Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service

Titanoboa: Monster Snake Revealed

By now, you may be aware that something big, really big has come to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. In fact, it's so enormous that it arrived in six separate crates, each weighing about 500 pounds.

I was lucky enough to be in the weeds as the Smithsonian Pennsy Facilities team, SITES project director Jennifer Bine, and our registrars, Cheryl Washer, Ruth Trevarrow, Viki Possoff, and Juana Shadid put this 48-foot thing together.

Even before the crew heaved Titanoboa out of those crates, I was quietly amazed by the texture and coloration of the serpent's scales--so supple that they seemed to glisten with rain forest moisture under the dim museum lights. Segment by segment, the snake became even more awe inspiring, both in its scale and its girth. Indeed, getting down on the ground with this baby, I imagined Titanoboa swallowing a medium-sized person without batting an eyelash . . . if snakes had eyelashes, or real eyelids for that matter. 

Tracy Rollins, of the Smithsonian's Facilities crew, was poised to test my theory as he wrangled with the serpent, connecting two of its more recalcitrant parts. Inside of a massive set of coils, which in real life would have exerted some 400 pounds of pressure per square inch, Tracy looked like Titanoboa's first victim in 60 million years. That's when the snake really started to take shape, a mega predator slithering through the murky waters of a distant Paleocene world.

Titanoboa would have been at the top of the monster-eat-monster food chain, and it was easy to understand why when the team finally attached the monster's head, jaws agape, arched around a lifeless crocodile. Like modern constrictors, Titanoboa killed by squeezing its prey to death. Long, flexible tendons in the upper and lower jaws then allowed the snake to devour just about anything that was unlucky enough to get in its path, including massive snub-nosed crocodiles and turtles the size of billiard tables. You could almost hear the stomach acids churning as the snake's digestive system prepared to dissolve this croc's bones and tissues.

Head finally in position, she was born--a snake the length of a school bus, orginially conceived by Ontario-based model maker Kevin Hockley. There were some proud moments as the team stepped back to study the newest addition in the Smithsonian family. "Good gracious," I heard one staffer exclaim, "that's thing's a beast."

Titanoboa: Monster Snake is now on display at the National Museum of Natural History through January 2013. The exhibition will then travel to the Florida Museum of Natural History and the University of Nebraska State Museum, where the Titanoboa research teams continues to make discoveries. From there, there's no telling where the snake will end up--maybe in YOUR natural history museum.

For a complete view of the snake as it was being installed, see our Facebook gallery. Visit the exhibition website to find our about the upcoming tour schedule, see clips from the Smithsonian Channel film, and more.

 

Test Your Astro-cabulary!

Do you know the difference between Nylon, Nomex, and Neoprene? What about the relationship  between a full-pressure suit and a rubber bladder? Gearing up for space means more than donning a special suit--you've got to learn some special lingo, too!

SITES' new Suited for Space exhibition is filled with stunning color photographs and x-rays of NASA spacesuits. But don't forget to read what's written next to the images, too--Suited helps skyrocket visitors' knowledge of astronaut argot with vocabulary lessons sprinkled throughout the show. So while you're stepping in Buzz Aldrin's iconic footprints, you can ask your friends what they know about the development of the Chromel-R covering Buzz's overshoes. Or while you're standing behind a replica suit for a photo-op, you can examine the way the convolute at the knees connects with the Beta cloth covering the legs, providing both mobility and protection from unpredictable dangers like micrometeoroids.

Suited for Space will be on tour for several years. There is also a Facebook page with tons of extras. The national tour of Suited for Space is generously sponsored by DuPont.

Conservation of Space Objects

During the first two Moon landings, astronauts did not have access to drinking water unless they returned to the lander. Starting with Apollo 13, however, spacesuits were equipped with a new accessory: an in-suit Teflon bag with a drinking tube. These drinking devices are the predecessor to today's CamelBak water bottles.

One of the most fragile and unique artifacts traveling with SITES' new Suited for Space exhibition is a rare example of these early drinking devices. Although the device has been stored in a climate-controlled environment since being acquired by the Smithsonian, it has deteriorated over the past 30 years. The object is so fragile, in fact, that conservators from the National Air and Space Museum expect it to have disintegrated almost entirely by the time the national tour of Suited is complete.

So, you might wonder, if the object is in such precarious condition, why is it traveling at all? Smithsonian conservators are closely monitoring this artifact to learn about its deterioration process. After the Suited tour, the artifact will be de-accessioned and studied in more detail. Conservators will take what they learn from the gradual deterioration of the drinking device and use it to improve their conservation of other artifacts made from similar materials. The visible deterioration of this device over time reinforces the importance of artifact conservation and helps visitors better understand why photographs and x-rays of spacesuits--rather than the fragile objects themselves--are included in the exhibition.

Suited for Space will be on tour for several years. There is also a facebook page with tons of extras. The national tour of Suited for Space is generously sponsored by DuPont.

--Robin Meyer, SITES publications intern

#Earth Day 2011

It's almost Earth Day. Ask yourself this question: "What is my museum doing to lessen its impact on Mama Earth?" If the answer is, "not a whole lot," then read on! There's hope for your institution despite the fact that resources across the cultural landscape have been slashed and burned.

In fact, these economically slim times beg us to REpurpose and REuse existing items, yes? Why do materials have to be new anyway? In the museum biz, don't we LIKE old things? Why can't one label be printed on the verso of another? Why can't previously manufactured structures like cases be reused, retrofitted for different objects? Is it because we expect a certain presentation from museums, especially art museums, that would prohibit the use of recycled items? Or, is it a matter of complex conservation? Every object needs a case that's custom built for its size, weight, and humidity needs? All of these or none of these may be true, depending on the genetics of your institution, but just thinking about repurposing gently used items may start to shift the sands a little.

And, what if you could invite your constituents, your community to come out and help build your exhibit? Think of it as crowdsourcing your production and fabrication. Talk about creating a fan base! Put a call out to your community for x, y, or z items. When they bring it, they can help build it. We aren't naive here, there are only certain kinds of exhibitions where this would work. The Smithsonian can't invite the whole world to help rebuild the case for Dorothy Gale's ruby red slippers, but there are others scenarious that might lend themselves to group involvement--panel exhibitions, small-scale history shows, children's exhibitions, science and nature endeavors, and the list goes on.

We've got a couple of things cooking here at SITES that are worthy of a green nod: #1 Repurposing exhibit structures. Really. If it looked good for one exhibition, it will look fabulous for another. The decision for reuse comes very early however, so that the materials for your new exhibition are sized and configured accordingly. #2 Digital exhibitions. Seriously. Not just materials online. We're designing the exhibition (panels, labels, banners) and "shipping" it out via Google Docs. You download. You build. Our green project director dishes, "For SITES, 'going green' needed to entail not just the green message, but the green method. If we're going to talk about taking steps to reduce carbon footprints, for instance, we had to walk the walk!"

It's a green, green world out there. Check out our Green Revolution exhibition for more details.

Behind the Famous Bootprint

This is opening week for an exhibition that has consumed a lot of our attention in the last two years. Suited for Space debuts at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry on April 6, 2011.

After studying manuscripts and documents, after talking at length to curators and engineers, you'd think we learned everything there was to know about spacesuits as well as the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions.

WRONG!

We've discovered that these topics are so rich, it would take a lifetime to consume all the facts, some of which are constantly evolving as new information is unearthed and reexamined. Indeed, even those things that have been endlessly scutinized can always reveal something unexpected.

One of the most iconic images in the exhibition is the classic shot of Buzz Aldrin's bootprint on the lunar surface. No doubt you've seen this one hundreds of times, but according to NASA's Bill Barry, there's much more to this 1969 photograph: "The bootprint is Buzz Aldrin’s right boot. He had the Hasselblad camera at the time, and one of his checklist tasks was to photograph a bootprint as a part of the study of the nature of the lunar surface and the effects of pressure on the surface," Barry explained.

Even better, check out this excerpt from NASA's Apollo Lunar Surface Journal about the sequence of events surrounding Buzz's famous bootprint:

110:25:09: Aldrin (at the MESA): In general, time spent in the shadow doesn't seem to have any (garbled) thermal effects. (garbled) feel inside the suit. There is a difference, of course, in the (garbled) radiation and the helmet. So I think there's a tendency to feel a little cooler in the shadow than we feel out in the Sun. (Pause)

At about 110:25:17 in the 16-mm film, the shadow of the Hasselblad lens appears at the left edge, followed soon thereafter by Buzz. He has the camera in his right hand. He disappears from the 16-mm frame to the left, again, at about 110:25:49. At this point, he probably takes AS11-40- 5876, which shows an undisturbed patch of soil. At about 110:26:05, his right leg comes into view as he plants his right boot deliberately on the pristine patch. A frame from the 16-mm film taken at about 110:26:08 shows him with his leg extended and his boot planted. He then lifts his foot and backs out of the 16-mm field-of-view and takes two "after" pictures of the bootprint: 5877 and 5878. He took the second of these from slightly farther away and got better focus.

At about 110:27:00, Buzz steps back into view at the left and plants his boot just beyond the previous bootprint. In a frame from the 16-mm film taken at about 110:27:02, the first bootprint in just behind Buzz's boot. He now takes two pictures of his boot and the new print: 5879 and 5880. The 5-cm rock next to Buzz's boot in the Hasselblad images can be picked out in the 16-mm frame.

Suited for Space will be on tour for several years and includes a complementary Facebook page. The national tour of Suited for Space is generously sponsored by DuPont.

 

The GREENING of an old exhibition

What happens to old exhibitions when they finally come back to SITES' headquarters in Washington, D.C.? If they're in good condition, sometimes panels and photographs are donated to organizations that want to create permanent displays. But, if a SITES presentation shows its age, with the expected wear of a traveling exhibition visible, what happens then? 

We've embarked on a new "green" initiative with the Smithsonian's building management office to make sure old exhibitions don't end up in a landfill. Mother Earth rejoice: we're now recycling crates and exhibition furniture. When 381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott Story ended its six-year tour recently, the condition of the exhibition was such that it could not be donated (SITES has a fairly high standard for "good enough"), but the alternative of throwing away this 3,500-square-foot exhibition and its accompanying crates seemed preposterous.

Thanks to the efforts of Chevene Bailey, Lawrence Fields, Tracey Rollins, Otis Massey, Erica Byers, and the head of their department, Randy Peters, with the assistance of Mike Kelton at the Smithsonian's Office of Exhibits Central, this show didn't have to end its life underground. Instead, we were able to sort out the individual components for recycling. Metal and wood were stripped out as were other elements: destined to be reused or recycled.

For more on the "GREENING" of our organization, check out Green Revolution

Reducing a Museum's Carbon Footprint

Let's face it, we're all trying to be a little greener . . . at least at home. What about the office, your museum, your library, your historical society? Ask yourself these questions:

Am I turning my lights off when I'm not in the office?

Do I use recycled paper in my printer?

Does the office have recycling bins for cans, bottles, newspapers, etc.? If so, how are they getting to the local recycling center?

Is there a way that my office could limit the number of paper communications it creates and start using Web 2.0 platforms (like wikis) to collaborate on documents and conduct meetings?

These are just a few of the little things that we could be doing individually to reduce our carbon footprint, but have you ever thought about creating a completely GREEN exhibition?

SITES is partnering with Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry to present Green Revolution, an innovative “traveling” exhibition about various aspects of environmentalism. We provide you with the plans, design, and “how to” for your team to fabricate and install your very own green exhibit using materials from your own backyard. Plus, no crates and no trucks minimizes our carbon footprint.

With a website and video to guide you, you’ll have solutions to all your green problems at your fingertips. Using your recycled materials, your local resources, and your muscle, you’ll be able to build your own eco-zibit!

But before we start planning, we’d like to hear from you about what we should offer in our Green Revolution exhibition. Please take our Green Revolution survey!

A New Look at Old Fish

In a windowless room on the ground floor of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, museum specialist Sandra Raredon opens a specimen jar and removes a Notopogon schoteli with forceps. She blots the preservative from the fish, places it on a panel, retreats to the other side of the leaded-wall room, and gives it a shot of 68 kilovolts from the digital x-ray machine mounted above. Seconds later its ghostly image appears on her computer screen. She saves the file to her hard drive and returns the fish to the jar. Raredon then readies a Pegasus draconis for its close-up.

It’s a procedure she’ll repeat again and again to meet her museum’s goal of digitally documenting all 20,000 primary type specimens (preserved specimens that serve to represent particular species) in its Division of Fishes collection, the largest in the world. Despite the prosaic process, the results are anything but.

What has Raredon discovered? Here's a glimpse of a few fascinating details . . .

Read the full article about our latest science exhibition, Ichthyo: The Architecture of Fish, in this month's issue of our biannual newsletter, SITELINE. Want to subscribe?

Coming Soon! Earth from Space posters

You've probably been sucked into using Google Earth at least once, zooming in on your community or even your street. Well, Earth from Space is the ultimate eye candy for anyone interested in planetary voyeurism (putting static Google maps to shame I dare say). With views of powerful weather phenomenon, impressive city skylines, and diverse global ecosystems, Earth from Space allows us to ride along with high-tech space satellites like Landsat 7, QuickBird, and Terra, "seeing" exactly what they see. It's complicated science, but it's also fascinating and beautiful, probably the very reasons that thousands of visitors have flocked to the exhibition as it has traveled across the country.

If you can't make it to the large-scale exhibit, we've got good news for you. SITES and the U.S. Geological Survey are producing a free poster version of Earth from Space, featuring the same stunning images that have been so popular (the traveling exhibit won a government communications award for science content in 2007). A collaboration with geographer and curator Andrew Johnston at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s (NASM) Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, the posters will be available on a limited basis to libraries, schools, community centers, and others.

>>Interested in finding out how your institution can acquire a set?

>>See conceptual design for the poster exhibit

In Search of Giant Squid

Since its initial splash in 2004, In Search of Giant Squid has been one of our most popular exhibitions. Why shouldn't it be? It's a fascinating topic that gets to the very core of your inner explorer--a veritable needle-in-the-haystack search for a real-life sea monster.

Surrounded by the kind of lore usually reserved for the Lochness Monster, Big Foot, and the Tasmanian Tiger, the giant squid is one of the last great mysteries in the natural world. In fact, nobody had ever filmed a live giant squid in the wild until September 2004, when a crew off the coast of the Ogasawara Islands near Japan shot some unbelievable footage of a squid trying to escape a carefully baited jig.

Since then, we've asked exhibition visitors, "How would you catch a giant squid?" And we've received some fairly erudite ideas from kids across the country, especially in Seattle (exhibited at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture). Here are few clever theories:

• "I think you should grow a baby squid, and when I grow up I’ll raise baby squid too."
• "You need to catch a whole bunch of shrimp and put them in a giant net. Then put it in the ocean and put a water camera above the net."
• "Have you considered looking the giant squids with a REALLY big magnifying glass? I think it might help."
• "I think you should try cloning some squid so that you don’t have to try to find them out in the ocean."
• "We could create a sonar machine powerful enough to divide the ocean into segments. Then using a machine we could project sonar waves over the segments to find animals and objects within the sonar area."

Of course, there were many kids who thought that cookies and chocolate cake were the way to go--sure to work for the sugar-addicted giant squid. Others simply wrote adoring letters to the exhibition curator, Dr. Clyde Roper, who according to many is the closest thing out there to an oceanic Indiana Jones.

Keep those ideas coming! With your help, Dr. Roper might just find his own squid to travel with the exhibition.