I was watching the CBS Evening News tonight while chopping vegetables for dinner. A story was presented that featured a new web-based scientific undertaking, the Encyclopedia of Life. This multi-year project, indeed perhaps a project with no conceivable end, is designed to catalog all species of life on this planet. And by all, I mean all. Our current knowledge puts that number at about 1.8 million! It is just now getting rolling, but it is hoped that 35,000 species will be listed by this time next year, with many more than that listed annually thereafter. (I hope that Apis mellifera will be among the first to be listed!)
Scientists in many fields are the main collectors of the data that will be featured, but the project welcomes open submissions for the site. Such submissions will be vetted, of course, but it is in keeping with the goal of listing everything that is known about each species. And to get all that is known, the EOL intends to leave no data source overlooked, now or in the future. (See the FAQ page on the site.)
Pages for the site can be accessed in a couple of varied ways, including a format designed for laymen and another designed for those more expert in that field. Far from simply presenting data alone, the site will feature wonderful, dynamic images as well. Sound and video may also play a role. (See the “Demonstration Pages” currently on the site.)
As you can see, I’ve done some poking around the site and am excited about it. It is bookmarked and I’m looking forward to returning in the months to come to see how things are progressing. With luck, Biblical creationists will catch wind of it and stop by as well. Their tiny little brains might actually explode!
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