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- Pat Maxwell
Now here’s a ride Little Miss Sunshine and her eccentric family would have appreciated. Think sixties hippie culture meets Star Trek, and you end up with a family van that’s techno-pumped and extremely energy efficient. A research team at Volkswagen's Electronic Research Lab in Palo Alto bought a 1964 microbus on e-Bay for $20,000. Dubbed “Chameleon,” it’s “groovy” meets “out-of-this-world..."
Also in the August 2012 - Isla Earth Radio Series series
No Smelling Spells Trouble for Fish
(01:30)
From: Pat Maxwell
When our noses are plugged, we sound stuffy and have trouble breathing. When fish noses are plugged, they get lost, and lose the ability to have sex. Bummer.
Grass Defends Turf Naturally
(01:30)
From: Pat Maxwell
Most people don’t know it, but some plants go to extremes to defend their turf. Some even produce a kind of poison to kill off the competition...
Fertilizer Overload
(01:30)
From: Pat Maxwell
Too much of a good thing. We all know the hazards of that: too much fat, too much beer, too much chocolate… (Maybe not too much chocolate…)
Green Energy from Plants
(01:30)
From: Pat Maxwell
Medieval alchemy -- you’ve seen it in the movies: A wizard-like figure hovers over a glowing vat adding mysterious ingredients in his quest to turn lead into gold. U.S. ...
Monitoring Carbon
(01:30)
From: Pat Maxwell
Catch the news and weather at 10 tonight along with the day’s carbon report. Carbon report? That’s right. If the CarbonTracker system developed by the National Oceanic and ...
Mapping Elephant DNA
(01:30)
From: Pat Maxwell
Over the years, treasure maps have been of such interest that the Library of Congress devoted a volume to them! Now, a new kind of map is proving to be a treasure to ...
A Future for Taz
(01:30)
From: Pat Maxwell
Sometimes the devil makes for good company -- at least that's what they think in Tasmania. Since 1996, a deadly facial cancer has wiped out thousands of Tasmanian devils -- ...
Logging Underwater
(01:30)
From: Pat Maxwell
If a tree at the bottom of a lake falls, does it make a sound? Either way, it doesn’t matter to lumberjacks at the Triton Logging Company. You see, Triton fells trees at the ...
More Trees Please
(01:30)
From: Pat Maxwell
There’s no doubt about it: our environmental problems can seem too overwhelming for one person to do anything about. But even our simplest actions can make a difference.
Don’t Flush -- Ballast, That Is
(01:30)
From: Pat Maxwell
Don't flush! At least not your ship's ballast tanks.
Related Pieces
Piece Description
Now here’s a ride Little Miss Sunshine and her eccentric family would have appreciated. Think sixties hippie culture meets Star Trek, and you end up with a family van that’s techno-pumped and extremely energy efficient. A research team at Volkswagen's Electronic Research Lab in Palo Alto bought a 1964 microbus on e-Bay for $20,000. Dubbed “Chameleon,” it’s “groovy” meets “out-of-this-world..."
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Isla Earth is produced by the Catalina Island Conservancy with support from its Fund for a Sustainable Planet.
