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Ashley
Grade: 7
Age: 13 Florida |
Where did you get the inspiration for your expedition?
I got the inspiration for my expedition when I read a headline in the Orlando Sentinel that read "Algae Threaten Wekiva". It made me realize that the river I had known my whole life might not be as clean as I thought it was. Immediately I knew I would want to investigate this topic further.
What is the most pressing scientific issue today?
I think global warming is a pressing scientific issue today. It has an impact on our world, and I think my generation has the ability to solve this problem for future generations.
What plans do you have for further investigations?
I really enjoyed learning about the Wekiva River because it was interesting to learn about something that is close to my home. So when I conduct further investigations I want to be able to study to Wekiva River again. I was thinking about focusing on a single area of the river as opposed to many, so I will be able to see how that area changes over time and the different factors that are contributing to that change.
What advice would you give other young people about conducting investigations in the natural world?
The advice I'd give to other young people who are conducting investigations in the natural world is to find something that interests you or that you are familiar with. Then ask yourself questions. Is everything really the way it seems on the outside? Once you have an inspiration, you will have a desire to learn about the world around you.
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Noah
Grade: 7
Age: 13 Ohio |
Where did you get the inspiration for your expedition?
I got the inspiration for my study from seeing toads hopping around on my patio. My older brother enters science fairs and I decided that when I got to 7th grade I would do my project on toads.
What is the most pressing scientific issue today?
The most pressing issue is global warming. If global warming isn't slowed down then the whole world will be ruined; organisms will become extinct; resources will be depleted and parts of the world will be uninhabitable.
What plans do you have for further investigations?
I plan to study toads in their first stage of life - in water. By studying vernal pools and their surroundings, I can complete my understanding of why the park I hypothesized would have the most toads actually had the least.
What advice would you give other young people about conducting investigations in the natural world?
The advice I would give other young people about doing an outdoor or a naturalist kind of project is to always look at safety precautions related to the organism you are studying. And study something that you feel good about.
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Alexandra
Grade: 8
Age: 14 Maryland |
Where did you get the inspiration for your expedition?
The Chesapeake Bay and its watershed have always fascinated me. The bay has been a large part of my and my family's life, and we are concerned about the environmental issues it faces. My interactions with the bay increased my concern for this unique estuary. I knew I wanted to explore water quality, so I did research on the health of the bay and became interested in erosion.
What is the most pressing scientific issue today?
The most pressing scientific issue today is the stress being placed on the Earth and the loss of nonrenewable natural resources. Our society depends on these resources, and it is very important that we have a plan for when they are gone.
What plans do you have for further investigations?
I'd like to investigate natural ways to improve the Chesapeake Bay's health. I am interested in the role that oysters play in filtering the bay, as well as restoring the natural habitats of wildlife.
What advice would you give other young people about conducting investigations in the natural world?
Young people should explore a topic that they are interested in and passionate about. Find a topic that catches your attention or sparks your curiosity, and learn more about it. I also recommend exploring different ways to collect and interpret data, because you may find that one method works better for you than another. Lastly and most important, remember to be respectful of the natural environment you are exploring.
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Ryan
Grade: 8
Age: 13 Texas |
Where did you get the inspiration for your expedition?
A few years ago, I visited Canada with my family, and observed first hand the problems being experienced by polar bears as a result of climate change. Later, when I learned more about climate change after watching Mr. Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth, I was inspired to research what types of practical things could be done now to attempt to reverse the trends toward global warming.
What is the most pressing scientific issue today?
I believe the most pressing scientific issue today is climate change.
What plans do you have for further investigations?
I would like to further my studies on this subject by investigating the reflective properties of different kinds of asphalt and concrete.
What advice would you give other young people about conducting investigations in the natural world?
I think that it is important for today's young people to take an interest in climate change and conservation in general. If changes are not made soon, we are the ones who will suffer the consequences.
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Alex
Grade: 9
Age: 15 New Jersey |
Where did you get the inspiration for your expedition?
I got the inspiration from my dog. As I said in my essay, she often swims in Mercer County Lake, and I wanted to investigate something that could possibly help her live a healthier life. I felt that testing the water quality would be a way to meet this goal.
What is the most pressing scientific issue today?
I believe that the most pressing scientific issue today is global warming. I have recently seen An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore, which powerfully shows the devastation global warming can cause. One of the most serious effects is the melting of the polar ice caps. A scientific study was done that showed if Greenland or a part of Antarctica melted the global sea level would rise 20 feet. This would result in significant loss of land with devastating effects in Europe, China, Florida, and many other places.
What plans do you have for further investigations?
If I was to do further investigations, I would study the lake's water quality at the microscopic level. This could result in more accurate and complete findings. Also, I would continue to test the water quality throughout the seasons.
What advice would you give other young people about conducting investigations in the natural world?
I would encourage students to pursue investigations that are of high personal interest to them. Once you have a genuine passion to investigate something and learn the truth, you will be well on your way to producing meaningful results.
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Jon
Grade: 9
Age: 15 Idaho |
Where did you get the inspiration for your expedition?
My inspiration came by chance. We own a farm in a small town, and we live there on the weekends. One weekend we were going to the movies in a nearby town, when I started to notice that there were tons of dead Barn Owls on the side of the road. It was surprising to me that there were so many and that they were all Barn Owls. On the way back the next day, I asked my parents if we could go home on that same road, and I started to count them. I continued to count them throughout the next few weeks. I wanted to know what was happening, so I continued to observe and was able to come up with some ideas that then became the basis of my investigation.
What is the most pressing scientific issue today?
The Earth is not just for humans. The diversity of life is one of the things that makes this planet so incredible. We need to find a balance to allow all life to live and evolve as it should. We do not know how everything is interconnected, so we must care. The big question is how much to interfere in nature, and how to do it in a non-biased manner.
What plans do you have for further investigations?
There are a bunch of trees that are dying on the mountains near my house, and I would like to find out what is happening to them and why. I would also love to do a dig on my farm because it is in the area where the Hagerman Horse was discovered, and maybe I could discover some bones of ancient life. Or, I would like to just observe an ecosystem and see if I could discover a new species.
What advice would you give other young people about conducting investigations
in the natural world?
I would advise other young people to always pay attention to their environment and to the nature around them. There are amazing things in the simplest and most unexpected places. Even a crack in the side-walk can be the home of something that is fun to watch. No matter where you are, there is always something happening around you. Watch your world.
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Nikola
Grade: 10
Age: 16 Maine |
Where did you get the inspiration for your expedition?
My inspiration came from my father's informal forestry work and his observation that trees, when transplanted, adapt to their new environment in unique ways. Some can't adapt, some don't recover, and what is the reason for this? What should plant breeders and cultivators know about how the environment impacts the growth and development of plants? Asking these questions led me to what I wanted to focus on in my expedition.
What is the most pressing scientific issue today?
Scientific research is many sided and all scientific developments are important. However, I feel environmental concerns and research are particularly important to the current day as they have political, technological, and global impacts. The concern about changing climates is extremely pressing and important because it needs the support of scientific investigation and needs scientists to get the information out to everyone in order to initiate a global change.
What plans do you have for further investigations?
I feel that a lot more research could be done in the area that I was investigating. Understanding environmental impacts on growth and development are key to understanding a lot of other pieces of biology and development. Thigmomorphogenesis in particular is an important area for further research. I would like to look further at peas' ancestral species' thigmomorphogenic responses to give breeders an indication as to whether this trait is being bred out of cultivated peas and then work on developing a method of selecting for the ability to produce a thigmomorphogenic response.
What advice would you give other young people about conducting investigations in the natural world?
You need to find something that sparks your curiosity and is also important to science and to the real world. If you feel like you're accomplishing something and researching something important, you'll be motivated and inspired. But science isn't only about the topic you investigate. Scientific research provides a wonderful opportunity for intellectual and personal growth as well, so research something that interests you.
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Viola
Grade: 10
Age: 15 Virginia |
Where did you get the inspiration for your expedition?
With a family history of enjoying nature, I have always loved visiting National Parks around the nation. This year, my family and I decided to visit one of the seven natural wonders of the world: the Grand Canyon. I had researched the area to see what to expect in terms of the environment and weather. The variety in flora growing in the area gave me the idea to study it further and to gather my own data on the different species growing in different elevations. I wanted to compare my data with data from previous research.
What is the most pressing scientific issue today?
I believe the most pressing scientific issue today is global warming. Already, we are able to see its effects in the bizarre temperatures and weather today. Hopefully this will open up the eyes of the public into protecting the world we live in.
What plans do you have for further investigations?
For further investigations, I plan to work in the field in different environments and habitats. I am extremely interested in environmental protection. At the moment, I hope to investigate the Chesapeake Bay area regarding pollution and its relationship with the decline of certain flora species.
What advice would you give other young people about conducting investigations in the natural world?
Discoveries that you hear about in the news and read about in textbooks all start with someone asking a simple question. Don't be afraid to question and investigate the things you see in your daily life.
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Anastasia
Grade: 11
Age: 17 Pennsylvania |
Where did you get the inspiration for your expedition?
I have spent every summer of my life exploring the Barnegat Bay. The bay represents to me many peaceful summers full of happy childhood memories. For the past several years, I have used my time on the bay to complete research projects. Because the bay is so important in my life, I want to understand how what people do affects it. This project and the previous one (Human Factor III) study how a nuclear reactor, located along the Barnegat Bay, affects the surrounding environment. Only if we understand the impact we're having on the environment can we do something to correct the problem.
What is the most pressing scientific issue today?
The most pressing scientific issue today is global warming. We need to understand exactly what is happening, and find ways to lessen or eliminate our impact on Earth's atmosphere. If we fail to, the world my generation or my children's generation has to deal with could be far different from the world we live in today.
What plans do you have for further investigation?
I am planning on continuing my current research this summer. Currently, it looks like Human Factor V will be a study of radioactive Cesium or Strontium in the creeks around the nuclear reactor.
What advice would you give other young people about conducting investigations in the natural world?
Be prepared to try several times to get your project to work, and be flexible. The weather and other conditions may not cooperate the first time, so always have a back-up plan. There are unlimited avenues of study in the natural world. You don't have to do something you're not interested in. Research until you find an aspect of nature that fascinates you, and then go with it.
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Arjun
Grade: 11
Age: 17 Connecticut |
Where did you get the inspiration for your expedition?
Birds have been my passion for as long as I can remember. They are wonderful because they have opened my eyes to the natural world around me. Last summer, when I read about the precipitous fall in vulture populations in India, I was alarmed. Was I witnessing the extinction of a species? How could a raptor this abundant become so rare so quickly? That is when the power of simple population surveys became clear to me, and I decided to put my bird watching skills to use.
What is the most pressing scientific issue today?
We need to harness the knowledge of all our sciences to understand why life on earth is so diverse and what all the interconnectedness in nature is really telling us. We have put blinkers on our knowledge. Although it may be easier to study science by dividing it up into fields like botany, ecology, anthropology, etc. we forget that the natural world observes no such divisions. So to my mind, the most pressing scientific issue today is also the most pressing social and economic issue of our times—of understanding the role of diversity. We need a larger world sense.
What plans do you have for further investigations?
This summer I hope to assist an ornithologist studying the Great Indian Bustard in the desert region of Kutch in western India. Kutch has a rugged and beautiful landscape and wonderful people, so I am really looking forward to going there. I am curious about the region's unique plant communities, so I may conduct a small study of local species.
What advice would you give other young people about conducting investigations in the natural world?
If you explore your interest, talk to people, and try new things, your investigation will find you. Keep your curiosity with you at all times, and have flexible expectations. The natural world has so many mysteries and delights that your work becomes an adventure.
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Jeremy
Grade: 12
Age 17 New York |
Where did you get the inspiration for your expedition?
When researching ways in which lichens can be used to monitor pollution, professionals in the field use complicated methods, which are difficult to reproduce. Hence my experiment actually had a scientific purpose: to create a simple method that can be used universally so that the implementation of pollution monitoring with lichens can be used on a wider scale. At the same time I would be able to spend much of my time surveying the distribution of lichens in suburban areas in my neighborhood. Nature is my first love; therefore I jump at any chance to do scientific fieldwork. The challenging obstacles that appeared throughout my time working on the project made me think on my toes and motivated me to take a few new approaches to using lichens as pollution monitors. What's more inspiring than beginning to creep into useful scientific research and being able to enjoy it at the same time? I was also motivated by my science teacher Don Pollock whose' dynamic personality and enthusiasm for my project was contagious.
What is the most pressing scientific issue today?
My guess is that I wont be the only one answering with the now common phrase global warming. I don't only state this because of the looming danger global warming poses, but the potential change it can cause in society. Global Warming is only one of the dangers posed by the most pressing issue today: how will scientists and society deal with a growing industry and technological developments in relation to the natural ecosystems of the world? When the masses realize the impact we can have on the environment and the extent to which we rely on it, maybe then society as a whole will respect the natural world for more than just a resource and place to build homes.
Scientists have the brunt of the work, continuing to provide proof of global warming and its affects. Also innovative research that changes the way society functions in relation to the whole of earth is happening on a grander scale due to global warming. We already see that change via reusable energy and more scientific analysis of the stress human waste (and activity in general) puts on the environment. But (and this is a big but) it remains to be seen how much of the change will come from technology and how much will come from conservation and environmental studies. For instance in relation to the imbalance in the carbon cycle there are scientists inventing "manmade trees" that reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere much better than real trees. If technologies like this one become the main front in solving global warming then human will be less reliant on the natural environment. Then there will be less political support to prevent things like deforestation.
What plans do you have for further investigations?
I would like to involve myself in research such as this experiment, where I help find or develop new innovative ways to use nature in our everyday lives. One interesting subject I would like to investigate is the use of different types of fungi such as mushrooms in converting harmful pollutants into safer forms. At this moment there is no specific plan, but I may do some research or science related volunteering over the summer if the opportunity presents itself.
What advice would you give other young people about conducting investigations in the natural world?
Planning is key. When you pick a topic, research as much as possible so you have a good background to work from. Almost any topic you choose will have some information in your library and on the Internet. Then find a niche where you can create something original to investigate or develop a modification or new use for an old experiment. Also scope out the area before you begin setting up the experiment, or even before you choose an experiment (plus this gives you the excuse of being able to take a nice hike or bike ride). That way you will know what type of environmental factors you are working with. One of the hardest problems in my investigation was finding a location where there weren't to many unwanted variables affecting lichen growth. Last but not least choose an experiment where you can do something kooky like staring at someone's tree for 30 minutes and watch as they (with the most confused look on their faces) try to figure out what your doing.
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Joanna
Grade: 12
Age: 18 California |
Where did you get the inspiration for your expedition?
I've been interested in parasites ever since I learned about some of the amazing evolutionary adaptations that many have developed. For me, it's extremely interesting to see how two organisms have evolved together, developing certain adaptations and physiological changes to benefit themselves. After first observing Himasthla Sp. B cercariae, I was certain that these tiny parasites had developed unique methods to seek out and infect their hosts.
What is the most pressing scientific issue today?
This may sound generic, but I believe the most pressing issue today is climate changes. There are so many unforeseen consequences of climate change that will adversely affect us economically and environmentally. I recently read that if all the glaciers melted in the world, the average sea level would raise by as much as 300 feet. Not only would this destroy millions of acres of beach front property, but the increase in cold water would cause major disruptions in currents and weather patterns. While many skeptics believe that this is a normal climatic change, it is impossible to deny that we are on the brink of major climatic change, and therefore susceptible to the consequences of this change.
What plans do you have for further investigation?
I've always been interested in research because it's on the cutting edge of exploration. In the future, I would like to research other transmission methods of trematodes. Ideally, I would love to research the transmission methods of Schistosoma mansoni in the hopes of developing more effective methods to reduce human infection.
What advice would you give other young people about conducting investigations in the natural world?
Find something that you are passionate about. If you are truly interested in a topic, your passion will be reflected in your work.
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