Latest Inventions

posted by admin on Feb 26

I’ve just found out that an asteroid is coming very very close to Earth in 2027!

How amazing is that!  Not so if it comes too close as we could change it’s path and make it come even closer in 2039 - possibly threatening an impact!!!!!

Keep and eye on the NASA sight for updates of Asteroid 1999 AN10! 

posted by admin on Feb 15

News Flash!!!!

The Kindle 2 has finally made it into the shelves!!

Get hold of your slimline Kindle 2 for as little as $359 on pre-order with Amazon.  You can get books onto your gadget within 60 seconds from purchase - without the need for a pc as intermediary!  Amazon also pays for the wireless connectivity - so no bills for receiving new books either…..

It has an improved display and longer battery life than it’s earlier version so you can read all weekend without having to recharge!  And it holds more books - making using it much more worth while on longer trips.

Choose from over 230,000 books, magazines, newspapers and blogs to download online - and the price of each download is getting cheaper….

So, what are you waiting for?  Get your Kindle 2 now!!!!

posted by admin on Feb 4

We are currently very low on fertile soil - and it can affect us all.

With more than 6 billion people in the world today relying on crops grown on less than 11% of the worlds surface - things are getting a bit tight!

Soil erosion and degradation are common in most countries due to misuse of land (as with monoculture and large machinery compaction) or due to ignorance - or desperation (where individual farmers are damaging the environment by clearing woodlands, farming on hillsides or growing the ‘wrong’ crops for that land).

For years, scientists have been trying to improve farming techniques to retain and improve existing soils to cope with our need for food - even more important for communities in the marginal areas where the land could become barren in just a few short years of mismanagement.

Well, it’s possible that the Amazon may hold the answer!

Terra Preta do Indio:
Archaeologists working in the Amazon rain-forest have managed to identify a large number of sites with unusually fertile soils - and have begun to find out why. Ever since the 50’s this soil has been known, but other issues were more pressing. However now it’s uses are vital to many people.

A normal patch of soil in the Amazon Basin is able to sustain plant life (ie - the rain-forest itself), but it only holds it’s nutrients at the very surface and it a delicate ecosystem. It normally has a very thin layer of organic matter from dead leaves, etc and up to about 8 inches of topsoil. All this is very sensitive and is held together by the lives of the vegetation and wildlife: If the forest is cleared, the soil will be washed away by the rain in just a few short years.

However, more recently it’s been found that this Terra Preta is so much more and can be farmed for many years without losing it’s fertility - centuries in fact! This soil is only found where human settlements have been, so it is definitely a man-made resource.

Why is is so special?
The organic matter is still on top from plant waste, but underneath there is up to 6.5 feet of fertile top soil!

These people have managed to create vast deposits of carbon-enriched earth either on purpose for farming or just as a side-effect of another aspect of their lives - scientists are not quite sure about it’s origins.

These deposits are normally about 2-3 acres in size - although some are up to 40 acres - and they include charcoal, food refuse and other waste materials including broken pottery. The layers and layers of these ‘ingredients’ have increased the average carbon content of the land from between 30-150 tons per hectare to between 150-500 tons per hectare.

Worldwide significance.
Scientists have managed to re-create this type of soil in laboratories and have found it to sustain many crops successfully including rice, corn, manioc and beans.

The key to this soil is the charcoal. Tests have found that by adding crumbled charcoal and condensed smoke into damaged tropical soils had a profound affect on fertility. Microbes that keep soil healthy tend to attach themselves to the charcoal rather than being washed away with the rains - literally keeping the soil alive with nutrients.

It is possible that other tropical communities across the world could use the technique to help re-fertilise their own soils - adding back in the carbon and the minerals that have been lost. It’s like a compost heap on a grand scale.

And it could save lives!