TORONTO – A pair of Canadian students are ready to change the world.
Both 14-year-old Isabella O’Brien of Dundas, Ont., and 18-year-old Calvin Rieder of Oakville, Ont., are two of 20 finalists in the international Google Science Fair.
These science projects are ambitious. Far from erupting volcanoes or solar system models, these projects have titles like, “A multi-biomarker diagnostic for cardiac disease: Rapid. Portable. Ultra-low cost,” “Catch it on the wing: Production of hydrogen storage material and biodiesel from chicken feathers,” and “Temperature-independent, portable and rapid field detection of Ebola via a silk-derived lateral-flow system.”
Feel like a slacker yet?
These are the brilliant creations of the young minds poised to change the world.
For O’Brien, it started in Mexico. Two years ago while on a trip, she noticed a lot of dead coral while diving. She was told it was due to ocean acifidication, and researched it, learning that it is a process whereby the pH level in the oceans decrease due to the uptake of carbon dioxide. Our oceans absorb about 40 per cent of this CO2. Through a changing chemical process, it makes it more difficult for marine life to make carbonate shells.
“I saw some beautiful coral and dead coral and it was really sad to see the dead coral. It really bothered me that we could let our oceans die off. I can’t believe we’d let that happen.”
So, armed with this knowledge, O’Brien did what any other 11-year-old would do: she sought to stop it.
O’Brien learned that you could slow down the acidification by using limestone, but “then you’d have to clean it up,” she said.
Instead, she turned to the ocean itself.
Her project, entitled “Trouble in paradise: Can shell recycling help buffer the effects of ocean acidification?” uses the shells of mussels, clams and oysters — which are made up of 95 per cent calcium carbonate — to mitigate the effects of ocean acidification.
Her experiment, which took place over a 12-week period, increased pH levels and decreased shell degradation, proving that the calcium carbonate from the shell powder acted as a type of alkaline buffer.
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The success earned her a spot in Google’s top 20.
O’Brien credits her love of science to “a really fantastic science teacher who made science the best part of the day” from Grades 1 to 3.
Since she was able to enter science fairs — beginning in Grade 4 — she has come in first in all of them. Last year she won a gold medal and the Environmental Challenge Award for the same project she entered in the Google Science Fair.
O’Brien exhibits wisdom beyond her years. When speaking about the belief that we’re in the midst of the world’s sixth mass extinction, she said, “Even though it won’t happen in my lifetime or my children’s, it’s not fair to leave someone a dying world.”
And though she thinks that being a scientist would be great vocation, she’s interested in politics and law. However, she’s concerned about the role politics is playing in our daily lives.
“Politics is so far behind the science. You hear ‘oh, it’s snowing, there’s no way there’s global warming,’ but the science is there,” she said.
“They don’t want to spend the money on it now, but years from now when it’s affecting us, it’s going to cost us a lot more money.”
Rieder’s project is also about water, but he takes on the issue of clean drinking water for 80 per cent of the global population that don’t have access to it.
The issue of clean drinking water is an issue that is close to his heart.
“Ocean acidification, clean energy, the water crisis…it’s important that we come up with solutions that will last and not create other problems,” he said.
His project, entitled “Passive dual purpose condensers to provide potable water” is actually two systems. One is a passive atmospheric water condenser that collects moisture from the air (just think of dew forming on your car at night). The second is a solar still that converts non-potable water to potable.
So far, his system has been able to collect 212 millilitres of water an hour. But, he said, theoretically it could go as high as 3.1 litres an hour.
Rieder believes that the future of our planet is something that we as a species need to tackle.
“A lot of issues such as climate change and water scarcity are connected in a way,” he said.
“For the future what’s important is to come up with solutions. Future sustainability should be one of the most important things to think about.”
The fact that more and more young people are showing an interest in science and seeking ways to better the planet shows hope for the future, he said.
“These are issues that will affect the whole world,” he said. “The fact that young people are showing interest, shows fantastic hope for the future.”
For both O’Brien and Rieder, the message is clear: young people today are the ones who can take on the world. They lack the restrictions that adults typically put on themselves and can think outside the box.
The pair will attend the Google event from Sept. 19 to 22. They will present their projects to anywhere from 15 to 20 judges individually. But in the days ahead, they will tour San Francisco, Google’s headquarters and even attend a NASA event.
As for winning the competition, which takes place on Sept. 21 in Mountain View, California, both are anticipating it and are hopeful.
“Making it to the top 20 is like you’ve already won,” O”Brien said. “If I won, I’d probably fall over.”
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