Foundation Gives $10-Million for ‘Encyclopedia of Life’

With a $10-million grant from the MacArthur Foundation, six scientific institutions have pooled resources to build a Web site to catalogue the world’s 1.8 million known species, reports The Washington Post.

Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard University biologist, compared the Encyclopedia of Life to the Human Genome Project, a comprehensive effort to map human genes and, just as important, gather all the information in one place.

The encyclopedia will dedicate one page to each species and when possible include pictures, video footage, and maps. The public will be able to edit the site, much like Wikipedia.

Aside from Harvard, other institutions supporting the encyclopedia include the Smithsonian Institution, the Missouri Botanical Garden in Saint Louis, the Biodiversity Heritage Library in Washington, the Field Museum in Chicago, and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. The institutions say the project will cost a total of $12.5-million.

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