I'm preparing a 400-million-year-old fossil. On the other side I have a specimen that I prepared earlier. Probably taken about 40 hours to prepare. Now that sounds horrendous, but when you're working under the microscope, two hours can disappear literally in the blink of an eye. The most frustrating thing is that you can spend two hours working under the microscope to find when you come out, you've only actually cleared an area about five millimetres square. Under the microscope it looks enormous. Another mission for the unit is to keep the museum's specimens in tip-top condition. Lorraine Cornish is the museum's longest-serving conservator. We like to all think of the conservation unit as a bit of a hospital, really, where people will bring their sick specimens to be treated. With millions of specimens to care for, the work ranges from treating everyday wear and tear to more serious problems.


我在清理一个四亿年历史的化石，另一边是我已经清理出来的标本。当时花费大约40小时，时间听起来很长。但当你坐在显微镜前，两小时只是一眨眼的功夫。最让你泄气的是在显微镜下工作两小时后，却发现自己不过清理了大约5平方毫米的一小块，可显微镜下这看起来很大。小组的另一个任务是让博物馆的标本保持最佳状态。洛伦·科尼什是馆中最资深的维护员我们喜欢把维护组看作一个医院，标本生病了，就送来治疗，有上百万的标本需要维护。工作中既包括日常维护，也要处理一些更严重的问题。