Just off the northern Greek island of Alonissos lies the remains of a ancient shipwreck. A massive cargo ship went down here centuries ago, carrying with it to the sea bed uncountable archaeological treasures. The ship was discovered in the early 1990’s and studied with great enthusiasm.

It improved the knowledge of ship building in antiquity but what was really impressive about the 5th century wreck was the thousands of amphoras or vases that had probably contained wine to be shipped out for sale. In a bid to protect this national treasure scuba diving was banned in the area till 2005.

However, now it has become the world’s first underwater museum of such a nature. Divers are now guiding tourists through the waters to observe the cargo which has survived the rotting away of the wooden frame of the ship. It has still not been determined how the ship sank, but that does not detract from it’s uniqueness.

This is a perfect place to visit for a science project based on antique ship wrecks. The fragility of the wreck juxtaposed with the formidable cargo it carries is truly interesting to behold. Definitely worth swimming through these waters!

When we think about the industrial use of water, we fail to understand that almost every industry that is engaged in making physical goods, has to have access to large amounts of water to process them. Clean water that goes into these factories helps with the chemical reactions that have to take place in the production of the goods. Needless to say that much of the water that is left over afterwards, needs to be treated and cleaned up.

The mining industry is one where water is used constantly to wash through the ores that are being mined. Being the universal solvent, water based solutions manage to dissolve just about everything that is impure and not part of the ore that is being mined for. Only trouble is, the chemical solution that is technically a waste by product is terribly harmful to the local environment.

In past years this water would simply be released into the closest river or lake. It is only when the harmful effect of such practices began to become evident in the local environments, that new policies were designed to safeguard the environment. Despite all the rules, we are still struggling to reverse the harm that polluted industrial water has caused the planet. Unfortunately there is no magic cure for this, only a few slow and steady science experiments that will eventually help the planet.

The number of times you wash your face, hands, have a bath or use the flush, all generate waste water. This is the section of water that gets taken away from your house to a sewage treatment plant. The waste water is then processed in the sewage treatment plant before the harmless by products are then released back into the natural environment. Usually via a canal back in to a local water body.

In the process of this treatment the thermal hydrolysis that occurs helps to reduce solids using high temperature and high pressure. This is where biogas is created as a by product. Biogas is a mix of hydrocarbon gases which can be used as fuels in their own right. By harnessing the biogas in the sewage treatment plant, it is possible to generate this clean energy source with a process that already must take place.

It’s like shooting two birds with one arrow. The waste water is managed and treated, while the biogas is produced and canned for use as a fuel in the future. The only draw back to this science project is the fact that thermal hydrolysis is an expensive proposition for a sewage treatment plant to install. However given the potential good that it will do to the planet and to the environment, it may be a cost well worth considering.

Have you ever wondered if someone can come and take over your chores without cribbing about it? Someone who would do it properly and regularly and never have to be appeased for their boredom? Yes pretty much like a machine that you could command but also had intelligence of it’s own to use and get the jobs done.

If you feel AI is the answer to your problems, you may be right. The use of Artificial Intelligence or AI is only going to increase in your lifetime. The concept of a robot doing everything that you ask it to do seamlessly as in sci-fi novels and movies may not be quite the level that AI has reached today, however there are a number of activities that it can do.

AI is actively involved in the house security systems that have been designed to keep your home safe from intruders. The sensors tied in with security cameras allow you to know when someone is nearby and see exactly who it is. All this via a phone app even when you are physically not present in the location. What else AI can do for you is yet to be explored, but would make a wonderful science project study.

Feel tired despite going to bed at time? Get distracted with the alert sounds of your phone while you are eating lunch or dinner? Have the urge to keep checking different apps on your phone even when you have other work to do? Maybe these are all symptoms of Techoference. This is a new term coined by scientists to describe the interference of mobile phones in daily life activities.

At the Queensland University of Technology a study was conducted to determine the increase in the problematic use of mobile phones in Australia. The results of which were published in the science journal Frontiers. 709 mobile phone users were studied in the age group of 18 to 83 years. The findings were that 24% women and 15% men were problematic mobile phone users.

40.9% of the age group of 18 to 24 years and 23.5% of those in the age group 25 to 29 years were found to be suffering from Techoference. The survey system was used to collect data from the group. Survey was first conducted in 2005 and then replicated in 2018. The scientific study found that the number of people suffering from Techoference seems to have increased by 17.2% in these years. Female participants noted a larger decline in their productivity than the males.

Eating a lot of food may not be the same as eating the right food. There is a new field of science called nutritional psychiatry that studies the impact of nutrition on the brain and mental health. It’s a fledgling branch which has a number of ongoing research studies.

The brain is constantly working, even when you are sleeping at night. This means that the fuel you give it is important. Since it derives the fuel from the food that you eat, what you put into your digestive system is important. The structure and functioning of your brain seem to be directly related to what you have been feeding yourself.

This indicates that the food you eat, can indeed, affect your mood. A diet rich in whole grains, legumes, seafood, green leafy vegetables and fruit, is much more likely to keep your mental faculties healthier. Plus this diet will be good for the bacteria in your gut as well as the rest of your body’s needs.

So the next time you get hungry, instead of reaching for a burger and soda, think about this science study and make your way to healthier snack alternatives. Your body and your brain will thank you for making the better choice.

The overwhelming pollution caused by plastic products is not a new topic of discussion. The material that we find so handy to place our groceries in, is actually slowly beginning to suffocate the planet we live on. As human beings realize the impact of plastic on the environment, the call to recycle more has taken root.

Rose Ferrigno has taken that recycling to somewhat of an extreme. The 75 year old lady from Greece has spent the winter knitting a skirt and a jacket, which may not be anything exciting as she has been knitting and sewing her whole life. What makes this suit combination unique is the fact that she repurposed 30,000 plastic grocery bags of the brown colored, flimsy fame to make this suit.

Rose cut the plastic bags into thin strips which were then tied together to make yarn. This yarn was used to knit the outside of the suit. The lining of cotton fabric given on the inside made it more comfortable to use. The overall look of the suit is one of a tweed type material. Needless to say this is one science project that has left people all over the world speechless. Rose now plans to knit a matching purse for her suit!

When we flush the toilet or drain a bath tub, we hardly ever think about the pollution we are causing. The personal care products, the medicines in our system that are now in the water, even the cleaning fluids we use in the upkeep of the bathroom are all polluting the waterways. These residual chemicals, medicines and contaminants have no where to go but into the water bodies even after the sewage treatment plants manage to take away the worst of it.

The truth is, there is a world of pollution in the lakes, streams, rivers and ponds around us. Our aquatic environment is under a lot of stress. The bacteria that would help keep the seas and oceans clean has to deal with chemicals that they have never faced before. Many times they are unable to purify the water and the levels of pollution in the water continue to grow.

One way to counter this is to begin using natural cleansers and items made out of things from the kitchen shelf rather than synthetic chemicals. It would be a good idea for a science project to see what natural materials you can replace your chemical products with effectively. Plus it would be a huge service to the planet if every household moved to natural products.

Can your shopping habits indicate your weight? It may seem strange, but there seems to be a direct connection between what and where you buy your groceries to your weight. In one of it’s latest studies, Cancer Research, UK, has found out that people who are likely to pick up discounted food in shops are more likely to be obese.

The people who are tempted at the supermarket to pick up special offer products tend to add more chocolates, crisps, popcorn and savory snacks to their shopping carts. This in turn makes them that much more likely to be over weight or obese. Not to mention that it puts them in the high risk category of thirteen different forms of cancer.

Unhealthy food and drink choices are one of the most common reasons that facilitates the growth of cancer cells. To keep your body in good health, it is essential to have more nutritious food. As much as possible try and eat fresh foods that have been processed as little as possible. It should not take a scientist conducting a science study to make you realize that your food choices are going to directly affect your life.

Drones have a tendency to stress out animals when they fly low in their habitat. However the animal conservation activists have found drones useful in their efforts to keep tabs on the local wildlife population, figuring out environment changes, as well as a deeper understanding of animal behavior.

A new study published in Conservation Physiology  has tried to figure out if the benefits of using drones outweigh the stress that the animals feel with the drones flying close to them. The study used heart monitors to gauge stress in American black bears over a four week period. The idea was to see if the bears could be habituated to the drones flying around their habitat.

Implanted cardiac biologgers were used by the research team on a captive section of five bears. The team measured the heart rate of these five captive bears before and after the drone flights were taken. The pre-flight baseline data was about 41 beats per minute and the heart rates nearly quadrupled at 162 beats per minute after the drones went by.

The science experiment showed the stress caused to the bears, however when the drones continued to fly after short breaks, it was seen that the heart rate was not quite as elevated as it used to be. Basically the bears had begun to get used to the drones.