{
  "id": 10882542,
  "title": "How AI is creating a UK super-museum and revealing our planet's history",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/how-ai-is-creating-a-uk-super-museum-and-revealing-our-planets-history-10882542",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-30T00:46:29.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "BBC News",
    "slug": "bbc-news",
    "url": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv5yjgrj4ello?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A significant initiative is underway in the UK to create an extensive digital museum using artificial intelligence, which will digitize millions of specimens from collections across the country. This project, called the Distributed System of Scientific Collections (DiSSCo UK), aims to revolutionize our understanding of the natural world and its changes over time. Researchers and institutions across the UK are collaborating to scan and analyze specimens, including those collected centuries ago, to digitize them at unprecedented speed. The digital museum will allow people to explore around 70 million animals, plants, fossils, and rocks from their digital devices, transforming how we access and appreciate our planet's history. Dr. Joanna Dunster, an associate director of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, expressed excitement about involving her young son in exploring this resource, highlighting its potential to spark scientific curiosity in children. The project involves a diverse range of organizations, from large institutions like the Natural History Museum and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to smaller collections spread across Scotland and Wales. By digitizing a variety of specimens, from the widely recognized like butterflies and beetles to the less glamorous such as flies and ferns, the initiative seeks to provide a comprehensive view of the natural world. This effort will not only enhance our knowledge of past biodiversity but also aid in predicting future changes due to factors like climate change. Dr. Vincent Smith, a research leader at the Natural History Museum, emphasized that this initiative will significantly accelerate research into the natural world by offering powerful tools for analyzing historical data and modeling future scenarios. The project represents a monumental step forward in making natural history collections more accessible and valuable to both researchers and the public.",
  "summary": "More than 70 million specimens from 100 UK collections will be put into an online digital museum",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "BBC Science",
        "title": "How AI is creating a UK super-museum and revealing our planet's history",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/how-ai-is-creating-a-uk-super-museum-and-revealing-our-planets-history",
        "published": "2026-09-30T00:46:29.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}