Biology’s dilemma: There is too much to know about living things
Roughly 1.5 million species of organisms have been
described and given scientific names to date. Some
biologists estimate that the total number of all living
species may be several times higher. It is impossible to
learn everything about all these organisms. Biologists
solve the dilemma by focusing on some species, so-called
model organisms, and trying to find out as much as they
can about these model organisms.