Natural History

SUITLAND -- Thousands of artifacts housed at a Smithsonian Institution storage facility here were waterlogged and possibly ruined by a small tornado that struck the complex early Monday morning.Historical furniture, insect collections, canoes, totem poles and sculptures were among items Smithsonian officials identified as damaged by the storm, which struck eight of 27 buildings at the suburban Washington site, two of them severely.Officials said it would take several months to determine the cost of restoring the items.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.