“The launch of the Encyclopedia of Life will have a profound and creative effect in science. It aims not only to summarize all that we know of Earth’s life forms, but also to accelerate the discovery of the vast array that remain unknown. This great effort promises to lay out new directions for research in every branch of biology.” EOL Video

Edward O. Wilson, Harvard evolutionary biologist and naturalist.

Like a modern-day Aristotle, Harvard's famed biologist, E.O. Wilson, unveiled the first 30,000 pages of the massive online Encyclopedia of Life yesterday at the prestigious Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) Conference in Monterey, California.

Intended as a tool for scientists and policymakers and a fascinating resource for anyone interested in the living world, the EOL is being developed by a unique collaboration between scientists and the general public

EOL hopes to accelerate our understanding of the world’s remaining biodiversity