The discovery of new species, whether insects, birds or mammals, is an important part of wilderness conservation, since these newly discovered animals can't exist outside the natural world in which they evolved. The identification and cataloging of new species helps us better understand and protect the habitats they occupy.

"Habitats around the world are changing rapidly; natural systems are being altered, diminished, and lost," says Quentin Wheeler, director of the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University in Tempe. "You need to know what's there in order to know what you want to save, as well as to monitor your successes and failures."

Field biologists are using interesting new tools to identify and catalog new species. Advanced microscopes can now be operated via remote control by scientists thousands of miles away. DNA analysis allows specimens to be precisely identified. And online digital images of plants and animals allow naturalists in developing countries access to the same information that was once available only at prestigious universities. "It's an important step to democratize scientific knowledge," says Wheeler.

Far from being completely documented, the natural world continues to be a source of wonder. "It is estimated that well fewer than half the Earth's species have been described and named," says Beehler. "These many living species -- known and unknown -- are the fundamental building blocks of the biosphere. They support the well-being of humankind."

The ideas behind green burials are simple. Bodies are not embalmed. Elaborate caskets made of metal or rare tropical hardwoods are replaced with fabric burial shrouds or simple, biodegradable coffins made of wood or cardboard. Concrete grave liners or vaults that prevent the ground above the coffin from settling are avoided.

Though there are over 200 green cemeteries in Great Britain, the movement is relatively unknown in the United States. South Carolina, Florida, California and Texas have the only four green cemeteries currently operating here. Several more green burial facilities are being planned throughout the country.

August 22, 2011 — What could be more pure and natural than honey, nature's golden sweetener? Plenty, according to a recent investigation by Food Safety News, which has found that about one-third of the "honey" Americans are consuming isn't honey but a heavily doctored sweetener that contains artificial sugary concoctions and even dangerous ingredients.

Because honey is added to countless foods — like granola, breakfast cereals, and cookies — "honey laundering" has become a multimillion-dollar international crime story.

What's being added to honey?
A lot of sugary compounds, according to researchers. Much of the honey Americans buy is imported from Asia, and it's often nothing but "a mix of sugar water, malt sweeteners, corn or rice syrup, jaggery [a type of unrefined sugar], barley malt sweetener, or other additives with a bit of actual honey," says Andrew Schneider in Food Safety News.

Is imported honey dangerous?
Heavy metals like lead, which causes brain damage and other health problems, have been found in honey that's stored in big containers made of lead and lead alloys. And experts are alarmed that beekeepers in China are using "an antibiotic that the FDA has banned in food and that has been linked to DNA damage in children," says Tom Laskawy at Grist.

Is anyone tackling this problem?
The European Union has banned all honey imports from India, where much of the world's honey laundering takes place. But in the United States, where domestic honey producers supply only about half of the U.S. demand for the sweet stuff, the FDA has taken a "lackadaisical" approach to honey imports. Fifteen people in Seattle and Chicago were recently busted for their role in honey laundering, but the practice continues.

By MARC LALLANILLA                        

April 17, 2006 — Move over, Tyrannosaurus Rex. There's a new dinosaur in town, and he's bigger and badder than you ever were.

A ferocious meat-eater named Mapusaurus roseae and weighing almost eight tons was recently discovered in Argentina. Because the bones of several individuals were found in one place, scientists believe that the carnivores lived together in social units and hunted with deadly efficiency in well-organized packs.

"They would have been quite formidable," said Philip Currie, paleontologist at the University of Alberta who worked on the Mapusaurus site. "These were definitely the top dogs in the Southern Hemisphere."

The Family that Preys Together

The Mapusaurus bones were found in a bone bed on a hill in the Patagonia region of southern Argentina. "Bone beds are a good area to work for giving info on more than one animal," said Currie, who made the Mapusaurus discovery with Rodolfo Coria of the Museo Carmen Funes in Plaza Huincul, Argentina.

Carnivorous dinosaurs like T. Rex were once believed to be solitary hunters, but new evidence suggests otherwise. Currie speculates that the Mapusaurus he and Coria discovered were all living together in a social group until their death in some catastrophic event about 100 million years ago.

"They all died together, so you can reason that they all lived together," Currie said. "Carnivores, when you find them all together like this, were probably packing animals with coordinated hunting efforts."

About 65 percent of the flowers sold in the United States are imported, primarily from Colombia and Ecuador. For those nations, blessed by rich volcanic soils, ample sunshine and a mild climate, floriculture investment has blossomed into a large and profitable industry. Colombia alone exports about $630 million worth of flowers annually.

And even critics of the flower industry agree the stable jobs and higher-than-average wages provided by flower growers are a benefit to workers. In recent years, for example, some large commercial growers have attempted to provide better housing, schools and health care for communities surrounding their farms.

But reports from the field suggest life as a flower farm employee is no bed of roses.