Why 99% Of Smithsonian's Specimens Are Hidden In High-Security | Big Business | Business Insider
TLDRThe Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, with over 147 million specimens, is home to the world's largest collection, only displaying less than 1%. The rest are stored securely for research purposes, with the museum's operation costing over $100 million, funded by taxpayers. The museum's vast collections, spanning 1.4 million square feet across different departments, are constantly growing through field collection, donations, and purchases with endowments. The specimens are meticulously cleaned, maintained, and stored, with some requiring custom cradles to prevent damage. The museum faces challenges with climate change, particularly flooding, and is working on digitalizing its collection to preserve it. The collections serve as a living library for scientists, with real-world applications, such as studying diseases, tracking volcanic activity, and improving aircraft design to withstand bird strikes. The museum's role extends beyond public display to being a vital resource for scientific research and understanding of our natural world.
Takeaways
- 🏛️ The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History holds over 147 million specimens, making it the largest collection in the world, with less than 1% on display to the public.
- 💵 The museum's annual operating budget exceeds $100 million, primarily funded by taxpayer dollars, which supports the active research and significant impact of the specimens.
- 🔍 The museum's vast collections are used for scientific research, including the study of the Hudson River airplane landing incident.
- 🌿 The museum's space encompasses more than 1.4 million square feet, spread across different departments, and is constantly growing with new acquisitions.
- 🆓 Admission to the museum is free due to government funding, but researchers cannot use tax dollars to acquire new objects; they rely on field collections, donations, and endowments.
- 🦕 Acquiring dinosaur bones is particularly challenging due to a growing private collector market and the inability of museums to compete in high-dollar auctions.
- 🧼 The process of accessioning involves inspecting and cleaning new specimens, such as using beetles to clean recently deceased animals and air scrapes for dinosaur bones.
- 🛏️ Dinosaur bones are stored in custom cradles to prevent damage from gravity, costing about $800 each and being pest- and water-resistant.
- 🌱 The museum has begun digitizing its collections, starting with plants and flowers, to create a digital archive that can be accessed remotely for research purposes.
- 🌊 Flooding is a significant threat to the museum's collections due to its location in a floodplain, leading to efforts to move collections to higher floors and the need for increased funding for improvements.
- ✈️ The museum's research has real-world applications, such as studying bird strikes on aircraft, which costs the airline industry billions and informs the development of more resistant planes.
Q & A
How many specimens does the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History have in its collection?
-The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History has over 147 million specimens in its collection.
What percentage of the museum's collection is typically on display?
-Less than 1% of the museum's collection is on display to the public.
How is the museum's mineral collection stored and secured?
-The mineral collection is stored in a secure vault area, which is the museum's secure storage area.
What is the annual cost to run the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History?
-It costs more than $100 million to run the museum annually.
How does the museum acquire its specimens if it cannot use tax money for new acquisitions?
-The museum acquires specimens through field collection, donations, or purchases made with endowments.
What is one of the challenges faced by paleontologists when collecting dinosaur bones?
-Paleontologists face a growing market of private collectors who are willing to pay high prices at auctions, making it difficult for museums to compete.
How are recently living creatures cleaned at the museum?
-Recently living creatures are cleaned using beetles that eat dry skin, in a process that takes place at the museum support center.
What is the process called when a specimen is prepared for storage at the museum?
-The process is called accessioning, which involves inspecting the objects so the museum can take ownership and ensure they are in good condition.
Why does the museum create digital scans of its specimens?
-The museum creates digital scans to preserve its collections in the event of natural disasters like flooding, and to make the specimens more accessible for research purposes.
How does the museum's collection benefit scientists and the general public?
-The collections serve as a living library accessible to visiting scientists for research, and the research conducted has real-world benefits, such as understanding disease transmission and improving aeronautic safety.
What is the significance of preserving the museum's collection for future generations?
-Preserving the collection ensures that scientists in the future have access to the same diversity of specimens for research, which may be crucial for understanding the planet's history and evolution.
How does the museum protect its specimens from the threat of flooding?
-The museum is moving collections out of basements to higher floors, planning to expand the off-site support center, which is at a higher elevation, and creating digital archives of its specimens.
Outlines
🏛️ Smithsonian Museum's Hidden Treasures
The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History houses over 147 million specimens, making it the largest collection globally. Despite the vastness, less than 1% is on display, with the remainder stored securely for research purposes. The museum's operation is funded by taxpayers, costing over $100 million annually. The collection's use in research has significant impacts, such as the study of the Hudson River airplane landing incident. Flooding poses a risk to the collection, and efforts are made to maintain and protect the specimens, which are acquired through fieldwork, donations, or endowments. The museum is free to the public but relies on non-taxpayer funds for acquisitions. The collection is vast, encompassing over 1.4 million square feet across the museum and an off-site center, with departments ranging from entomology to paleobiology, and it continues to grow.
🦴 Caring for the Dinosaur Bones and More
Dinosaur bones and other specimens at the museum require meticulous care. Bones are not simply stored; they are cleaned and placed in custom cradles to prevent damage from gravity. The museum also has a variety of storage techniques, including stuffing and pickling animals for internal study. The collection includes a diverse array of creatures, from a polar bear embryo to various fish species preserved in alcohol. Insects are dried and pinned for stable temperature, and the museum boasts an extensive entomology collection. The Smithsonian is proactive in protecting its collections from potential flooding due to climate change by moving items to higher floors and expanding its off-site support center. Digital scanning of specimens, like plants and flowers, has begun to create a digital archive, which currently holds over 9 million specimens. The collections serve as a living library for visiting scientists, with real-world applications in research, such as studying diseases in mammals and the impact of bird strikes on aviation.
🌿 The Future of Museum Collections
The museum's collections are not just for display but are crucial for ongoing and future scientific research. They represent a living library accessible to thousands of scientists worldwide. The mineral sciences department, for instance, provides rock samples for global research and monitors volcanic activity. The vertebrate zoology department studies bird remains from airplane strikes to help the airline industry reduce delays and damages, and their data has led to habitat management and flight training adjustments to decrease bird strike risks. The museum's mission is to collect and preserve specimens for future generations of scientists, ensuring access to the biodiversity of today. The museum's role extends beyond cultural memory to being a planetary archive, with specimens that will tell the story of Earth to future generations.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Specimens
💡Collections
💡Endowments
💡Paleontology
💡Accessioning
💡Conservation
💡Climate Change
💡Digitalization
💡Research Initiatives
💡Ethical Responsibility
💡Cultural and Planetary Memory
Highlights
The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History houses over 147 million specimens, making it the largest collection in the world.
Less than 1% of the museum's collection is on display, with the rest stored in secure vaults for research purposes.
The museum's operation costs over $100 million, primarily funded by taxpayer dollars.
Specimens are actively used for impactful research, such as studying the airplane landing in the Hudson River.
The museum's hidden collections occupy more than 1.4 million square feet across various departments.
The museum acquires new objects through field collection, donations, and purchases with endowments.
A giant Arkansas crystal, donated in 2021, is estimated to be worth millions.
Private collectors and auctions make it difficult for museums to acquire large dinosaur bones due to financial constraints.
Commercially collected fossils often lack detailed locality information, reducing their scientific value.
The museum's bird specimens, such as one collected in 1904, are studied with modern techniques including tissue and song recordings.
Specimens undergo a process called accessioning, which includes inspection and cleaning before being accepted by the museum.
The museum acquires 300,000 specimens annually to reflect the natural world's scale and diversity.
Custom storage cradles made of fiberglass and plaster are created to protect dinosaur bones from the effects of gravity.
The museum faces challenges with potential flooding due to its location in the floodplain of the Potomac River.
The museum is creating digital scans of its collection, with over 9 million specimens already digitized.
The museum serves as a living library accessible to 12,000 visiting scientists, with real-world research benefits.
Researchers use the museum's collections to study diseases, volcanic activity, and the impact of bird strikes on aviation.
The museum's collections are considered the memory of our culture and planet, providing invaluable data for future scientists.
Transcripts
Browse More Related Video
Why 11 Million Embalmed Specimens Are Stored In The Field Museum's Basement | Colossal Collections
Neil MacGregor: A Time Team History Through Objects
Qué hay en PubMed
Using Wikipedia: Crash Course Navigating Digital Information #5
The Race to Save Jakarta, Indonesia: the World's 2nd Largest MEGACITY
How Singapore Uses Science to Stay Cool
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)
Thanks for rating: