Digitization, as a method, refers to the systematic conversion of analog signals, physical objects, or continuous data into discrete numerical representations suitable for processing, storage, and transmission by digital systems. It typically involves sampling (discretizing time or space), quantization (discretizing amplitude or intensity), and encoding (mapping to binary or other digital formats). In research workflows, digitization underpins data acquisition from sensors, imaging modalities, or archival materials, enabling reproducible analysis, error detection and correction, algorithmic processing, and integration into computational pipelines. Methodological considerations include sampling rate, resolution, dynamic range, noise characteristics, and fidelity relative to the original analog or physical source.
Pressed plant specimens collected centuries ago and stored in herbaria around the world could play a key role in facilitating the tracking of genetic change and extinction risk in plants, a McGill University-led study indicates.
Plants & Animals
May 21, 2026
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10
In his office at Michigan State University, forestry professor David Carter shows off an image of a virtual forest on his laptop. It's not just any forest. It's a computerized replica, or "digital twin," of a loblolly pine ...
Ecology
May 4, 2026
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12
If you told me a decade ago that I'd become an expert in mapping cemeteries, I would've laughed and been very confused about the dramatic turn my professional life must've taken at some point.
Environment
Feb 15, 2026
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16
A new study from UNC-Chapel Hill researchers shows that advanced artificial intelligence tools, specifically large language models (LLMs), can accurately determine the locations where plant specimens were originally collected, ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 5, 2025
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51
Lib4RI has completed the digitization of more than 700 historical snow and avalanche reports from the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF. These reports, published between 1938 and 2005, document decades of ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 21, 2025
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15
A team of researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute is digitizing images of pollen from more than 18,000 plant species from the tropics. The work is published in the journal PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET.
Plants & Animals
Aug 6, 2025
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