Sure everyone knows that Charles Darwin came up with the Theory of Evolution, but did you know that he was also one of the world’s first terraformers? That’s right, Darwin helped create one of the first self-sustaining ecosystems…and he did it on a barren island in the 1800′s.

Ascension Island is a tiny, volcanic speck stuck between South America and Africa and in the 1800′s, it was completely lifeless, with no trees and very little fresh water. (It was also a British military base intended to keep an eye on Napoleon, who was exiled on the nearby island of St. Helena.) Darwin visited the island during his historic voyage on the HMS Beagle, and several years afterwards, encouraged his friend, botanist Joseph Hooker, to develop a plan to forest Ascension with trees from England. And by England, we mean English gardens, which had trees from all over the world, including bamboo, Eucalyptus and Banana.

Today, Ascension Island is a lush oasis, as the hodgepodge of trees that never lived together before co-exist and suck moisture from the sea. It’s the first ever self-sustaining artificial ecosystem (Suck it, Biodome 2!), but few people have heard of it, including the scientists who should be learning from it.

BBC News recently interviewed Dr. Dave Wilkinson of Liverpool Johns Moores University, who has written extensively about the strange hodgepodge ecosystem that’s been created on the island and feels that it could tell us a lot about how a similar environment could be created artificially in space or on another planet.

“What it tells us is that we can build a fully functioning ecosystem through a series of chance accidents or trial and error.” He later added, “It’s a terrible waste that no-one is studying it,”

[BBC NEWS]

Will YOU be ready when the chainsaw polar bears come?

Jay Shapiro designed this custom RV to travel around the world without overly damaging, or depending too heavily upon, the surrounding environment.  The RV provides its own power with ~2 kilowatts worth of solar panels and a backup diesel generator.  It’s made from common Ford F-650 parts and a Caterpillar C7 diesel engine, so replacement parts can be found in most countries.  It holds 130 gallons of fuel and 150 gallons of water, or 280 gallons of Nesquik (that’s how I roll).  The engine and water heater can run on biofuel or diesel.  It has two small fridges, a two-burner electric stove, a working sink, a convection/microwave dual oven, a washer/dryer, a networked printer, a router, and a four-terabyte hard drive.  It even broadcasts a wi-fi signal about a mile in every direction and can purify water quickly enough for the Shapiros’ use, with enough extra clean water for other people in the vicinity:

What sets the EcoRoamer apart from similar vehicles are its sophisticated and robust living systems. [...] The purification system was designed by NASA for space flight, and it uses five filters to turn almost anything liquid into potable water. The truck can even recycle liquid waste into drinkable water, though the Shapiros don’t plan on making use of the capability. Open up the side of the truck out back and there are two faucets marked “pond in” and “village out.” The family’s goal is to clean well or pond water for anyone who needs it as they travel. [Jalopnik]

Hit the jump (or lovingly caress its cheek with your fist) for a picture gallery and an uneventful video of it off-roading in Michigan.  Somebody needs to CGI some zombies and explosions and polar bears with chainsaws into that video to do it justice.

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Darpa (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) helped create the internet and satellite navigation systems, which has made my neverending quest to hunt emos at least 23% easier.  Now they’re finding a cheap way to source fuel from algae as part of the Pentagon’s plan to replace half of the military’s fuel with renewable sources by 2016.

“Darpa has achieved the base goal to date,” [Barbara McQuiston] said. “Oil from algae is projected at $2 per gallon, headed towards $1 per gallon.” McQuiston said a larger-scale refining operation, producing 50 million gallons a year, would come on line in 2011 and she was hopeful the costs would drop still further – ensuring that the algae-based fuel would be competitive with fossil fuels. She said the projects, run by private firms SAIC and General Atomics, expected to yield 1,000 gallons of oil per acre from the algal farm. [Guardian]

Algae is the fastest-growing plant, and is estimated to produce 30 times more energy per acre than any other biofuel source.  It can also be grown in waste water, like the moat I dug around my house.

The video below is from 2008, and talks about algal fuel like it’s some far-off, theoretical thing.  Ha ha, people in 2008, with their hoop skirts and their top hats and their bicycles with the big front wheel.  Losers.

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The CR5 (Counter-Rotating-Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator) is about 15-20 years away from being efficient enough to use as a major energy source, but it can still be kind of awesome in the meantime.  It’s a two-chambered cylinder with 14 rotating rings in the center.  The outer edge of each ring is iron oxide.  When it’s heated to 1500 ºC [2732 ºF] the iron oxide releases oxygen.  Then carbon dioxide is pumped in and the iron oxide, depleted of oxygen, strips an oxygen molecule off the CO2 like I stripped your mom last night.  Without mercy.  Now the iron oxide is ready for another go (like your mom), and the carbon dioxide was converted to carbon monoxide, a possible building block for fuels, like syngas.

Below is a video of James May conducting an interview about the research.  They start talking about the CR5 near the 5:00 mark.  Prior to that, they’re just burning hot dogs and melting steel with something similar to an archimedes mirror (the solar concentrator supplying heat to the CR5), if that’s your cup of tea. I’ve been burning entire cows and melting buildings with an archimedes mirror all day, so that’s just old hat to me. Now, who wants steak?

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