Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Wild world: Millions of unseen species fill Earth

Our world is a much wilder place than it looks. A new study estimates that Earth has almost 8.8 million species, but we've only discovered about a quarter of them. And some of yet-to-be-seen ones could be in our own backyards, scientists say.

So far, only 1.9 million species have been found. Recent discoveries have been small and weird: a psychedelic frogfish, a lizard the size of a dime and even a blind hairy mini-lobster at the bottom of the ocean.

We are really fairly ignorant of the complexity and colorfulness of this amazing planet. We need to expose more people to those wonders. It really makes you feel differently about this place we inhabit.
There are potential benefits from these undiscovered species, which need to be found before they disappear from the planet. Some of modern medicine comes from unusual plants and animals.

If Professors in Biology from Harvard and many top biologist support in biodiversity studies, WHY we ask many question on recruiting more scientists in biology, provide more funding and give the authority to the qualified one.

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