desert – Impact Lab

Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News

The Sahara Forest Project will turn the desert into a source of food, water, and energy

September 4, 2014

The Sahara Forest Project

The Sahara Forest Project is the brainchild of three entrepreneurs, Charlie Paton, Michael Pawlyn and Bill Watts. The project turns the Sahara desert into a source for food, water, and energy. The Sahara Forest Project is a solution that combines seemingly disparate technologies – Concentrated solar power and Seawater Greenhouses – and turns them into a mean, green super-massive biomachine. The elegant system could potentially produce enough energy for all of Africa and Europe while turning one of the world’s most inhospitable regions into a flourishing oasis.

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MIT’s fog harvesting technology brings water to deserts

September 4, 2013

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2invVwyC6k[/youtube]

Deserts may not have a lot of water like in rivers or lakes or aquifers but that doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t a lot of water around somewhere. Many desert-dwelling plants and animals have adapted to extract water from the air itself, relying on fog that reliably shows up in deserts near warm oceans.

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Analysis, Food, Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News, Sealife

Dust Blown Into the Oceans From the African Desert May Increase Risk of Seafood Poisoning

February 20, 2011

Dust from the African Desert can increase the growth of bacteria that are the main cause of food poisoning from seafood.

Researchers have found that harmful bacteria found in seawater flourish in the presence of dust that comes from the Sahara desert in western Africa, as well as other areas of continent.

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Panasonic Ships Snowman 5,314 Miles to the Desert in a Cardboard Box

January 21, 2011

A Bahraini girl named Amna al-Haddad, wanted her younger brother Saleh to see snow for the first time.

Using no refrigeration, a snowman made in Japan traveled 5,314 miles to the desert of Bahrain, surviving the journey in one piece. The feat was a nice test of Panasonic’s new vacuum insulation panels, called U-Vacua, and a clever stunt that produced squeals of joy from a bunch of Bahraini kids. (Video)

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