Asia Trail. The Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat and Asia Trail, a 6-acre, $52 million exhibition area, opened in October at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park. Providing a newly expanded home for seven of the Zoo’s Asian animal species--giant pandas, sloth bears, fishing cats, clouded leopards, red pandas, Asian small-clawed otters and Japanese giant salamanders--the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat and Asia Trail incorporate enrichment activities that stimulate each animal’s natural behavior. The new exhibition highlights Zoo research and conservation activities through interactive kiosks, interpretive hands-on learning stations, videos and other state-of-the-art methods.

Rocky at Smithsonian. In a December ceremony in Washington, D.C., filmmaker Sylvester Stallone donated objects from his Academy Award-winning "Rocky" films to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center. Stallone donated the boxing robe Rocky Balboa wore to the climactic fight with Apollo Creed in 1976’s "Rocky"; a black hat and a pair of boxing gloves from "Rocky II" (1979); and a pair of boxing shorts and shoes from "Rocky III" (1982). These items are now on display in the "Treasures of American History" exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum, which features 150 well-known objects from the American History Museum collection. The American History Museum, currently closed for a renovation, will reopen in mid-2008.

Crozet remains. At the request of officials from Virginia Military Institute, the remains of Claudius Crozet (1790-1864), noted French engineer and scientist buried on the VMI campus in Lexington, were recently examined by Douglas Owsley, a physical anthropologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Crozet’s remains, contained in a cast-iron coffin, were exhumed so they could be moved to a new location on VMI’s campus. They revealed Crozet was about 5 feet, 10 inches tall and had mild arthritis, herniated discs and abscesses in three teeth. Hair, brain and bone tissue samples were taken for further analysis.

Airplane directory. An expanded online version of the "Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Directory of Airplanes, Their Designers and Manufacturers" is newly available on the Internet at the address: siris-thesauri.si.edu. This free guide serves as a single authoritative listing of aircraft names organized by designer and manufacturer. Included in the list are airplanes, gliders, hang-gliders, helicopters, autogiros and ornithopters. Not included are lighter-than-air craft and remotely piloted aircraft.

New Guinea expedition. Scholarly essays addressing a 1926 Dutch and American expedition to New Guinea have been placed online by Smithsonian Institution Libraries as part of its new series Smithsonian Libraries Digital Editions: Sources and Critical Interpretations. "By Aeroplane to Pygmyland: Revisiting the 1926 Dutch and American Expedition to New Guinea" features interpretive essays by Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Anthropologist Paul Taylor about  this expedition. The essays are accompanied by diaries from the American participants, expedition records, more than 700 photographs and two hours of film footage, accessible at the Internet address: www.sil.si.edu/expeditions/1926/.