Before it burned, Brazil’s National Museum gave much to science
Museum collections provide valuable datasets, and this one is no exception
A natural history museum isn’t just a place to take visiting relatives or for entertaining kids on the weekends. These museums’ collections also play a vital, but under-celebrated, role in scientific research.
That’s why, when Brazil’s National Museum in Rio de Janeiro caught fire on September 2, more than just a catalog of natural and human history was lost. The museum was full of valued datasets that could have driven research to come, raised new scientific questions and answered old ones.
“You never know what you don’t know if you don’t have a collection,” says Kelly Zamudio, an evolutionary biologist at Cornell University.
At least once a month, Science News reports on new species discovered in museum cupboards, what an ancient animal ate and cases of mistaken fossil identity — all based on museum specimens.