Sometimes, school assignments are about more than the grade.
As kids and teachers get ready to head back to class, here are four school projects that ended up having an impact far beyond the classroom!
Uncovering a baby dinosaur fossil
17-year-old Kevin Terris was on a school field trip at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, when he spotted something poking out of the dirt.
Upon investigation, he realized it was a small dinosaur skull!
Paleontologists helped uncover the rest of the remains, and determined they belonged to the youngest duck-billed Parasaurolophus ever recorded.
They nicknamed the fossil “Joe,” and have Kevin’s keen eye to thank for finding it!
A nontoxic insecticide
Simon Kaschock-Marenda went above and beyond for his middle school science project!
With the help from his dad, he discovered that a common sweetener we use in our tea could double as an insecticide that’s non-toxic to humans!
Simon set up an experiment that fed artificial sweeteners to fruit flies, and studied which had the shortest lifespan. Flies given ‘Truvia’ had a far shorter lifespan than the rest (5.8 days, compared to 38 - 51 days!).
They moved their investigation from the home to a lab, where they determined that erythritol was the ingredient responsible, and could be a safer alternative to insecticides in the future.
Extending the battery life for hearing aids
Most of us didn’t make a medical breakthrough with our eight grade high school science fair projects.
But Ethan Manuell is not your average student!
Using old battery-operated toys at home, he discovered a way to extend the lifespan of zinc hearing aid batteries by a whopping 85%!
Ethan noticed that many hearing aid battery packages instruct users to remove the plastic tab on the back of the battery, and let it sit for one minute. So Ethan began investigating the suggestion, allowing them to sit for various lengths of time before testing them.
He discovered that 5 minutes was the perfect length of time to let the batteries sit to achieve maximum battery life. Today, this information is shared in doctor’s offices, and can save you up to $70 on batteries each year!
New solutions to math problems
When Brock Brown was doing his high school math homework, he could easily have used Pascal’s Triangle like his teacher had taught him.
But instead, he invented a brand new theorem that helped him get his homework done much faster.
Soon, his innovative problem-solving caught the eye of a math professor at Utah Valley University, who helped Brock develop a proof that they later submitted to the American Mathematical Association. Brock’s Theorem is a simple alternative to more common theorems, AND helped Brock get his homework done faster!
Microscope.com is committed to making science exciting and accessible to students (and their teachers!), to encourage more innovative discoveries like these! That’s why we’re always looking for ways to help bring the tools for good science into classrooms across the USA.
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