The Natural History Museum is collaborating with Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron science facility, on an ambitious project to generate and share immense data from the Museum’s vast insect collections to help further research into their evolution, diversity and extinctions. The Natural History Museum is collaborating with Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron science facility, on an ambitious project to generate and share immense data from the Museum’s vast insect collections to help further research into their evolution, diversity and extinctions.
Over 1.6 million of the Museum’s 35 million insects have already been digitised using 2D photography. These specimens have had their images and collections data (information about where in time and space they were collected and what species they are) made available to the public via the Museum’s Data Portal. However, this landmark project is expected to provide valuable new insights and information by providing the beginnings of a high-resolution 3D dataset for all living and fossil insects and their close relatives.
Read more on the Diamond website
Image: Hairy Fungus Beetle – Prepared by Malte Storm
Credit: Diamond Light Source Ltd