At first glance, the Weddell Sea in northwest Antarctica may not appear to be teeming with life. Far below the surface there, though, an international team of scientists together with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) reported finding at least 700 new species.

The new species identified include carnivorous sponges, free-swimming worms, and 674 species of isopod crustaceans and molluscs. The species were found at depths between 2,500 feet to 20,000 feet (750–6,350 meters). Isopods, one of the most diverse orders of crustaceans, accounts for 585 of the new species discovered.

New stars have been recently discovered in the Southern Cross, or Crux, by scientists in the United States. This discovery could affect the flags of New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Brazil, although the new star is located very close to the westernmost star and invisible to the naked eye.

The American scientists found the new stars in the Southern Cross by using the Chandra X-ray Observatory, a space satellite run by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) which uses x-rays.

The New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) is investigating how genetically modified (gm) seeds of sweet corn was knowingly cleared to enter New Zealand in October 2006.

The two consignments totaling 1,800 kilogram of gm sweetcorn originating from the United States was cleared by the quarantine service run by MAF. Each consignment had a certificate that showed that the seeds had not been gm but there was documentation available that showed that the two consignments had a presence of gm. Jeanette Fitzsimons, spokesperson for genetic engineering and the leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, said: "I am absolutely shocked and angered that 1.8 tonnes of sweet corn seeds crossed our border, even though the accompanying testing documentation showed that it was contaminated with GE."

The skeletal remains of a giant camel were discovered in a Syrian desert. The fossils are estimated to have come from a camel that died about 100,000 years ago.

The bones were unearthed at al-Hemel, Syria, about 155 miles northeast of Damascus, by an archaeological team made up of both Swiss and Syrian people.

Less than a year after the discovery of a record size prime number, the same team from the Central Missouri State University discovered yet another record holder on September 4, 2006. The primality of this number was verified on September 11, 2006. The team were participants of an online project called Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search.