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.
Fragments of a fossilized skull collected nearly a century ago have been identified as a new species of dinosaur. The fossils sat in obscurity in The Natural History Museum of London after they were collected by a father and son pair in southern Alberta, Canada in 1916. Recently, researchers rediscovered the fossils and realized that […]
As described in a recent article in The New York Times, some birding enthusiasts aren’t just interested in seeing live birds. The Nuttall Ornithological Club, the nation’s oldest birding group, enjoys infrequent visits to the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology to view feathered specimens. Learn more at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/29/science/nations-oldest-birding-group-serves-as-a-collective-memory.html?_r=2&ref=science.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has announced the availability of funding for museums to improve management of their collections. Connecting to Collections Statewide Implementation Grants are available to provide safe conditions for collections; to develop an emergency plan; to assign responsibility for collections care; and to work collaboratively to increase public and […]
As much as coral reefs have captured the interest of scientists and the public, little is known about reefs that occur more than 200 feet below the surface. These mesophotic, or “middle light,” reefs are the interest of Carole Baldwin, curator of fishes at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Baldwin has been studying […]
Peter Roopnarine, a curator with the California Academy of Science, and Paul Callomon, collections manager with the Academy of Natural Science, appeared on Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane. The program aired on WHHY radio in Philadelphia. According to the station’s website, “While some people may see oysters as only a delicious delicacy, researchers are using […]
A group of plant evolutionary biologists have been awarded $1.2 million to create the nation’s first seed bank specifically designed to allow investigation of how plants respond to environmental change over long periods of time. The project, called Project Baseline, is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology. According to the […]
In a feature article in the September 2011 issue of the journal BioScience, freelance journalist Beth Baker chronicles recent efforts to digitize scientific collections in the United States. The article includes an interesting sidebar describing the recently announced National Science Foundation effort, Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections. The report concludes with a section describing how […]
The National Academies of Science Board on Research Data and Information project has released a new report: Designing the Microbial Research Commons: Proceedings of an International Workshop. The report is a compilation of the edited presentations from a meeting by the same name. According to the project team, “although it uses microbiology as a focal […]
The Collections in Support of Biological Research (CSBR) Program provides funds for improvements to secure, improve, and organize collections that are significant to the NSF/BIO-funded research community. Support is also provided to secure collections-related data for sustained, accurate, and efficient accessibility of the collection to the biological research community. Supplemental funding is also available to […]
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has a selected a new Assistant Director for the Directorate for Biological Sciences. Dr. John C. Wingfield will assume the post that has been held in an interim capacity by Dr. Joann Roskoski since October 2009. Wingfield joined NSF from the University of California at Davis in September 2010 as […]