I love this collection of award-winning science-fair projects — I spent many a happy afternoon measuring surface tension, modelling DNA with plasticene, and so on:
In the category of mathematics, 17-year old Sana Raoof of Jericho High School in Jericho, New York produced this mind-bender to win the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award and $50,000 scholarship in the 2008 fair in Atlanta. She chose Harvard, which no doubt feels privileged to have won the bidding for this brilliant young mathematician.
Just in case you are having trouble recalling exactly what chord diagrams and singular knots are all about – having perhaps missed that particular sub-chapter in your high school math class – Greg Muller offers a passable introduction at his blog The Everything Seminar to refresh your memory. Basically, knot theory is about solving simple problems with advanced techniques. For those of us who don't like doing things the easy way…
10 Winning Science Fair Projects That Will Make You Feel Dumb
(via Neatorama)
- Creationist dioramas at kids' science fair – Boing Boing
- Funny doctored science fair photos – Boing Boing
- Intel science fair semifinalist photos – Boing Boing
- Science fair project on dangers of BB guns rejected b/c BB guns …
- Teen wins science fair with $300 spectrograph – Boing Boing
- Creation Science Fair – Boing Boing
