Amazing! Even in this modern age, there are still discoveries to be made. Lovely Dendrobium, and 5 new spp. of pitcher plant. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/12/new-species-southeast-asia_n_1142773.html?ncid=webmail18
It is truly amazing. Sadly though, as one of the photos in that display highlights, logging operations most likely will distroy what's been found. I saw a documentary not long ago where a young Marine Biologist in Europe admired Jacques Cousteau while he was growing up watching all those documentaries Jacques did while he was alive. This young Marine Biologist went back to the very places where Cousteau filmed in the Mediterranean only to find very few fish and other life. Pollution, overfishing, etc has taken it's toll. There were ONLY a couple of small little fishes here and there. Not the schools of giant large fish seen in the Cousteau films. He said it suddenly dawned on him that if future students wanted to study how bio-diverse marine life functions, then a student would have to observe the films as opposed to going out in field study for something that no longer exists in nature. Sadly it is other science based technologies which are killing life on this planet. Just this morning on BBC here in Europe, the financial news was discussing the global consumerism and need for further raw materials which are becoming more difficult to find. They showed an example in Germany where minerals for tin production have been found in Germany to further help industries in manufacturing their wares. Unfortunately the vast forests from these areas will have to be eliminated to actually get at the mineral. Much like Canada's wonderful Tar Sands projects have done. So scientists will need to document and photograph all discoveries before other parts of science destroy it for future generations.
Semantics, perhaps, but it is the human applications of science and technology causing the issues, not science and technology in and of themselves. The former suggests it is human behaviour and wisdom that needs to be improved, the other suggests a rather different position.
Well that's really the whole point isn't it ? Greed and Selfishness and the misues and abuses of science. But clearly there are some scientific endeavours which should be abolished, but under the current system never will. GMO industrial farming pursuits comes to mind. I'm reminded of a famous quote from a science-fiction film 'Jurassic Park' in which the fictional character Dr Ian Malcolm says: “Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should. Don’t you see the danger, John, inherent in what you’re doing here? Genetic power is the most awesome force the planet’s ever witnessed, yet you wield it like a kid that’s found his dad’s gun.†And this quote of the script is probably one of the most accurate of expressions anyone could utter. As long as this world's leaders and intellectuals play the obscene wealth creation game this way on their terms, count on any future undiscovered wonders to become less and less of any kind of future News event item. A friend of mine and his wife went to Vietnam (right next to Laos) a couple of months back and as he flew over it, he inquired about the deserts below he never knew existed. He thought Vietnam was mostly tropical. It was explained to him about the use of Monsanto's 'Agent Orange' to help the Americans attain their victory. He said it made him think of Roman Senator Tacticus' expression - "atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant." (‘They made a desert, and called it peace.’)
