Approximately 1.4% of the world’s population, or more than 100 million people, have
developmental disabilities which prevent them from communicating without the help of expensive and clunky
devices. Around the world,
783 million people do not have access to clean water and
1.6 billion people—a quarter of humanity—live without electricity. These are major global challenges, and just two of the big issues that finalists from the
2014 Google Science Fair are trying to combat with science, technology and great ideas.
Sixteen-year-old Arsh Shah Dilbagi from India and seventeen-year-old Cynthia Sin Nga Lam from Australia were just named finalists in this year’s Google Science Fair—the largest online science fair in the world, offering students the opportunity to pursue their interest in science and technology. Young people can and have made significant contributions to solving some of today’s greatest challenges. Through the Google Science Fair, we want to support and foster the next generation of scientists and engineers.
Cynthia has created an
eco-friendly and economical device that purifies and sterilizes waste to generate electricity through a sustainable process that only requires titania and light.
Arsh has developed an affordable and simple way for people who suffer from developmental disabilities to communicate. His TALK device detects variations in people’s breath which are converted into morse code-like signals which in turn can be turned into speech.
Next month, Cynthia and Arsh will travel to California to compete at Google HQ for the Grand Prize Award. The awards ceremony will be live streamed on the Science Fair YouTube channel and on our website, so tune in to be one of the first to find out this year’s winners. Cynthia and Arsh are also in the running for the Voter’s Choice Award. You can show your support by casting a vote beginning September 1, or learn more about the amazing ideas from young scientists around the world at the Google Science Fair website.
Posted by Clare Conway, on behalf of the Google Science Fair team
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