SE-TAF comprises of the Swedish Museum of Natural History (Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet).
SE-TAF research highlights
Recent research highlights by SE-TAF scientists and international collaborators include:
- Successful X-ray micro-tomography of fossil biofilms, embryo-like fossils, early animal embryos and early flowering plants.
- Discovery of widespread fungi in the fossil deep biosphere.
- Discovery of the oldest known Echinoderm in the basal Cambrian of China.
- Reconstruction of CO2 concentrations during important climate change episodes in the past using fossil leaves.
- Discovery of more than 4.3 billion year old relict cubic zirconia in Apollo 17 rocks reveals extreme temperature in the melting of the Moon's early crust, evidencing the role of large impacts.
- Investigation of sulfur isotopes in the Chicxulub impact crater reveals that its hydrothermal system hosted a subterranean ecosystem that might provide a glimpse of Earth's primordial life.
- Scientific description of 550 species new to science during the past three years.
- Rich reservoirs of Mediterranean genotypes in a widespread moss are endangered under changing climate conditions, as shown by an international research team including a NRM scientist.
- The first sequencing of a complete woolly mammoth genome.
- NRM scientists from the Geoscience Lab participate in an international research effort to study the consequences of Siberian permafrost thawing for river transport of carbon and metals. Two successful expeditions on the Lena River, one of the 10 largest rivers worldwide, have been conducted.
SE-TAF Member Institutions
SE-TAF collections include approximately 11 million specimens; among these we have identified more than 161,000 primary types. Each core collection includes many special collections, several of which are unique globally (e.g. the Regnell Herbarium, Chinese Fossil Plant Collection) and these also include many types (e.g. the Weevil Collection).
