Sir

Your News story “Curators bugged by museum's vision for insect collection” (Nature 432, 659; 2004) gave the impression that Darwin Centre II (DCII) will be incompatible with a ‘cyber-infrastructure’ future for taxonomy.

Although we are certain that taxonomy and collections-based research in general will look very different ten years from now, no consensus exists as to the details of this future. Designing the best available workspaces for such a rapidly evolving science is not easy. As scientists we are accustomed to loudly debating competing ideas; it is no different with regard to facility design.

The main issue is whether sufficient flexibility exists for research groups of varied sizes to have immediate access to specimens of entire taxa. This issue is being addressed in a way that balances the best possible long-term conditions for irreplaceable specimens against efficient access during bursts of intensive research.

Far from resisting change, the Natural History Museum is leading the transformation of taxonomy into a ‘big science’ capable of rapidly advancing our understanding of the natural world. Its insect collection is unique, as the only place where one can directly compare specimens of more than half of all known species. DCII will provide modern research laboratories, state-of-the-art conditions for collections and an opportunity to open this research to the public. Controversy over details should not cloud the big picture; DCII will provide first-rate facilities for world-class taxonomic research.