Natural Science Collections Alliance
Our members are part of an international community of museums, botanical gardens, herbariums, universities and other institutions that house natural science collections and utilize them in research, exhibitions, academic and informal science education, and outreach activities.
A piece of amber collected 50 years ago has yielded a species that was previously unknown to science. A new species of cricket from 20 million years ago was preserved in the amber. As reported by the Washington Post, the amber was collected in the 1950’s and sat in a lab at the Illinois Natural […]
A group of 70 scientific organizations have expressed concerns with a bill pending in the U.S. Senate that would further restrict the ability of federal employees to attend conferences. NSC Alliance was one of the signatories. In a letter sent to members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the organizations stated, “The […]
A new Data Management Interest Group is being formed by iDigBio. The initial meeting of the new group will be held online on 7 August 2014 from 1:00 to 2:00 pm EDT. The group will discuss issues surrounding shared data and is seeking ideas from the community on this important initiative. Registration is not required. […]
A hackathon will be held later this year to improve digitization of biological collections. The event is organized by iDigBio and Zooniverse’s Notes from Nature Project. The goal of the hackathon is to build interoperability among projects thus further enabling public participation in biocollections digitization in useful and exciting ways. The event will occur from […]
The White House released a memorandum on July 18, 2014 detailing budget priorities for science and technology in the fiscal year (FY) 2016 federal budget, which agencies are now developing. The annual memo from the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) directs departments and agencies to prioritize certain […]
Several recent incidents involving collections of dangerous pathogens have put safety protocols at government labs at the center of the public’s attention. Recently, 300 vials containing materials infected with infectious diseases were discovered in a storage room at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The vials, which had been there for decades, included six vials […]
The House Appropriations Committee has approved legislation to fund the Department of the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, Forest Service, and Smithsonian Institution in fiscal year 2015. The new fiscal year begins on 1 October 2014. A major collections care initiative proposed by the Department of the Interior (DOI) does not appear to be included in […]
A new iBooks Textbook and ITune U course based on Encyclopedia of Life content are available for high school biology students. E. O. Wilson’s “Life on Earth” was created by the E. O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation. The electronic book is available for free on the iBooks Store and is accompanied by an iTunes U course […]
The importance of natural history collections was the focus of a recent BBC Radio Wales story. The radio story reported on the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections conference held in Cardiff, Wales. The theme of the conference was “Historic Collections: A Resource for the Future.” To listen to the story, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0486gjl.