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.
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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.