“What a wonderful world.” Louis Armstrong hit the nail on the proverbial head. While NASA is traipsing about the universe looking for E.T., we have a whole world here to discover.
Unknown human tribes in densely packed rain forests in South America and Asia, new species of insects all over the globe, animals and plants previously categorized as “extinct” are being re-discovered, and now it seems that, off the coast of our neighbors “down under,” hundreds of new marine species have been discovered in recent years.
The Australian Institute of Marine Sciences is undergoing a 10-year survey of the animal life of the Heron and Lizard Islands of the Great Barrier Reef, as well as the west coast’s Ningaloo Reef. The study revealed the existence hundreds of species of soft corals, crustaceans and worms, and even shrimp so small, they live in between grains of sand.
In a press release, Census of Marine Life chief scientist Ron O’Dor stated, “Amazingly colorful corals and fishes on reefs have long dazzled divers, but our eyes are just opening to the astonishing richness of other life forms in these habitats.” “Hundreds of thousands of forms of life remain to be discovered,” O’Dor said.
When asked about the findings and the prospect for future discoveries, University of Bedford (U.K.) biochemistry professor, James Crabbe commented, “There’s so much that we just don’t know is there.”
While it’s a challenging endeavor to “seek out new life, and new civilizations” in Alpha Centauri and beyond, and to “go where no one has gone before,” all we have to do is look outside….
Heck, we have blind “ants from Mars” right here.
What a wonderful world, indeed.
Source:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/09/080918-new-species.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/09/080916-mars-ant.html
sarcasticscribe