How many living species exist on Earth? According to an estimate published a few years ago, the Census of Marine Life puts the figure at 8,742,900, many of them unknown. These, then, are the DNA samples that Russian scientists will need to collect and catalogue on Petri dishes.

Indeed, Moscow University has received a grant of approximately 164 million euros to build the first database of all living and extinct species on the planet. Described as a "Noah's Ark" by the very professor overseeing the project, the idea closely resembles the Svalbard global seed vault, which instead aims to preserve the seeds of all existing plant species.

"I have called the project 'Noah's Ark', because it involves creating a data bank for storing every living thing on Earth, those that are endangered and those that are extinct," said Viktor Sadivnichy, rector of Moscow University. "This is the challenge we have set ourselves."

The repository will be approximately 430 square kilometres in size and is set to be completed by 2018 within the university campus. "This will allow us to cryogenically freeze and store various cellular materials, which will then be able to reproduce," said Sadivnichy.

Although it is not strictly the first such database on the planet — one already exists in Great Britain and another at the natural history museum in Washington — this is nonetheless an ambitious project with clear scientific and ecological implications. It almost seems as though Jurassic Park is about to become reality, for better or for worse.