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Swedish Museum Seeks Funding to Preserve Frozen Environmental Samples

Science & technologyScience
Key Points
  • The Swedish Museum of Natural History requires 14 million kronor to construct a new freezer room for its sample collection.
  • The museum's frozen samples monitor environmental toxins that impact both nature and human health.
  • Without funding, unique research from over 60 years of collection could be delayed or lost entirely.

According to the museum, it needs 14 million kronor for a new freezer room. The museum currently rents a freezer container that stands in the courtyard and is supposed to last for one year ahead. " For over 60 years, the museum has collected and frozen samples from both Sweden and the world.

The collection involves monitoring environmental toxins in nature that can also affect human health, though the specific toxins being monitored have not been disclosed. Without state funds or donors, there is a risk that unique research will have to wait or disappear entirely, according to the museum. " It is unknown how much funding has been secured so far for the new freezer room or what the timeline for construction would be if funding is obtained.

We want to build an additional freezer room and the hope is that it will last for 20 more years.

Ludvig Palmheden, Biologist at Naturhistoriska

The museum's efforts aim to safeguard decades of environmental data for future scientific study.

There probably isn't really an alternative; it's a bit of a make-or-break situation right now.

Ludvig Palmheden, Biologist at Naturhistoriska
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Swedish Museum Seeks Funding to Preserve Frozen Environmental Samples | Reed News