Thirteen seniors were named winners at the District Science and Engineering Fair held Dec. 19 at Nacogdoches High School. The students represent seven projects that will move on to compete in February at the Regional Science Fair at Kilgore College.
The winning projects include:
Ella Furniss – The Dye Dilemma
Erick Gutierrez, Dereck Polo – Misty Magic
Jean Choi, Amy Lopez – Shining Light on Sustainable Fuel
Taylor Hart – Salty Solutions: Dwarf Glasswort for Sustainable Agriculture
Irvin Cruz, Bryan Martinez, Gezle Uson – Staph is not Mint to be
Nixon Long, Miguel Diaz – Running The Data: Unlocking the Training Secrets of Olympic Marathoners Using Strava
Jacob Norman, Luke Pierce – Unveiling the Influence: Investigating Biases' Impact on Group Conformity
Projects entered into the NHS science fair touched on fields related to microbiology, biochemistry, environmental engineering, mathematics, animal science, behavioral science, plant science, engineering technology, biomedical and health science, and earth and environmental science.
Here are project abstracts from the winning teams:
The Dye Dilemma – BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCE
Ella Furniss
This study investigated the effects of artificial (Red 40) and natural (strawberry-based) food dyes on the lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster. Fruit flies were cultured on media containing Red 40, natural dye, or no dye (control) over 5 trials, each with 20 flies per group per trial. Lifespans were monitored daily and recorded on their first day as a fly and their death day. The results revealed that fruit flies exposed to Red 40 had the shortest average lifespan (8.7 days), significantly lower than those fed natural dye (10.8 days) and the control group (11.2 days). These findings suggest that artificial dyes may negatively impact longevity, while natural dyes have a milder effect, closer to that of the control. This experiment highlights the potential biological risks of artificial food dyes and emphasizes the need for further research into their effects on health and lifespan in other organisms.
Misty Magic – ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Erick Guitierez, Dereck Polo
Access to clean water remains a critical issue worldwide, prompting researchers to explore innovative solutions like fog catchers. These devices, based on the Schemenauer design, consist of tall structures fitted with specialized nets that capture water droplets from fog. As the droplets accumulate, they coalesce, flow down the net, and are collected in a trough and reservoir. Construct two fog catchers and deploy them in distinct environments: an open field and a forested area. One possible hypothesis posited that the forested site would yield a higher water collection rate due to potentially denser fog found in forested environments. Over 33 days, measure the collected water using a graduated cylinder and document the results in a spreadsheet. The data revealed that the forested fog catcher consistently outperformed the open-field device, collecting more water daily. This suggests that environmental factors, such as vegetation density, may enhance the efficiency of fog collection systems. In order to analyze the data, take the summation of all the water collected for the forested site and open area independent of each other and divide by the number of days water was collected in order to yield the mean for both sites. After this, you could conclude that the forested site collected significantly more than the open field due to the mean of the forested site being 1.53 ml/day of water while the open site had a mean of .4 ml/day of water.
Shining Light on Sustainable Fuel – BIOCHEMISTRY
Jean Choi, Amy Lopez
The demand for sustainable energy sources has increased interest in alternative biofuels, particularly those derived from microalgae. This project explores the potential of optimizing lipid production in Chlorella vulgaris, a cyanobacteria species with significant biofuel potential due to its high lipid concentration, by investigating the impact of different LED light colors on lipid extraction and biofuel production.
The study aimed to evaluate whether green or red LED lighting can enhance lipid production in Chlorella vulgaris, to improve biofuel yield. Chlorella vulgaris, which naturally contains 25-27% lipids, is ideal for this investigation. The experimental design involves growing cyanobacteria cultures under three LED light conditions: white (control), red, and green.
Chlorella vulgaris was cultured in 300 mL of tap water and 7 g of nitrogenous fertilizer in 500 mL glass beakers wrapped with color-specific LED lights for 3 weeks, followed by a standardized lipid extraction process using hexane and isopropyl alcohol. The extracted lipids underwent transesterification using NaOH and methanol to produce biodiesel, with final measurements of biofuel volume.
We used a one-way ANOVA test to evaluate significant differences in lipid production between the experimental light conditions and the control. Results indicate that our null hypothesis was supported: that red or green LED lights do not impact overall biofuel yield. We believe that our limited sample size and overall biomass culture influenced our results. Future research should focus on increasing the overall biomass and sample size to reach supportable conclusions regarding the correlation between biofuel yield and LED light color.
Salty Solutions: Dwarf Glasswort for Sustainable Agriculture – EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Taylor Hart
Dwarf glasswort (Salicornia bigelovii) is a halophytic plant that thrives in salt marshes and other highly saline environments and can intake and store salt within its vacuoles. This experiment utilizes the desalination properties of dwarf glasswort to determine if these plants could effectively replace reverse osmosis desalination as a more sustainable alternative for agricultural purposes. Six deep water culture (DWC) systems were used to test the effectiveness of this plant’s desalination abilities. Three DWC systems served as trials, containing three dwarf glasswort plants each. The other three served as controls, not containing any plants. The salinity in ppt of each trial and control was measured daily for 7 weeks. To analyze the data collected, a dilution factor was used to factor in the change in volume due to evaporation, and then the relative change in salinity was calculated. The experiment revealed that the three trials did have a negative relative change in salinity, albeit small: -1.36%, -0.79%, and -2.37%, respectively. Although these results support the null hypothesis, extending the trial time by an estimated 396 weeks or adding 179 plants to the same size container could allow the desired salinity to be reached if the percent loss in salinity continues proportionally. Because both potential changes are impractical, further experimentation is needed to yield better results. Specifically, replicating the experiment in spring, the more optimal growing season, and comparing the desalinating abilities of the annual Salicornia species with the perennial Sarcocornia species could provide a more definite conclusion.
Staph is not Mint to Be – MICROBIOLOGY
Irvin Cruz, Bryan Martinez, Gezle Uson
Staphylococcus epidermidis is commonly found on the skin and is typically harmless; however, if left untreated, it can lead to infections that may have serious health consequences. The goal of this experiment was to identify which variety of mint could be effectively incorporated into a natural lotion to help combat S. epidermidis. Specifically, the objective was to test the antibacterial properties of several mint varieties in order to find the most suitable one for inclusion in a 100% all-natural moisturizer. To assess the effectiveness of each mint variety, we employed the disk diffusion method using S. epidermidis cultured on agar media. In order to ensure that our bacterial strain was not contaminated, we performed streak isolation and incubated it for 24 hours. Each petri dish was divided into three quadrants: one containing a mint extract, the second containing a vancomycin disk as a positive control, and the third containing a blank disk as a negative control. The results revealed that apple mint exhibited the most significant inhibitory effect on bacterial growth, with an average inhibition zone of 0.667 mm. In conclusion, apple mint proved to be the most effective mint variety in preventing the growth of S. epidermidis, suggesting its potential as a key ingredient in an all-natural lotion. This study highlights the promising antibacterial properties of mint, with apple mint standing out as the most effective option for skincare products designed to combat S. epidermidis growth.
Running The Data: Unlocking the Training Secrets of Olympic Marathoners Using Strava – MATHEMATICS
Miguel Diaz, Nixon Long
In elite distance running, top athletes consistently push the boundaries of human performance, while science lags in understanding their methods. Elite runners in their prime rarely compromise their proven training regimens to participate in training research in an experimental setting, so exercise physiology research has always lacked long-term, quantitative data on the pinnacle of human endurance. Strava, a fitness-tracking platform, provides a unique solution to this challenge. By allowing users to share training data – including volume, intensity zones, and other metrics – Strava offers unprecedented insight into the training habits of the world's best marathoners. This study analyzed the training blocks of six Olympic marathoners using Strava data, comparing their performance at the 2024 Olympics with their training patterns to determine which training yielded the most efficient results. A higher proportion of rest was correlated with greater success. Volume in general, not in a specific intensity zone, was directly correlated with greater injury risk and poorer performance. Advantages and drawbacks were found in each intensity zone, but due to the small sample size, there wasn't enough data to provide insight into the more complex relationships between these training variables.
Unveiling the Influence: Investigating Biases' Impact on Group Conformity – BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
Jacob Norman, Luke Pierce
Conformity Experiment, with the purpose of testing participants’ conformity in a group. This project varied from the Asch Conformity Experiment by testing participants’ conformity based on the group’s clothing. Volunteers were individually placed in a room with four actors and presented with five sets of lines. The group was asked to identify which lines were equal in length to the first line for each set. After the first two sets of lines, the actors would give incorrect answers. In the tests with actors wearing nice clothing, most volunteers conformed and gave wrong answers, while in the tests with actors in messy clothes, almost no participants conformed. In the tests with casual clothing, around half of the volunteers conformed. These results show that people are more likely to blindly follow the actions of a group if the group is perceived well.