The tree of life - a representation of evolution showing species splitting off from parent branches - is a useful tool for biologists, but it's run into some problems. No problem with the theory, though, quite the opposite: there's now no way to include all the evidence of evolution without making an unreadable mess and some scientists are hoping that Google can help.
Modern trees of life result from decades of research, samples, and years of supercomputer time. They can feature tens of thousands of species and aren't limited to simple branching - plants can hybridise, leaping between branches like genetic Tarzans, and genomes can be rearranged by bacterial or viral editing. If there is a modern megatree, it's a turny-twisty tree covered in cables at the bottom of a vast tank of tangled spaghetti.
But "Dealing with titanic quantities of data in a user-friendly way" is what Google is all about, and not just that little internet thing. Google Earth is an exceptional tool which allows smooth scrolling from the big picture to an amazing level of local detail. Of course they had a bit of a head start (physical cartography has been around for a few thousand years longer), but Mark W. Westneat, Director of the Biodiversity Synthesis Center thinks that a similar "tree of life browser" could do wonders for biology.
The best bit about any biobrowser would be it's accessibility. At the same time the system aids in research (simply placing a newly discovered species can be an Odyssian quest) it can be accessed by anyone who's interested, and the anti-evolution crusaders will find the going tougher when anyone who can work a webpage can see evolution in action. Maybe classifying every known lifeform is a bit of a big job - but you know, "I bet we can map the planet" was probably once a drunken boast in the Googleplex.
Modern trees of life result from decades of research, samples, and years of supercomputer time. They can feature tens of thousands of species and aren't limited to simple branching - plants can hybridise, leaping between branches like genetic Tarzans, and genomes can be rearranged by bacterial or viral editing. If there is a modern megatree, it's a turny-twisty tree covered in cables at the bottom of a vast tank of tangled spaghetti.
But "Dealing with titanic quantities of data in a user-friendly way" is what Google is all about, and not just that little internet thing. Google Earth is an exceptional tool which allows smooth scrolling from the big picture to an amazing level of local detail. Of course they had a bit of a head start (physical cartography has been around for a few thousand years longer), but Mark W. Westneat, Director of the Biodiversity Synthesis Center thinks that a similar "tree of life browser" could do wonders for biology.
The best bit about any biobrowser would be it's accessibility. At the same time the system aids in research (simply placing a newly discovered species can be an Odyssian quest) it can be accessed by anyone who's interested, and the anti-evolution crusaders will find the going tougher when anyone who can work a webpage can see evolution in action. Maybe classifying every known lifeform is a bit of a big job - but you know, "I bet we can map the planet" was probably once a drunken boast in the Googleplex.