Smithsonian Institution

Canada geese that forced plane's Hudson River landing still flying near NY airport runways. A year and a half after Canada geese forced an airliner to splash down in the Hudson River, officials are rounding them up in almost every part of the city ? but flocks are still free to take off around John F. Kennedy International Airport.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans are largely hopeful that cancer will be cured and that computers will be able to chat with them by 2050, but they are also braced for a major energy crisis and a warming planet, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

Smithsonian Folklife Festival on DC's National Mall uses food to bridge cultural divides. The Smithsonian Institution is building its first tequila distillery on the National Mall. That's right. The family friendly museum complex is preparing to brew booze. The catch is there won't be a drop of tequila to drink.

Americans expect woman president, cancer cure, but also world war, nuclear attack by 2050. Americans remain a generally upbeat lot, but all the skepticism, snark and dismal rhetoric being bandied about may be taking their toll.

Family Attorney: Michael Jackson's children are normal kids adjusting to life without father. They are show business royalty, heirs of the King of Pop. Someday, they will be very rich. But a year after their father Michael Jackson's death, Prince, Paris and Blanket Jackson are normal kids full of fun and pranks, devoted to each other and to their grandmother who is their guardian, according to a lawyer who sees them frequently.

Buyer defends photo thought to depict slave children after critics question its rarity. A collector is defending his recent purchase of a century-old photo believed to depict children born as slaves after similar images found online called its rarity into question.

Buyer defends photo thought to depict slave children after critics question its rarity. A collector is defending his recent purchase of a century-old photo believed to depict children born as slaves after similar images found online called its rarity into question.

Haiti brings children's art to DC as Smithsonian leads cultural recovery in Port-au-Prince. Haiti's recovery from the devastating earthquake in January requires more than rebuilding structures, but also repairing tattered paintings and cultural objects still buried in the rubble, the Caribbean nation's first lady Elisabeth Preval said Thursday.

Haiti brings children's art to DC as Smithsonian leads cultural recovery in Port-au-Prince. Haiti's recovery from the devastating earthquake in January requires more than rebuilding structures, but also repairing tattered paintings and cultural objects still buried in the rubble, the island nation's first lady Elisabeth Preval said Thursday.

Former Secretary Madeleine Albright shares 200 pins from her collection at the Smithsonian. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, known for using lapel pins to communicate diplomatic messages, is bringing her brooches to Washington.

Experts say rare Civil War-era photo of slave children found in NC attic, sold for $30,000. A haunting 150-year-old photo found in a North Carolina attic shows a young black child named John, barefoot and wearing ragged clothes, perched on a barrel next to another unidentified young boy.

DC's Kennedy Center hosts dozens of performances, exhibits from artists with disabilities. Jesse Higman's paintbrush isn't a brush at all. With limited mobility in his hands because of a car crash 27 years ago, this Seattle-based artist created a method all his own.

In words etched in stone, painted on concrete barriers, scribbled on hospital walls with magic markers, American troops in Iraq have followed a tradition as old as war itself: honoring their dead.

Honoring the dead: US works to save military memorials at bases across Iraq as troops go home. In words etched in stone, painted on concrete barriers, scribbled on hospital walls with magic markers, American troops in Iraq have followed a tradition as old as war itself: honoring their dead.

Honoring the dead: US works to save military memorials at bases across Iraq as troops go home. In words etched in stone, painted on concrete barriers, scribbled on hospital walls with magic markers, American troops in Iraq have followed a tradition as old as war itself: honoring their dead.

Questions arise about 'Ardi's possible place on human family tree and where it lived. Last fall, a fossil skeleton named "Ardi" shook up the field of human evolution. Now, some scientists are raising doubts about what exactly the creature from Ethiopia was and what kind of landscape it inhabited.

Atlantis lands for final time after 25-year career; engineers say shuttle still in great shape. How would you look after 120 million miles?

Shuttle Atlantis undocks from space station after week together to deliver new room, batteries. After a week of flying together, shuttle Atlantis undocked from a larger and virtually completed International Space Station on Sunday and headed for home on its final voyage.

Study in Indonesia finds new types of long-nose frog, tiny kangaroo, gecko, birds. Finding a new animal species is a special moment for scientists and even better when one hops into their mountain camp and volunteers to be discovered. An international team of researchers was camping in the Foja mountains of Indonesia when herpetologist Paul Oliver spied a frog sitting on a bag of rice in the campsite.

Univ. of Texas exhibit showcases 'Most Trusted Man in America,' culled from Cronkite archive. Walter Cronkite covered the birth of space exploration, John F. Kennedy's assassination and Watergate.