Closed as Spam Link Surfacing ~ MJM
Two teenagers from The Woodlands, Texas, have invented a device that could help fight one of the most pervasive and challenging forms of pollution on Earth: microplastics.
These microscopic plastic particles appear in the deepest parts of the ocean, at the top of Mount Everest, and are present in everything from household dust to food and water.
According to some estimates, each of us inhales and swallows a credit card’s worth of plastic each week. Then it can get into our lungs, blood, breast milk and testicles.
Victoria Ou and Justin Huang, 17, hope to one day prevent this with their award-winning device that removes microplastics from water using ultrasound – high-frequency sound waves. Their device was the first to successfully use this method.
Ou and Huang presented their work at last week’s Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Los Angeles, where top science fair competitors from around the world gathered to share their projects and compete for $9 million in prizes.
The Texas duo took first place in the Google-sponsored Earth and Environmental Sciences category and also won a $50,000 prize from the Gordon E. Moore Award for Positive Results for Future Generations.
It must feel good to win two prizes in one day.
Although the ultrasonic technique is in its very early stages, the high school students hope that one day it will be able to filter plastic from drinking water and the industrial and sewage effluents that people dump into the environment.
R&I ~ MJM
Enterprise7
Article URL : https://www.succeda.ca/news54736/two-teenagers-will-receive-50000-for-an-award-winning-microplastic-filtration-device/