2009 marks two important landmarks in science; the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of his seminal work, On The Origin of Species. To help celebrate, the Elucian Islands will play host to its very first interactive game, Notes from the Voyage.

To complete the series of tasks in Notes from the Voyage, you will need to brave earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, swim among coral reef and uncover buried fossils, as well as encounter wildlife including jaguars, sloths and tortoises. Armed with your toolbag, compass and notebook, can you relive the highlights of Darwin’s famous Beagle voyage and rediscover his key scientific findings? Prizes await all those who succeed.

Join us in Second Life from Wednesday 25th February on our stunning new addition to the Elucian Islands archipelago, which includes a lush re-creation of South America and the Galapagos Islands, as well as a Second Life scale replica of HMS Beagle.

At 6pm GMT / 10am PST, SLT on Wed 25th, the new island will be opened by Karen James, Darwin co-ordinator at the Natural History Museum, London and Science Director of The Beagle Project. Karen will cut the ribbon and give a talk to attendees about her work for the Darwin Anniversaries. Attendees will also get the chance to view a short film from Nature Video talking to acclaimed scientist and broadcaster David Attenborough about his view on Darwin, Natural Selection and the Bible, before they set off to play the game.

To-scale HMS Beagle

Starting with Karen, the Elucian Islands will also host a special series of talks on topics including the history of Darwin and Darwinism in research today as well as themed podcasts and video. All of these events will be free to attend and everybody is very welcome. To be kept up to date with all events, watch this blog or join the Nature group in Second Life.

There is much more from Nature Publishing Group to celebrate Darwin200. For feature articles and more visit the Nature News Darwin 200 special