The Natural History Museum is launching a new podcast series called The ‘Perfect’ Specimen, taking a humorous and unexpected look at the natural world.
Hosted by Museum zoologist Dr Natalie Cooper and science writer Josh Davis, the 30-minute episodes use the Museum’s 80 million specimens to spark engaging conversations.
The format is simple: each episode begins with a random adjective like “squishy” or “tacky”, and the hosts present two specimens that match the theme, ranging from real objects to images or even cuddly toys.
The hosts guess each other’s chosen items, sharing scientific facts, trivia, and lesser-known stories from the natural world.
Dr Cooper said: “This podcast is a really exciting opportunity for us to share more of our collections and science, and to have some fun while doing it!”
Josh Davis added: “The natural world is wonderfully weird and unimaginably diverse… we want to give people a glimpse of that.”
The podcast also invites the audience to suggest adjectives, submit their own specimen ideas, or ask questions for future Q&A episodes.
Episode One of The ‘Perfect’ Specimen launches today, Tuesday 27 May on all major podcast platforms and the Museum’s YouTube channel.
