Welcome to Citizendium

Natural Sciences     Social Sciences     Humanities     Arts     Applied Arts and Sciences     Recreation

Some of our finest Approved Articles (0) Developed Articles (1,149) Knowledge is the true organ of sight, not the eyes. —From the Panchatantra (Indian literature) Article of the Week [ about ] (CC) Photo: Richard Ling This grey nurse shark (Carcharias taurus) and the smaller fish surrounding it are animals. Animals (from the Latin animale and animalis, meaning "living", and anima, meaning "vital breath", or "soul") are those organisms classified into the kingdom Animalia. Together they make up a wide segment of life—biologists estimate their species to number many millions—and include an incredibly diverse array of both familiar and strange creatures, ranging from hawks to humans and from sea slugs to spiders. Nonetheless, they all share certain characteristics: all animals are multicellular eukaryotes, ingest their food, and move by their own power at some point in their life cycle. Animals are essential consumers in many ecosystems and many are also important in human societies and economies. Definition Like "plant", the term "animal" has gone through several definitions along history. Animals—moving life—were distinguished from plants—unmoving life—by Aristotle in his works on metaphysics and logic. Aristotle continued to influence classification of plants all the way to Carl Linnaeus, who divided all life into the two kingdoms Animalia and Vegetabilia. Some animals such as coral were considered plants because they appeared sessile and similar to plants' branches. Additionally, many protists were formerly classified as "microscopic animals" because, like animals, they actively moved and ate other organisms.[more...] New Draft of the Week [ about ] The modern Taliban (طالبان; from the Farsi plural of Arabic طالب, meaning "student") movement, or the Taliban Islamic Movement of Afghanistan (TIMA), took control of Afghanistan in 1994, imposing a strict Salafist rule, as or more conservative than the Wahhabi movement of Saudi Arabia. Both featured a "Department for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice." They argued they were creating a stable Islamic state that the leaders of the jihad against the Soviets could not create. At the present time, the modern Taliban forms a substantial part of the insurgency in the Afghanistan War (2001-), as well as an active insurgency in Pakistan. The Taliban historically had a strong presence in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas near the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. After continuing fighting in areas along the Afghan border, Pakistan negotiated with Taliban fighters. Fighting continued, and, on May 7, 2009, Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani of Pakistan formally revoked a peace agreement with the Taliban, accusing the Taliban of repeated violations. Taliban forces had fought to within 60 miles of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. [more...]

A rapidly developing encyclopedia project—and more! Our growing number of editor-approved articles are reliable and of world class quality, rivaling the best printed encyclopedias. We currently have 17,696 articles progressing toward editor approval or reapproval, and are adding more daily. We do this by garnering the power of global, asynchronous wiki-based collaboration. We welcome everyone who has knowledge, broad or narrow, about any of the world's innumerable subjects. Even our home page—this page—can be edited by any Citizen. Our knowledge-sharing community is both collegial and congenial; everyone writes under his or her real name. Eduzendium students are enrolled in formal higher education degree programs, and are assigned to author for their courses by their professors. Write for the Citizendium—share your knowledge with the world! Sign up—we need both authors and editors (you might be both!) Then, get a quick start. Remember, we are an open, growing project—it's easy to get involved! Wikipedians are very welcome! Learn about us Why Citizendium? Myths and Facts: Citizendium may be different from what you think! For readers: About | FAQ For contributors: Authors | Editors | How to collaborate For the press Important new community pages WatchKnow will be a free, non-profit, K-12 educational video contest, currently under planning and development. We are organizing Workgroup Weeks — get involved! Cleanup—helps to develop, keep and maintain a coherent structure for entries in Citizendium. Support us Our mission is educational, non-profit, global, and free. Shop at our Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble links and we'll get donations at no cost to you. Link to us so search engines can better find us.   (CC) Photo: Tanya Puntti Each sentence you add is another drop in an expanding sea of words.