Behavioral ecology. Songbirds check compass against sunset to stay on course.

Let the bar-coding begin.The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has given a $669,000 grant to a consortium of herbaria, museums, and research institutes to jump-start the Barcode Life Initiative, which aims to create an online catalog of the world’s flora and fauna. Each “bar code” will be a short DNA sequence taken from a mitochondrial gene. The sequences define individual species and will help researchers classify known organisms and detect new ones (Science, 13 June 2003, p. 1692). Initially, bar coders will focus on specimens in museum and herbaria collections, taking advantage of new techniques for using old DNA, says Scott Miller of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, which will host the initiative. Eventually, handheld bar-coding devices should enable researchers to catalog field specimens as well. The 30-month grant, made late last month, will enable bar coders to set up shop and recruit non-U.S. scientists. Initiative backer James Hanken, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University, says attracting “major international involvement is a high priority.” – ELIZABETH PENNISI