Tag: Students

Short videos promote reading in schools and technological skills can be acquired playfully. But what can be done when students in remote areas fall through the cracks? With its specially developed E-learning platform, a non-profit organisation in Africa is aiming to ensure everyone has access to the curriculum. Schools or religious institutions serve as learning centres, and children use...

A special bra can help detect early-stage breast cancer. When it comes to skin cancer, early detection is equally vital. In large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, however, treatment is either scarcely available or unaffordable. Which is why a 14-year-old schoolboy has developed a soap to help those affected access a potential cure. Alongside coconut oil, shea butter and honey,...

Adding electrons to aluminium can create a rare metal. An Australian student has been thinking in terms of conversion too - only on a greater scale. His idea is to provide existing cars with internal combustion engines with an electric drive function. He developed a compact axial flux motor that is retrofitted onto the brake disc. The energy required...

Some weeds have anti-inflammatory properties. Now, a female PhD student from the Netherlands has discovered that another weed, soft rush, also has hidden qualities. The lightweight plant takes oxygen from the air, transporting the gas through internal flue-like channels. A cross section revealed a highly porous structure and coarse surface. Therefore, the student pressed two layers together to create...

Innovative pacemakers are controlled by patients’ individual breathing patterns. Breathing exercises can help control stress and alleviate anxiety. Provided that our brains don’t become distracted from the task at hand. Which is where a British PhD student from the University of Bath comes in. His hand-held soft ball is connected to sensors attached to a user’s body, imitating their...

Children with visual impairments can now converse more equally with their peers. Meanwhile, a Lisbon-based PhD student is investigating how mixed-visual ability children can learn to code collaboratively. Pair-work fosters cooperation, either remotely with an audio connection or locally. Her system comprises two boards with building blocks and a box with a webcam which is connected to a computer....

A headband can monitor hallucinations, while skin cancer can be detected by cell phone. What about the most common cause of heart disease and coronary artery aneurysms in 1-5 year-olds? Cue a 17-year-old female student from San Diego who has developed a new method for identifying Kawasaki Disease. Since the five symptoms - high fever, red tongue, body rash and...

New schools are being built from old plastic; new chipboard from the waste from cocoa crops. Now, two graduates from Denver University want to do something about the 80 million used tyres residing nearby. They have reversed the thermoplastic process by which rubber is made into synthetic plastic. During the so-called devulcanization process, toxins and sulphur components are broken...