially for looking into the sun’s harsh light, solar imaging expert Greg Piepol instructed blogger Erin Braswell on how to account for turbulence in the earth’s atmosphere that often obscures photographs of the sun. The resulting pictures show a crisp outline of the star, including sunspots and a “prominence,” or protrusion of hot matter coming from the sun’s surface.

Piano Podcast—Michael Asch, son of Folkways Records founder Moses “Moe” Asch, hosts Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds To Grow On, a 26-part radio program of music from the label’s original collection. Interspersed throughout the show is the story of Asch’s father, who started his own record company in 1948, the products of which were later donated to the Smithsonian. Episode 23, Piano, features a variety of jazz and blues piano music from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Download the podcast from Folkways, along with the your pick of the 22 preceding installments.

Warhol Meets Jackson—In 1984, pop artist Andy Warhol did a portrait of Michael Jackson, which was published as the cover of Time magazine in March of that year. “Face to Face” has entries from Warhol’s diary of those days, which provide a window into the mind of one of the 20th century’s most famous artists. After reading the story behind the work, you may just be enticed to head on over to the Portrait Gallery to see the actual silkscreened portrait, which is hanging in the “20th Century Americans” exhibit.

Archives Fair—In conjunction with the month-long blogathon for American Archives Month, this Friday the American Archives will be hosting an archives fair, (free and open to the public) from 10 to 5 at the S. Dillon Ripley Center. The event will include lectures from the archivists about preserving, cataloging and ensuring accessibility to the precious collections at the Smithsonian. Today, “SIRIS” has posted interviews with Anne Van Camp, Director of the Smithsonian Archives; Wendy Shay, curator at American History, Archives Center; and Freer/Sackler archivist Rachael Christine Woody.

Accelerometers in iPhones can sense how to orient your display. Photo courtesy of the AirSpace blog.

For the record, October is American Archives Month—To celebrate, the Smithsonian Collections blog, SIRIS, is hosting a 31-day blogathon, where Smithsonian museums and affiliates will be blogging about their archives, giving an insider’s look at what goes into preserving and storing so many precious artifacts. The Institution is also hosting the “Ask the Smithsonian” program, where members of the community can set up appointments to bring in objects and learn how best to care for them. An online version of the program will be available on the Smithsonian’s Facebook page.

Cell Phones and Far Beyond—You know that nifty feature on your iPhone that flips your display vertically or horizontally depending on how you hold it? According to a post this week on the AirSpace blog, that mechanism is called an accelerometer, and consists of a tiny chip inserted into the phone that can sense the acceleration of gravity. This technology has apparently been used for years in automobiles, video games and even ballistic missiles, and was designed in 1970 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Charles Stark “Doc” Draper.

Skating Through the Week—It might be time to dust off those old roller skates and take them for a spin. As we emerge from the dog days of summer and enter early fall, there couldn’t be a better time for National Roller Skating Week, which the Smithsonian Libraries blog let us know about yesterday. They also posted a charming trade advertisement of Plimpton’s Patent Roller Skates from around 1879 (Plimpton’s roller skates were patented in 1863 and 1866).

It Has Been Fifty Years… Since Vice President Richard Nixon faced off with John F. Kennedy for the first ever nationally televised presidential debate. The Portrait Gallery’s Face to Face blog has two posts on the debates, and we published an article about the changing dynamics of debating on television this month as well.

Unexpected New Bird Species—Smithsonian researchers at the Conservation Biology Institute and Natural History have discovered that the magnificent frigatebirds living on the Galapagos Islands are genetically distinct from those living on the mainland of the Americas, and have been for over half a million years. This comes as quite a surprise, as frigatebirds are able to travel hundreds of miles and are not particularly isolated from those on the mainland.

Cynthia Rowley's new line of "dress-up" bandages is conquering the fashion world, one finger at a time. Courtesy of the Cooper-Hewitt Design Blog.

More New Lion Cubs! Three weeks ago, the National Zoo’s 5-year-old lion Shera gave birth to four healthy cubs. This morning, Shera’s sister Nababiep gave birth to three more lion cubs to add to the growing pride! Check out a clip of the new babies on YouTube.

Happy Birthday, George Gustav Heye—This week, SIRIS celebrated the birth of George Gustav Heye, the namesake for the Smithsonian’s Heye Center in New York City, part of the National Museum of the American Indian. Born on September 16, 1874, Heye developed an affinity for collecting Native American cultural objects after buying a hide shirt from a Navajo woman in Arizona. From there, Heye’s collection slowly grew to eventually contain over 225,000 objects made by indigenous peoples of the Western hemisphere. In 1916, Heye founded the Museum of the American Indian, where he displayed his collections. In 1990, Heye’s museum became the National Museum of the American Indian, with the museum here on the Mall opening in 2004. The SIRIS post includes silent footage of Heye at work cataloguing artifacts in his office. Apparently, smoking cigars while handling artifacts was not unacceptable at the time.

Fashion at Your Fingertips—American fashion designer Cynthia Rowley is known for creating flirty dresses in vibrant colors. Now, she’s taking on an as-yet untapped niche of the fashion market: adhesive bandages. Rowley, who just showed her new clothing line at New York City’s Lincoln Center, also has a new line of “dress-up” Band-Aids. The Design Blog reports that the bandages are available in the Cooper-Hewitt museum store and Cynthia Rowley stores, in case you want some bandage bling for that pesky paper cut.

Saving the Coral Reefs—Last week on ATM, we looked into the coral sperm bank that a few Smithsonian scientists have created in Hawaii. This week, the Smithsonian Science Web site has posted a video interview with one of the lead researchers on the project, Mary Hagedorn. The first to ever try out cryopreservation on coral, Hagedorn discusses how she’s been freezing and preserving coral sperm, eggs, embryos and stem cells to ensure the future of many different Hawaiian coral species.

Rebuilding Haiti’s Cultural Heritage—This past week, the American History Museum hosted a choir of 30 school children from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, who are on a goodwill tour of the country to gain support for rebuilding their music school. The choir, featured this week on Oh Say Can You See, is singing traditional Haitian songs to communicate the country’s rich musical history and hope for the future. An article in the September issue of Smithsonian magazine covers the Smithsonian’s initiative to recover and preserve Haiti’s artistic culture after the devastating earthquake in January, 2010.

Inspecting the "cabinet of curiosities," 2010, by Michael Barnes, Smithsonian Institution Archives.

(Ed. Note — This is our 1000th post. More to come later, but thanks to everyone for getting us this far!)

It’s a Big Year for Natural History—We’ve mentioned that the Natural History Museum turns 100 this year before, but as part of the celebration, they’ve been giving us a peek into their diverse staff by posting video interviews of them on the museum’s Web site. Some are already available to watch, including interviews with photographer Chip Clark and Carole Butler, Chief of Collections for NMNH. My personal favorite is a video of some NMNH staff members tasting a smorgasbord of crunchy crickets, cockroach cookies and other buggy delicacies.

Labor Day Has Come and Gone… To ring in the start of school, the Ocean Portal blog recommends getting passionate about exploration. They’ve compiled a list of the best known ocean explorers, from Robert Ballard, who explored the Titanic shipwreck, to John Walsh and Jacques Piccard, the only two humans ever to descend the depths of the Challenger Deep, part of the Mariana Trench.

What Would You Have Asked? A couple weeks ago, we announced that several Smithsonian museums would be taking part in the Twitter-hosted Ask a Curator Day. Whether or not you participated, Pushing the Envelope has posted the best questions and answers asked of their curator at the event. What’s the rarest stamp at the Postal Museum? Do curators get scared being in museums at night? What letter from throughout American history do you wish the museum had?

First the Bureau of Bureaucracy, and Now… The cabinet of curiosities! Aside from alliteration, what curiosities are contained in this new furnishing acquired by the Smithsonian Institution Archives American Art Museum last fall? According to Bigger Picture, the cabinet’s doors open to reveal rows of 35 millimeter slides of Smithsonian artifacts and buildings. The cabinet recalls the mass of images (likely over three million) in the Smithsonian Institution Archives from before the dawning of the digital age. Though it is not currently on view, Bigger Picture does have some photos to share.

Cholesterol Through the Ages—The second installment of a two-part post on Oh Say Can You See features everyone’s (least?) favorite heart-stopper. An intern at the National Museum of American History describes the trials and tribulations of telling the story of cholesterol through documents and objects of the past.

This post has been updated. The “cabinet of curiosities” is not among the collections of the American Art Museum. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution Archives. ATM regrets the error.

A false statement on some spam e-mails claims that Mars will appear as large as the moon coming up in late August. Image courtesy of AirSpace.

The Secret Life of Anthropologists—Along with the entomologists, oceanographers, biologists, physicists and other scientists in the Natural History Museum are the anthropologists, who work furiously to research, curate and put order to the vast collections at the Smithsonian museums. Right now on the Natural History Web site are video podcasts of six Smithsonian anthropologists, who speak about how they got into the field, where their primary interests lie, and what they do from day to day.

Smithsonian Channel App Launch—Now, you’ll be able to watch some of your favorite episodes from the Smithsonian Channel’s original series, in addition to tons of video clips and documentary footage with the newly launched Smithsonian Channel app for iPhone and iPod Touch. Available on the channel’s Web site are iPhone screenshots, showing a few of the offerings included with the app, such as “HydroTech: Venice,” “Zoo Vets” and “Batwomen of Panama.”

Seven-Year Spam? Seven years is a long time in cyberspace, so you have to give an e-mail message that AirSpace is calling a “spectacular hoax” at least a bit of credit for surviving so long. This prank e-mail originated in August, 2003, when Mars came closer to Earth than it had in 60,000 years, yielding an enlarged view of the Red Planet. But as astronomy educator at the Air and Space museum Shelley White clears up for us, this astronomical event came and went, while that pesky email has resurfaced every August since then.

Shoo Fly, Power My Clock! Many of the most inspired innovations featured in the Cooper-Hewitt’s continuing National Design Triennial draw on the natural world for solutions to everyday puzzles and problems. But did you ever imagine someone would invent a clock that captured and killed flies, converting their biomass into mechanical energy? Learn about this and other natural power sources being utilized by designers on the Design Blog.

Climate Change and Phytoplankton—Posted on the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center’s Shorelines blog is a video about SERC’s photobiology lab, where scientists are exposing phytoplankton—tiny marine plants responsible for making about half of Earth’s oxygen—to UV radiation in order to assess how cosmic radiation, and climate change, might affect life on earth.