Blog archive:
December 2021

Discover the Australian Museum's extraordinary achievements in the face of a testing year.

Australia is richly endowed with earthworm biodiversity, but of the 750 or so named species of earthworm in Australia, very few have been found in arid environments. The Broken Hill earthworm, a new genus and species, was a serendipitous find in an unexpected location. Find out more at the AM!

2021 was an unprecedented year for many: despite COVID-19 disruptions and restrictions, AMRI scientists discovered an unprecedented number of species, published at a new record, carried out fieldwork, and engaged with the public in our citizen science programs.

Each month, a selected blog from Lizard Island Reef Research Foundation (LIRRF) is featured at the AM. LIRRF supports scientific research & education at the AM’s Lizard Island Research Station on the Great Barrier Reef. For this month, we feature: Marine pollution research.

The Australian Museum is digitising its collections, including the historic and diverse Marine Invertebrate collection. We explain how the Museum is opening up its treasure trove of specimens to the world and the discoveries we are making along the way.

DigiVol, the World’s first citizen science website for digitising museum collections, turns 10! Today we celebrate our volunteers, staff and all the brilliant collections that make this project so unique.

In conversation with Jonathan D., winner of the 2021 University of Sydney Sleek Geeks Science Eureka Prize – Secondary.

We take a behind the scenes look at the process of digitising and conserving fragile objects in the First Nations Archaeology collection – an ongoing collaborative project with the AM's Collection Care and Conservation team.

I’ll never forget the day that I saw subtitles on an English language movie the first time.

There have been moments of excitement and moments of despair along the way, but six months after starting a zoo-based breeding program for two Critically Endangered land snail species from Norfolk Island, the population is stable and progressing well.