Description: 100 years ago in August of 1914, the Panama Canal opened to commercial shipping. Smithsonian scientists knew the canal would create major environmental changes and have spent the last 100 years documenting them.
Description: While the Smithsonian Institution is perhaps better known for its museums that pepper the landscape of the National Mall in Washington DC, its devotion to scientific research easily matches its dedication to collecting, preserving, and displaying artifacts of cultural and historical importance. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) started off as a small field