Caspian Crisis sinking sea levels threaten biodiversity, economy and regional stability
The water levels of the Caspian Sea will be 9 to 18 meters lower than they are now, German and Dutch researchers calculate. In the Nature-journal Communications Earth & Environment they urge the world to act. Coastal nations are rightly worried about a sea…
Finally: a complete description of the Naturalis collection of pelagic molluscs
‘It’s the work of several lifetimes’ Naturalis has several tens of thousands of planktonic snails in its collection. Now, for the first time, they are all described together. Our researchers use these shells to learn more about evolution in the open ocean…
Biodiversity Next Wins New Conference Award 2020!
Biodiversity Next is the shiny brand new winner in the Best New Conference or Event category at the International & European Association Awards 2020. According to the jury, Biodiversity Next “… is a testament for successful cooperation and merge of…
Announcing DiSSCo Prepare's First ALL HANDS MEETING! 18-22 January 2021
For an entire week, experts in the areas of governance, business, technology, services, big data, and policies will take part in more than 20 working sessions to discuss and produce key elements of what will become Europe's leading natural science…
Brand-new T. rex skeleton Trix rolls out of the 3D printer
The T. rex skeleton nicknamed ‘Trix’, the well-known Tyrannosaurus rex at Naturalis, is going on a new journey. A reconstruction printed by Naturalis will soon be flying to the Dinosaur Museum in Nagasaki, Japan – and will be demonstrating the importance…
New Leiden Lectorate
The University of Applied Sciences Leiden and Naturalis are working together on a new lectorate in Metagenomics, in order to research the relationship between biodiversity and the health of humans, plants and ecosystems. The new lector is Arjen Speksnijder…
TDWG 2020 annual conference
TDWG (Biodiversity Information Standards) 2020 annual conference this week (19-23 oct)! Standards that describe and support the exchange of biodiversity information are critical to extending the usability of data across taxa, scientific disciplines, and…
Willem Renema is now a professor at the University of Amsterdam
Marine biologist Willem Renema is now professor of Marine Palaeobiodiversity (by special appointment) at the University of Amsterdam. He will combine his new function with his ongoing research into marine biodiversity here at Naturalis.
The Covid-19 Taskforce Reports
Missed the broadcast? After three months of intensive collaboration, the CETAF-DiSSCo Covid-19 Task Force presented preliminary results of the work of more than 60 international dedicated scientists and bioinformatics professionals from the natural science…
What the life of a geochronologist looks like
Text by: Manon de Visser, researcher at Naturalis A variety of studies are performed at Naturalis. Therefore, researchers learn more every day, also from each other’s work! As a biologist I regularly talk to my colleagues about their work. This time that…
Working with supercomputers
Working from home, miles away from the Naturalis museum and the University of Leiden, whilst still being able to make sure that things run smoothly within Leiden: Manon de Visser is literally working remotely. For her PhD, which started about half a year…
DiSSCo's Conceptual Design Blueprint
ICEDIG, DiSSCo's Design Study was completed on 31 March 2020 and culminated in the development of a Conceptual Design Blueprint for design of DiSSCo's digitization infrastructure including 104 recommendations supported by ICEDIG research and investigation…
Knowledge about biodiversity expanded in 'het Vondelpark'
That our world is still fulfilled with secrets about life is once showed again. In the busiest park in the Netherlands, a group of citizens and biologists went on a voyage of discovery. The result is a new species: wasp Aphaereta vondelparkensis.
Cultivated snake venom glands
Our fellow researcher Freek Vonk and professor Hans Clevers (Hubrecht Institute, KNAW) explained a publication in Cell last night at the talk show 'De Wereld Draait Door'. The publication is about mini-organs that produce poison. A group of scientists from…
Becky's Blog: Flint, Stock and Barrel
A few months ago, the geology collection manager discovered a gun in her collection. Happily, it was no cause for emergency. This was not a modern gun by any means, but an old flintlock pistol broken into four large pieces. What was it doing in a natural…
Triceratops timeline
Triceratops, or literally: three-horned face, an iconic dinosaur. Once upon a time, in 2013, researchers from Naturalis made a special discovery. In Wyoming (America) they found the remains of several Triceratopses. Three more expeditions followed and over…
Buried treasure
Becky is museum preparator. Many different tasks fall under this umbrella: cleaning whale bones, preparing study skins of birds and animals, and repairing broken geological samples, for example. However, of all the tasks I do, the most relaxing is washing…
Becky's Blog: A quail tale
Every now and then I am invited to do a special after hours event. Usually this is some kind of live preparation demonstration, the type I used to do regularly in LiveScience in our old museum (and will do again after our new building opens!). I really…
An animal big enough to sit in
The story behind the biggest Neptune's cup in the collection of Naturalis Biodiversity Center That’s right - this is a story about an animal big enough to sit in. It might be hard to comprehend when you look at it, but the Neptune’s cup (Cliona patera…
A bottlenose with mold issues
Recently we worked on a rare specimen, a male Northern bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus. This specimen is from October 1946 and was found on the island of Terschelling. Bottlenose whales are rare in our collection because they do not occur in the…
Becky's Blog: Whale bones and murder mysteries
How a process that is a problem for our whale bones, can be of great value in forensic anthropology. A tale about adipocere, otherwise known as corpse wax. Before a decedent whale can be stored in our collection, it has to be completely clean and stripped…
Whales and toothbrushes
The first thing that happens when you start any new project at a museum is the literature search. How have other museums dealt with the issues that you are about to be surrounded by? After doing all this research and figuring out what would be the best…
Becky's Blog: Funny bones
Many and more things can be examined form bones. In one of the early blogs, I looked closely at some of the strange bone issues we came across while cleaning dolphin skeletons. As the project continued, we see bone deformities so regularly that I started…
Hips don't lie
Whenever the whale team goes to a work on a specimen recently washed up, we know we have a rather disgusting challenge in front of us. One of the trickiest things when removing the many pounds of flesh is to be careful not to lose the tiny pelvic bones…
The bees and their pollination work
Ever since there have been flowers, there have been insects to pollinate these flowers. Bees are rewarded by the plant with food; the nectar and pollen from the flowers. They need it for energy and that is why you always see lots of bees flying around in…
The bees of Tiengemeten
The weather is getting better and more and more flowers are blossoming. For the bumblebees this means: work, work, work! Some bumblebee species, such as the common carder bee, can drink from many different types of flowers with their long tongues. However…
Anne Schulp professor of vertebrate palaeontology
As of January 1st, 2019, Naturalis researcher Dr. Anne S. Schulp (1974) will start as professor in vertebrate palaeontology at Utrecht University, for 2 days a week. He is currently researcher in vertebrate palaeontology at Naturalis Biodiversity Center…
Sauropod under contruction
Behind the scenes, hard work is being done on the Camarasaurus: Naturalis' iconic sauropod. Do you remember it standing in our old museum? It stood on the first floor, sticking his neck through the ceiling and looking into the eyes of our visitors on the…