I DON’T know which is more impressive: the fact that I am surrounded on all sides by more than a million ants, or that E. O. Wilson, one of the world’s most famous biologists, is telling me about his latest project. It’s called the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL), and it aims to make all knowledge of the world’s 1.8 million known species freely available online within just 10 years.
Talking in the Ant Collection Room at Harvard University, Wilson says the project, launched on 9 May, will “transform the very nature of biology”. Scientific organisations have already pledged $50 million,…
