Information Technology To Be Used For Information

In a surprising turn of events this week, the scientific community has decided to use the internet (mankind's latest and greatest vehicle for the distribution of pornography) to compile a "Book of Life":

The Encyclopedia of Life project aims to detail all 1.8 million known plant and animal species in a net archive.

Individual species pages will include photographs, video, sound and maps, collected and written by experts.

The archive, to be built over 10 years, could help conservation efforts as well as being a useful tool for education.

Among other features, the archive will include a forum where users will be able to discuss the finer points of science, such as whether or not Lamarck's theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics was "teh gay," or how to keep the rare amur leopard from being "pwned by u homos." Speculation is tentative right now, but if the archive is successful enough, each species will have it's own myspace page, blog, and youtube highlight reel. Rawr.

Read the whole story here on BBC News Science/Nature