Exquisite Pile Management

Virginia Tech scientist proposes revolutionary naming system for all life on Earth

More than 1,200 strains of anthrax — or Bacillus anthracis — exist. Each one possesses an arbitrary name chosen by researchers that does nothing to illuminate genetic similarities.
With the naming scheme developed by Vinatzer, the name of every single anthrax strain would contain the information of how similar it is to other strains. Using Vinatzer's genome sequence, the Ames strain used in the bioterrorist attack would, for example, be known as lvlw0x and the ancestor of this strain stored at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases would be known as lvlwlx.

This obsessive compulsive librarian absolutely approves.