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Updates every hour. Last Updated: 30-Oct-2026 09:17 ET (30-Oct-2026 13:17 GMT/UTC)

A recipe for saving the world's oceans from an extinction crisis

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Jeremy Jackson, senior scientist emeritus of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, asserts in the Aug. 12 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that the following steps, if taken immediately, could reverse the demise of the oceans.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Meeting: Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium of the National Academy of Sciences

The drivers of tropical deforestation are changing, say scientists

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A shift from poverty-driven to industry-driven deforestation threatens the world's tropical forests but offers new opportunities for conservation, according to an article coauthored by William Laurance of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. "New Strategies for Conserving Tropical Forests" will be featured in the September issue of the leading journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution.

A new species of predatory bagworm from Panama's tropical forest

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

University of Panama and Smithsonian researchers report the discovery of a new bagworm moth species, in the Annals of the Entomology Society of America. Unlike nearly all other bagworms, Perisceptis carnivora have predatory larvae. Strangest of all, according to Annette Aiello, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the adult moths wrap their eggs individually in beautiful cases fashioned from golden abdominal hairs called setae, a behavior unique among insects.

Journal: Annals of the Entomological Society of America

Insect warning colors aid cancer and tropical disease drug discovery

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Brightly colored beetles or butterfly larvae nibbling on a plant may signal the presence of chemical compounds active against cancer cell lines and tropical parasitic diseases, according to researchers at Smithsonian's Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Such clues could speed drug discovery and provide insight into the ecological relationships between tropical-forest plants and insects that feed on them.

Journal: Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
Funder: National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Engineering, U.S. Department of Agriculture's International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups program, U.S. National Institutes of Health, Levinson Fellowship- STRI-McGill NEO

Smithsonian coral biodiversity survey of Panama's Pearl Islands

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A comprehensive survey of coral biodiversity in Panama's Las Perlas Archipelago, published in the journal Environmental Conservation by researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and their colleagues, has resulted in clear conservation recommendations for a new coastal management plan.

Journal: Environmental Conservation
Funder: UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK Darwin Initiative, Heriot-Watt University, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Spradling receives Gruber Foundation Genetics Prize for new genetic techniques

The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation
Grant and Award Announcement

Allan C. Spradling, Ph.D., of the Carnegie Institution for Science and Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Baltimore, is the recipient of the 2008 Genetics Prize of the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation for his work on fruit fly genomics and for "fundamental discoveries about the earliest stages of reproduction."

Funder: Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation
Meeting: International Congress of Genetics

First electrophysical recording of sleep in a wild animal

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In the first experiment to record the electrophysiology of sleep in a wild animal, three-toed sloths carrying miniature electroencephalogram recorders slept 9.63 hours per day -- 6 hours less than captive sloths did, reports an international team of researchers working on the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's Barro Colorado Island in Panama.

Journal: Biology Letters
Funder: Max Planck Society

Smithsonian scientist receives 2008 Medal for Excellence in tropical botany

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Grant and Award Announcement

Mireya Correa, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute since 1987 and professor at the University of Panama, received the José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany April 26, 2008. Laurance J. Dorr, representing the National Museum of Natural History and the United States National Herbarium, presented the award at the Smithsonian Botanical Symposium held at the museum.

Smithsonian researchers show major role of bats in plant protection

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute report that bats significantly reduce insect abundance and damage on plants. In a lowland tropical rainforest in Panama, bats can consume roughly twice as many plant-eating insects as do birds. This landmark study in the journal Science is the first to compare the ability of bats and birds to protect plants via insect predation in a natural forest ecosystem.

Journal: Science
Funder: Bat Conservation International, Deutsche Forchungemeinschaft Germany, SENACYT Panama, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Turtle nesting threatened by logging practices in Gabon, Smithsonian warns

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Endangered sea turtles are victims of sloppy logging practices in the west central African country Gabon, according to a study led by William Laurance, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The study will be published online in the journal Oryx later this month.

Journal: Oryx