CURRENT ISSUE

December 2006

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Features

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Antarctica Erupts!

A trip to Mount Erebus yields a rare, close-up look at one of the world's weirdest geological marvels

Allimam Achahi

The Treasures of Timbuktu

Scholars in the fabled African city, once a great center of learning and trade, are racing to save a still emerging cache of ancient manuscripts

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Pay Dirt

When self-taught archaeologists dug up an 1850s steamboat, they brought to light a slice of American life

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Time Capsule

A riverboat's telltale contents included 133-year-old pickles. Want one?

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Rembrandt at 400

Astonishing brushwork, wrinkles-and-all honesty, deep compassion. What's the secret of his enduring genius?

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An Almost Mystical Feeling

Master painter Rembrandt was also a talented draftsman and printmaker

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Waging Peace in the Philippines

With innovative tactics, U.S. forces make headway in the "war on terror"

Tumult in the Philippines

A timeline of the country's conflicts

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Diamonds Unearthed

In the first installment of a multi-part series, Smithsonian diamond expert Jeffrey Post explains how the rare crystals form

Departments

Indelible Images

Beard's Eye View

When elephants began dying, Peter Beard suspected that poachers were not entirely to blame

My Kind of Town

Tony Hillerman's Mile-High Multiculturalism

Creator of savvy Native American sleuths, author Tony Hillerman cherished his Southwestern high desert home

Presence of Mind

Man of the Century

But 100 years after writing his classic memoir, the question about Henry Adams remains: Which century?

From the Secretary

Eminent Domain

The Institution's Regents include the Vice President, the Chief Justice and other national leaders

The Object at Hand

Finding the Sacks Appeal in a Collection of Holiday Shopping Bags

The Cooper Hewitt's collection of some 1,000 bags reveals a few with some very cheery holiday scenes

What's Up

What's Up

Paper dolls, Josephine Baker and the Seven Years' War

From the Editor

Soft Power

Some promising endeavors on Pacific islands

Wild Things

Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Parasitic plants, zebra tarantulas and wobbles in Earth's orbit

Interview

Interview: Margaret Lowman

Bugs in trees and kids in labs get their due in a new book by "Canopy Meg"

This Month in History

December Anniversaries

Momentous or Merely Memorable

The Last Page

Last Page: Going Up?

Some brushes with fame are more uplifting than others