Science Competition winners: Best in Country

A team of six students from Singapore School Kelapa Gading in Indonesia won the Best in Country award for their project to develop an eco-friendly battery electrolyte from food waste.

Valerie Netzah Elkias, Angelica Suria, Rusellin, Kim Min Jun, Felicia Flois Wang and Jaspreet Kaur were inspired by concerns about the sustainability and environmental impact of batteries. The students wanted to develop a battery electrolyte that is non-toxic to humans and other living organisms, as well as being biodegradable and environmental sustainable.

The team researched the potential use of chitosan, a sugar that comes from the outer skeleton of shellfish. They carried out experiments using chitosan from shrimp shell, a waste product from the huge shrimp industry in Indonesia, using a variety of scientific methods. The team concluded that the greater the concentration of chitosan gel, the more voltage produced due to the increased amount of polymer chains and greater movement of ions.

The students showed great determination throughout their project, overcoming challenges and working together to test different scenarios and improve results. The judges said: ‘This project is a reminder of how valuable it is for scientists to justify their approach to research at every stage of an investigation. The team have taken care to explain their processes, and have critical engaged in their own approach by noting the strengths, limitations, and environmental impact of their methods throughout.

'Overall, this is an excellent, extensive and thorough project exceptionally diligently performed, and professionally presented.'

Team member Felicia said that she would highly recommend the competition for students who want to grow beyond the classroom. 'The Cambridge Science Competition was an amazing experience that allowed me to dive deeper into my interest in science. It was a very memorable journey, filled with numerous failed attempts and fascinating discoveries that taught me resilience and curiosity,' she said.

A team of three students from St. Joseph's Institution International School in Malaysia won the Best in Country award for their investigation to minimise the effects of fast fashion on the environment.

Eugene Rhee, Jingyi Wu, and Wushuang Lou found that fashion production makes up 10% of global carbon emissions and releases tonnes of microplastics into the environment. Another shocking statistic for them was that 35% of all microplastics in the oceans come from the laundering of synthetic textiles. 

Concerned about what this meant for a sustainable future, the team of three students decided to conduct a scientific investigation that could help inform the fashion industry about more eco-friendly fashion production, even while using synthetic fabrics and dye.

Their findings revealed that polyester releases the most microplastics overall, making it the most significant contributor to microplastic pollution among the five other synthetic fabrics they experimented with: acrylic fabric, spandex, microfibre, rayon, and nylon, while rayon was recommended as the best synthetic fabric for the fashion industry to use as it released the least amount of microplastics.

For the second part of their investigation, the team also found that chemical detergents contribute more to microplastic pollution than natural detergents.

Speaking about their findings the team said: 'We promote the use of 100% natural fabrics, free from chemical dyes, and washing with biodegradable detergents as it would reduce microplastic release from textiles to the greatest possible extent. Since that’s not realistically achievable on a global scale, the best combination for the fast fashion industry to use to minimise the microplastic released from synthetic fabrics during washing is using rayon as the main synthetic fabric, dyeing it at pH 6, and using natural detergents for washing it.'

A team of three students from Jayshree Periwal International school, Jaipur, in India won the Best in Country award for their investigation into the harmful effects of synthetic preservatives.

Dhruv Punjabi, Diivij Todi and Mrityunjay Gupta were concerned about the amount of preservatives, such as sodium benzoate, in the foods we consume, and wanted to offer more natural alternatives, such as rosemary extracts.

Together, the team looked at the harmful effects of sodium benzoate which they say is linked to several health risks including stress, genotoxicity, and hyperactivity. Motivated to find natural and safer alternatives, the team carried out an experiment to find out whether rosemary extract could exhibit the same antimicrobial properties as synthetic preservatives when introduced to yeast cells.

The team concluded that the overall concentration of carbon dioxide released – an indicator that the yeast is growing and metabolising – decreased with an increase in the concentration of rosemary extract.

The competition judges said: 'The team's report was extraordinarily professional, presented in a manner that would be appropriate at any level of science communication. Their choice of carbon dioxide release as a measure of respiration shows their depth of understanding in relation to this field and their reflections demonstrate the way in which they have developed as scientists through their research.'

Speaking about the experiment, one of the students said: 'The entire implementation and methodology has instilled an unwavering appreciation in me for the scientific research process and has significantly improved my ability to perform investigations, which has not only helped me with my alternative to practical papers but has also prepared me for future research opportunities.'

Three students from Dr. S. Radhakrishnan International School, Malad West in India won Best in Country for their research into the best way to preserve moringa oleifera – a plant native to India – to maintain its high levels of nutrients.

Aditya Madgavkar, Yuvraj Singh and Ruturaj Jadhav called their investigation ‘Miracle Moringa’ owing to the plant’s highly nutritious leaves that contain a variety of proteins, minerals and vitamins. Their hypothesis was that dried moringa leaves would prove to be a greater concentrated nutrient source than fresh leaves.

They tested this hypothesis by conducting xanthoproteic tests on fresh, sun-dried and air-dried moringa leaves. Xanthoproteic reaction is a method that can be used to detect a presence of protein soluble in a solution, using concentrated nitric acid. The team found that air drying emerged as the preferred method for preserving the nutritional value of moringa leaves, particularly protein content.

Team member Aditya Madgavkar said: 'It was a good exercise for my mind to analyse different perceptions on how to test and validate our stated hypotheses. A really fun experience that taught me how to apply acquired knowledge in day-to-day life scenarios.'

The judges said: 'This was an interesting and well-managed project and the team conveyed the medicinal interest of the moringa tree well, making use of local knowledge. The team took a rigorous approach and judges were impressed by the initial optimisation of the extraction procedure.'

Three students from Singapore National Academy in Indonesia won Best in Country for their research into the effectiveness of different starches in creating bioplastic.

Vanessa Allison Setia, Chloe Junaidi and Zhang Hui Lin tested the effectiveness of five different starches: cassava, corn, arrowroot, rice and tapioca. They tested each starch’s durability, usability, flexibility and ease of creation in order to assess its usefulness as a bioplastic.

To create their bioplastics, the team combined distilled water, white vinegar, glycerol and the different starches. They then heated this mixture and left it to cool and form the plastics.

During their experiments, the team found different starches had different strengths. However, starches with high amylopectin (a water-insoluble polysaccharide and highly branched polymer of α-glucose units), such as rice, tapioca and cassava, were more suitable for bioplastics meant for usage with the expected exposure of water. Rice also had the highest tensile strength, making it more suitable for use in things like disposable cutlery and water bottles.

Team member Vanessa Allison Setia said: 'Participating in this competition was incredibly rewarding and challenging. I learned a lot from the project and had a great time making the bioplastics. This experiment taught me a number of skills, including how to conduct research, write a report and improve communication with my teammates.'

The judges praised the project for being 'systematic and quantitative', highlighting that the team had clearly, 'thought carefully about how their results related to the content of the plastic'.

Four students from The International School of Penang (Uplands) in Malaysia won Best in Country for their research into which desalination method produces the highest and purest yield of water.

The team of Yuqi Chen, Yulin Chen, Zihan Qiu and Entong Chen tested two different types of heat source for their desalination apparatus: gas-powered Bunsen burner and solar (referred to as ‘simple’ and ‘solar’ respectively). Once the water had distilled, they measured the mass of the water produced, before testing the purity by adding it to mung beans and measuring the growth. They also tested tap water, seawater and purified water as a control.

The team found that out of the two different methods of desalination, the mung bean sprouts grew the tallest with the solar, leading them to hypothesise that this method produced the purest water.

Judges commended the team for 'setting out to address a relevant issue for their region and for communities globally'. They continued by saying that the team 'put time and thought into optimising their apparatus and into the cost and long-term sustainability of their solution. Their practical work was carried out carefully and their results were well-presented.'

When asked about their win, the team stated that: 'We wanted to do something affordable and applicable to a daily issue around certain parts of the world. After looking around, we realised that in some countries people often lack clean drinking water, even though oceans border their cities. Looking into this issue, considering factors such as cost, effectiveness and purity we developed several ideas that could solve the issue. Testing them and applying them to real life was both educational and interesting. We had a lot of fun, solving issues we came up with, and taking into account various real-life restrictions kept us interested throughout the investigation.'