Researchers in the UK are using robots and AI to create a digital museum bringing together millions of specimens from collections around the country. The project matters because it will make material that is often hard to access available to the public and researchers, helping them study changes in nature, climate, food supplies and species over time.

The Distributed System of Scientific Collections (DiSSCo UK) aims to make around 70 million animals, plants, fossils and rocks viewable online. About 100 museums, gardens, universities and other organisations are involved; an initial phase in Wales and Scotland will focus on insects and plants, including around half a million specimens in Cardiff. AI-assisted scanning also captures handwritten labels, and the team estimates that automation could reduce work that would take centuries by hand to about a decade.