By Susan Milius
An international team of weighty institutions this week announced that it’s developing the weightiest encyclopedia of biology yet. The free, multilanguage, Web-based guide will cover the 1.8 million living species known, plus new discoveries, say researchers from the Smithsonian Institution, Harvard University, the Field Museum in Chicago, and other organizations.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is putting up $10 million for the project, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is adding $2.5 million. If the project meets its goals for the next 2.5 years, those foundations will repeat their grants. Also, the six institutions that started the project have pledged to raise $50 million for the work.