The Encyclopedia Of Life

[Raph's Girl]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070508/...yclopedia_dc_1

From apples to zebras, all 1.8 million known plant and animal species will be listed in an Internet-based "Encyclopedia of Life" under a $100 million project, scientists said on Tuesday.

The 10-year scheme, launched with initial grants of $12.5 million from two U.S.-based foundations, could aid everyone from children with biology homework to governments planning how to protect endangered species.

"The Encyclopedia of Life plans to create an entry for every named species," James Edwards, executive director of the project which is backed by many leading research institutions, told Reuters. "At the moment that's 1.8 million."

The free Encyclopedia would focus mainly on animals, plants and fungi with microbes to follow, blending text, photographs, maps and videos in a common format for each. Expansion of the Internet in recent years made the multi-media project possible.

Demonstration pages at http://www.eol.org include entries about polar bears, rice, death cap mushrooms and a "yeti crab" with hairy claws recently found in the South Pacific.

"This is about giving access to information to everyone," Jesse Ausubel, chairman of the project who works at the Rockefeller University in New York City, told Reuters.

The Encyclopedia would draw on existing databases such as for mammals, fishes, birds, amphibians and plants. English would be used at the start with translations to other languages.

Edwards said the project would give an overview of life on earth via what he termed a "macroscope" -- the opposite of a microscope through which scientists usually peer.

Species would be added as they were identified. Edwards said there might be 8-10 million on earth, adding that estimates ranged from 5-100 million. Fossil species may also be added.

The encyclopedia, to be run by a team of about 25-35 people, could help chart threats to species from pollution, habitat destruction and global warming.

The project would be led by the U.S. Field Museum, Harvard University, Marine Biological Laboratory, Missouri Botanical Garden, Smithsonian Institution, and Biodiversity Heritage Library -- a group that includes London's Natural History Museum, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Royal Botanic Garden in Kew, England.

Initial funding comes from a $10 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and $2.5 million from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Extra funds would be raised in coming years.

Ausubel noted that 2007 was the 300th anniversary of the birth of Sweden's Carl Linnaeus, influential in working out ways to classify species. "If he were alive today we think he'd be jumping up and down celebrating," he said.

Raph's Girl note: Move over Wikipedia...hellooo Encyclopedia of Life!! SW33T!! I am soo gonna be visiting that site ALOT! Cool that they named the hairy crab the Yeti Crab. I believe I posted an article on it when it was discovered.

[Kunoichi_Haruko]

That's pretty neat. Kinda reminds me of that scene from The Fifth Element, where Leeloo (sp?) has to read this huge encyclopedia (on computer) about everything that's been going on for the last 5,000 years or so.

...Then she reads about war and starts to cry...poor thing...

[愛]

Wikipedia will always be my source of getting through college.

[bullet]

Originally Posted by Kunoichi_Haruko

That's pretty neat. Kinda reminds me of that scene from The Fifth Element, where Leeloo (sp?) has to read this huge encyclopedia (on computer) about everything that's been going on for the last 5,000 years or so.

...Then she reads about war and starts to cry...poor thing...

your post reminded me of that huge brain computer thing in futurama.

but this seems like a worthwhile project, although seemingly impossible! every single named species...holy...wonder how much this set is gonna cost in the end, hah.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Originally Posted by Ai

Wikipedia will always be my source of getting through college.

^Words of truth right there brother.

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by bullet

your post reminded me of that huge brain computer thing in futurama.

but this seems like a worthwhile project, although seemingly impossible! every single named species...holy...wonder how much this set is gonna cost in the end, hah.

Well if ya read the article you see that it says they've been working on it for the last 10 years with a cost of 12.5 BILLION

[ThirdMarioBro]

Yeah, because it takes that much money for a professor to accept it as a source on a paper in college.

Wikipedia FTW. Monetary Caste System FTL.

[Ecto Jedi]

Originally Posted by Raph's Girl

Well if ya read the article you see that it says they've been working on it for the last 10 years with a cost of 12.5 BILLION

I thought it said they'd be working on it for the next 10 years.

[bullet]

Originally Posted by Raph's Girl

Well if ya read the article you see that it says they've been working on it for the last 10 years with a cost of 12.5 BILLION

what i meant is how much it'll cost people when it hits the shelves.

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by bullet

what i meant is how much it'll cost people when it hits the shelves.

It's an online FREE interactive encyclopedia like Wikipedia. Only difference is that altho the public can sign up for it, it's the scientists who'll update the articles and such. But everyone else can still join it and get their own page where they can save their fave articles and such.

A similar thing is done with the usgs site. Im a member and I get emailed when there's an earthquake (which is like practically every hour ).

[Mr._Mutant_Man]

Originally Posted by Ai

Wikipedia will always be my source of getting through college.

I thought it couldn't be used as a source. I've used it to help me find other sources, but I heard it couldn't be considered official since anyone is free to edit it.