Has a company really discovered a million new species?
Investigating whether Basecamp Research found hundreds of thousands of bacteria species.
Have a million new species just been discovered?
That鈥檚 the claim made by Dr Oliver Vince, co-founder of a company called Basecamp Research, who are collecting genetic data to train AI systems. The hope is that they鈥檒l be able to use this to discover new medicines.
But is this number a good one? Rob Finn, from the European Bioinformatics Institute, explains what is being counted and how you go about counting them.
Credits:
Presenter and producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Dave O鈥橬eill
Editor: Richard Vadon
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- Sat 28 Feb 2026 05:50GMT麻豆社 World Service except Australasia, East and Southern Africa, East Asia & South Asia
- Sun 1 Mar 2026 05:50GMT麻豆社 World Service East and Southern Africa
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