Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Doomsday Vault Design Now Final
The Svalbard International Seed Vault, aka the Doomsday Vault, is to be built into the mountainside on the island of Spitzbergen, one of the Svalbard islands. The vault is intended to safeguard the world's agricultural diversity from catastrophe - global warming, nuclear war, asteroid strikes - the usual suspects.
(Humans enter the vault once per year)
The facility will burrow deep into the sandstone mountain. Equipped with fashionable dual blast-proof doors, two airlocks and one-meter-thick walls of steel-reinforced concrete, it may provide an attractive haven to the rest of us when the time comes.
(Not unlike certain Egyptian facilities)
The only unfriendly feature is the refrigeration, which is provided by standard units reinforced by the local permafrost, cooling the facility down to a less-than-toasty -20 to -30 degrees Celsius. Some seeds would be preserved for decades, others for thousands of years, depending on the seed type.
Since the end of the Cold War, there has been a drop-off in the number of books and movies that forecast the end of the world. Alas, Babylon, a 1959 novel by Pat Frank set in south Florida, sticks in my mind as a particularly realistic fiction work. A Canticle for Liebowitz, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and The Postman all deal with a post-Apocalyptic future.
There were lots of great films too, like On the Beach, Dr. Strangelove, Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, Soylent Green (Charlton Heston was a great Last Man) and many others.
Update 18-Aug-2012: Take a look at the life bank from John Varley's 1977 novel The Ophiuchi Hotline and the genetic ark from Earth, a 1990 novel by David Brin. End update.
Find out more at Crop Trust and at Norway to house seeds via Interactive/Media/Design.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 2/12/2007)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Agriculture ")
MK-V Smart Tractor - Fully Electric, Farmer Optional
'A small electric tractor was working at the far side, and a slight hum could be heard from where he sat.' - Warner Van Lorne, 1936
Vertical Farm In Singapore's Output Is 1.5 Tons Per Day
'A towering eighty-story structure like the office "In-and-Out" baskets stacked up to the sky.' - Pohl and Kornbluth, 1952.
Mashambas Skyscraper Farm Design Wins
'...a towering eighty-story structure like the office In-and Out baskets stacked up to the sky.' - Poh and Kornbluth, 1952.
Self-Driving Tractors From China Plan Ahead
'Machines that seemingly with full consciousness walked out into the fields to do their daily work.' - Otfrid von Hanstein
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers
'Then she looked up with a smile and moved closer to the camera.'
Switzerland May Cap Population At Ten Million
'The population of Castle Hagedorn was fixed...'
Project Silica Offers 'Long-Term' Digital Storage
'... folios and tapes and playable discs of platinum alloy.'
Can 'Tactical Umbrellas' Shield One From Drones
'... another corner of his mind began to think about the shields.'
Crystalline Structures In Space, You Say?
A massive space borne lifeform from ST:TNG.
Garçon! A Menu For Artemis II, S'il Vous Plaît
'Michel Ardan, as a Frenchman, was declared chief cook, an important function, which raised no rival.'
Amazing Photonic Crystal Light Sail
'That sail will be twenty thousand miles at the wide part.'
Blue Collar AI Goes To Work To Mine Its Own Crypto
Blue collar bot.
Rogue AI Replicated Itself
'Sapiro’s computer just kept dialing at random, hanging up on humans, until it got a fellow computer of the same type as itself.'
HandelBot Helps Two-Handed Robots Learn Piano
'I request that you feed the correlation between those dots and the levers of the panel into my memory banks.'
Woven Fiber Electronic Skin For Robots
'... all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
When AI Takes Its First Breath
Any suggestions?
Chinese Aircar Light And Airy, Not For Blade Runners
Daytime version.
The Morphing Wheel And The Smartwheel
'If you surf over a bump, the spokes contract to roll over it.'
Transporting Antimatter
'...drawing plans for the magnetic tongs and bed plates and relays.'
Polish Turns Your Nail Into A Stylus
'He wrote on it, using the pointed fingernail of his right forefinger...'
