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casts of President Abraham Lincoln's face during the Civil War and a Revolutionary War gunboat. Less familiar objects include a former slave's horn, a missionary's gun from the 1800s and a woolly mammoth fossil from the Ice Age. They are pieces of history some people may hear about but rarely see or touch.
• Now the Smithsonian is launching a new 3D viewer online Wednesday to give people a closer look at artifacts in their own homes. The data can also be downloaded, recreated with a 3D printer and used to help illustrate lessons in history, art and science in schools. While some schools might acquire 3D printers for about $1,000, other users may examine the models on their computers.
• Smithsonian digitization director Gunter Waibel said museums are working to redefine their relationship with audiences to become more interactive.
• "Historically, museums have just tried to push data out. It's been a one-way street," he said. "Now museums are really rethinking their relationship with their audience, and they're trying to empower their audiences to help them along whatever learning journey they're on."
• ___

• GROTON, Conn. (AP) -- It could dive deeper than any other submarine, and when it reached the ocean floor, the one-of-a-kind Navy vessel could roll on wheels with lights illuminating the depths outside its windows.
• The nuclear-powered NR-1, launched in Groton in 1969, was one of the most secretive vessels in the U.S. undersea force. It was taken out of service in 2008 and disassembled. Now the Navy has collected pieces of it for an exhibit at a submarine museum in Groton, where it was based for the duration of its service life.
• It was known primarily as a research vessel, but it also carried out a range of military missions that remain under wraps even today. Veterans who served aboard the tiny sub during the Cold War say that it was one of the most fascinating assignments of their careers -- but that not even their wives know all the details.
• Toby Warson, who served as commander from 1970-73, said he once led the sub on a hazardous military operation in the Mediterranean. The mission, code-named "Raccoon Hook," earned him a distinguished service medal, he said, but he has had to keep the details to himself.
• "I finally had to quit wearing the ribbon because when I walked into the officers' club, everyone asked how I got it, and I couldn't tell them," said Warson, who lives in

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