This new sponge-dwelling goby (Bathygobius mero) can be found across Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia.
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Mark Erdmann
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California Academy of Sciences
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Researchers at the California Academy of Sciences have unveiled a list 138 new animal, plant and fungi species that have been added to the Library of Life.
What's on the list? Some of the new species discovered and described by scientists this year are a pygmy pipehorse camouflaged in sponges found off the coast of South Africa, an edible and endangered Oaxacan dahlia that looks like a succulent, and 136 other fishes, leaf bugs, worms, sea slugs, spiders, ghost sharks and more.
Why it matters: Shannon Bennett, Cal Academy virologist and Chief of Science says, "finding and describing new species is vital for understanding the biodiversity of our planet and protecting it from further loss.”
Researchers at the California Academy of Sciences have unveiled a list of all the new animal, plant and fungi species that they added to the Library of Life in 2024.
The new species include a pygmy pipehorse camouflaged in sponges found off the coast of South Africa, an edible and endangered Oaxacan dahlia that looks like a succulent, and 136 other fishes, leaf bugs, worms, sea slugs, spiders, ghost sharks and more.
These discoveries expand our understanding of Earth’s biodiversity. Below, KQED has compiled a list of some of the most eye-catching of the new plants and critters.
A damselfish from the twilight zone
Chromis abadhah pictured in Faadhippolhu Atoll, Maldives. (Luiz Rocha/California Academy of Sciences)
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Luiz Rocha California Academy of Sciences)
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California Academy of Sciences
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Scientists found Chromis abadhah, a stunning, milky white damselfish in the Maldives’ mesophotic coral reefs, which lie between 100 and 500 feet beneath the ocean surface — what researchers call the twilight zone. It is one of 35 species of fish the Academy discovered this year.
This opalescent fish brings attention to the beauty — and vulnerability — of this deep zone of the ocean, said Academy Ichthyology Curator Luiz Rocha.
“It’s a really pretty fish. The minute we saw it when we were diving, even before we collected a specimen, we knew it was a new species just because of how distinctive the color was,” Rocha said.
Rocha and his collaborators chose to name the damselfish with the epithet “abadhah,” which means “perpetual” in Dhivehi, the language of the Maldives. It is meant to honor the commitment to finding solutions to the planet’s environmental challenges through science and innovation.
“I think it’s really important to give these [new] species names,” Rocha said. It makes it a lot easier to learn more about how to protect their habitats, he added. “Otherwise, we’re going to lose them even before we know what’s there.”
A sponge-dwelling goby found in Indonesia and a deep-sea ghost shark in the South Pacific were other fish species researchers at the Academy described this year.
South African pygmy pipehorse
New-to-science pygmy pipehorse Cylix nkosi photographed in Sodwana Bay, South Africa. (Richard Smith/California Academy of Sciences)
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The pygmy pipehorse Cylix nkosi was discovered off South Africa’s rugged coast. These tiny, elusive creatures — no bigger than a golf tee — camouflage among sponges on the ocean floor.
Scientists found the genus of this pipehorse originally in the cool temperate waters surrounding the North Island of New Zealand. But this new species was discovered in the subtropical waters off the coast of South Africa, officially expanding the known range of this group into the Indian Ocean.
“We heard about an unfamiliar species from local divers in South Africa’s Sodwana Bay, so we suspected we’d find something new,” said Richard Smith, an Academy research associate. “We examined a single male specimen from the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity collection — which had remained unidentified since it was collected in 1987 — to complete the study.”
The species’ name, “nkosi,” honors its crown-like head and the Zulu word for “chief.”
The endangered and edible Dahlia from Oaxaca
This new species of dahlia, Dahlia gypsicola, was found in the nutrient-poor gypsum outcrops of Mexico’s Sierra Madre del Sur mountains.
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Arturo Castro-Castro
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The critically endangered Dahlia gypsicola species grows in Oaxaca, Mexico, where nutrient-poor gypsum soils challenge most plants. Its semi-succulent leaves and thick roots have adapted to survive these harsh conditions.
“This discovery confirms a geographic pattern of species richness, as it highlights Oaxaca as the center of biodiversity and draws our attention to the areas of Mexico that we must continue to explore,” Arturo Castro-Castro, co-author and collaborating researcher on the study, said in a statement.
“It also contributes to Mexico’s rich biocultural heritage, as the roots and flowers of many dahlia species are edible,” Castro-Castro added.
“The leaves of Dahlia gypsicola, which are semi-succulent and aromatic, are consumed as a raw quelite [wild, edible greens] by the inhabitants of San Sebastián Tecomaxtlahuaca and Santiago Juxtlahuaca in the Mixteca Region of Oaxaca.”
Marine worms add to the Museum of Life
Avaldesia tamatoa is one of eight new nudibranchs, or sea slugs, described by Academy Curator Terry Gosliner, PhD in 2024.
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Jeanette Johnson
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California Academy of Sciences
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The Academy’s invertebrate zoology collection manager, Christina Piotrowski, co-authored a paper describing eight distinct species of marine worms that, until now, were taxonomically lumped together. These small, segmented worms play essential roles in marine ecosystems, recycling nutrients and supporting biodiversity.
By analyzing DNA data and studying museum specimens from populations around the world, Piotrowski and her collaborators were able to characterize different species of the Iphione group.
“These museums, including the Academy’s Invertebrate Zoology Collection, function collectively as a library of the planet’s biodiversity, allowing scientists to make new discoveries and test new theories about species definitions and boundaries,” Piotrowski said.
“We need to learn as much as we can more rapidly because some of these habitats are in peril right now due to changes in the natural environments and climate issues such as warming waters.”
By Adriana Gallardo, A Martínez, Lilly Quiroz | NPR
Published February 8, 2026 6:12 AM
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Bad Bunny is headlining today's Superbowl halftime show — a historic moment for some, a controversial choice for others.
The backstory: Bad Bunny, made history at the 2026 Grammy Awards when he became the first artist to win album of the year for a Spanish-language album. The artist has been vocal in his opposition to federal ICE raids.
Why now: But this Sunday, Bad Bunny will meet a larger and potentially more politically divided audience at the Super Bowl. Since late September when the NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced their invitation to Bad Bunny, many took to social media to voice their indignation at the choice to platform an artist who has only released music in Spanish.
Puerto Rican superstar, Bad Bunny, made history at the 2026 Grammy Awards when he became the first artist to win album of the year for a Spanish-language project, with him winning for his album Debí Tirar Más Fotos. In addition to the top prize, Bad Bunny, whose given name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, took home the award for the best música urbana album and best global music performance for his song "EoO".
In his acceptance remarks, and not unlike other moments throughout his career, the artist used the spotlight to express his political views.
"Before I say thanks to God, I'm going to say ICE out," Bad Bunny said during his acceptance speech for best música urbana album. "We're not savages, we're not animals, we're not aliens — we're humans and we are Americans," he added in response to the ongoing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across the country.
The crowd in Los Angeles, largely met his statements with applause and ovation.
But this Sunday, Bad Bunny will meet a larger and potentially more politically divided audience at the Super Bowl, where he is set to headline this year's halftime show. Since late September when the NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced their invitation to Bad Bunny, many took to social media to voice their indignation at the choice to platform an artist who has only released music in Spanish.
To learn more about Bad Bunny's political history and what we might expect at the Super Bowl, Morning Edition host A Martinez spoke with Petra R. Rivera-Rideau, who chairs the American Studies Department at Wellesley College and the co-author, alongside Vanessa Díaz, of the new book, P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance. The two academics are also behind the Bad Bunny Syllabus, an online teaching resource based on Puerto Rican history and Bad Bunny's meteoric rise since 2016.
Below are three takeaways from the conversation.
Students come for Bad Bunny and stay for the history
Rivera-Rideau teaches "Bad Bunny: Race, Gender, and Empire in Reggaetón" at Wellesley and said the course uses Bad Bunny's work as a hook to get students into the seminar.
"But we really actually spend most of our time talking about Puerto Rican history and Puerto Rican history is part of U.S. history," she said. "And Bad Bunny music has consistently made references to this history."
Rivera-Rideau pointed to an example from 2018 when Bad Bunny debuted on a U.S. mainstream English language television show, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The artist opened with a critique of the Trump administration's handling of Hurricane Maria, which had devastated his island in 2017.
"After one year of the hurricane, there's still people without electricity in their homes. More than 3,000 people died and Trump is still in denial," Martínez Ocasio said.
Latinos remain "perpetually foreign" to some
Puerto Ricans are born U.S. citizens — but this has not always protected them from being caught in recent ICE operations.
"I think part of that has to do with the kind of racialization of Spanish and the racialization of Latino communities of which Puerto Ricans are a part," she said. "And I think what it indicates is that, to me, Latinos in the United States, many of whom have been here for generations, are often understood to be perpetually foreign as a group of people that just does not belong."
The Party is the Protest
Rivera-Rideau said if Apple Music's trailer for the Super Bowl halftime show — which features Bad Bunny dancing with a group representing a smattering of ages, faces and abilities — is any indication of what audiences can expect on Sunday's stage, the theme might be joy in the face of a difficult moment for immigrants and Latinos in the U.S.
"One of the things we talk about in our book is that Bad Bunny is part of resistance, he does engage in protests but it's often through joy," she said. "We have a chapter in our book called 'The Party is the Protest' and I actually feel like that's what I expect at the Superbowl, a party and a protest.
Suzanne Levy
is a senior editor on the Explore LA team, where she oversees food, LA Explained and other feature stories.
Published February 8, 2026 5:00 AM
Can Bad Bunny outshine Kendrick?
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Timothy A. Clary
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Topline:
For LAist Senior Editor Suzanne Levy, who grew up in the U.K., the Super Bowl is a fascinating experience. Yes, there's the football — but for her that's the least interesting thing about it.
Why it matters: Want to know how the Super Bowl looks to much of the rest of the world? Read on.
Why now: It's Super Bowl Sunday... let the commercials and the half-time show begin!
The Super Bowl, to someone who a) grew up in the UK, and b) doesn’t really get football, is a strange experience.
Of course, I’m talking American football, not English football, by the way. If England gets into the World Cup quarter final you might find me at 7 a.m. in a pub in Santa Monica drinking a nice cup of tea and cheering the TV.
The Super Bowl is a national cultural event, and there’s so much excitement running up to it, yet when it happens, the thing that everyone is fixated on is the thing you’re least interested in. As in, the football — the men with padded shoulders who pile into a heap. I mean, I get the ones in the middle are doing something, but the ones at the edges are just for show, right?
All the running and the throwing and the tackling … well that just gets in the way of all the entertainment.
OK, OK, I’m kidding. I do get excited when a halfback grabs the ball and starts up the field, elbowing people out of the way, but even that can get a bit wearing when it happens over and over again. Just let the guy get to where he wants to go already!
And that’s where the Super Bowl is ideal. It comes with ready prepared breaks in the action, so there’s no chance to get bored. There’s the commercials. Over the years, some of them have been so great, like that one with the kid and the Force, and that Eminem Detroit one.
Some, not so much. That’s where I do my armchair critiquing. “Well I hoped they paid him a whole boatload of money for that one, his credibility’s down the toilet,” or, “Oh come on, ad agency, for a million dollars per millisecond, that’s all you can come up with?”
But it’s the hope, the desire, that this moment you’ll be blown out of your chair. Wait, that sounds a lot like watching football. Hmm.
Then there’s the half time show, which I always watch. “Call me when it starts!” I yell at my family as I walk out to do some very important laundry folding. As the music begins, I rush back in. Lady Gaga, Beyonce and now … Bad Bunny. As I watch pure perfection, I keep telling myself, they’re doing it live, in front of a billion people. They are not missing a damn note. Or step. Except that left shark. Hell, even the Weeknd won me over eventually.
And then there’s the last quarter. I make sure I watch that. It’s the psychodrama of it all. The looks on the coach’s faces as they chew their gum, serious, determined. The fans, holding their breath. The commentators asking Tom Brady what it was like when he was doing it. And then.. the whistle blows. And one half of the stadium is ecstatic, giddy with delight, while the other half stares into the abyss. It's a Shakespearean tragedy come to life. For all the commercials and the music, this really is the can’t miss part, which brings me back year after year. Go Patriots! Go Seahawks! Let the game begin.
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Fiona Ng
is LAist's deputy managing editor and leads a team of reporters who explore food, culture, history, events and more.
Published February 8, 2026 5:00 AM
Bad Bunny is introduced during the Super Bowl LX Pregame & Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Press Conference at Moscone Center West on February 05, 2026 in San Francisco, California.
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Topline:
On Sunday, fans are gathering at bars and house parties to pay witness to Bad Bunny's historic performance at Benito Bowls viewing parties all across the Southland.
Why it matters: Superbowl halftime shows are always a big deal. But to many in Los Angeles and beyond, Bad Bunny's performance marks a particularly important cultural — and political — moment.
Why now: "We're going through a lot of heaviness here in our community with ICE [and] people disappearing. It's sad, we're angry," said Bianca Ramirez, LAist's director of operations and a longtime fan of Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican superstar whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio.
Superbowl halftime shows are always a big deal. But to many in Los Angeles and beyond, Bad Bunny's performance marks a particularly important cultural — and political — moment.
On Sunday, fans are gathering at bars and house parties to pay witness at so-called Benito Bowls viewing parties all across the Southland.
"We're going through a lot of heaviness here in our community with ICE [and] people disappearing. It's sad, we're angry," said Bianca Ramirez, LAist's director of operations and a longtime fan of the Puerto Rican superstar.
In the face of continual crackdown, she said, resistance shall take the form of pride and joy on Sunday. It'd be the first time the halftime show will be performed entirely in Spanish by a headliner.
" This is definitely unprecedented," Ramirez said.
Just a week before taking the Superbowl stage, Bad Bunny notched another first, winning album of the year at the Grammy's for the Spanish-language DeBí Tirar Más Fotos.
LAist's Bianca Ramirez with her Bad Bunny plushie.
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"[It] was such a proud moment for our Latino community, not here in Los Angeles, but around the world," Ramirez said, characterizing the album as one of the artist's most political to date. "He dives into gentrification and making sure that we protect Puerto Rico and its roots. He does criticize the Trump administration a lot in that album."
DeBí Tirar Más Fotos also won Best Música Urban album.
"Before I say thanks to God, I'm going to say ICE out," the artist, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, said as he accepted that award.
Later today, Ramirez is heading to a Benito Bowl — one of many gatherings held by Bad Bunny fans across the Southland. In her case, it's a backyard hang with childhood friends to celebrate a history-making concert "where these two other football teams so happen to be playing at the same time."
Ramirez has her fingers crossed that the performance includes the song that first got her hooked.
"Hopefully he surprises us with Cardi B [and] he plays I like it," she said. "Bring it full circle for me as a fan."
No matter what, it's an iconic day.
"It's just gonna be a moment for us to hang out and celebrate Latinidad and just [the] proudness that Bad Bunny brings to our communities and beyond," she said.
A general view of the Olympic flame in the Olympic cauldron designed by Marco Balich next to the Arco della Pace monument in Milan.
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Topline:
The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics kicked off in Milan on Friday evening, local time. Athletes representing over 90 countries march into the San Siro stadium filled with thousands of spectators during the opening ceremony in Milan.
Read on ... to see photos from the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.
The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics kicked off in Milan on Friday evening, local time. Athletes representing over 90 countries march into the San Siro stadium filled with thousands of spectators during the opening ceremony in Milan.
The performance paid homage to Italian music, art and culture with tributes to composers, visual artists and films in a colorful spectacle. Performers included Italian actress Matilda De Angelis, American singer Mariah Carey, Italian singer Andrea Bocelli, Italian rapper Ghali and Italian ballet dancers Antonella Albano and Claudio Coviello, among dozens of other dancers.
Here is a selection of images from the opening ceremony:
Italian ballet dancers Antonella Albano and Claudio Coviello perform during the opening ceremony.
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Colorful dancers perform under large tubes of paint suspended above them during the opening ceremony.
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Italian actress Matilda De Angelis (center) performs with dancers dressed as the three great masters of Italian opera: Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini and Gioachino Rossini.
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Mariah Carey sings during the opening ceremony.
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Performers dressed in the colors of the Italian flag line up during the opening ceremony.
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Members of The Corazzieri, the Italian Corps of Cuirassiers, raise the Italian flag during the opening ceremony.
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Two performers are suspended between two large rings.
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The Olympic Rings are revealed above dancers during the opening ceremony.
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An aerial view of the athletes parading into the San Siro stadium.
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Stoats Milo and Tina, the Paralympics and Olympics mascots, dance before the Olympic opening ceremony.
