DailyDirt: Biological Taxonomy 2.0
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Classifying every kind of life form isn’t an easy task. Technology helps a little bit, but there’s no really quick way to scan for lifeforms just yet. Still, there are a bunch of folks out there who are obsessed with tracking and categorizing various animals and plants (and fungi and bacteria and…). Here are some cool projects that are working on identifying biodiversity from all over the world.
- The International Barcode of Life (iBOL) project aims to create a DNA-based reference library for all multi-cellular life on Earth. It’s a fairly ambitious project, but at least they’re not trying to look for extra-terrestrial life, too… [url]
- The Encyclopedia of Life project is like a Wikipedia just for biological organisms. A web page for every species, and a car in every garage? [url]
- A barcode-like system called Stripespotter is cataloging zebra stripes so that field researchers can track the zebras they’ve already photographed. The system could also potentially be used for other animals with unique fur patterns — like tigers, giraffes or your pets. [url]
- Endangered sharks are being tracked by their DNA — which can be used to tell where these sharks grew up geographically due to their mating behavior. Sharks don’t need iPhones in order for people to track them, but they do need freakin’ lasers on their heads already. [url]
- To discover more interesting biology-related stuff, check out what’s currently running around on StumbleUpon. [url]
By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
Filed Under: biodiversity, dna barcode, shark, stripespotter, zebra
Companies: encyclopedia of life, international barcode of life, wikipedia
Comments on “DailyDirt: Biological Taxonomy 2.0”
The DNA based library is a good idea. If we’re still around in 50 or 100 years, hopefully we’ll have the tech to recreate all of the organisms we caused to go extinct.
As for Stripespotter, it’s a bad idea. All of the zebras are going to feel like they are being profiled.
Re: Re:
Pixelation, I’m sure the sharks will feel more violated, tho, b/c their DNA is being used. A zebra can’t change its stripes, but those stripes aren’t directly inherited from generation to generation….
FIRST
God already classified all life forms…and like any good designer he reused good parts across species. Commonality does not prove common ancestor.
Re: FIRST
God already classified all life forms…and like any good designer he reused good parts across species. Commonality does not prove common ancestor.
Except there is commonality, and there is commonality. For example, vertebrates have eyes that follow one layout, showing common descent, while invertebrates that have eyes haves ones with wildly differing layouts, showing independent evolution. And the vertebrate eye has misfeatures like placing the nerve and blood-vessel layer in front of the light-sensitive layer, leading to more potential for things to go wrong (just ask any diabetes sufferer who has gone blind). This shows that a) Evolution reinvents similar things multiple times, but b) it shows no ability to learn from experience. In other words, there is no Intelligence in the ?Design?. QED.
Re: FIRST
You’re a little devil troll, you know.
I’d put commonality on the side of common ancestor, you monkey.
“Pixelation, I’m sure the sharks will feel more violated, tho, b/c their DNA is being used”
Like our government likes to think, it’s for their own good. 😉
GFGB
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