Top 6 Scientific Discoveries Made by Students in 2019

A good government always supports researchers, providing talents with grants and giving all means needed for their growth. Science is arguably one of the best investments in a country or the whole world’s development.

Present-day students will drive society within several years. That’s why today, focusing on academics is the most important investment for a student. However, no matter how hard you try, some tasks are just out of reach. One way to avoid overload is to use essay writing services like https://essaypro.com/ to get some extra time to do what you really need and like to do.

It’s important to let people know about young talents. It will attract further investments, but what is more important is that the society won’t get frustrated about some “hopeless future”, as this image takes root deeply in its mind. That’s why many awards for students’ research exist.

The discoveries highlighted in this article cover the following fields of research:

• Ecology;
• Artificial intelligence;

Here are the top 6 scientific discoveries made by students in 2019.

1.   Seaweed as the New Plastic

Plastic has become a huge problem recently. More and more people concern with questions of its recycling or even try to find a relevant substitute for it. And so did Jennivine Chen, a year 12 student at PLC Sydney.

The young scientist decided to find an alternative for plastic and paper coffee cups. She realizes how many troubles such small things as takeaway coffee cups cause. The researcher looked at different materials until she discovered the ideal combination – polysaccharides with common plasticizers. The first ones are found in seaweeds, while plasticizers serve for water resistance.

As Jannivine says, since childhood she has been following her sense of curiosity, always asking herself “How?” and “Why?”. It made her explore the world on her own, that’s how she has found her way in science.

2.   The SODIS Sticker

Water purification is another problem people face nowadays, especially in developing communities. For Macinley Butson, it has become a question for her research. She dedicated herself to searching for a new way of measuring ultraviolet radiation levels.

This factor is essential for solar disinfection of water. She developed SODIC stickers to measure the solar UV exposure needed for sanitizing drinking water. Her discovery was the combination of UV sensitive film coupled with a partial UV blocker filter.

As it has been designed for developing communities, the most important was the question of cost. The price of producing her sticker is supposed to be 1.3 cents, which hopefully can enable mass production.

3.   The Detection of Melting Polar Ice

Joseph Wright was aimed to discover a way to measure the effects of climate change more accurately. For that, he used the data from the GRACE – Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment. With that information, he measured polar ice caps in Antarctica to show melting ice mass loss.

Wright was inspired by his father, who used to be a chemical engineer. Joseph’s dream is also to study engineering at the university because he believes in the power of science to change the world. Science for him is the way to always discover something new.

“I think it’s important that we don’t just continually focus on our own need, the society’s need; we should focus on what the world needs,” – that’s what the young talent says.

https://unsplash.com/photos/dBI_My696Rk

4.   The Relative Neuroplasticity of Artificial and Biological Neural Network Configurations

Artificial intelligence is another field of scientific interest that is rapidly developing. A high school student called Oliver Balfour was curious whether the AI is able to fulfill tasks it was not designed to do. In contrast, he also researched the human brain to determine performance and neuroplasticity.

For the young scientist, it was really complicated to code on his own, as well as his main target: to make AI work on something it wasn’t designed for. For his project, he tested different configurations of computing machines.

Sometimes a person’s hobby can characterize the person. The student likes module origami, which means combining several small origami pieces into one complicated structure. Oliver says, the process has no limits, which makes it similar to other areas.

5.   Diagnosing Autism with Machine Learning

Autism spectrum disorder is a wide-spread illness, which has been diagnosed in about 1 in 59 children. The worst cases occur among minorities and girls. The current procedure of monitoring a person’s behavior is time- and effort-consumptive, which makes it ineffective.

Rhythm Garg’s goal was to explore a cheaper and faster way to diagnose autism at an early age. With a virtual reality task, he analyzed the eye movement data of a human participant with autism, as well as those without autism using machine learning.

Machine learning models helped to indicate eye movement patterns of people with autism, which would not be indicated by a human observer. This discovery must play a great role in the early diagnosis of this disorder, helping children avoid delayed results.

6.   A Low-Radiation Cost-Effective Versatile Medical Imaging Procedure for Safe and Rapid Scanning

For several decades, cancer has been one of the most difficult diseases to tackle. CT – Computer Axial Tomography – is widely used to detect the problem, but it often causes radiation exposure.

David Yue explored the new method of scanning called stereoscopic x-ray reconstruction. With this invention, the radiation risks are supposed to be minimized. It calculates depth and creates a three-dimensional model that is vital for cancer detection.

This method appears to be much more effective in diagnosing and finding cancerous cells. The student’s work is huge progress in dealing with the problem of cancer.

Final Words

Such discoveries and inventions can affect the society deeply not only with their practical usage but also as a motivation to explore further. Every single project has a whole story behind it. Every young scientist is a pride for their school, country, and the whole world.

The discovery and support of such talents are crucial for the world’s scientific progress. Let’s make their dreams and passions real, for the sake of the future.