arketype

Many of the world’s leading scientific institutions today announced the launch of the Encyclopedia of Life, an unprecedented global effort to document all 1.8 million named species of animals, plants, and other forms of life on Earth. For the first time in the history of the planet, scientists, students, and citizens will have multi-media access to all known living species, even those that have just been discovered.
(...)
When completed, http://www.eol.org will serve as a global biodiversity tool, providing scientists, policymakers, students, and citizens information they need to discover and protect the planet and encourage learning and conservation.

From: A Leap for All Life: World’s Leading Scientists Announce Creation of “Encyclopedia of Life”: Biodiversity, Science Communities Unite Behind Epic Effort To Promote Biodiversity, Document All 1.8 Million Named Species on Planet, a press release issued today by the Encyclopedia of Life project.

So freakin' cool.

And also notable for the fact that the f.y.i. video demonstrating the site concept incorporates the same furry lobster made famous on the paperback cover of John Hodgman's The Areas of My Expertise. (For more info see the Guardian article from last March »)