Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 26, 2026

Using Generative Art to Convey Past and Future Climate Transitions
Published on: March 31, 2023
The future of the past in the present: biodiversity informatics and geological time
Edward Baker1, Kenneth G Johnson, Jeremy R Young
1Department of Entomology, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
The biological and palaeontological communities have approached the problem of informatics separately, creating a divide between communities that is both technological and sociological in nature. In this paper we describe one new advance towards solving this problem - expanding the Scratchpads platform to deal with geological time. In creating this system we have attempted to make our work open to existing communities by providing a webservice of geological time data via the GBIF Vocabularies site. We have also ensured that our system can adapt to changes in the definition of geological time intervals and is capable of querying datasets independently of the format of geological age data used.
Related Concept Videos
The Fossil Record
What is Evolutionary History?
Biodiversity and Human Values
Threats to Biodiversity
Applications of Molecular Taxonomy
Global Climate Change

