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20 of the Most Spectacular Species Discoveries in 2024
A Glimpse Into the Wonderful World of Biology and the Remarkable Pace of Species Discovery Around the Globe
There’s so much of the world yet to discover, and so many remarkable things within it. With so much of Earth mapped and so much of it navigable with modern technology, it can feel like the days of discovery and pioneering are behind us. That is most certainly not the case, however. So many hidden fascinations lurk on and within the lovely, blue planet we call Earth. Even this year, we are discovering more about life and what comprises it as we continue research at a break-neck pace.
Already, 2024 has been a truly fantastic year for biology. Only a little over halfway through the year, there have been many discoveries and innovations — so much so that I had to leave out a massive chunk of them to prevent this article from becoming arduously lengthy.
When investigating through news sites and published papers for this article, my original plan was to find just 10 species that scientists had discovered over the first half of this year. In 2023, that was a fair amount to find. All in all, about 1000 species were discovered that year, many of which were similar enough to each other to be lumped together. Though the total count for…