The Virtual Science Fair Project of the Day

Dan Shechtman Wins 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry - Israel Celebrates Its10th Nobel Laureate

2011-10-05T19:38:00.002+02:00

In 1982, Dan Shechtman discovered the impossible, till then, quasiperiodic crystal structure characterized by a fivefold symmetry in contrast to the then prevailing classical crystallographic restriction theorem stating that a crystal can possess only two, three, four, and six-fold rotational symmetries. For this discovery Dan Shechtman was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: In Which Temperature Do Crystals Grow Best?
Subject: Chemistry
Grade level: Elementary School, Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Selah Junior High School
Year: 2000
Description: Crystals were grown in same size beakers and other conditions maintained the same for all experimental groups besides the temperature of the crystal growth environment (hot, cold, room temperature); after three days crystal growth was compared, graphed and tabulated.
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2000/KaitlynS.html

For more crystal science fair projects and experiments click here

Steve Jobs, father of the Macintosh PC, iPhone and iPad died this day (October 5, 2011)

2011-10-05T14:24:00.008+02:00

Apple Remembering Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
1955-1911

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Determine if dangers of using a cell phone in a public place are similar to second-hand smoke.
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Equipment: spectrum analyzer, microwave signal generator, different cell phones
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2003)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2003
Description: In this experiment was determined how much cell phone signals change over distance; results were graphed and tabulated; usage conclusions and recommendations were made for different mobile phones.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2003/petel3o/public_html/

For more Cell Phone science fair projects and experiments click here

Dan David, founder of the Dan David Prize, died today (6 September 2011)

2011-09-06T09:30:00.000+03:00

The Dan David Prize annually awards 3 prizes of $1 million each awarded by the Dan David Foundation and Tel Aviv University to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution in the fields of science, technology, culture or social welfare. There are three prize categories - past, present and future. Prize laureates donate 10 percent of their prize money to outstanding doctoral students and researchers in their own field from around the world.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: AMPK and Cisplatin Resistance
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: High School, Grades 11-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: High
Awards: Grand Prize Winner, Google Global Science Fair 2011
Affiliation: Google Global Science Fair
Year: 2011
Techniques Used: Flow Cytometry, Microscopy, Western Blotting
Description: Ovarian cancer cells tend sometimes to develop resistance to the drug cisplatin used for chemotherapy. This invetigation provides proof that the enzyme AMPK (adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase) plays a role in the development of resistance to cisplatin.
Link: https://sites.google.com/site/ampkandcisplatinresistance/home

For more medicine science fair projects and experiments click here

Japan 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami

2011-03-11T08:41:00.003+02:00

The 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami was caused by a 9.0-magnitude undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred 11 March, 2011. The epicenter was approximately 72 kilometers (45 mi) east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tōhoku.

The earthquake triggered extremely destructive tsunami waves of up to 29.6 m (97 ft) that struck Japan minutes after the quake, in some cases traveling up to 10 km (6 mi) inland. The Japanese National Police Agency has officially confirmed 11,362 deaths, 2,872 injured, and 16,290 people missing across eighteen prefectures, as well as over 125,000 buildings damaged or destroyed. The earthquake and tsunami caused extensive and severe structural damage in Japan, including heavy damage to roads and railways as well as fires in many areas, and a dam collapse. Around 4.4 million households in northeastern Japan were left without electricity and 1.5 million without water.

Many electrical generators were taken down, and at least three nuclear reactors suffered explosions due to hydrogen gas that had built up within their outer containment buildings after cooling system failure. On 18 March, Yukiya Amano—the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency—described the crisis as "extremely serious." Residents within a 20 km (12 mi) radius of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and a 10 km (6 mi) radius of the Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant were evacuated. - Wikipedia

Japan Disaster 2011

Science Fair Project Topics

Tsunami Earthquakes Nuclear Power

Donations

Yellowstone, the world's first national park, was established this day in 1872

2011-03-01T09:55:00.000+02:00

Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, though it also extends into Montana and Idaho. Yellowstone was the first national park in the world, and is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular features in the park. It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is dominant.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Model a geyser and determine the effect that depth has on timing of geyser eruption.
Subject: Geology
Grade level: Middle School, Grades 6-8
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Buddies
Description: The mechanism consists of a boiling flask and a plastic container connected vertically by glass tubing. The flask is heated and after the geyser erupts it will reset itself by sucking the cool water from the plastic container, placed above, back into the flask, and the process starts again. Length of glass tubing is changed and the time between eruptions is recorded.
Link: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Geo_p040.shtml

For more Geology science fair projects and experiments click here

Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, was revealed to the world in 1997

2011-02-22T09:24:00.001+02:00

Dolly (1996 – 2003) was a female domestic sheep, and the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell, using the process of nuclear transfer. She was cloned by Ian Wilmut, Keith Campbell and colleagues at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh in Scotland. She was born on 5 July 1996 and she lived until the age of six. She has been called "the world's most famous sheep" by sources including BBC News and Scientific American. On 14 February 2003, Dolly was euthanised because she had a progressive lung disease and severe arthritis.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Welcome to the fascinatingworld of cloning
Subject: Biotechnology / Genetic Engineering
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair ($400)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2007
Description: Main topics: Clonings history, cloning techniques, benefits and negative sides. Biographies of three important scientists who contributed to the field.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/shah7a2/

For more Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering science fair projects and experiments click here

Space Shuttle Columbia was lost, on this day, in 2003

2011-02-01T09:35:00.000+02:00

The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, resulting in the death of all seven crew members, shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission.

The loss of Columbia was a result of damage sustained during launch when a piece of foam insulation the size of a small briefcase broke off the Space Shuttle external tank (the main propellant tank) under the aerodynamic forces of launch. The debris struck the leading edge of the left wing, damaging the Shuttle's thermal protection system (TPS), which protects it from heat generated with the atmosphere during re-entry. While Columbia was still in orbit, some engineers suspected damage, but NASA managers limited the investigation, on the grounds that little could be done even if problems were found.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Is there life in outer space?
Subject: Space Exploration
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2007
Description: Main topics: life in space; the search for life in space; the debate on the existence of extra-terrestrial life; Panspermia (the hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe, and may be distributed to habitable bodies, in microbial form, by comets, meteoroids, asteroids and planetoids.).

Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/back7n2/

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Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor in the United States, graduated on this day in 1849

2011-01-23T13:19:00.000+02:00

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821 – 1910), born in Bristol, England, was the first female doctor in the United States. She was the first openly identified woman to graduate from medical school, a pioneer in educating women in medicine in the United States, and was prominent in the emerging women's rights movement.

She attended Geneva Medical College in New York. She was accepted there — supposedly because the faculty put it to a student vote, and the students thought her application was a hoax — and braved the prejudice of some of the professors and students to complete her training and graduated, on 23 January 1849.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: The Effect of Age and Gender on Human Blood Pressure
Subject: Medicine / human anatomy
Grade level: Elementary School, Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Selah Intermediate School
Year: 2002
Description: Subjects of different age and gender were tested for blood pressure; results tabulated, graphed and compared.
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2002/KendraC.html

For more health and medicine science fair projects and experiments click here

Help and Tips for the Upcoming Google Global Science Fair 2011

2011-01-20T14:35:00.000+02:00

Help and Tips for the Upcoming Google Global Science Fair 2011

Avi Cohen, best known for playing football for Liverpool, England, was killed today in a motorcycle crash.

2010-12-29T10:41:00.000+02:00

Cohen began his playing career with Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Israeli national team, before joining Liverpool for a fee of £200,000 ($450,000) in July 1979, and became the first Israeli to play in England. He struggled to establish himself as a regular at Anfield and was released in November 1981, rejoining Maccabi. On 20 September 1980, Cohen stirred up controversy when he decided to play in Liverpool's away fixture versus Southampton, which fell on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

Liverpool FC marked the death of Cohen with a period of applause before their Premier League match against Wolves on 29 December 2010.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: How to throw a football
Subject: Engineering
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimenta
Cost: Medium
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2005
Description: The objectives of this project are to determine the: proper location of the ball prior to cocking the arm, the best place for the quarterback to situate his hand along the laces, the ideal distance between the feet before releasing the ball, wrist flicking motion.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2005/papi5s0/public_html/

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3,000 people were killed by a major eruption of Mount Vesuvius, on this day, in 1631

2010-12-16T10:07:00.002+02:00

Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum that were never rebuilt. The towns' locations were eventually forgotten until their accidental rediscovery in the 18th century.

On December 16, 1631, another major eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried many villages under lava flows, killing around 3,000 people. Torrents of boiling water were also ejected, adding to the devastation.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Understanding Volcanoes
Subject: Earth Sciences
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Thinkquest
Year: 1998
Description: Main topics: plate tectonics, volcanoes, volcanic database.
Link: http://library.thinkquest.org/17457/

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Samuel Johnson, best known for his dictionary of the English language, died on this day, 226 years ago.

2010-12-13T09:25:00.003+02:00

After nine years of work, Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755; it had a far-reaching effect on Modern English and has been described as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship." Until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary 150 years later, Johnson's dictionary was viewed as the pre-eminent British dictionary.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Statistical estimation of the the growth of the English language vocabulary over the years.
Subject: Statistics / Lexicography
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Fair Projects and Experiments (juliantrubin.com)
Year: 2010
Description: A statistical estimation of the No. of headwords in a dictionary, the size of your vocabulary and the growth of the English language vocabulary over the years. This is achieved by using the systematic sampling method by counting the number of words on dictionary pages placed at regular intervals from each other, beginning at a random page number.
Link: http://www.juliantrubin.com/encyclopedia/mathematics/dictionary_statistics.html

For more free mathematics science fair projects and experiments click here

The 2010 Mount Carmel (Israel) Forest Fire

2010-12-09T09:29:00.001+02:00

The Mount Carmel forest fire was a deadly forest fire that started on Mount Carmel in northern Israel, just south of Haifa. The fire began at about 11:00 local time on 2 December 2010, and spread quickly, consuming much of the Mediterranean forest covering the region. The fire claimed at least 42 lives, making it the deadliest in Israeli history. The dead were mostly Israel Prison Service officer cadets, as well as three senior police officers, among them the chief of the Haifa District. More than 17,000 people were evacuated, including several villages in the vicinity of the fire, and there was considerable property and environmental damage. The fire was defeated on 5 December after raging for four days.

Israel Police suggested that the fire was caused due to a bonfire that was lit by local residents and not extinguished properly and in time.

The main cause for the large-scale fire was an unusually warm autumn and dry conditions Israel had been experiencing.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: The relationship between global warming and the emissions of carbon dioxide gas (CO2) by forest fires.
Subject: Ecology
Grade level: High School - Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Awards: 2st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2003)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2003
Description: Fuel moisture determines a forest fire's depth of burn. Fires will burn deeper into the ground where global warming causes drought. Organic matter samples from different depths were burned to analyze the amount of carbon dioxide released. It was concluded that more carbon dioxide is released per unit volume of soil the deeper a fire burns.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2003/vanfr3j/public_html/

For more Fire Ecology science fair projects and experiments click here

The Antarctic Treaty was signed, preserving the Antarctic continent for scientific research, 51years ago

2010-12-01T10:13:00.000+02:00

The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively called the Antarctic Treaty System or ATS, regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. For the purposes of the treaty system, Antarctica is defined as all of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude. The treaty, entering into force in 1961 (opened for signature on December 1, 1959) and eventually signed by 47 countries, sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation and bans military activity on that continent. The treaty was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War. The Antarctic Treaty Secretariat headquarters have been located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, since September 2004.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Will Ice Melting at the North or South Poles Cause Sea Levels to Rise?
Subject: Earth Sciences
Grade level: Primary School - Grades K-3
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Buddies (Author: Kristin Strong)
Description: This project demonstrates that melting ice cubes elevate water level in a container.
Link: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/OceanSci_p015.shtml

For more Earth Sciences science fair projects and experiments click here

The First Manned Hot-Air Balloon Flight Was Made 227 Years Ago

2010-11-21T09:51:00.001+02:00

On Nov 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air balloon created on Dec 14, 1782 by the Montgolfier brothers.

King Louis XVI had originally decreed that condemned criminals would be the first pilots, but de Rozier, along with Marquis François d'Arlandes, successfully petitioned for the honor.

The first military use of a hot air balloon happened during the battle of Fleurus where the French used the balloon l'Entreprenant as an observation post.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Which Material Is Best For Hot Air Balloons: Nylon Or Polyester?
Subject: Aviation
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Selah Junior High School
Year: 2000
Description: A countersink was dropped on the stretched tested materials, nylon or polyester, and the number of impacts it took to tear the fabric were counted. Then the samples of the same materials were heated in an oven and the tests were run again.

Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2000/HeatherK.html

For more Kites, Gliders And Hot Air Balloon science fair projects and experiments click here

Johannes Kepler, the Astronomer Who Discovered "Kepler's Laws", Died 380 Years Ago

2010-11-15T09:21:00.001+02:00

Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630) was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, and key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution. He is best known for his three laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers, based on his works that also provided one of the foundations for Isaac Newton's theory of universal gravitation.

Kepler's laws give a description of the motion of planets around the Sun.

Kepler's laws are:

1. The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci.
2. A line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time.
3. The square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Stars And What They Can Become
Subject: Aviation
Grade level: Primary School, Grades K-3
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2008)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2008
Description: Main topics: How are stars born? What different types of stars are there? How do stars die? What are binary stars? All about our sun.

Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/lafl8s2/

For more astronomy science fair projects and experiments click here

115th Anniversary of the Discovery of X-Rays

2010-11-11T08:37:00.001+02:00

On November 8, 1895, German physics professor Wilhelm Röntgen stumbled on X-rays while experimenting with Lenard and Crookes tubes and began studying them. He wrote an initial report "On a new kind of ray: A preliminary communication" and on December 28, 1895 submitted it to the Würzburg's Physical-Medical Society journal. This was the first paper written on X-rays. Röntgen referred to the radiation as "X", to indicate that it was an unknown type of radiation. The name stuck, although (over Röntgen's great objections) many of his colleagues suggested calling them Röntgen rays. They are still referred to as such in many languages, including German and Russian. Röntgen received the first Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Research the technology and applications of today's modern forms of diagnostic imaging (X-Rays, CAT Scans, and MRIs).
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: high School - Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2004)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2004
Description: Main topics: X-rays: discovery, physics, protection; CAT scan: invention, technology, procedure, applications; MRI: procedure, compared to X-rays and CAT scans, safety and risks, applications.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2004/sitt4b0/public_html/

For more Medical Instruments science fair projects and experiments click here

George Boole, the Founder of Boolean Algebra, Was Born

2010-11-02T10:34:00.001+02:00

George Boole (1815 – 1864) was an English mathematician and philosopher. As the inventor of Boolean logic—the basis of modern digital computer logic—Boole is regarded in hindsight as a founder of the field of computer science.

Boole proposed that logical propositions should be expressed as algebraic equations - logic is reduced to algebra. Boole replaced the operation of multiplication by the word and and addition by the word or. For example, if x is the set of all brown cows and y is the set of all fat cows, then x+y is the set of all cows that are brown or fat, and xy is the set of all cows that are brown and fat.

Let z = the set of all Irish cows. Then z(x+y) = zx+zy; in other words 'the set of Irish cows that are either brown or fat is the same as the collection of cows that are Irish and brown or Irish and fat'.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Implementing Logic Gates With Relays
Subject: Mathematics / Electronics
Grade level: Middle and High School, Grades 7-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Affiliation: Science Fair Projects and Experiments
Description: For beginners: Build from relays common logic gates and demonstrate their truth tables with LEDs or suitable bulbs connected at the input and output.
For advanced students: Construct from relay logic gates half or full adders and demonstrate their truth tables. Adders are central components in any modern computer's ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit - the main part of CPU). Build from relays alarms, counters etc.
Link: http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/zusecomputer.html

For more electronics science fair projects and experiments click here

The first transcontinental telegraph message was sent in 1861, bringing to an end the Pony Express

2010-10-28T09:51:00.003+02:00

The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 1860 to October 1861. It became the west's most direct means of east-west communication before the telegraph and was vital for tying California closely with the Union just before the American Civil War.

This original fast mail Pony Express service had messages carried by horseback riders in relays to stations across the prairies, plains, deserts, and mountains of the Western United States. For its 18 months of operation, it briefly reduced the time for messages to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to about ten days, with telegraphic communication covering about half the distance across the continent and mounted couriers the rest.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Build Your Own Morse Telegraph System
Subject: Electromagnetism
Grade level: Middle School, Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Building project
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Fair Projects and Experiments
Description: A very basic and simple apparatus consisting of a morse key, battery, bulb or LED, buzzer and an electromagnet.
Link: http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/morsetelegraph.html

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2010 Nobel Prize Winners in Physics Announced

2010-10-21T09:18:00.005+02:00

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 was awarded jointly to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene"

Graphene is a one-atom-thick planar sheet of carbon atoms that are densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice. The term Graphene was coined as a combination of "graphite" and the suffix "ene" (containing a double carbon bond).

The possible practical applications (though most of them sill not realized) for graphene include microelectronics, composite materials, solar cells, mobile phones, and more.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Does radiation from cell phones affect our health?
Subject: Health
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2005)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2005
Description: Main topics: Why does your cell phone emit radiation? Is this radiation dangerous for our health? How to fight cell phone radiation.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2005/lamn5n0/public_html

For more Radiation Health Effects science fair projects and experiments click here

New and Innovative Science Fair Project Ideas and Topics

2010-10-16T19:11:00.000+02:00

New and Innovative Science Fair Project Ideas and Topics

Chile's Trapped Miners are Free!

2010-10-14T11:57:00.000+02:00

On August 5, 2010 33 Chilean miners ranging in ages from 19 to 63 became trapped 700 metres (2,300 ft) below the ground surface in a copper and gold mine located in the Atacama Desert. The trapped miners gained contact with the outside world 17 days after the mine collapse through a 3-inch diameter hole that was drilled to reach the trapped miners. Through this hole, the trapped miners have received food and other supplies. A video message released to the public on August 26, 2010 showed the miners living conditions 2,300 feet below the ground surface.

At approximately 11:30 pm on 12 October 2010 (Eastern Daylight Time) the first of the trapped miners reached the surface, after an approximately fourteen-minute ascent in the rescue Fenix capsule. All of the remaining miners were rescued successfully within 21 hours of the first miner's arrival on the surface.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Diamonds Around the World
Subject: Chemistry
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 2-4
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Main topics: How diamonds are formed, diamonds in Saskatchewan, Canada, production, uses, how is the value of diamonds evaluated, crimes, wars, legends.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2006/malh6d2/

For more chemistry science fair projects and experiments click here

2010 Nobel Prize Winners in Chemistry are Announced

2010-10-07T09:30:00.001+02:00

This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki for the development of palladium-catalyzed cross coupling.

Carbon is a stable element and carbon atoms do not easily react with one another. In this method carbon atoms bind to a palladium atom, an act that brings together the carbon atoms and starts the reaction that ends up with a new carbon-based material.

This chemical method is very useful for the electronics, platics and medicine industries.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Toxicity of Carbon Nanotubes in Daphnia magna
Subject: Chemistry / Material Engineering
Grade level: High School, Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Awards:
2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2010)
WWSEF Life Science Gold Medal
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2010
Description: The main goal of this project is to test the toxicity of carbon nanotubes by exposing Daphnia magna to solutions of carbon nanotubes and humic acid.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2010/kimexe2

For more carbon science fair projects and experiments click here

Ford Motor Company Was Founded, on this Day, 107 Years Ago

2010-06-16T08:31:00.001+03:00

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation and the world's fourth largest automaker based on worldwide vehicle sales. Based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, the automaker was founded by Henry Ford, and incorporated in June 16, 1903. Ford now encompasses many brands, including Lincoln and Mercury of the U.S. and Volvo of Sweden.

Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines. Henry Ford's methods came to be known around the world as Fordism by 1914.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Explore Automotive Seat Design
Subject: Automotive engineering
Grade level: High School - Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2005)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2005
Description: The main goal of this project is to study the factors that cause seating discomfort, and what health hazards sitting in a car imposes.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2005/fung5b0/public_html/

For more cars & vehicle science fair projects and experiments click here

2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup - Begins

2010-06-11T18:21:00.000+03:00

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is the 19th and current FIFA World Cup, the premier international association football tournament. It is being held in South Africa, where it began on 11 June and is scheduled to conclude on 11 July 2010. The 2010 FIFA World Cup is the culmination of a qualification process that began in August 2007 and involved 204 of the 208 FIFA national teams. As such, it matches the 2008 Summer Olympics as the sports event with the most competing nations.

The FIFA World Cup, also called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not contested because of World War II.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Total Soccer: The Online Soccer Resource
Subject: Sports
Grade level: Elementary / Middle School, Grades 4-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Affiliation: ThinkQuest
Year: 2001
Description: Main topics: how to play soccer; soccer history; soccer health, nutrition and injuries; soccer today.
Link: http://library.thinkquest.org/C0127282/

For more sports and recreation fair projects click here

Dennis Gabor, Inventor of Holography, Was Born

2010-06-05T09:27:00.002+03:00

Dennis Gabor (1900 - 1979) was a Hungarian-British electrical engineer and inventor, most notable for inventing holography, for which he later received the 1971 Nobel Prize in Physics.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: The Effect of Different Isolation Tables and Developing Times on a Hologram's Range of Color.
Subject: Optics & Light
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Selah Junior High School
Year: 2002
Description: The independent variables are the isolation tables and the developing times. The dependent variable is the range of color in each hologram, which is measured in nanometers.

Link: http://share3.esd105.wednet.edu/mcmillend/02SciProj/AshleyD/AshleyD.html

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World Hypertension Day 2010

2010-05-17T10:22:00.001+03:00

World Hypertension Day is a day designated and initiated by The World Hypertension League (WHL), which is itself an umbrella to organizations of 85 national hypertension societies and leagues. The day was initiated to increase the awareness of hypertension. This was especially important because of the lack of appropriate knowledge among hypertensive patients. The WHL launched its first WHD on May 14, 2005. Since 2006, the WHL has been dedicating May 17 of every year as WHD.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: The Effect of Exercise on Blood Pressure
Subject: Medicine / Human Anatomy
Grade level: Elementary School, Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Mid-Columbia Regional science fair
Affiliation: Selah Intermediate School
Year: 2002
Description: After step testing blood pressure was taken by a portable wrist blood pressure monitor. The results were graphed and analyzed for the entire group and by gender.
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2002/KiereaM.html

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Richard Feynman, the originator of the Feynman diagrams, Was Born

2010-05-11T15:45:00.000+03:00

Richard Phillips Feynman (1918 - 1988) best known for his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics for what Feynman, jointly with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965. He developed a widely used pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions governing the behavior of subatomic particles, which later became known as Feynman diagrams. He also assisted in the development of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: The science behind nuclear energy
Subject: Nuclear physics and energy
Grade level: High school, grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2007)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2007
Description: Main topics: Nuclear energy basics and prospects as alternative energy, safety, pollution hazards, the CANDU Reactor.

Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/math7n2/Report.html

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William Shakespeare Died this Day in 1616

2010-04-23T15:08:00.002+03:00

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

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Literature Fair Project Information
Title: William Shakespeare Works
Subject: William Shakespeare
Grade level: High School, Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, arts and literature, ThinkQuest (1997)
Affiliation: ThinkQuest
Year: 1997
Description: Main topics:
Tragedies: Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Othello, Hamlet, King Lear.
Comedies and Histories: Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, Merchant of Venice, Henry V, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard III, Twelfth Night.
Resources: for teachers, for students, life of the Bard, pictures, theatres and festivals.

Link: http://library.thinkquest.org/10502/main.htm

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2010 Volcanic Eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland

2010-04-22T12:19:00.002+03:00

The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull are a series of major volcanic events at Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland. They caused significant disruption to air travel across western and northern Europe in 2010.

Seismic activity started at the end of 2009, and led to a volcanic eruption on 20 March 2010 whose Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) was 1. The plume of ash from a later ongoing eruption beginning on 14 April 2010 led to widespread disruption of air travel in Europe from 15 April, grounding planes and affecting the travel plans of millions of passengers worldwide. The aftermath of the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruptions adversely affected travel around the world, with air space across more than 20 European countries remaining largely closed until April 20.

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Science Fair Project Information (Idea)
Title: The 2010 Volcanic Eyjafjallajökull Eruption
Subject: Earth sciences
Grade level: Elementary, middle and high school - Grades 4-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Description: Main topics: Eyjafjallajökull volcanic history, science, and adverse effects on environment, air travel and economy.
Resources:
2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
Eyjafjallajökull
Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption
Aftermath of the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption
Frequently Asked Question on the Eruption in Iceland
Information about eruption on Eyjafjallajökull: University of Iceland
Volcanic Ash and Aviation Safety

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Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, 2010

2010-04-11T12:35:00.002+03:00

Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laGvura, known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah and in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Holocaust Day, is observed as Israel's day of commemoration for the approximately six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, as a result of the actions carried out by Nazi Germany and its accessories, and for the Jewish resistance in that period. In Israel, it is a national memorial day and public holiday. It is held on the 27 Nisan (April/May). In other countries there are different commemorative days.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: The Holocaust in Romania
Subject: The Holocaust / World War II
Grade level: High School, Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: Honorable Mention, ThinkQuest International (2007)
Affiliation: ThinkQuest
Year: 2007
Description: Main topics: The Holocaust in general. The Romanian Holocaust: The Antonescu's regime and the Jews; The extermination of the Jews in Basarabia, Bucovina and Transnistria (1941-1942); The situation of the Jews from these territories after 1942; The Holocaust in the Northern part of Transylvania.
Link: http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/02467/Index2.htm

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NASA launched the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, which reached Mars and transmitted photos back to Earth.

2010-04-07T14:56:00.000+03:00

2001 Mars Odyssey is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. The project was developed by NASA with an expected cost of $ 297 million. Launched April 7, 2001 on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and reached Mars orbit on October 24, 2001. Its mission was to use spectrometers and electronic imagers to hunt for evidence of past or present water and volcanic activity on Mars. It is hoped that the data Odyssey obtains will help answer the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars. It also acts as a relay for communications between the Mars Exploration Rovers and the Phoenix lander to Earth. The mission was named after the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Mars Science Fair Projects and Experiments
Subject: Astronomy
Grade level: For Elementary, Middle and High School Students and Teachers
Academic Level: Ordinary, Advanced
Project Type: Experimental, Descriptive
Cost: Low, Medium, High
Affiliation: Science Fair Projects and Experiments
Description: A collection of science fair projects about Mars including: topics, ideas, resources and sample projects for elementary, middle and high school students and teachers
Link: http://www.juliantrubin.com/fairprojects/astronomy/mars.html

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Eiffel Tower Was Inaugurated on 31 March 1889

2010-03-31T10:40:00.001+03:00

The Eiffel Tower is a 19th century iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris that has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower, which is the tallest building in Paris, is the single most visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year. Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the tower was built as the entrance arch for the 1889 World's Fair.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: The Shape And Strength Of Towers (in English & French)
Subject: Engineering
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2003)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2003
Description: Straws are used to build different tower shapes like square and octagone. Weights, in increments, were placed on top the constructions till they collapse.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2003/ngoke3k2/public_html/

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The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, One of the Most Disastrous Environmental Catastrophes, Occurred

2010-03-24T10:14:00.001+02:00

The oil tanker Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in the Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989. It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters ever to occur in history.

The region was a habitat for salmon, sea otters, seals and seabirds. The vessel spilled 10.8 million U.S. gallons (about 40 million litres) of crude oil into the sea, and the oil eventually covered 1,300 square miles (3,400 km2) of ocean.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Compare the absorptivity of different sorbents used for cleaning up an oil spill in water.
Subject: Environmental Sciences
Grade level: Elementary School, Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2009)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2009
Description: Oil motor is poured into an aluminum foil tray; different materials, like a sponge, are placed into the tray for one day; amount of oil absorbed is calculated.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2009/shah9a2

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Albert Einstein, Originator of Relativity, Was Born

2010-03-14T08:38:00.001+02:00

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) is a Jewish German-born Swiss-American theoretical physicist, who is widely regarded as one of the most influential and best known scientists and intellectuals of all time. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics. Best known for his special and general theories of relativity, and especially his famous equation E=mc².

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Explore Einstein's famous equation of E=mc².
Subject: Physics
Grade level: Middle School, Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2004)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2004
Description: Main topics: origin of the equation, parts of the equation, application, glossary, quiz.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2004/gupt4s0/public_html/index1.htm

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Wilt Chamberlain scored a record of 100 points in an NBA game (March 2, 1962)

2010-03-02T09:27:00.000+02:00

Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game, named by the National Basketball Association as one of its greatest games, was a regular-season game between the Philadelphia Warriors and the New York Knicks held on March 2, 1962 at Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

The Warriors won the game 169–147, setting what was then a record for the most combined points in a game by both teams. The game is most remembered, however, for the 100 points scored by Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain. This performance ranks as the NBA's single-game scoring record; along the way Chamberlain also broke five other NBA scoring records, of which four still stand.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Does Crossed Hand/Eye Dominance Affect Basketball Shooting Percentage?
Subject: Sports
Grade level: Middle / High School, Grades 6-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Buddies
Description: Determine whether 50-100 volunteers have crossed or uncrossed hand and eye dominances - procedure explained. Calculate the average shooting percentage for the participants with uncrossed and crossed hand and eye dominances.

Link: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Sports_p021.shtml

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Science Fair Projects & Experiments: Topics, Ideas, Resources & Sample Projects

2010-02-19T15:57:00.000+02:00

Science Fair Projects & Experiments: Topics, Ideas, Resources & Sample Projects

Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) Was Born

2010-02-15T09:58:00.000+02:00

Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations, the falling body theoretical experiment and support for Copernicus' heliocentric model. Stephen Hawking says, "Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science."

Best known for supporting the heliocentric view which placed the Sun at the centre of the universe. Galileo's views were met with bitter opposition from some philosophers and clerics and as a result he was brought before the Roman Inquisition.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Galileo Galilei: The Falling Bodies Experiment
Subject: Physics
Grade level: Middle / High School, Grades 6-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Fair Projects and Experiments
Description: Dropping a coin and a paper disc to demonstrate that both objects will reach the ground at the same time. More advanced experiments, to demonstrate further the topic, include inclined plane and pendulum experiments.
Link: http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/galileofallingbodies.html

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Mark Spitz Was Born

2010-02-10T08:37:00.001+02:00

Mark Andrew Spitz, an American swimmer, the first athlete to win seven gold medals in a single Olympics (Munich, 1972). This achievement was surpassed only by Michael Phelps who won eight golds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Does a swim cap reduce drag and help a swimmer swim faster through the water?
Subject: Sports
Grade level: Elementary School, Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st Place, 6th Physical Science, PCA Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Phillipsburg Christian Academy (PCA)
Year: 2006
Description: A wig and a swim cap are mounted on a honeydew melon (simulating the human head); drag is measured, in flowing water, by measuring how far an elastic band, attached to the melon, stretches; results compared.
Link: http://www.fellowshipch.org/pcasftyler06.html

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Wayne Gretzky, Ice-Hockey Greatest Player of All Time, Was Born

2010-01-26T10:21:00.002+02:00

Wayne Douglas Gretzky, (born January 26, 1961 in Brantford, Ontario) is a retired Canadian-American professional ice hockey player. Best known for his NHL records for points (2,857), goals (894), and assists (1,963).

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: The Slingshot: Improving the Modern Hockey Stick
Subject: Sports Engineering
Grade level: Middle School, Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2008)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2008
Description: The purpose of this project is to investigate the relationship between the weight distributions within a hockey stick’s shaft and the energy that the stick can generate when used. In order to test hockey sticks, in this respect, a pendulum mechanizm was constructed.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/chon8n2/

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Robert Boyle, Discoverer of Boyle's law, Was Born

2010-01-25T09:18:00.000+02:00

Robert Boyle (1627 – 1691) was a natural philosopher, chemist, physicist and inventor. He is best known for the formulation of Boyle's law - one of several gas laws. Although his research and personal philosophy clearly has its roots in the alchemical tradition, he is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of modern chemistry.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Boyle's Law: Pressure vs. Volume of a Gas at Constant Temperature
Subject: Chemistry
Grade level: High School, Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Buddies
Description: A simple repetition of Robert Boyle's classic experiment in which he discovered the relationship between pressure and volume of gases; basically using a manometer, a device used to measure pressure.
Link: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Chem_p011.shtml

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Giuseppe Verdi's Opera ll Trovatore Premiered in Rome in 1853.

2010-01-19T10:00:00.001+02:00

ll Trovatore (The Troubadour) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Leone Emanuele Bardare and Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez.

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Social Science Fair Project Information
Title: The Cantonese Opera
Subject: Performing arts / vocal music
Grade level: Elementary School, Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: Honorable Mention, ThinkQuest International, Spring 2004
Affiliation: ThinkQuest
Year: 2004
Description: Main topics: The origins of Cantonese opera, history, development and change, make-up, costumes, music, Cantonese opera and the local community.

Link: http://library.thinkquest.org/04apr/01272/

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Albert Schweitzer Was Born

2010-01-14T09:06:00.002+02:00

Albert Schweitzer (1875 – 1965) was an Alsatian German-French theologian, musician, philosopher, and physician.

He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life", expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, now in Gabon, west central Africa (then French Equatorial Africa).

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: What is Leukemia?
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2009)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2009
Description: Main topics: different types of leukemia, symptoms, treatments, future possible treatments, video.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2009/liuv9v2

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Stephen Hawking Was Born

2010-01-08T10:11:00.003+02:00

Stephen William Hawking (born 8 January 1942) is a renowned British theoretical physicist. Best known for scientific contributions to black hole theory, theoretical cosmology and quantum gravity.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Investigate the Cosmological theory of the Big Bang
Subject: Physics / Astronomy
Grade level: High School Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2004)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2004
Description: Main topics: The Big Bang theory, Hubble's theories and space telescope, subatomic background information, einstein's relativity, Stephen Hawking's contribution, theories of cosmology, criticism of the Big Bang theory.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2004/khak4a0/public_html/

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Elvis Presley Was Born 75 Years Ago

2010-01-08T09:16:00.001+02:00

Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American popular musician, film actor and an cultural icon. He is widely known as Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King".

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: How has rock and roll impacted today's society?
Subject: Social Studies
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, ThinkQuest Narrative (2009)
Affiliation: ThinkQuest
Year: 2009
Description: Main topics: The origins and impact of "rock and roll" music on society - dance, fashions, music, politics, arts, entertainment.

Link: http://library.thinkquest.org/09jan-oracle-n-001/00280/

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Sir Isaac Newton (1643- 1727) Was Born

2010-01-04T09:42:00.002+02:00

Sir Isaac Newton was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian who is perceived and considered by a substantial number of scholars and the general public as one of the most influential scientists in history.

Best known for His 1687 publication of the Principia which is considered to be among the most influential books in the history of science, laying the groundwork for most of classical mechanics. In this work, Newton described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion which dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries until the work of Albert Einstein. Newton showed that the motions of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws by demonstrating the consistency between Kepler's laws of planetary motion and his theory of gravitation, thus removing the last doubts about heliocentrism and advancing the scientific revolution.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: A computer program that simulates Newtonian physics
Subject: Physics / Computer Science
Grade level: High School Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Building Type
Cost: Medium
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2003)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2003
Description: This computer program enables a virtually unlimited number of objects, representing bodies of matter can be placed throughout the computer screen. The mass, and initial velocity of each object, as well as the laws of physics, such as universal gravitational constant, and friction levels etcetera, can all be adjusted, making a wide variety of simulated experiments possible. The program itself is available for download.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2003/krame3r/public_html/

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The Tallest Man-Made Structure Ever Built Was Inaugurated - January 4, 2010

2010-01-04T09:17:00.000+02:00

Burj Khalifa (Arabic: "Khalifa Tower"), is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is currently the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m (2,717 ft) with 206 floors. Construction began in 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed in October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010. The total cost for the Burj Khalifa project was about US$1.5 billion. The price of office space at Burj Khalifa had reached over US$43,000 per m².

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Determine the effect of height to width ratio on the wind load of a building.
Subject: Engineering
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Washington State Science and Engineering Fair
Affiliation: Selah Intermediate School
Year: 2006
Description: A wind tunnel is used to apply wind on miniature plywood structures with different height to width ratio; drag force is measured.
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2006/BenM.html

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) Died at 35

2009-12-05T10:47:00.001+02:00

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Does Bach have the same effect as Mozart on spatial reasoning?
Subject: Psychology / Music
Grade level: High School / College
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Empirical Study
Cost: Low
Awards: None
Affiliation: Missouri Western State University
Year: 2000
Description: Participants in this study are exposed to Bach's and Mozart's music and a silence control. Then the participants are tested by the spatial-temporal test.
Link: http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/150.php

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Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species Celebrates 150 Years

2009-11-24T10:03:00.002+02:00

On the Origin of Species, published on 24 November 1859, is a seminal scientific work, considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Darwin's book introduced the theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. It presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution. Darwin included evidence that he had gathered on the Beagle expedition in the 1830s and his subsequent findings from research, correspondence, and experimentation.

Though, Darwin's book did not address directly the question of human evolution, saying only that "Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history", the possibility of linking humans with earlier apes by descent became clear after 1859 with the publication of On the Origin of Species which argued for the idea of the evolution of new species from earlier ones.

At the time, ideas about the transmutation of species were controversial as they conflicted with scientific mainstream and religious beliefs that species were unchanging parts of a designed hierarchy and that humans were unique, unrelated to animals. As a result, Darwin's evolution theories were met with ridicule by the scientific community and hostility by the Church before moving to the front line of science.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: The kangaroo rat and its adaptations for survival in a desert habitat
Subject: Zoology
Grade level: Primary School / Kindergarten - Grades K-3
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2005)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2005
Description: Main topics: kangaroo rat's adaptation to desert habitat; why its population status is threatened; what humans can do to protect it; quiz; pictures.

Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2005/blac5b0/public_html/

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Marie Curie (1867 – 1934) was Was Born

2009-11-07T08:09:00.000+02:00

Marie Skłodowska Curie was a physicist and chemist of Polish upbringing and, subsequently, French citizenship. She was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity, the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes, receiving one in physics and later, one in chemistry. She was the first woman to serve as professor at the University of Paris.

Her achievements include the creation of a theory of radioactivity (a term she coined), techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery of two new elements, polonium and radium. Under her direction, the world's first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasms (cancers), using radioactive isotopes.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Nuclear Energy
Subject: Physics
Grade level: High School Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2003)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2003
Description: Main topics: nuclear history, nuclear energy (fission, fusion), nuclear reactors, nuclear accidents (Chernobyl), nuclear waste storage (Yucca Mountains), food irradiation.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2003/chiuw3w/public_html/index2.html

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The Dog Laika Is Launched Into Space - November 3, 1957

2009-11-03T10:15:00.001+02:00

The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2, which carried the dog Laika, the first living creature to be shot into space and orbit the Earth. Sputnik 2 was not designed to be retrievable, and Laika died a few hours after launch, presumably from stress and overheating, probably due to a malfunction in the thermal control system. However, the experiment proved that a living passenger could survive being launched into orbit and endure weightlessness. It paved the way for human spaceflight and provided scientists with some of the first data on how living organisms react to spaceflight environments. On April 11, 2008, Russian officials unveiled a monument to Laika. A small monument in her honor was built near the military research facility in Moscow which prepared Laika's flight to space. It features a dog standing on top of a rocket.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Which planet in our solar system (other than the Earth) has the safest environment for humans to live on?
Subject: Astronomy / Space Exploration
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2008)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2008
Description: This project explores the environmental, weather, temperature and atmosphere conditions on the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and their suitability for sustaining life.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/foge8m2/

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Pelé (1940 - ) Was Born

2009-10-23T10:46:00.001+02:00

Edison Arantes do Nascimento is a Brazilian football (soccer) player, best known as Pelé by which he has become a sporting legend. He was given the title "Athlete of the Century" by the International Olympic Committee. In 1999 Time Magazine named Pelé one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Test if air pressure will affect the dynamics of a soccer ball bouncing.
Subject: Sports engineering
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Buddies
Description: Different soccer (football) ball pressures will be measured with an air pressure gauge. Then the bounciness of the ball will be tested by using a video camera with a tripod and a metric plastic tape measure.
Link: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Sports_p007.shtml

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Thomas Alva Edison, the Inventor of the Light Bulb, Died

2009-10-18T10:14:00.000+02:00

Thomas Alva Edison (1847 – 1931) was an American famous inventor, best known for the invention of the light bulb, phonograph, motion picture camera, power station and other 1093 patents and inventions.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Does an incandescent bulb produce more heat than a fluorescent bulb?
Subject: Electricity
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2005)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2005
Description: Incandescent and fluorescent bulbs were lit in an insulated box for same periods of time; temperature measured.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2005/patt5e0/public_html/

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2009 Nobel Prize Winners in Chemistry are Announced

2009-10-07T12:38:00.001+02:00

The winners are Americans Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas Steitz and Israeli Ada Yonath for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome (composed of RNA) that translates the DNA code into life.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Modifying Plant Characteristics Using RNA Interference
Subject: Biology / Biotechnology
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: High
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2008)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2008
Description: The objective of this project is to demonstrate how RNAi modifies the expression of genes which affect pathogen growth during plant infection.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/adam8s2/

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2009 Nobel Prize Winners in Physics are Announced

2009-10-06T14:10:00.002+02:00

Charles K. Kao was awarded for his contribution involving the transmission of light in fiber optics; Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith were awarded for inventing the CCD - the Charge-Coupled Device, an electronic light sensor used in digital cameras.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Investigate the CCD: Heart of the Digital Camera and other Optical Devices
Subject: Electronics
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Main topics: digital photography basics, CCD basics, timeline of digital photography, movie and digital photography glossary.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2006/krol6s2/47AD999D-2AC3-4F47-A948-436A1318840A.html

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Enrico Fermi (1901 – 1954) Was Born

2009-09-29T19:23:00.000+02:00

Enrico Fermi was an Italian physicist most noted for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics. Fermi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938 for his work on induced radioactivity and is today regarded as one of the top scientists of the 20th century.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Nuclear energy transportation
Subject: Aviation
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2008)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2008
Description: Main topics: Nuclear mechanics, Ford Nucleon, nuclear ships, nuclear aircrafts, Mars rover, advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy transportation and environmental impacts.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/iaco8v2/

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World Heart Day 2009

2009-09-27T10:43:00.001+02:00

World Heart Day, organized by the World Heart Federation, World Health Organization (WHO) and UNESCO, is the World Heart Federation's most important advocacy event and aims to increase public awareness and promote preventative measures to reduce cardiovascular disease and stroke. Begun in 1999 with the vision that all World Heart Federation members could collectively help to curb the global pandemic of cardiovascular disease, which claims some 17.5 million lives world-wide annually, World Heart Day is now celebrated in more than 100 countries around the world.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: What is a pacemaker?
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2007)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2007
Description: Main topics: how the heart works; what is a pacemaker; different kinds of pacemakers; the invention of the pacemaker; recent innovations; movie.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/torr7m2/

For more heart & blood vessels disease science fair projects and experiments click here

Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867) Was Born

2009-09-22T14:16:00.004+03:00

Michael Faraday was an English scientist, best known for the discovery of electromagnetic induction and the inventions of the electric motor and dynamo.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Measure the torque of an electric motor by the mass lifted by the motor.
Subject: Electricity / Magnetism
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2007)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2007
Description: In order to measure the torque, the electric motor is suspended off the ground and a string is attached to the axel of the motor while the other end of the string is attached to different weights. The distance the motor lifts the weights off the ground is measured.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/benn7b2/

For more electric motor and generator science fair projects and experiments click here

Upton Sinclair (1878 – 1968) Was Born

2009-09-20T15:12:00.002+03:00

Upton Sinclair, Jr. best known for his novel The Jungle (1906) which dealt with conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that partly contributed to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act in 1906.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: The Effect of Various Temperatures on the Type and Growth Rate of Bacteria in Meat
Subject: Food Safety
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Affiliation: Selah Intermediate School
Year: 2006
Description: Four different types of meat (hamburger, steak, pork, chicken) were grinded and incubated under different temperature and periods of time conditions. Bacteria colonies were counted and identified under a microscopes.
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2006/SarahS.html

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Norman Borlaug (1914 - 2009), the Father of The Green Revolution, Died

2009-09-12T12:27:00.003+03:00

Norman Ernest Borlaug was an American agronomist, humanitarian, and Nobel laureate, and has been called the father of the Green Revolution.
During the mid-20th century, Borlaug led the introduction of these high-yielding varieties combined with modern agricultural production techniques to Mexico, Pakistan, India and Africa. As a result, Mexico became a net exporter of wheat by 1963. Between 1965 and 1970, wheat yields nearly doubled in Pakistan and India, greatly improving the food security in those nations. These collective increases in yield have been labeled the Green Revolution, and Borlaug is often credited with saving over a billion people from starvation. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply.
Borlaug continually advocated the use biotechnology to decrease world famine.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Expression patterns of low temperature-induced genes in winter and spring wheat
Subject: Plant Genetics
Grade level: High School Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: High
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Seeds from two wheat varieties were germinated for 15 days and exposed to 4 degrees Celcius for different periods of time. Leaves were harvested and RNA was extracted. From the extracted Ribonucleic acid (RNA), copy-Deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) was synthesized to use in Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to measure expression of cold-induced genes. The Real-Time PCR data was then used to calculate the relative expression of the genes.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2006/kula6m2/

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Marvin Minsky (1927 - ) Was Born

2009-08-09T19:34:00.000+03:00

Marvin Lee Minsky is a prominent American cognitive scientist in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), co-founder of MIT's AI laboratory, and author of several texts on AI and philosophy.

Minsky's patents include the first head-mounted graphical display (1963) and the confocal microscope (1957), a predecessor to today's widely used confocal laser scanning microscope. He developed, with Seymour Papert, the first Logo "turtle". Minsky also built, in 1951, the first randomly wired neural network learning machine, SNARC.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Finding a practical mathematical function for f(x) with genetic algorithms
Subject: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Grade level: High School Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2007)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2007
Description: This project addresses the following problem: Given a set of points on a graph, can a computer accurately find a practical mathematical function through the use of a genetic algorithm without any prior knowledge of what function that set of points may resemble?
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/chin7j2/

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Erno Rubik (1944 - ) Was Born

2009-07-13T12:00:00.000+03:00

Ernő Rubik (born July 13, 1944) is a Hungarian inventor, sculptor and professor of architecture. He is best known for the invention of mechanical puzzles including Rubik's Cube, Rubik's Magic, Rubik's Snake and Rubik Sphere.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Making Patterns with Rubik's Cube
Subject: Mathematics
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Demonstrative
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Buddies
Year: 2008
Description: Main objective: To figure out ways of making geometrical patterns with Rubik's Cube.
Link: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Math_p024.shtml

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Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646 - 1716) Was Born

2009-07-01T20:11:00.001+03:00

Leibniz was a German philosopher and mathematician who wrote primarily in Latin and French.
He invented infinitesimal calculus independently of Newton, and his notation is the one in general use since then. He also invented the binary system, foundation of virtually all modern computer architectures.
He was, along with René Descartes and Baruch Spinoza, one of the three greatest 17th-century rationalists philosophers. Leibniz also made major contributions to physics and technology, and anticipated notions that surfaced much later in biology, medicine, geology, probability theory, psychology, linguistics, and information science.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Build a binary marble adding machine
Subject: Mathematics
Grade level: High School Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Building Type
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Matthias Wandel's Woodworking Website
Description: Detailed building instructions including diagrams and video
Link: http://woodgears.ca/marbleadd/index.html

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Sir Paul McCartney Was Born

2009-06-18T11:55:00.000+03:00

Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) gained worldwide fame as a member of The Beatles, alongside John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and wrote some of the most popular music in rock and roll history.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Does Music Affect Students' Math Performance?
Subject: Music / Mathematics
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Selah Intermediate School
Year: 2001
Description: Students listened to different types of music (classical and rock) and no music. Then students were given math tests; scores were recorded compared and graphed.
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2001/KendraC.html

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Knud Rasmussen (1879–1933) Was Born

2009-06-07T07:54:00.003+03:00

Knud Rasmussen was a Greenlandic polar explorer and anthropologist. He has been called the "father of Eskimology" and was the first to cross the Northwest Passage via dog sled. He remains well known in Greenland, Denmark and among Canadian Inuit.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Explore the medicine wheel and its cultural meaning.
Subject: Religion
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Kainai Middle School, Canada
Description: Main topics: the medicine wheel, the meaning of number four in native American life.
Link: http://www.kainaimiddleschool.ca/Science_Projects/MedicineWheel/medicinewheel.html

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World Environment Day 2009

2009-06-05T18:02:00.001+03:00

World Environment Day (WED) was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972. WED is hosted every year by a different city and commemorated with an international exposition through the week of June 5. WED agenda is to stimulate awareness of the environment and enhance political attention and public action.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Which Type of Paper Decomposed the Fastest?
Subject: Aviation
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Selah Intermediate School
Year: 2002
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2002/MelissaB.html

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World No Tobacco Day 2009

2009-05-31T09:14:00.000+03:00

World No Tobacco Day is observed around the world every year on May 31. The member states of the World Health Organization created World No Tobacco Day in 1987. It draws global attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and to its negative health effects. The day aims to reduce the 5.4 million yearly deaths from tobacco related health problems. From 1988 the WHO has presented one or more World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) Awards to organizations or individuals who have made exceptional contributions to reducing tobacco consumption. On May 31st, 2008 the WHO called for a complete ban on tobacco advertising; the organization said studies establish a relationship between exposure to cigarette advertisement and starting smoking.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: It is possible to distinguish between smokers and non-smokers by the sound and quality of their voice alone?
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2005
Description: In this experiment 40 participants', 20 smokers and 20 non-smokers, voice was recorded reading a standard text. Voices were evaluated by two minors, three adult voice experts and two non-expert adults.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2005/kost5d0/public_html/

For more tobacco & smoking science fair projects and experiments click here

Edward Jenner (1749 – 1823) Was Born

2009-05-17T09:12:00.002+03:00

Edward Jenner was an English scientist who is widely credited as the pioneer of smallpox vaccine, and is sometimes referred to as the 'Father of Immunology'.

In 1980, the World Health Organization declared smallpox an eradicated disease. This was the result of coordinated public health efforts by many people, but vaccination was an essential component.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: The development of a plant-based vaccine against SARS-CoV
Subject: Medicine / Biochemistry
Grade level: High School - Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: High
Awards:
1st prize, intermediate life science division, University of Western Ontario
Second Place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2005)
Pfizer Canada Award of Excellence
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2005
Description: The goal of this project is to produce a plant expression vector containing a synthetic DNA coding for an antigenic region of the SARS Spike protein fused to a bacterial gene encoding cholera toxin B subunit, and express it in transgenic tobacco plants. The results obtained from this project provide a foundation for the development of a low-cost, orally administered vaccine that can be used to prevent SARS infection.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2005/wang5d0/public_html/

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Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939) Was Born

2009-05-06T09:48:00.002+03:00

Sigismund Schlomo Freud was an Austrian psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of repression and for creating the clinical practice of psychoanalysis for curing psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst. Freud is also renowned for his redefinition of sexual desire as the primary motivational energy of human life, as well as his therapeutic techniques, including the use of free association, his theory of transference in the therapeutic relationship, and the interpretation of dreams as sources of insight into unconscious desires. Many of Freud's ideas have fallen out of favor or have been modified by Neo-Freudians, although at the close of the 20th century, advances in the field of neurology began to show evidence for many of his theories.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: What causes dreams?
Subject: Psychology & Human Behavior
Grade level: Elementary School - Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2008)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2008
Description: Main topics: specific causes of dreams, types of dreams, nightmares, body's reactions to dreams, rapid eye movement.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/lamo8z2/

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Earth Day 2009

2009-04-22T09:57:00.000+03:00

Earth Day, celebrated April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated in many countries every year. This date is Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Can we reduce the waste that our school produces?
Subject: Environmental Sciences
Grade level: Primary School - Grades K-3
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2004)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2004
Description: In this project are demonstrated a few simple methods to reduce environmental waste and pollution.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2004/kina4c1/public_html/

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James Dewey Watson (1928 - ) Was Born

2009-04-06T10:30:00.001+03:00

James Watson is an American molecular biologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA - the double helix. For this Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Can DNA be extracted from onions and observed with the naked eye?
Subject: Biochemistry
Grade level: elementary School - Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Under the right conditions, DNA can be extracted from onions and observed with the naked eye, and seen more closely using a magnifying glass.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2006/mcma6m2/

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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) Was Born

2009-03-31T12:21:00.001+03:00

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity. Although he introduced no new forms, he enriched the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal technique, an unrivalled control of harmonic and motivic organisation in composition for diverse instrumentation, and the adaptation of rhythms and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Does Bach have the same effect as Mozart on spatial reasoning?
Subject: Psychology / Music
Grade level: High School / College
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Empirical Study
Cost: Low
Awards: None
Affiliation: Missouri Western State University
Year: 2000
Description: Participants in this study are exposed to Bach's and Mozart's music and a silence control. Then the participants are tested by the spatial-temporal test.
Link: http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/150.php

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World Day for Water 2009

2009-03-22T07:59:00.001+02:00

In 1993 the United Nations General Assembly declared March 22 as World Water Day. Its main goals, among others, are to promote the cause of clean drinking water and sustainable aquatic habitats and to ensure safe water and decent sanitation for civilians in conflict zones.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Comparison of pH Levels in Municipal Drinking Water vs. Domestic Well Water
Subject: Environmental Sciences
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Law
Awards: Regional Mid Columbia Science Fair Award of Distinction for Creativity (2004)
Affiliation: Selah Intermediate School
Year: 2004
Description: Samples (same temperature) of different municipal drinking water sources and domestic well water were tested with a pH meter.
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2004/BelenL.html

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Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (1824 - 1887) Was Born

2009-03-12T10:46:00.001+02:00

Gustav Kirchhoff was a German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects. He coined the term "black body" radiation in 1862, and two sets of independent concepts in both circuit theory and thermal emission are named "Kirchhoff's laws" after him.
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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Test if the length of a pencil resistor effects the output of a circuit.
Subject: Electricity
Grade level: Elementary School
Academic Level: Ordianary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Buddies
Description: Different pencil lengths serve as a resistors. While connected into a basic series circuit, students observe the light intensity of a bulb.
Link: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Elec_p013.shtml?from=Home

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International Women's Day 2009

2009-03-08T10:58:00.003+02:00

International Woman's Day (IWD) is marked on March 8 every year. It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women.
Started as a political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries (primarily Russia and the countries of former Soviet bloc). In some celebrations, the day lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love to the women around them in a way somewhat similar to Mother's Day and St Valentine's Day mixed together. In others, however, the political and human rights theme as designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Determine whether men and women differ in their feelings towards career and family.
Subject: Psychology
Grade level: High School / College
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Empirical Study
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Missouri Western State University
Year: 2004
Description: Participants were 72 undergraduate students enrolled in Loyola University New Orleans - male and female between the ages of 18 and 22. Career and family priorities were measured by Life Role Salience Scales (Amatea et al., 1986), a five-point Likert scale, and Women Workplace Culture Questionnaire (Bergman & Hallberg, 2002).

Link: http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/502.php

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Alexander Graham Bell (1847 - 1922) Was Born

2009-03-03T08:59:00.001+02:00

Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Repeat Alexander Bell’s Telephone Experiments
Subject: Telecommunication
Grade level: Middle / High School - Grades (6-12)
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Awards: None
Description: Main topics: the tuning fork experiment, Alexander Bell’s liquid transmitter, variable resistance microphones

Link: http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/telephoneexperiments.html

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Heinrich Lenz (1804-1865) Was Born

2009-02-24T08:59:00.001+02:00

Heinrich Friedrich Emil Lenz was a Baltic German physicist most famous for formulating Lenz's law in 1834.
Lenz's law gives the direction of the induced electromotive force (emf) and current resulting from electromagnetic induction. The law provides a physical interpretation of the choice of sign in Faraday's law of induction, indicating that the induced emf and the change in flux have opposite signs.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Research the Force Generated from a Changing Magnetic Field
Subject: Magnetism
Grade level: Middle / High School - Grades (6-12)
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: None
Affiliation: California State Science Fair (CSSF)
Year: 2005
Description: A NIB magnet was dropped down a metal tube. As the magnet passed through the tube, a changing magnetic field exerted a braking force on the falling magnet to slow it down. Then Newtons' Second Law (F = ma) was used to measure the magnetic braking force by connecting the NIB magnet with a string that was attached to a cart that was pulled up an incline ramp.

Link: http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2005/Projects/J1529.pdf

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Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 – 1543) Was Born

2009-02-19T09:13:00.001+02:00

Nicolaus Copernicus was the first astronomer to formulate a scientifically-based heliocentric cosmology that displaced the Earth from the center of the universe. His epochal book, On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, is often regarded as the starting point of modern astronomy and the defining epiphany that began the Scientific Revolution.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: A Visit to the Solar System
Subject: Astronomy
Grade level: Elementary School - Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2008)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2008
Description: Main topics: the sun, inner planets, asteroid belt, outer planets, kuiper belt, solar system timeline, exploration timeline.

Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/wang8c2/

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Darwin Day 200

2009-02-12T10:18:00.001+02:00

Charles Robert Darwin realised and demonstrated that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors through the process he called natural selection. The fact that evolution occurs became accepted by the scientific community and much of the general public in his lifetime, while his theory of natural selection forms the basis of modern evolutionary theory. In modified form, Darwin’s scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, providing logical explanation for the diversity of life.

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Evolution of Enzymes
Subject: Biology
Grade level: High School - Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2004)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2004
Description: Directed evolution of alkane degrading enzymes for improved activity on natural and high molecular weight substrates.

Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2004/lavr4v0/public_html/

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World Cancer Day 2009

2009-02-04T08:13:00.002+02:00

World Cancer Day is marked on 4 February to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. It is led by the International Union Against Cancer (UICC), a global consortium of more than 280 cancer-fighting organizations in over 90 countries.
The campaign emphasizes that 43% of cancers can be prevented through these healthy behaviors:

Provide a smoke-free environment for children
Be physically active, eat a balanced, healthy diet, and avoid obesity
Learn about vaccines for virus-related liver and cervical cancers
Avoid over-exposure to the sun

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Science Fair Project Information
Title: Everything About Skin Cancer
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: Elementary School - Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Main topics: our skin; types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squarmous cell carcinoma (SSC), malignant melanoma; skin cancer prevention.

Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2006/pare6b2/

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Groundhog Day 2009

2009-02-02T09:00:00.001+02:00

Groundhog Day is an annual holiday celebrated on February 2 in the United States and Canada on which if a groundhog emerges from its burrow and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end. If on the other hand, it is sunny and the groundhog sees its shadow, the groundhog will supposedly retreat into its burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks. The holiday, which began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, has its origins in ancient European weather lore, wherein a badger or sacred bear is the prognosticator as opposed to a groundhog. Modern customs of the holiday involve celebrations where early morning festivals are held to watch the groundhog emerging from its burrow.

Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Snow, Sun and Sky in Saskatoon
Subject: Meteorology
Grade level: Primary School - Grades K-3
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Main topics: snow flakes, objects in the sky, the Sun, photos, drawings, quizz.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2006/bamy6a2/

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International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2009

2009-01-27T09:01:00.001+02:00

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which occurs on January 27, is the universal commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. It was designated by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7 on 1st November 2005 during the 42nd plenary session to mark the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and the end of the Holocaust which resulted in the annihilation of 6 million European Jews by the Nazi regime. January 27 is the date, in 1945, when the largest Nazi death camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland) was liberated by Soviets troops.

Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Phrenology in America
Subject: Psychology
Grade level: High School Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Missouri Western State University
Year: 1999
Description: Phrenology (from Greek: "mind"; and logos, "knowledge") is a defunct field of study, once considered a science, in which the personality traits of a person were determined by "reading" bumps and fissures in the skull. Developed by German physician Franz Joseph Gall around 1800, the discipline was very popular in the 19th century. Phrenology was practiced by some scientists promoting racist ideologies, including Nazism. They used phrenological claims, among other biological evidence, as a scientific basis for Aryan racial superiority. (source: wikipedia)
Link: http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/83.asp

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Martin Luther King Day 2009

2009-01-19T08:31:00.002+02:00

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a United States holiday marking the birthdate of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., observed on the third Monday of January each year, around the time of King's birthday, January 15. It is one of three United States federal holidays to commemorate an individual person. King was the chief spokesman of the nonviolent civil rights movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. He was assassinated in 1968.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Does Your Hair Colour Affect Your Thinking Skills?
Subject: Psychology
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Brunette and blonde male and female school kids were tested by thinking skills questionars. Results were compared, graphed and analyzed.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2006/loth6b2/

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International Year of Astronomy 2009

2009-01-01T08:44:00.003+02:00

The International Year of Astronomy is a year-long celebration of astronomy, taking place in 2009 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the publication of Johannes Kepler's Astronomia nova in the 17th century. The Year was declared by the 62nd General Assembly of the UN. A global scheme, laid out by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), has also been endorsed by UNESCO - the UN body responsible for Educational, Scientific and Cultural matters. This initiative is an opportunity for the citizens of Earth to gain a deeper insight into astronomy’s role in enriching all human cultures. Moreover, it will serve as a platform for informing the public about the latest astronomical discoveries while emphasizing the essential role of astronomy in science education.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Build Your Own Telescope
Subject: Astronomy
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Building Type
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Fun Science Gallery
Description: This is a simple and cheap telescope allows the learning, structure and operation of telescopes in general. Although it is simple, it can reveal the craters of the Moon and the satellites of Jupiter. It is also very useful for demonstrating lens aberrations.
Link: http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/tele/tele.htm

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Christmas Day 2008

2008-12-25T10:22:00.003+02:00

Christmas is the Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus, who Christians believe is The Son of God. Christmas means "Feast day of Christ". Celebrated on the 25th of December in Western Christianity (7th of January in Eastern Orthodox Churches). Modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, church celebrations, and the display of various decorations—including the Christmas tree, lights, mistletoe, nativity scenes and holly. In western cultures Santa Claus is a popular mythological figure often associated with bringing gifts to children at Christmas. Christmas is also celebrated by many non-Christians, all over the world, as a secular, cultural festival.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Decorate Your Christmas Tree With Flashing LEDs
Subject: Electronics
Grade level: Middle / High School
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Building Type
Cost: Medium
Affiliation: The Electronics Club
Description: This project flashes 18 LEDs at three different rates and is possible to use these to create a Christmas decoration of your choice. The circuit is simple and cheap by using the 4060B IC which is a counter and oscillator (clock) in one package. The circuit requires a 9V supply, such as a PP3 battery. It will not work with lower voltages and a higher voltage will destroy the LEDs.
Link: http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/projects/xmastree.htm

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First Day of Hanukkah 2008

2008-12-21T11:58:00.003+02:00

Hanukkah is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights by lighting candles, singing special songs, eating doughnuts, playing the dreidel (a four-sided spinning top) game and giving money to children.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Is it possible to alter the laws of probability by adding weight to one side of a dreidel?
Subject: Physics / Mathematics
Grade level: Elementary School - Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Law
Awards: None
Affiliation: California State Science Fair
Year: 2002
Description: A few dreidels were spun until a well balanced one was found. Then weights (glued washers) were added to one side of the dreidel, one at a time up to three. The dreidel was spun for two hundred times at each weight level. Results were recorded: which side of the dreidel will land the most.
Link: http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2002/Projects/J0222.pdf

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Wright Brothers Day 2008

2008-12-17T08:57:00.005+02:00

Wright Brothers Day commemorates the first successful flights in a heavier than air, mechanically propelled airplane, that were made by Orville and Wilbur Wright on December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Repeat Wright Brothers Early Experiments With Kites
Subject: Aviation
Grade level: High School / College
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Bulding Type
Cost: Medium
Description: Wright Brothers' first flight experiments began in July 1899 when Wilbur put wing-warping to the test by building and flying a five-foot box kite in the approximate shape of a biplane. When the wings were warped, or twisted, one end would receive more lift and rise, starting a turn in the direction of the lower end. Warping was controlled by four lines attached to the kite. The lines led to two sticks held by the kite flyer, who tilted them in opposite directions to twist the wings and make the kite bank left or right. This web page describes those Wright Brother's early flight experiments with kites - background and building instruction links.
Link: http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/wrightkite.html

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Tycho Brahe (1546-1606) Was Born

2008-12-14T13:08:00.003+02:00

Known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations without using a telescope.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Are solar flares harmful to your health?
Subject: Astronomy / Physics
Grade level: Elementary School - Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Main topics: solar flares, proton swarms, health effects, X and M class solar flares, effects on wireless communication, sunspots, quizz.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2006/sher6r2/

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Human Rights Day 2008 - 60th Anniversary

2008-12-10T10:12:00.005+02:00

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948 at Palais de Chaillot, Paris.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Attitudes Towards Homosexuality
Subject: Psychology & Human Behavior
Grade level: High School - Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: None
Affiliation: Missouri Western State University
Year: 1998
Description: The participants in this study were students who volunteered to participate. There were a total of 27 participants who filled out a survey. The questionnaire was composed of two parts. The first part was directed at a person’s gender, religious background, rank in school, sexual preference, and type of area they came from. The second part consisted of questions devised to see how the individual thought of and treated homosexuals with a ranking system of one to five.

Link: http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/67.asp

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Is there any difference between white egg shells and brown egg shells?

2008-12-09T10:03:00.001+02:00

Science Fair Project Information
Subject: Chemistry
Grade level: Elementary School - Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: None
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2004
Description: White egg shells and brown egg shells were compared in the following parameters: membrane permeability and physical strength.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2004/gawn4e0/public_html/

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What Is the Effect of Water Temperature on the Amount of Color in Spirogyra Plants (Algae)?

2008-12-08T08:39:00.001+02:00

Science Fair Project Information
Subject: Botany
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: None
Affiliation: Selah Intermediate School
Year: 2000
Description: The purpose of this experiment was to measure the amount of color in five different groups of algae plants (spirogyra) each growing at a different temperature. A vacuum flask was used to filter the plants from the water using a glass fiber filter. A colorimeter measured the amount of color on the clean glass fiber filters.
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2000/CarissaH.html

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Will wells located near animal pens be more likely to show fecal contamination than wells that are not near animal pens?

2008-12-04T10:52:00.002+02:00

Science Fair Project Information
Subject: Environmental Sciences
Grade level: High School - Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Awards: None
Affiliation: Batesburg-Leesville High School (BLHS)
Year: 1997
Description: This experiment involved two different testing methods that had completely different procedures. The first test: five 100ml samples of water were taken about two hours before they were taken for testing. A packet of Colilert was added to every 100ml sample and then the samples were incubated for 24 hours at 35 degrees Celsius. The next day the samples were taken out of incubation and examined. The second test was done by coating the bottom of a petri dish with a lactose broth. Then, a thin layer of water was poured over the broth. Any excess water was poured out and the dishes were incubated at 44.5 degrees Celsius for 24 hours. The next day the samples were removed and examined with a dissection microscope (spectroscope).
Link: http://scssi.scetv.org/mims/schools/blhs/science/molly1.htm

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International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2008

2008-12-03T08:36:00.004+02:00

International Day of Disabled Persons (December 3) is an international observance promoted by the United Nations since 1992. It has been celebrated with varying degrees of success around the planet. Typically, the Day's activities are mounted by unpaid volunteers.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Improving Binocular Vision in Stereopsis Impairment Using Optical Devices
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: High School - Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Building Type
Cost: Medium
Awards:
1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2007)
Calgary Youth Science Fair Gold Medal (2007)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2007
Description: This project proposes a non-surgical solution for improving binocular vision impairment and preventing further deterioration. An optical device was designed using double Porro-prism optical binoculars converging into an objective lens, a configuration promoting binocular image fusion without changing the occipital cortex. Thus, binocular vision is improved by reducing deviation points, assisting the brain in perceiving an improved fused image with greater visual acuity. This increases depth perception and three-dimensional viewing ability, with applications in long term vision therapy.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2007/full7e2/

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What type of student is more likely to cheat?

2008-12-02T12:15:00.000+02:00

Science Fair Project Information
Subject: Psychology & Human Behavior
Grade level: High School - Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: None
Affiliation: Missouri Western State University
Year: 1999
Description: This study was conducted to determine if GPA, gender and self perceived academic ability are reliable predictors as to whether a student will cheat. This study also tried to determine how students feel about the students who do cheat. A nine question survey that included four descriptive questions was used. The questions were in the form of a Likert type scale.
Link: http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/96.asp

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World AIDS Day 2008

2008-12-01T10:37:00.007+02:00

In 2007, an estimated 33.2 million people lived with the disease worldwide, and it killed an estimated 2.1 million people, including 330,000 children. Over three-quarters of these deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, retarding economic growth and destroying human capital.

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Are Beta Glucan and Echinacea (purple coneflower) safe to administer to AIDS sufferers in third world countries?
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: High School - Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Awards: None
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2004
Description: The goal of this project is to prove that echinacea (purple coneflower), along with beta glucan (cultured extract of Baker's Yeast cell wall. It is used as an immunostimulant) are a safe, effective and affordable treatment for stimunlating macrophages (immune system cells) in AIDS patients.

Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2004/munr4s0/public_html/

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Build a Timed Burglar Alarm

2008-11-26T11:00:00.001+02:00

Science Fair Project Information
Subject: Electronics
Grade level: High / Middle School - Grades 7-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Building Type
Cost: Low
Awards: None
Affiliation: http://www.electronic-circuits-diagrams.com
Description: This alarm circuit has a 555 timer, so the alarm will reset its self after a certain amount of time that you select. The time is adjustable with a variable resistor in the circuit. The alarm uses a relay which is connected to a siren. The circuit is running on 9V but can range from 4V - 16V.
Link: http://www.electronic-circuits-diagrams.com/alarmsimages/alarmsckt20.shtml

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The Excess of Cleaning Detergent Left on Clothes after Washing By Different Laundry Detergents

2008-11-25T12:54:00.000+02:00

Science Fair Project Information
Subject: Chemistry
Grade level: High School - Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: Second Place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Large amounts of washing detergent leftovers are extremely harmful to our body and skin. In this experiment, the leftovers of different laundry detergents (Tide, Sunlight and Extra) are measured by measuring the pH of washing machine water after different washing machine water operation cycles.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2006/park6l2/

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Investigate Color-Blindness

2008-11-24T08:33:00.001+02:00

Science Fair Project Information
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: Middle School - Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: Second Place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2005)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2005
Description: This project demonstrates 10 different cases of colorblindness using tests introduced through a detective story.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2005/choi5e0/public_html/

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Investigate Color-Blindness

2008-11-24T08:33:00.000+02:00

The Human Eye

2008-11-23T09:00:00.007+02:00

Science Fair Project Information
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: Elementary School - Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: First Place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2006)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2006
Description: Main topics covered by this project: eye anatomy and health, vision tests and fun stuff.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2006/thog6n2/

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