Pre-college science competition

Society for Science and the Public (SSP) and Intel hosted the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2011 in Los Angeles on May 8-13. The Intel ISEF is the world's largest international pre-college science competition for students in grades 9–12.



It provides an annual forum for more than 1,500 high school students from 65 countries, regions, and territories to showcase their independent research as they compete for over $4 million annually.

This years top prize winners were Matthew Feddersen and Blake Marggraff from Lafayette, Calif.. They won the Gordon E. Moore Award, and $75,000, for developing a potentially more effective and less expensive cancer treatment that places tin metal near a tumor before radiation therapy.

The next ISEF will take place in May 13-18, 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Here you can find more information:

http://www.societyforscience.org/intelisef2012

Young innovative ideas

Children make adults look young/immature...

The young inventor Till Opitz from Glücksburg has won the German solar mobile competition based on his inventiveness and except for soldering he has made everything on his own. It is amazing and at the same time thrilling: his solar mobile is a construction of balsa and styrofoam weighing 140 g and even adults ask if they could simply build something like that. From moving bridge constructions and waste sculptures to solar-driven Viking boats - this competition does not set any limits to one's imagination.



More details (sorry, only in German):

http://www.solarmobil-deutschland.de

The first electric racing car

New at the Formula Student competition: electric mobility

The electric trend conquers curricula and competitions. One example: the Formula Student Competition 2010.


Image source: Formula Student Gallery

Formula Student Germany?
In a team students build a single seat formula racing car to participate in a worldwide competition. What is important is not speed but the overall package of construction, performance, financial planning and sales arguments.

The challenge of Formula Student is that in addition to their normal studies, students are to gain intensive experience in building and manufacturing as well as with the economic aspects of the automotive industry.


Image source: Formula Student Gallery

New discipline: electric mobility

24 teams intensively worked on solutions to an eco-friendly mobility. Finally eight of them managed to get into the final. Besides all other obstacles the teams have to overcome, scrutineering is hardest: "First of all, all electric drive elements have to be checked for safety. The complete high-voltage system is marked orange on the vehicle and every racing bolide is fitted with an e-stop," says Ulf Steinfurth, head of the scrutineering team.

"Team of TU Delft wins Formula Student Germany The winner of Formula Student Germany 2010 is the team of TU Delft. In the new electric vehicle discipline, Formula Student Electric, the greenteam of the Stuttgart University won the cup."


Image source: Formula Student Gallery

More information:
»»» http://www.formulastudentelectric.de/

Google on the moon?

Google is sponsoring a competition called the Lunar X Prize. The competition is open to privately funded groups. The groups are charged with a task that's easy to describe, but very hard to achieve. They must launch a vehicle that can journey to the moon, land safely on its surface and deploy a mobile robotic device. The winner could receive more than $20 million. Several teams have already joined the competition. The race is on!



Further information:

»»» http://science.howstuffworks.com/google-lunar-challenge.htm

»»» http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/

What’s next?

Lunabotics Mining Competition



The purpose of the Lunabotics Mining Competition is to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, in a competitive environment that may result in innovative ideas and solutions, which could be applied to actual lunar excavation for NASA.

»»» www.nasa.gov