INSPIRING GENERATIONS THROUGH KNOWLEDGE AND DISCOVERY:

NEW RESEARCH

Highlights of some of many new Smithsonian research initiatives have been prepared by 

Under Secretary for Science Eva J. Pell and Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture 

Richard Kurin.  Time permitting, the Under Secretaries will provide brief oral summaries of 

the following papers to the Board at its January 25, 2010, meeting. 

A. Highlights of New Science Discoveries, Research Programs, and Initiatives  

B. Research in History, Art, and Culture: East Meets West
INSPIRING GENERATIONS THROUGH KNOWLEDGE AND DISCOVERY

Highlights of New Science Discoveries, Research Programs, and Initiatives  

The work of Smithsonian scientists is essential to the Institution’s ability to meet the four 

grand challenges of the Smithsonian Strategic Plan: understanding and sustaining a 

biodiverse planet, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, valuing world cultures, and 

understanding the American experience.  The following stories highlight a few of the many 

new discoveries, research programs, and initiatives that have occurred recently at the 

Smithsonian.  These achievements reflect the immense resources and intellectual talent of 

the Smithsonian, as well as demonstrate its commitment to addressing issues and 

answering questions of global importance. 

UNLOCKING THE MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Astronomers at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) Find Super­Earth

Using Amateur Technology

Astronomers at SAO have discovered a “super‐Earth” orbiting a red dwarf star 40 light‐

years from Earth.  They found the distant planet with a small fleet of ground‐based 

telescopes no larger than those many amateur astronomers have in their backyards.  

Although the planet is too hot to sustain life, the discovery shows that current ground‐

based technologies are capable of finding almost‐Earth‐sized planets in warm, life‐friendly 

orbits. 

A super‐Earth is defined as a planet between one and 10 times the mass of the Earth.  The 

newfound world, GJ1214b, is about 6.5 times as massive as the Earth.  Its host star, GJ1214, 

is about one‐fifth the size of the Sun, has a surface temperature of only about 4,900 degrees 

Fahrenheit, and emits a luminosity just three‐thousandths as bright as the Sun.  

                                                                          

This artist's conception shows 

the newly discovered super‐

Earth GJ 1214b, which orbits a 

red dwarf star 40 light‐years 

from Earth.  It was discovered 

by the MEarth project—a small 

fleet of ground‐based 

telescopes no larger than those 

many amateur astronomers 

have in their backyards. 
2 

The planet GJ1214b orbits its star once every 38 hours at a distance of only 1.3 million 

miles.  Astronomers estimate the planet's temperature to be about 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  

Although warm as an oven, it is still cooler than any other known transiting planet because 

it orbits a very dim star. 

Since GJ1214b crosses in front of its star, astronomers were able to measure its radius, 

which is about 2.7 times that of the Earth.  This makes GJ1214b one of the two smallest 

transiting worlds astronomers have discovered.  The planet’s density suggests that 

GJ1214b is composed of about three‐fourths water and other ices, and one‐fourth rock.  

There are also hints that the planet has a gaseous atmosphere. 

National Air and Space Museum (NASM) Geologist Makes a Radar Map of the Moon

A Smithsonian geologist is using the 

Greenbank telescope system in West Virginia 

to make radar maps of the moon. 

Dr. Bruce Campbell can direct the Greenbank 

telescope, which is more than 300 feet wide, 

towards any spot in the sky.  The telescope 

receives radar echoes that are bounced off the 

moon by signals transmitted from the Aricebo 

telescope in Puerto Rico.  The echoes can 

penetrate the dirt‐ and dust‐covered surface 

of the moon to create high‐resolution images that can show features as deep as 100 feet 

below the moon’s surface.  Scientists also have seen ancient geological features such as lava 

flows. 

Making radar maps of the moon allows scientists to understand its basic geology.  The 

moon also preserves a geological record of a time in the history of the solar system going 

back more than 3 billion years—a record that is almost entirely erased on the Earth 

because of erosion.  In addition, scientists can study ancient 

volcanism, the role of impacts in the sculpting of the moon’s 

surface, and a variety of other geological issues.   

The maps also provide basic information on the surface and 

subsurface properties of the moon, which are needed to prepare 

for robotic and human exploration.  By using this technology, 

Smithsonian scientists can look down into the lunar soil and 

back in time.  

NASM scientists use radar echoes that are bounced off the 

moon and received by the Greenbank telescope system in West 

Virginia to see below the moon’s surface. 
3 

UNDERSTANDING AND SUSTAINING A BIODIVERSE PLANET

National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) Biologist Discovers New Species of

Giant Rat Discovered in Volcano Crater

A Smithsonian biologist discovered a new species of giant rat on a filmmaking expedition to 

a remote rainforest in Papua New Guinea.  The discovery was made in the crater of the 

extinct volcano Mount Bosavi in Papua New Guinea’s Southern Highlands province.  Two‐

and‐a‐half miles in width and rimmed with walls nearly a half‐mile high, the gigantic 

volcano’s crater trapped the creatures inside a “lost world” of mountain rainforests 

probably rarely visited by humans. 

Kristofer Helgen, curator of mammals at NMNH, was one of the first on the scene when the 

rat was found by a tracker from the Kasua tribe that lives outside the crater. 

Weighing nearly 3.5 pounds and measuring 32 inches 

from nose to tail, the Bosavi woolly rat is one of the 

biggest rats in the world.  Most surprising is that the 

rat is completely tame, a sign that the animals in the 

isolated crater are unfamiliar with humans.  

The gigantic rat is silvery gray, with thick woolly fur.  

It eats a vegetarian diet of leaves and roots and 

probably builds underground nests beneath rocks 

and tree roots.  A member of the genus Mallomys, it 

has yet to receive its formal scientific name. 

The expedition also found approximately 16 species 

of frogs, one species of gecko, three species of fish, 

and at least 20 species of insects and spiders— 

potentially all new species.  Also on the list is an animal Helgen calls the Bosavi silky 

cuscus, which may be a new subspecies of the tree‐living marsupial.  

NMNH Researchers Identify Largest Orb­Weaving Spider

Researchers from NMNH and colleagues in Slovenia have identified a new giant Nephila 

species (golden orb weaver spiders) from Africa and Madagascar.  Smithsonian research 

associate Matjaž Kuntner, along with Jonathan Coddington, senior scientist and curator of 

arachnids in NMNH’s Department of Entomology, determined size differences in the family 

Nephilidae, establishing that this new species, on average, is the largest orb weaver known.  

Only the females are giants, however, with an average body length of 1.5 inches and a leg 

span of 4–5 inches; the males are tiny by comparison.   

More than 41,000 spider species are known to science with about 400–500 new species 

identified each year.  But for some well‐known groups, including the giant golden orb 

weavers, the last valid described species dates back to the 19th century. 

“It is a true rat, closely related to 

the rats and mice most of us are 

familiar with, but so much bigger,” 

said Helgen. 
4 

In response to the discovery of a seemingly unique Nephila specimen in 1978, Kuntner, 

Coddington, and colleagues launched several expeditions to South Africa to find this 

species.  Their searches, however, were unsuccessful, 

suggesting that the specimen was a hybrid or perhaps an 

extinct species.  Then, the finding of a second specimen from 

Madagascar in 2003 suggested that the spider found in 1978 

was not a hybrid.  As no additional specimens turned up 

among more than 2,500 samples from 37 museums, the 

species seemed extinct.  When a South African colleague found 

a male and two females in Tembe Elephant Park a few years 

ago, it became clear that the specimens were indeed a valid 

new species. 

NMNH Scientists Find Evidence that Plant Pollination by Insects Occurred Long

Before Flowers Evolved  

Scientific evidence shows that almost all of the earliest angiosperms (flowering plants) 

were pollinated by insects.  Whether such a relationship existed between insects and early 

gymnosperm species (non‐flowering plants with exposed seeds, such as conifers) has been 

widely disputed.  Smithsonian scientists, however, found evidence that gymnosperm plants 

shared an intricate pollination relationship with scorpionfly insects 62 million years before 

flowering plants appear in fossil records.   

Conrad Labandeira, paleoentomologist at NMNH, and team members examined both the 

specialized features of scorpionfly mouthparts and the unique reproductive features of 

coexisting gymnosperm plants.  The proboscis (elongated tubular mouthparts) of these 

This discovery answers 

paleobotanists’ questions 

about “strange” structures 

occurring in the reproductive 

cones of certain ancient 

plants,” said Labandeira. 

The female of this new species, similar to other species in the

Nephilidae family (such as Nephila madagascariensis pictured 

here), can have a leg span up to 5 inches wide. 
5 

insects, which was up to 1.3 centimeters long, was either hairy or had ridges, and 

frequently had pads at the tip to suck up fluids, similar to the structure of modern moths 

and butterflies.  The presumed gymnosperm hosts possessed deep funnel‐like or tubular 

channels, also up to 1.3 centimeters long, containing nectar‐like pollen drops.. 

The reproductive anatomy of the non‐flowering plants show important modifications to 

attract insects, similar to modern flowering plants.  However, the lineages of these plants 

and their scorpionfly pollinators became extinct approximately 105 million years ago, just 

as flowering plants and their newly evolved pollinators, such as butterflies, became 

established.   

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) Scientists Examine Plankton’s

Branch on the Tree Of Life

SERC scientists are working on the Assembling the Tree of Life Initiative funded by the 

National Science Foundation.  Researchers are using the latest tools in genetics to decipher 

the evolutionary relationships among dinoflagellates (a large group of organisms, most of 

which are marine plankton).  These single‐celled organisms are of global importance for 

many reasons: they are at the base of the food web that supports fisheries, they cause algal 

blooms, and they can produce toxins that threaten human health.   

  

Smithsonian scientists Wayne Coats and Tsvetan Bachvaroff, along with collaborators at 

other academic institutions, are using DNA analysis to advance understanding of 

dinoflagellate evolution.  For the first time ever, they have discovered how to distinguish 

the genes of the parasitic dinoflagellate Amoebophrya from those of its host.  Amoebophrya 

is important to the Assembling the Tree of Life investigations because it forms a branch at 

the base of the dinoflagellate lineage.  Coats and Bachvaroff are laying the groundwork for 

future investigations of the evolutionary relationships in dinoflagellates and related taxa.    

SERC’s Tsvetan Bachvaroff 

analyzes massive amounts of 

DNA data to advance 

understanding of dinoflagellate 

evolution.  His research is part 

of the Assembling the Tree of 

Life initiative.   
6 

SERC Scientists Predict Warn Climate Change May Drastically Alter Chesapeake Bay  

The Chesapeake Bay is one of the largest and most productive estuaries in the world, yet 

dramatic changes are in store for it in coming decades if climate‐change predictions hold 

true, say a team of SERC scientists and colleagues. 

Using forecasts of atmospheric carbon dioxide production for the coming century, the 

scientists predict the water of the Bay will see rising levels of dissolved carbon dioxide and 

higher water temperatures.  As a result, problems of low dissolved oxygen concentrations 

in the Chesapeake’s water are expected to worsen and  sea levels are anticipated to rise. 

For fish and other organisms living in the Bay, the scientists predict:   

• Populations of marine fish that favor warmer water and whose northern range ends 

near the Chesapeake (such as southern flounder, mullet, and tarpon) can be 

expected to increase. 

• Many fish species that favor cold water (such as yellow perch, white perch, striped 

bass, and winter flounder) will disappear or become less abundant in the 

Chesapeake Bay.   

• Fish susceptible to winter die‐offs due to the seasonal cold weather of the 

Chesapeake may see a strengthening of their populations due to warmer water, with 

more juveniles surviving through the winter.   

• Some fish parasites will likely benefit from warmer water, increasing their impact 

on fish and oysters in the Bay.   

• Rising sea levels will submerge some of the Bay’s wetlands, which many ecologically 

and economically important fish use as nursery areas and as foraging grounds.   

                    

With warming temperatures, the species that make up the food web of the Chesapeake Bay 

will be impacted differently, likely disrupting the normal interactions between predator 

and prey species.  Hypoxia, or a lack of oxygen in the water, will be another prevailing 

characteristic of warmer Bay water with expected negative effects.  At warmer 

temperatures microbes will consume oxygen at a higher rate and less oxygen can dissolve 

in warm water.  At the same time fish and perhaps other animals will require more oxygen 

in warmer water.   

In addition to effecting fish 

populations, an increase of carbon 

dioxide in the Chesapeake may raise 

the acidity of the Bay and reduce 

the ability of oysters, clams, 

mussels, and other animals to build 

calcium carbonate shells. 
7 

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) Researchers Use Camera Traps and

Radio Collars to Reveal Hoarding Strategies of the Agouti

In a series of ongoing experiments on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal, STRI 

researchers are using camera traps, radio collars, and palm nuts with attached tracking 

transmitters to take a closer look at the nut‐hoarding strategies of the agouti (a large 

rodent from Central and South American rain forests). 

Rabbit‐sized with squirrel‐like habits, the agouti is a hoarder and a robber.  When not 

collecting fallen nuts and burying them in shallow holes, it is adept at finding, stealing, and 

re‐hiding nuts buried by its agouti neighbors.  A single nut might be hidden and stolen 

multiple times.  The agouti’s method of seed dispersal and caching is critically important 

for tropical trees, as it gives seeds a much better chance for germination. 

Hoarding seeds is also important for the agouti.  In certain seasons food is scarce in the 

tropical jungle.  Just as squirrels in North America hide acorns to survive snowy winters, 

agoutis hide nuts in the tropics to survive periods when little food is available. 

                                                                                           

The researchers found that where less food is available, agoutis spread their seed cashes 

more widely, making it harder for pilferers to find the nuts they hide.  “To hide nuts further 

away from the tree where they are found requires more energy, yet an animal benefits 

when fewer of their caches are found by pilferers,” says Roland Kays, a STRI mammalogist.  

“In lean areas competitors increase their foraging and the hoarders are left with no other 

choice but to spend more time in hiding seeds or lose them to thieves.” 

Sequencing also plays a role in seed dispersal the researchers found.  In taking seeds from a 

tray laid on the ground, the agoutis hid the seeds they first removed closer to the tray than 

the seeds they took later on.  The researchers also learned that larger seeds are hidden 

with more care than smaller seeds.  “In terms of energy value, a larger seed is more 

valuable and worth the extra effort to hide it,” Kays said. 

“It is interesting that a rodent can be doing this.  It is ingrained in the calculations of the 

daily life of an agouti to make these optimal decisions.” 

The agouti’s method of seed 

dispersal and caching is 

critically important for 

tropical trees, giving seeds a 

much better chance for 

germination. 
8 

STRI Researchers Find that Tree Frog Embryos Can Evaluate Different Features of

Vibrations

Researchers from STRI and Boston University have been taking a closer look at the 

vibrations that red‐eyed tree frog embryos use as cues to trigger early hatching.  The 

researchers—Karen Warkentin of both STRI and Boston University and Michael Caldwell 

and J. Gregory McDaniel of Boston University—embedded tiny recording devices into red‐

eyed tree frog egg clutches and recorded the low‐frequency vibrations caused by snakes as 

they ate the eggs and also measured the vibrations caused by rain storms.  They played 

back these vibrations to egg clutches in a laboratory and found that some of the embryos 

hatched in response to the snake‐generated vibrations and not to the rain vibrations. 

This experiment showed that the embryos were responding to and could differentiate 

between snake vibrations and rainstorm vibrations.  The embryos didn’t need chemical or 

visual cues from snakes.  

What puzzled the researchers was that the low‐frequency vibrations triggering the embryo 

hatchings were in some ways very similar to vibrations caused by many benign forest 

stimuli—such as rainfall, wind, or non‐predatory animals.  “Hatching early in response to 

benign stimuli would be a serious error,” Warkentin explained, “since premature hatchlings 

are vulnerable to predators in the pond.  We reasoned that if a defense—such as hatching 

early—is costly for prey, then mechanisms should be in place to avoid false alarms, just as 

mechanisms exist to recognize and defend against predators.” 

                                                                          

In recent laboratory work the scientists improved their understanding of how these false‐

alarm mechanisms work in regard to rainfall.  The low‐frequency vibrations generated by 

rainstorms are accompanied by two elements that snake‐feeding vibrations do not have: 

high‐frequency vibrations and an initial buildup of intensity.  When these two features 

were removed from rainfall recordings and played back to embryos in the lab, many of the 

embryos hatched.   

  

A snake can eat a clutch of 

red‐eyed tree frog eggs in 

five minutes—but some of 

the frog embryos can sense 

the vibrations of the snake’s 

eating and hatch 

prematurely. 
Report to the Regents on new Smithsonian research in history, art, and culture:

East Meets West 

In October 2009 the Smithsonian American Art Museum, with the cooperation of Freer and Sackler 

Galleries, the Asian Pacific American Program, and the Archives of American Art, organized EastWest Interchanges in American Art, a symposium sponsored by the Terra Foundation for American 

Art. The symposium drew the participation of Smithsonian, university and international scholars to 

examine the connections and mutual influences of American and Asian art. They found that 

Smithsonian collections revealed far richer interactions and inter‐cultural creativity than 

heretofore appreciated; and that the interaction is not only historic; it also continues in 

contemporary form. A forthcoming book as well as other activities across the Smithsonian will help 

re‐write missing chapters of American and Asian art history.  

ORIENTALISM

1. Harmony in Blue and Gold

“Peacock Room,”  

1876‐77 home of Frederick Leyland, 

1904 home of Charles Lang Freer  

James McNeill Whistler  (1834‐

1903), after Thomas Jekyll 

FREER GALLERY OF ART  

SOCIAL COMMENTARY

2. The Chinese in New York—

Scene in a Baxter Street Club

House

1874, Harper’s Weekly 

Wood engraving on paper 

Winslow Homer (1836‐1910) 

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN 

ART MUSEUM  

AMERICAN PAINTER FOR

THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE

EXPOSITION

3. The Empress Dowager,

Tze His, of China

1903, Oil on canvas 

Katharine Augusta Carl 

(1862‐1938) 

SMITHSONIAN 

AMERICAN ART MUSEUM 

1

2 3
AMERICAN PAINTER LEARNS

JAPANESE TECHNIQUE

4. The Sauce­Pan Shop

1908, Color woodcut on paper 

Helen Hyde (1868‐1919) 

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN  

ART MUSEUM  

IMMIGRANT APPLIES JAPANESE STYLE TO

REPRESENTATION OF THE AMERICAN WEST  

6. Eagle Peak Trail

1930, Color woodcut on paper 

Chiura Obata born Okayama ken (1862, 

Japan‐1938, Berkeley, California) 

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM  

INDIAN  PAINTER LEARNS

ETCHING TECHNIQUE IN CHICAGO   

5. Sir Rabindranath Tagore

Circa 1916, Drypoint 

Mukul Dey, born Sridharkhola 

(1895‐1989) 

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART 

MUSEUM  

4

6

5
JAPANESE IMMIGRANT PAINTER

CONFLATES STYLES TO DEPICT

CONTRADICTORY THEMES OF INTERNEE’S

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

8. Thinking of Loved One

Circa 1944, Oil on canvas 

Henry Sugimoto born Yuzuru Sugimoto 

(1900, Japan‐1990, New York) 

NATIONAL  MUSEUM OF AMERICAN 

HISTORY

JAPANESE IMMIGRANT PAINTER DEPICTS

INTERNMENT IN POST‐IMPRESSIONIST STYLE

7. Arrival in Camp Jerome

Circa 1943, Oil on canvas 

Henry Sugimoto born Yuzuru Sugimoto 

(1900, Japan‐1990, New York) 

NATIONAL  MUSEUM OF AMERICAN 

HISTORY  

7

8
10

9

CONTEMPORARY COMMENTARY‐ GLOBAL ARTIST

10. Electronic Super Highway

1995, Multimedia 

Nam June Paik  (1932, Seoul, Korea‐2006, Miami, Florida) 

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM 

IMMIGRANT FOLK ART DEPICTS EPISODE IN

JOINED ASIAN AND AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

9. Hmong paj ntaub dab neej flower cloth 

Circa 1990, Cloth embroidery 

My Yia Vang (1958, Laos‐migrated 1980 to 

Wisconsin) 

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY 
DYNASTIC TRADITION

11. Lacquer wood plate with mother‐of‐

pearl inlay, 13‐14th century 

Southern Song to Yuan Dynasty 

FREER GALLERY OF ART  

CONTEMPORARY VIETNAMESE

12. The Buffalo Boy  

2007, Lacquer son mai, eggshells and acrylic,  

Le Ngoc Thanh & Le Duc Hai (Twins) (1975, 

Vietnam‐) 

EDEN CENTER‐GALERIE BRIGITTE/ 

SITES –ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN 

PROGRAM VENUE  

11

13

12 CONTEMPORARY VIETNAMESE‐AMERICAN

13. Moonwalk on Eggshell: Michael Jackson  

2009, Lacquer son mai, eggshells and acrylic 

Quan Le (1958, Vietnam‐ ) & Brigitte Le 

(1962, Vietnam‐1975,migrated to Virginia) 

EDEN CENTER‐GALERIE BRIGITTE/ 

SITES –ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN 

PROGRAM VENUE  
  

CONNECTING CULTURES

14. Tibetan Culture in Washington  

2000, Watercolor on canvas thangka

Sangei Yeshi (?) 

Gift of the Dalai Lama 

CENTER FOR FOLKLIFE AND CULTURAL HERITAGE  

14