Tiger report. Smithsonian National Zoological Park scientists John Seidensticker, Peter Leimgruber and Melissa Songer were among the authors of "Setting Priorities for the Conservation and Recovery of Wild Tigers," a recently released study of tiger habitats compiled by the World Wildlife Fund, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Save the Tiger Fund and the National Zoo. The shocking conclusion of the report reveals that tigers reside in 40 percent less habitat than they occupied a decade ago. In Asia, the big cats now occupy only 7 percent of their historic range. Scientists estimate that about 5,000 or fewer tigers remain in the wild, down from as many as 100,000 in 1900.

Tiffany gift. The Tiffany & Co.Foundation has given $1.1 million to the National Gem Collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History to create an acquisition fund that will allow curators to buy rare gemstones for the museum’s collection. Gemstones purchased with the fund will be known as the Tiffany & Co. Foundation Collection. The gift also will make possible the creation of an exhibition case to display these and other gemstones in the National Gem Collection Gallery.

Andromeda’s stars. A new infrared image of the Andromeda galaxy taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope has enabled astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics to more accurately estimate the galaxy’s population of stars. Using Andromeda’s infrared brightness as a guide, Astronomer Pauline Barmby and colleagues deduced that the galaxy shines with the same energy as about 4 billion of our suns. Based on these measurements, the researchers estimate that Andromeda contains roughly 1 trillion stars. Our Milky Way galaxy is estimated to contain about 400 billion stars.

New director. John W. Smith has been named director of the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art. Since 2000, Smith has served as assistant director for collections, exhibitions and research at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, where he oversaw the permanent collection, organized exhibitions, raised money for the museum’s exhibitions and collections programs, and lectured and published books on various aspects of the museum’s collection. Smith succeeds Richard J. Wattenmaker.

Boeing donation. The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum received a donation of $15 million from the Boeing Co. in continued support of the museum’s education and preservation efforts. The gift will help fund programming, care of artifacts and future construction at the museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. In recognition of the donation, the central structure at the Udvar-Hazy Center will be called the Boeing Aviation Hangar.

Planet discovery. Smithsonian astronomers have discovered a puzzling new planet that is larger yet much lighter than Jupiter. Located some 450 light-years away in the constellation Lacerta, its diameter is about one-third greater than Jupiter’s, yet it has a density roughly the equivalent of cork. The new planet, known as HAT-P-1, "may represent an entirely new class of planets," says Gaspar Bakos, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Gaspar designed the network of small automated telescopes that discovered HAT-P-1. This odd new planet "suggests something could be missing in our theories of how planets form," says Smithsonian Astronomer Robert Noyes.