In the News: Preserving Collections and their Museums

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! Studies have shown that the turkey you just ate may not be the reason why you are tired.

This week in science saw ongoing troubles in an important research station in the Galapagos, as well as in other collection-holding institutions. Despite this, several museums are taking steps to preserve important collections and improve upon field techniques.

• These problems are unfortunately widespread among natural history museums around the world and are part of the reason SciColl was established: "Italian Natural History Museums on the Verge of Collapse?" ZooKeys (24 Nov 2014)

• The ability to preserve specimens is extremely important for maintaining collections. This museum is working to protect 39 very rare and significant skeletons: "Bone Idols: Protecting Our Iconic Skeletons," Grant Museum of Zoology blog (24 Nov 2014)

• Studying how global warming affects sea ice depth is usually difficult in terms of collecting samples. Luckily, scientists have a little, yellow submarine to help them out: "Robot Reveals Surprisingly Thick Antarctic Sea Ice," Nature (24 Nov 2014)

• One of Alfred Russel Wallace's notebooks appeared blank after surviving his shipwreck and 10 days afloat at sea, but the contents have been restored using new imaging techniques: "Evolution Pioneer's Illegible Notebook Brought Back to Life," Natural History Museum, London online (20 Nov 2014)

• And see a great paper puppet short about A.R. Wallace. Who was he anyways? "A.R. Wallace: The Other Guy to Discover Natural Selection," New York Times (5 Nov 2013)