A megaproject cataloguing rainforest insects has logged roughly 40,000 species in a single small patch of the Amazon, many of them new to science. The findings, published online Aug. 4 in Nature, came from hundreds of sampling sites reaching from the forest floor to the canopy. For a crypto market glued to macro headlines, the study is a reminder that the scarcest assets on Earth are still biological — and that decentralized science is the only corner of this industry paying attention.
Inside the patch
The project spans hundreds of sites, with teams collecting insects from ground level up through the canopy. The estimate of 40,000 species in one small area suggests the region's true diversity is far larger than
