(Dandelion pollen grain, Taraxicum officinale) The scientific study of pollen is called palynology and can be used by forensic scientists to discover clues at crime scenes.

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The Directors' Group

Richard Paul Lane, Director of Science

  • Responsible for earth and life sciences and the library and information services of the Museum.
  • Sets our strategy for science, ensuring our research is relevant, of the highest quality, and that our collections operate as a major global resource.
  • Consultant to numerous governments for the World Health Organisation, sitting on external review bodies for several research bodies in the UK and overseas.
  • Former Head of International Programmes at the Wellcome Trust, responsible for forging international alliances and funding major research programmes in biomedical and social sciences in over 40 countries.
  • Has researched various aspects of insect vectors of disease and is co-author of a major reference work in medical entomology and of numerous research papers.
  • Trained in zoology and entomology at Imperial College and was senior lecturer and Head of the Vector Biology Unit at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
  • Head of the Entomology Department at the Natural History Museum in the early 1990s.
Print version
Cartoon image of a snake disappearing through closing door

There are 27 km of specimen shelves in the Darwin Centre - the same distance as between the Museum and Junction 6 of the M1.