We are in an era of digital innovation, and today the barriers to accessing the wonders of the natural world have been shattered like never before. Spearheaded by scientists at the University of Florida’s Florida Museum of Natural History, a groundbreaking initiative—The openVertebrate Project—has digitized thousands of specimens through computed tomography (CT) scanning and photogrammetry, unleashing a treasure trove of scientific knowledge into the public domain.
– Science Magazine
This open-access initiative, funded by the National Science Foundation, democratizes access to planet’s rich tapestry of life on an unprecedented scale. Scientists, educators, artists and the general public alike can now navigate through a virtual wonderland of bizarre and extraordinary specimens. We would especially like congratulate key oVert personnel and NoCTURN members Drs. David Blackburn, Edward Stanley, and Jaimi Gray (and their team, listed below) for realizing such an expansive vision that emphasizes the transformative value of open science, taxpayer-funded research, and data accessibility and reuse.
openVertebrate was funded by the National Science Foundation (grant no. DBI-1700908, no. 1701402, no. 1701516, no. 1701665, no. 1701713, no. 1701714, no. 1701737, no. 1701769, no. 1701797, no. 1701870, no. 1701932, no. 1701943, no. 1702143, no. 1702263, no. 1702421, no. 1702442, no. 1802491, no. 1902105, no. 1902242, no. 2001435, no. 2001443, no. 2001474, no. 2001652, no. 2101909, and no. RCN-2226185).
Additional authors on the study include Zachary Randall with the Florida Museum of Natural History, Doug Boyer and Julie Winchester with Duke University, John Bates, Daryl Coldren and Ben Marks with the Field Museum of Natural History, Stephanie Baumgart with the University of Florida, Emily Braker with the University of Colorado, Kevin Conway and Heather Prestridge with Texas A&M University, Alison Davis Rabosky, Ramon Nagesan, Gregory Pandelis and Daniel Rabosky with the University of Michigan, Noé de la Sancha with DePaul University, Casey Dillman with Cornell University, Jonathan Dunnum with the Museum of Southwestern Biology, Catherine Early with the Science Museum of Minnesota, Benjamin Frable the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, Matt Gage and James Hanken with Harvard University, Jessica Maisano with the University of Texas at Austin, Katherine Maslenikov, Adam Summers and Luke Tornabene with the University of Washington, John McCormack with Occidental College, Mark Robbins and Luke Welton with the University of Kansas, Lauren Scheinberg with the California Academy of Sciences, Carol Spencer with the University of California, Berkeley, Leif Tapanila with Idaho State University and Greg Watkins-Colwell with Yale University.