70 Million Museum Specimens to Become Part of a New Digital Collection

Millions of animals, plants, fossils and rocks from museums and scientific collections across the United Kingdom are being prepared for a huge new digital museum that could eventually allow people to explore around 70 million specimens online.

The project is using robots, advanced imaging technology and artificial intelligence to digitise collections that include specimens gathered over hundreds of years.

A Museum Without Walls

The initiative is called the Distributed System of Scientific Collections, or DiSSCo UK, and is led by the Natural History Museum.

More than 100 museums, universities, botanical gardens and other organisations are involved. Once digitised, specimens that are normally kept inside drawers, cabinets and storage rooms will become accessible to researchers and members of the public through computers and mobile devices.

From Tiny Insects to Ancient Fossils

The collections contain an enormous variety of material. They include insects, butterflies, moths, pressed plants, fossils, rocks and other natural history specimens.

Some collections contain objects that have been preserved for generations. Among the historical material is a horse tooth collected by Charles Darwin in northeastern Argentina around 1833.

The Natural History Museum alone has more than 35 million pinned insect specimens. Digitising these records could help scientists study changes in insect populations and understand how ecosystems have changed over time.

AI Speeds Up a Huge Task

Digitising such a large collection would take hundreds of years if every specimen had to be processed manually. Researchers are therefore using robots and artificial intelligence to photograph specimens and capture information from their labels.

Many of those labels were handwritten decades or even centuries ago. Recording the information digitally will allow researchers to search and compare collections much more quickly.

Why Old Specimens Still Matter

A specimen collected many years ago can provide a snapshot of the natural world at a particular point in history.

By comparing older specimens with more recent collections, scientists can investigate changes in species distribution, insect populations, vegetation and landscapes. The information may also help researchers improve models of future environmental change.

Opening Collections to Everyone

The project is not intended only for scientists. The digital collection will also give members of the public an opportunity to explore specimens that they might never be able to see in person.

As more collections are added, people will be able to discover unusual species, historical specimens and geological objects from institutions across the UK without having to visit each collection individually.

The project is turning centuries of scientific material into a searchable digital resource, creating a new way to explore the natural history preserved inside museums.

Sources

• BBC News — “Gold beetles to Darwin’s finds – the 70 million museum artefacts going online” — September 30, 2026.
• Natural History Museum — Information on the DiSSCo UK natural history collections digitisation project.
• DiSSCo UK — Distributed System of Scientific Collections initiative.