Something Positive: 16,000 new species are discovered every year. Experts say discovery 'far outpaces the rate of species extinctions' | Why This Matters

Something Positive: 16,000 new species are discovered every year. Experts say discovery 'far outpaces the rate of species extinctions' | Why This Matters

Why this story matters: In a time when pessimism is easy, this story provides a grounded reason for optimism. Quick summary: This story highlights recent developments related to outpaces, showing how constructive action can lead to meaningful results. Fifteen years ago, celebrated Australian ecologist Robert May posed a fantastical question to the scientific community. “If some alien version of the Starship Enterprise visited Earth, what might be the visitors’ first question?” May wrote in an issue of Science. “I think it would be: ‘How many distinct life forms — species — does your planet have?’” “Embarrassingly,” he continued, “our best guess answer would be in the range of 5 to 10 million eukaryotes (never mind the viruses and bacteria), but we could defend numbers exceeding 100 million, or as low as 3 million.” Would you like to read more good news about Outpaces , Far , Extinctions , Discovered , Experts , and Every ? It’s a passage that John Wiens, a professor in the University of Arizona D…