Taxonomy

Scientists name diving beetle for Colbert

When Comedy Central celebrity Stephen Colbert shamelessly asked the science community to name something cooler than a spider in his honor, entomologists at ASU and the University of New Mexico took him up on the challenge. --by Carol Hughes

Adding pages to the Book of Life

It has taken 230 years for scientists to describe 1.8 million species of creatures living on Earth. Quentin Wheeler says that five times as many species need to be described in a fraction of the time before many creatures that are still unknown to science disappear into extinction. --by Adelheid Fischer

What's in a name? Possibly the key to biodiversity

Imagine a planet where everyone and everything is named Bob. Things would get confusing pretty fast! The "unbelievably sexy" Hugh Downs narrates this laugh-out-loud video explaining the nature of taxonomy--the system for naming and classifying species--and why it's important.

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