Mother Bears May Be More Bark Than Bite

21 June 2011

FAITH LAPIDUS: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus.

BOB DOUGHTY: And I’m Bob Doughty. This week, we tell about the robot collection at the world famous Smithsonian Institution here in Washington, DC. We also tell about North American black bears and a new study of their attacks.

(MUSIC)

FAITH LAPIDUS: The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History recently added several robotic technologies to its collection. The Smithsonian currently has about one hundred robotic artifacts, including some of the world’s smallest robots.

C-3PO is among the most famous of all science-fiction robots

The collection also includes C-3PO and R2-D2 from the "Star Wars" movie series.

Carlene Stephens works for the museum. She says that while the "Star Wars" robots were just movie props, they represent something more.

CARLENE STEPHENS: "Robots have a very long history. And, because we are a history museum, they fit directly into our interest in things relating to industry and things relating to invention and innovation."

FAITH LAPIDUS: One of Carlene Stephens’ favorite artifacts is a four hundred fifty-year old carved figure from Germany. This piece of wood is less then forty centimeters tall. It is a kind of model robot from the mechanical age.