High-altitude ant

Andrea Lucky / Courtesy of Conservation International

This new species of ant (genus Strumigenys) was found at the highest altitude ever recorded for an ant in New Guinea - nearly 9,500 feet in the Muller Range. This ant species must have the ability to withstand both cold and wet conditions in the rainy season, as well as extremely hot and dry conditions in the dry season.

Just hangin' around

Piotr Naskrecki / Courtesy of Conservation International

This tube-nosed fruit bat represents a previously observed species in the genus Nyctimene that has not yet been given a scientific name. Its range is likely limited to hill forests on New Guinea. Fruit bats are important seed dispersers in tropical forests.

Bejeweled katydid

Piotr Naskrecki / Courtesy of Conservation International

This new species in the genus Mossula, found in Papua New Guinea's Muller Range, has a dark emerald coloration that Conservation International's Piotr Naskrecki had never seen before in katydids

Yellow-spotted frog

Stephen Richards / Courtesy of Conservation International

Among the 20 new frogs discovered during the 2009 Papua New Guinea expedition is this striking, yellow-spotted species of the genus Platymantis, found only at the highest elevations surveyed in the Nakanai Mountains, Males called from small bushes in bamboo thickets so dense that it took many hours to cut a path just a few yards off the main trail to track them down.

Long-tailed mouse

Stephen Richards / Courtesy of Conservation International

This long-tailed mouse, captured in Papua New Guinea's Nakanai Mountains, represents a new genus and species that has yet to be described. The characteristics of its feet and teeth suggest that it might be a burrower, living most of its life at or near the forest floor.

Beauty and the bug

Piotr Naskrecki / Courtesy of Conservation International

Conservationists found 200 new species of plants and animals during just two months of exploring the Nakanai and Muller mountains of Papua New Guinea in 2009. The expedition was coordinated by Conservation International in partnership with Papua New Guinea's Institute for Biological Research and A Rocha International. This is one of the new species, a pink-eyed katydid discovered in the Muller Range.

Unwrap-scientific attention

J. Emerson / VISTA / ESO / CASU

This infrared image shows the Monoceros R2 star-forming region, about 2,700 light-years from Earth, as seen by the European Southern Observatory's VISTA survey telescope.

Alan Boyle writes:A new infrared image reveals tendrils of glowing gas and sparkling stars in a star-forming region that's obscured by dust when seen in visible light. It's the kind of before-and-after image that makes even astronomers gasp in awe. Read more>>

Explosion at the My Dinh, Hanoi

Smoke rises hundreds of feet high after the explosion at the My Dinh, Hanoi

The explosion killed four people, three people were injured occurred at 11:40 pm 6 / 10, in the area behind the stage C, the My Dinh stadium (Hanoi), where a ceremony is expected to review the program gradually the closing of 1000 year Thang Long.

Heavens-Castle in Heroes 6