Finding New Stuff Is Cool
It must have been quite exciting centuries - or even decades - ago when the adventurous spirit of the human race resulted in eye-popping, world-wowing discoveries.
Imagine being around when dinosaur bones were first unearthed, when airplanes first crossed oceans without stopping, when planets were discovered and named.
The quest, sadly, has had a law of diminishing returns in recent times. With so much focused on our planet's human toils, such as war abroad and health care and the economy on the domestic front, the bold, ambititious exploration that once captured the imagination has been mothballed for the most part.
That's why it's cool when something new comes along, such as the recent discovery in Indonesia of all kinds of new animal species as well as animals thought to be extinct.
Traveling by helicopter, a team of scientists landed in some remote Indonesia mountains and discovered a treasure chest of strange critters living in what they called a "Lost World," according to an Associated Press story. The AP also put out a bunch of cool photos, some of which I posted but killed because it did weird things to the blog format.
More than 20 new frog species alone were found in December during the National Geographic Society-funded expedition, organized by the U.S.-based Conservation International and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. Scientists also ran across an egg-laying mammal, a tree kangaroo, four new butterfly species and all kinds of funky plants and birds. They added that they had only scratched the surface in the 2 million square acres of tropical forest. The group got so caught up making one discovery after another that it rarely ventured more than a few miles from base camp.
What they didn't discover were any signs of humans. Many of the animals had so little fear of humans that the scientists could pick them up. They even picked up this thing that looked like a hairy hedgehog and brought it back to camp.
What's doubly amazing is that this discovery was made in a nation torn by rebellion and overrun by terrorists.
So, here, in remote place in this crazy, strife-torn world, we've discovered something pristine, new and wonderous. For more, go to: http://www.conservation.org
I just hope we don't screw it up like we have with other remarkable finds throughout our bull-in-a-china-shop history.
Imagine being around when dinosaur bones were first unearthed, when airplanes first crossed oceans without stopping, when planets were discovered and named.
The quest, sadly, has had a law of diminishing returns in recent times. With so much focused on our planet's human toils, such as war abroad and health care and the economy on the domestic front, the bold, ambititious exploration that once captured the imagination has been mothballed for the most part.
That's why it's cool when something new comes along, such as the recent discovery in Indonesia of all kinds of new animal species as well as animals thought to be extinct.
Traveling by helicopter, a team of scientists landed in some remote Indonesia mountains and discovered a treasure chest of strange critters living in what they called a "Lost World," according to an Associated Press story. The AP also put out a bunch of cool photos, some of which I posted but killed because it did weird things to the blog format.
More than 20 new frog species alone were found in December during the National Geographic Society-funded expedition, organized by the U.S.-based Conservation International and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. Scientists also ran across an egg-laying mammal, a tree kangaroo, four new butterfly species and all kinds of funky plants and birds. They added that they had only scratched the surface in the 2 million square acres of tropical forest. The group got so caught up making one discovery after another that it rarely ventured more than a few miles from base camp.
What they didn't discover were any signs of humans. Many of the animals had so little fear of humans that the scientists could pick them up. They even picked up this thing that looked like a hairy hedgehog and brought it back to camp.
What's doubly amazing is that this discovery was made in a nation torn by rebellion and overrun by terrorists.
So, here, in remote place in this crazy, strife-torn world, we've discovered something pristine, new and wonderous. For more, go to: http://www.conservation.org
I just hope we don't screw it up like we have with other remarkable finds throughout our bull-in-a-china-shop history.
posted by Brian Pearson at 3:49 PM
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