Australia opens facility to protect 13 million biodiversity specimens

CANBERRA: Australia s national science agency has opened a biodiversity center to safeguard over 13 million specimens. The new building, named Dive...

CANBERRA: Australia's national science agency has opened a biodiversity center to safeguard over 13 million specimens.

The new building, named Diversity, in the capital Canberra, unites the Australian National Wildlife Collection and the Australian National Insect Collection under one roof in temperature-controlled, bushfire- and pest-resistant vaults, according to a statement released Thursday by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO).

Diversity houses one of the world's largest collections of Australian and Papua New Guinean birds, a vast archive of insects, and other preserved specimens spanning 150 years, to aid biosecurity, conservation, climate resilience and environmental management.

Equipped with advanced genomics and digitization labs, the 90 million-Australian dollar (59 million-U.S. dollar) center will allow researchers and citizen scientists worldwide to extract DNA, capture high resolution images and share data, according to the CSIRO.