The explosive growth of low-cost computing, data storage, and, well, the Internet, has spurred scientists to take on ever more ambitious data-collection/cataloguing projects, from genomic sequencing to molecular/anatomical imaging.

Here’s ecology’s version of the giant data project: The Encyclopedia of Life. Harvard and Marine Biological Lab scientists are among the leaders of this project, which aims to be an interactive compendium of 1.8 million known species and will include photos, maps, DNA sequences, even sound and video. It was unveiled today.