The last 12 months have been an incredible year for us.
We celebrated construction starting at our new state-of-the-art collections, research and digitisation centre, and appointed our first Director of Collections, Jessica Bradford to ensure that our collections continue to be a valuable resource for scientists and researchers worldwide.
"Getting to know our vast collections, and the talented, dedicated curators who care for them, has been so inspiring. This is an especially busy time, as we prepare to undertake the largest ever move of natural history specimens to our new site and gear up to start digitising the UK’s Natural Science collections for DiSSCo UK.” Says Jessica
“These ambitious, transformational programmes will secure the future of our collections, and I am excited to be part of the journey."
Our research themes provide a focus for our work so we can find solutions to some of the biggest global challenges. Since January scientists, students and scientific associates have contributed to an astonishing 705 new research papers. These have pushed boundaries and re-defined areas of science as we know it.
Join us as we run through some of the most interesting, surprising and critical research published by our scientists this year.
DNA samples taken from museum specimens helped scientists to discover three new species of toad with exceptionally rare methods of procreation.
Many of us think of frogs and toads reproducing by laying spawn in water which develop into tadpoles before metamorphosing into their adult form. However, three new species of toads from Tanzania challenge this narrative. Unlike many other amphibians, they give birth to live young.
The story starts in 1905 when German zoologist Gustav Tornier described the first Tanzanian tree toad Nectophrynoides viviparus. This species changed everything we thought we knew as it was the first amphibian species known to give birth to live young.
Fast forward to 2025, and researchers revisited museum collections that held Nectophrynoides species to extract DNA. Comparing this with data on body size, shape and acoustic calls led scientists to discover three new species; Nectophrynoides saliensis, Nectophrynoides uhehe and Nectophrynoides luhomeroensis that share the live-bearing strategy.
Another area of science that our researchers have redefined is the field of venom. Dr. Ronald Jenner and colleagues broadened previous definitions of venom to include toxins injected not only into animals but also into plants or members of the same species.
“I’ve always wondered where the world of venom starts and ends.” Ronald explains, “If you look at what a mosquito does when it’s in your skin, it injects toxins that suppress the immune system so that the animal can safely take blood without being swatted away. On a molecular level it shows similarities to what happens when a viper bites a rabbit.”
Reframing venom led researchers to look at insects such as shield bugs that suck sap from plants. These insects pierce the stem of a plant they are feeding on and inject venom to inhibit the plant’s immune system, a similar process to the mosquitos. As there are over 80,000 species of sap suckers alone, this new way of thinking about toxins massively expands the number of animals that could be classed as venomous.
The London Underground mosquito may have actually evolved more than 1,000 years ago. © Lawrence Reeves/ University of Florida
A broadened view of venom not only reshapes how we classify life on Earth, but also sets the stage for deeper questions about where such biochemical complexity began.
Researchers studying samples from the asteroid Bennu discovered that Bennu likely had both the environment and chemical ingredients necessary to produce molecules associated with the evolution of life. This paper was a team effort from the Meteorites group with Sara Russell, Ashley King, Natasha Almeida, Helena Bates, Paul Schofield, Tobias Salge and Catherine Harrison all co-authors on the study.
Professor Sara Russell, who co-led the study, says, “There were things in the samples that completely blew us away. The combination of the molecules and minerals preserved are unlike any extraterrestrial samples studied before.”
“Comparing this to meteorites in our collection, using state-of-the-art analytical facilities at the Natural History Museum, is invaluable in helping us understand our origins.”
Recent research has uncovered the ancient origins of the London Underground mosquito (Culex pipiens form molestus). A long-held myth about a mosquito evolving in the tunnels of London’s underground railway system was debunked by scientists analysing DNA sequences from hundreds of specimens, including some that we look after. The study suggests that molestus evolved in Ancient Egypt, living above ground alongside humans in early agricultural societies of the Middle East
This year, scientists unravelled the geological mysteries behind a rare lithium-bearing mineral which, if mined, it could produce lithium to power up to 90% of Europe’s quota of electric vehicles. The mineral, jadarite, which has a chemical formula strikingly similar to that of the fictional Kryptonite, has only been found in one location on Earth, Serbia’s Jadar Basin.
Co-author Dr Francesco Putzolu said, “Similar to baking a cake, everything needs to be measured and exact for this rare mineral to form. If the ingredients or conditions are not just right, jadarite will not form. The criteria seem to be so precise that we’ve not yet seen it replicated anywhere else on Earth.”
Discoveries like this highlight both the promise and the limits of relying on rare geological resources to power a sustainable future.
Dr Hugh Carter compares sea urchins collected in 2025 to historic specimens in the collection.
Tackling environmental crises requires understanding and engaging with human culture as much as the natural world.
Dr Sophia Nicolov has been exploring what our whale, dolphin and porpoise collection can tell us about the history of whaling and empire. Specimens were collected in different contexts, including many through commercial whaling operations which were banned in 1986.
Some show the physical evidence of being harpooned: “Seeing the shattered jaw was a confronting experience. I couldn’t help but think that this whale must have suffered, fastened to the ship via the harpoon through its jaw.”
Understanding the histories of specimens, reinforces the responsibility to preserve them and to ensure that we can continue to learn more about the past. This evidence can help us understand potential futures of cetaceans and marine ecosystems based on human activity today and change our actions to protect nature.
The Ross Sea in Antarctica has taken up a lot of CO2 over the last decades – something we know makes the sea water more acidic. This is a problem for species like sea urchins that build their bodies from calcium carbonate.
Dr Hugh Carter was part of a 2025 expedition to retrace explorations of Antarctica from over a century ago to understand more about how biodiversity on the continent is being impacted by human-induced change. Hugh has been using CT scans to compare historic samples with those collected this year. The recently collected specimens appear much more fragile than those collected in the past which could become a problem for their survival in an increasingly warming world.
Closer to home, 2025 has been a fantastic year for the National Education Nature Park with over 7,500 educational settings now part of the programme. Over a quarter of all schools and colleges across England have come together to create a network of green spaces and more than 13 million square metres of habitat is now mapped across the education estate.
The six millionth specimen digitised, a ground beetle, Calosoma sycophanta.
It’s not only our own scientists that have been using our collections to further scientific understanding. The Museum’s digital collection of over six million specimens is widely used by researchers worldwide. Since 2015, the Data Portal has seen over 58 billion records downloaded in over 1.25 million download events, and over 4,900 scientific papers cite our digital data.
Accelerating the digital discoverability of natural history collections is essential for accessibility which is why in 2026 the Museum will lead DiSSCo UK, a new national programme to digitise the UK’s 137 million natural science specimens. Delivered in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and involving over 90 collections, this 10-year initiative will create hundreds of jobs and significantly expand the UK’s ability to digitise collections, opening new opportunities for research into global challenges such as biodiversity loss and food security.
From giant fossil mammals to mysterious moths, uncover the colourful stories behind some of the Museum's most fascinating specimens.
