Natural History

The view was spectacular, the one the astronauts get from the space shuttle. The kids were craning their necks upward watching the faraway Earth slowly turn, oceans giving way to mountains.But we were in the middle of Manhattan. Specifically, we were in the American Museum of Natural History's new interactive Hall of Planet Earth looking up at the 8-foot-wide globe that beams down satellite data."The goal here is to convey the excitement scientists feel studying the Earth," explained the hall's co-curator, Rosamond Kinzler, whose young son accompanied her on expeditions to gather some of the specimens.

When you know the answers to these questions, go to http://www.4Kids.org/detectives/On which coast did the Tlingit Indian people live?Who first brought chocolate to Europe?How do you become an Energy Chaser? (Go to http://www.exelon corp. com/kids/ to find out.)CHOCOLATE PARADISEFrom cookies to cake to fudge, it's almost impossible to resist the lure of chocolate. At Exploratorium's Exploring Chocolate Web site, you'll dive into a chocolate lover's fantasy world. Bring a sweet tooth out tohttp://www.

Robert B. Costello,71, a former General Motors executive and undersecretary of defense in the Reagan and Bush administrations, died Tuesday in Bradenton, Fla.Hildegarde Howard,96, one of the first women selected as chief science curator of a U.S. museum, died Saturday in Laguna Hills, Calif. Ms. Howard landed a job in 1923 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.Pub Date: 3/06/98

WASHINGTON -- When black spots appeared on deep sea red crabs in 1995, alarmed fishermen turned to the Smithsonian Institution for an explanation.Scientists there found the same markings on crabs that the Smithsonian had collected in the 1890s. The fishermen were reassured that the spots were a natural phenomenon, not the harbinger of a new disease or environmental menace.The crab review validated once again the curator's motto: Keep everything because you never know when you'll need it.But these days, curators tending the Smithsonian's 140 million artifacts worry that when scientists of the future look for specimens from the late 20th century they won't find what they need.

In a Sunday Arts article about amber artifacts at the Smithsonian, the time of the early Baltic amber trade was stated incorrectly. The initial flourishing was around 3100 B.C.The Sun regrets the error.WASHINGTON -- There's a very strange creature inside this chunk of amber. The tiny little body is curled a bit like a scorpion's tail. But wait, there's a round head, big eyes -- and a face, for crying out loud.It's an itty-bitty space alien.What's going on?Francis Hueber, curator of paleobiology for the National Museum of Natural History, has them going there for a minute.

Soledad Salame's latest show at Gomez, opening Saturday, is an installation that consists of paintings, prints and insects. Real insects from the rain forests of South America, shown in specimen boxes on loan from the National Museum of Natural History in Washington. The theme of the show is the environment (of course), and Salame says, "It is about bugs, beauty and the Earth." In conjunction with the opening, Gary Hevel, an entomologist from the natural history museum, will speak on insect farming in Indonesia on Saturday at 3 p.m. Also on view this month at Gomez are the paintings of Gloria Ortiz Hernandez and and photographs by Bernard Faucon.

Saturday and SundayAn American Journey. A collage of America's past and future under seven heated tents on the Mall and in theaters of the Smithsonian Institution museums features popular performers and American business leaders. On the Mall between 7th and 14th streets N.W. Hours are 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday unless otherwise noted. Free.Harmony and Heritage halls. A live showcase of distinctly American music, including gospel, jazz, country and folk, on stages on the Mall.

Michael Kerr,a 2-year-old boy who battled cancer and attracted donations from around the nation, died Thursday in Chino Hills, Calif. Donations helped the family raise $300,000 for a bone marrow transplant from his 6-year-old sister, Tiffany, but he developed a lung infection, pneumonia, kidney failure and a brain tumor.Max E. Causey,69, foreman of the jury that convicted Jack Ruby of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, died of a heart attack Sunday in Garland, Texas. When Mr. Ruby shot him, Mr. Oswald was accused of assassinating President John F. Kennedy in Dallas.

WASHINGTON -- When black spots appeared on deep sea red crabs in 1995, alarmed fishermen turned to the Smithsonian Institution for an explanation.Scientists there found the same markings on crabs that the Smithsonian had collected in the 1890s. The fishermen were reassured that the spots were a natural phenomenon, not the harbinger of a new disease or environmental menace.The crab review validated once again the curator's motto: Keep everything because you never know when you'll need it.But these days, curators tending the Smithsonian's 140 million artifacts worry that when scientists of the future look for specimens from the late 20th century they won't find what they need.

TODAY'S GRAND opening of the Hard Rock Cafe in Baltimore -- the 77th link in a chain that has spanned the globe from its initial London location to places like Reykjavik, Iceland, and Tijuana, Mexico -- underscores the universality of pop culture.Instead of local flavor and quirkiness, increasing numbers of consumers are demanding predictability and familiarity. For food, go to a McDonald's or Burger King; for rags to Banana Republic or Benetton. From Beijing to Paris and New York, pop culture enables people to have the same experiences.

Here's something you may not know about the sharks at the National Aquarium in Baltimore: They're often up at 1 a.m., drifting aimlessly like long-finned insomniacs. But you'd have trouble nodding off, too, if occasionally dozens of Girl Scouts held sleepovers in front of your tank. After all, the last thing anyone wants to do at a sleepover is, well, sleep. That goes double when the overnight stay is at a popular venue most people never get to visit after closing time. As families and groups look for cost-friendly diversions, many are waking up to the idea of camping in at a local attraction.

"The Tree: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live and Why They Matter" By Colin Tudge Tudge declares that trees are engineering marvels and that "wood is one of the wonders of the universe." He is equally in awe over the astonishing variety of forms trees achieve around the globe, and precisely describes them, from oaks to baobabs to the mighty kauri. "Without trees, our species would not have come into being at all," declares Tudge, and now in this time of global warming, trees are key to our survival.

With all due respect to Frank Sinatra and his swaggering saunter of a song, "New York, New York," if there's one thing better than waking up in a city that never sleeps, it is never sleeping in a city that never sleeps. While planning my latest visit to Gotham, my list of everything I wanted to see, eat and buy grew so long, I realized my only choice was to disregard any need for that waste of time called slumber. Because I planned to visit on a Wednesday, the city's already vast menu of activities expanded further still, offering the opportunity to see both a Broadway matinee and a theatrical performance later that evening.

Harley Garbani excused himself, ducked out of the room and returned with a savage set of 6-inch teeth and claws. "Take a look," he said, displaying the finer, if sharper points of a Tyrannosaurus rex. "If he picks you up with these, you can kiss your butt goodbye." That fate seems unlikely these days even if Garbani's home is more appropriate to, say, Jurassic Park than the trailer park in Hemet, Calif., where he lives. Moving from room to room is a journey of a few feet spanning millions of years.

Only grandson of Col. Fred H. Wagner and Lillian Wright Wagner, and only son of Fred H. Wagner, Jr. and Marie Wagner of Hagerstown, Maryland. Beloved husband of Maria for 65 years; proud father of Frederick (Michelle), Caroline (James) Alley, Jeanne Oster, Laurence (Xiomara) and Peter, and loving grandfather of thirteen. Born in 1917 in Baltimore, Maryland, he was educated in Baltimore, White Plains, New York, Grosse Point and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Cambridge in Great Britain. He served as a Navigator in the Army Air Corps in World War II in the Pacific Theater.

Researchers digging in what was once the bottom of a Chinese lake have found the fossils of a loon-like creature that suggests today's birds may have evolved from aquatic environments. Gansus yumenensis lived 110 million years ago, had feathers and was a foot-propelled diver with webbed feet, according to an international group of researchers. From an evolutionary standpoint, it is the most advanced bird from that era yet to be discovered, the researchers say. The bird would have resembled a modern loon, but was not closely related to the loon or any bird alive today, they say. The researchers found up to 40 Gansus fossils preserved in mudstone rocks deposited in an ancient lake in northwestern China, at a site near the town of Changma, about 1,200 miles west of Beijing.

Five years ago, Michelle McCourt was reading her son's favorite bedtime story, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? when she noticed something strange. The dinosaurs she remembered from her childhood in the 1970s were gone. In their place were unfamiliar creatures such as the "apatosaurus" and the "pteranodon." "The brontosaurus didn't exist anymore. A pteradactyl wasn't a pteradactyl," said the 41-year-old mom from Sparta, N.J. As McCourt and other parents have discovered, things are different in Bedrock these days.

A rodent that scientists once branded as an entirely new variety of animal has turned out to be a really old one. Laonastes aenigmamus looked like something new when conservation biologists spotted it in a Laotian open-air food market last year. Laotians like to roast the animal, which looks like a squirrel and measures 16 inches from nose to tail. The researchers sent 15 specimens to the Natural History Museum in London, where experts compared the skulls, teeth, bones and its DNA profile with those of known rodents.

Analysis of a rare specimen of the earliest known bird bolsters the theory that modern birds arose from dinosaurs -- they had dinosaur-like feet. A study of an Archaeopteryx specimen found in Germany shows that unlike modern birds, the ancient version lacked the perching foot of a modern bird. Instead, it had a first toe that pointed inward, similar to the human thumb. The magpie-sized bird also could hyperextend its second toe, making it similar to the deinonychosaur, a theropod dinosaur thought to be its closest relative.

The nation's attic sits in a cluster of buildings around the National Mall in Washington. Founded more than 155 years ago, the Smithsonian Institution was the dream of Englishman James Smithson. Upon his death in 1829, Smithson willed his fortune to the United States to fund "an Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge." Today, the Smithsonian's 16 museums attract nearly 25 million visitors annually, many from overseas. From Baltimore, the Smithsonian is an easy day trip you can make again and again.