Finney’s bat

What’sOldIsNewAgain

ItissummerinWyoming.BonnieFinneyholdsalargeslab.Shehammersasmallwedgeintotherock.Acrackopensup.Theslabpopsopenlikea book.


Insideisa50‑million-year-oldbatfossil.Itdoesn’tlooklikeanybatshe’severseenbefore.It’slargerthannormalandhasaclawoneachfinger.Morethan10yearslater,scientistsagree.Thebatisfromalong‑extinctspecies.Theynamedthebatafter Finney.

FlipFlop

ScientistIngoRechenberglooksatthesandydunesinMorocco.Nothingismovingexceptwavesofheat.Thenhesquintsandspotsasmall spider.


Rechenbergstudiesrobotics.Heisinterestedinhowthingsmove.Hetriestocatchthespider.Suddenly,itflipsandcartwheels away.


Rechenberghadneverseenaspidermoveinthisway.Itwasanewspecies.Nowit’scalledCebrennusrechenbergi, theMoroccanflic‑flac spider.

Moroccanflic‑flac spider

Boy,OhBoy!

Haveyoueverseenajellyfish?TheBonairebandedboxjelly (Tamoyaohboya) wasspottedbyatleast50swimmersin1989.Itwasgivenanicknamebecausenooneknewwhatitwas called.

Bonairebandedbox jelly

Infact,itwasn’tofficiallynameduntil2011.Ateachercameupwiththename.Ohboya refersto“Oh,boy!”That’sfortheexpressionyoumightusewhenyoufirstsee it.


Anyonecanstudytheworldaroundthemandnoticethings.It’scalledcitizenscience.Informationpeoplecollectcanbesenttoscientists.Itcanmakeadifferenceinstudyingbiodiversityon Earth.


Thereissomuchtolearnfromnewspecies—fromadaptationtofightingdisease.Discoveringandstudyingnewspeciesisimportantnowmorethan ever.