A brand new addition to the joys of the Web is the Encyclopedia of Life, an ambitious, Noah’s Ark-like project where “the world’s scientists plan to compile everything they know about all of Earth’s 1.8-million known species of animals, plants, and other living creatures on one website, open to everyone.” Check out the overview video and its attractive sample pages on the Death Cap Mushroom, Yeti Crab, and Polar Bears, combining text, photos, video, audio, maps, and more. 

“It’s an interactive zoo,” said James Edwards, a biologist who will be
the encyclopedia’s executive director. … He hopes [that it] will have the same catalytic
effect the Human Genome Project has had on biology and genetics.

The project [“unrivaled in scope”] will take about 10 years to complete and … is expected to fill about 300 million pages … [which] can be adjusted so that they provide useful information for both a child doing homework and a research biologist alike, with an emphasis on encouraging “citizen-scientists” to add their sightings.

While amateurs can contribute in clearly marked side pages, the key detail and science parts of the encyclopedia will be compiled and reviewed by experts. “It could be a very big leap in the way we do science,” said Cristian Samper, acting secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, one of seven museums, universities and labs to launch the encyclopedia.
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