Museum scientists described 503 new species in 2020. A new species of red seaweed Corallina chamberlainiae is helping to show how the waters surrounding the islands of the south Atlantic are connected © Brodie at al. 2020
Museum scientists are researching the solar system, Earth's geology and life in novel ways, using the unique combination of their expertise, collections and cutting-edge techniques.
Anthropocene and sustainability
Exploring new sources of food, predicting the spread of disease and finding scarce elements.
Discovery, origins and evolution
Studying our natural history specimens reveals the past, present and future of life, the solar system and Earth.
UK biodiversity
Creating molecular and digital tools to explore undiscovered biodiversity.
Digital collections
Digitising the 80 million specimens in the Museum's collections and providing open access to the digital data through our Data Portal.