writing the really big book of life

5/1/08: Yesterday, it was my pleasure to interview JIM EDWARDS from the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian) and JIM HANKEN from the Museum of Comparitive Zoology, Harvard. They were on Inquiry to talk about the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE. This project which has been called ambitious and audacious and even insane by some, is attempting to list, describe, picture and give ranges et FOR EVERY SPECIES ON EARTH. That means all vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, protozoa, et et et. A conservative estimate puts that at 1.8 MILLION species, likely many, many more. This project is the ultimate dream of every biologist and natural historian: imagine, to be able to flip through all of life, to look at, admire and celebrate the sheer diversity of the whole thing. This is aslo the kind of uber project the Inernet was born to handle. It's no surprise that this was the brainchild of E. O. Wilson of Harvard, the person who popularized the word "biodiversity". It is also a project that none of us will see the completion of. If you want a peek at what the site will look like , 25 exemplar species pages are now up. Go to:

http://www.eol.org/

 So far, my fave is: Cafeteria roenbergensis.

Mark