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Earth’s oceans hold extraordinary biodiversity, yet only a small portion of an estimated two million marine species have been formally identified and described. One of the biggest hurdles in ocean science is the lengthy delay — sometimes lasting decades — between when a species is first discovered and when it is officially documented. To overcome…

Scientists at the University of California, Davis report the discovery of a previously unrecognized trapdoor spider that lives in California’s coastal sand dunes. The species, named Aptostichus ramirezae, is closely related to Aptostichus simus, which occurs along the shoreline from Monterey to Baja California, Mexico. Findings published in the journal Ecology and Evolution indicate that…

Over a few million years, the spider Dysdera tilosensis (a species found only in the Canary Islands) has accomplished something extraordinary: it has cut its genome size nearly in half while adapting to its island environment. Despite this dramatic reduction, the genome of this species is not only more compact but also contains a higher…

Available for over a year What’s been called the storm of the century – Hurricane Melissa – has barrelled through Jamaica, Cuba, and the Bahamas over the past two days. Hannah Cloke, Professor of Hydrology at the University of Reading, explains whether Melissa was caused – or made worse – by human-made climate change. As…

Azadeh MoshiriPakistan Correspondent BBC Floods have swept across Pakistan, hitting urban and rural areas, including the capital of Punjab, Lahore Rescuers and relatives searched knee-deep in water for the body of one-year-old Zara. She’d been swept away by flash floods; the bodies of her parents and three siblings had already been found days earlier. “We…