Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. Scientific classification can also be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks any proper scientific basis. Modern classification has its root in the work of Carolus Linnaeus, who grouped species according to shared physical characteristics. These groupings have been revised since Linnaeus to improve consistency with the Darwinian principle of common descent. Molecular systematics, which uses DNA sequences as data, has driven many recent revisions and is likely to continue to do so. Scientific classification belongs to the science of taxonomy or biological systematics.

Remembering the order

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Numerous mnemonic devices for the classification hierarchy from most to least general, e.g.

Kings Play Chess On Fine Glass Stools (and numerous variants thereof)

= Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.

More on [ Scientific classification ]

BBC News | UK | World Edition

'Ice in fuel' caused BA jet crash
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:01:57 -0000
The BA plane that crashed at Heathrow in January was probably brought down by ice in its fuel system, a report says.
Clarke issues fresh Brown warning
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:00:35 -0000
Ex-home secretary Charles Clarke says Gordon Brown must turn round his premiership within months or step down.
Bank keeps UK interest rate at 5%
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:16:05 -0000
The Bank of England holds interest rates at 5% for a fifth month as it balances a weak economy and high inflation.
'Cremated' father turns up on TV
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:02:16 -0000
A man is reunited with his father after spotting him on television - five years after he thought he was cremated.
Police chief denies he is to be ousted
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:10:07 -0000
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair denies that he is to be ousted as head of Scotland Yard.
House prices in double digit fall
Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:21:16 -0000
UK house prices recorded an annual fall of 10.9% in August leaving the average home costing £174,178, says the Halifax.

The Economist: Britain

Weak sterling: Vote of no confidence
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 -0000
The pound’s fall is signalling deeper worries about the economyWHATEVER reassurances ministers may offer about the prospects for the economy, the judgment of the foreign-exchange markets is more telling, for it is backed by money. That judgment is a harsh one. The pound has fallen sharply against the dollar over the past month, closing at $1.84, its lowest for over two years, on August 26th.Sterling has not been alone in slipping against the dollar. The euro fell almost as steeply during August. But the latest setback to the pound follows a bigger and longer devaluation against the euro that started a year ago (see chart). Altogether, sterling’s trade-weighted index (in which the euro has a weight of 54% compared with the dollar’s 16.5%) has declined by over 13% in the past 12 months, reaching its lowest point since 1996. ...
Buying airports: Ward of the state
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 -0000
Britain’s privatised airports may slip back into public handsALONG with cricket and the industrial revolution, privatisation must rank high on any list of Britain’s intangible exports that have helped shape the world. Margaret Thatcher’s wholesale auctioning of huge parts of the state, from telephones to water utilities, has been widely trumpeted (if less widely emulated) as the cure for all economic ills. So one of the ironies to emerge from plans by the competition regulator to break up BAA, the privatised company which owns Britain’s biggest airports, is that the leading bidder for some of its airstrips is itself in public ownership.Two decades after they were privatised, Britain’s main airports are a shambles. Terminals and runways are so overcrowded that flights depart late and bags are lost. Their perennially faulty plumbing has become a point of pride for many visitors from Africa; the lavatories at the airports back home work better. ...
Minority politics: Britain’s Obama
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 -0000
Why a top non-white political leader is some way off in Britain“WE’RE looking at the politics of hope, as opposed to the politics of fear.” That sentiment has spurred millions of Americans to support Barack Obama this year in his bid to become president. The words on this occasion, though, were spoken by a Briton. Simon Woolley, head of Operation Black Vote, a campaign group, wants to use Mr Obama’s popularity to get Britain’s racial minorities more engaged in the political process.The prospect of a British Obama—a politician of colour who could become a national leader—seems plausible given the racial mix in London alone. But differences between Britain and America explain why it may take a while. Only 8% of Britons are non-white, whereas blacks on their own account for 12% of the American population: the pool from which potential leaders may emerge is smaller. Britain’s more fragmented minorities also have less shared political consciousness than African-Americans, whose experience of slavery and segregation produced the zeal behind the civil-rights movement and campaigns for affirmative action. ...
Immigration trends: Poles depart
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 -0000
The largest wave of immigration in British history is petering out, and may soon reverse. But east European migrants have left a lasting markSUPERMARKET aisles offer amateur ethnographers rich opportunities for fieldwork. American pockets in London can be identified by the Thanksgiving displays in November; sour cherry juice suggests that Turks are close at hand. Now great rows of tinned borscht announce a newer arrival. Recent immigration from eastern Europe has been on a truly grand scale: Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer, now runs a groceries website in Polish.Just over a million people have so far come to Britain from the eight central and east European countries that joined the European Union in 2004. John Salt, a geographer at University College London, reckons it is the biggest influx in British history, at least in gross terms (immigration by French Huguenots in the 17th century may have been bigger relative to the population at the time). Poles, who have made up about two-thirds of the newcomers, are now the largest group of foreign nationals in Britain, up from 13th place five years ago. ...
Population changes: Multiplying and arriving
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 -0000
Immigrants and babies could make Britain the EU’s biggest countryIF DEMOGRAPHY is destiny, then the British are roaring forward. On August 27th Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical service, predicted that by 2060 Britain would be the EU’s largest country, with a population of 77m (compared with around 61m today). Germany, the current top dog, will see its 82m citizens dwindle to 71m over the same period. Britain’s boom will be fuelled by a mix of immigration and a comparatively high birth rate (partly a consequence of the higher fecundity of its immigrants).Besides getting bigger, Britain will also remain youthful, at least by EU standards. Although the share of people over 65 will rise from 16% to 25% by 2060, that will still mean fewer greybeards than anywhere else in Europe except Luxembourg. Eurostatisticians prophesy that Britain will suffer less stress on its pensions and social-security systems than faster-ageing countries. Yet not all Britons revel in the idea of millions of new citizens. ...
The next Olympics: The morning after
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:36 -0000
Measures to further sport will work better for the elite than for the massesWHILE lacking, perhaps, the cohesion of the men’s coxless four or the cycling pursuit team who won golds for Britain in Beijing, the unlikely quartet of footballers and pop stars led by Boris Johnson at least managed to accept the Olympic flag from China without dropping it. The whimsy of the British performance at the Olympic handover, featuring twirling umbrellas and a doubledecker bus, suggested that Britain would not attempt to match the pageantry and stadiums that cost China billions. It plans to rely heavily on what London’s mayor hopefully calls Britain’s “wit and flair”.As far as the sporting competition is concerned, however, Britain will give no quarter. Basking in the afterglow of the country’s most successful Olympic games in a century, Gordon Brown has big plans for developing sport in Britain. The prime minister’s initiatives include attempts to get more girls involved, funding to give schoolchildren five hours of sport a week and a return to competitive games in schools (on the wane since the 1960s). More money is also expected for community sports facilities. ...

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