Thursday, March 7, 2013

Google searching for world-changing ideas through its online science competition

If you're between 13 and 18 years of age and think you have a great idea, Google has the doors of its ongoing Science Fair open to you. The Google Science Fair 2013 is an online science competition open to students anywhere in the world.

Those interested should first visit the GSF 2013 site. Click "Start" in the "Start your Project" section and a new window will open. You will have to provide Google your name, age and country. If you've been invited to join a Team, you'll also need a Team Code. Students would need the consent of their parent or guardian to be able to enter the competition. You will then be required to fill in the project dashboard information, after which you can go ahead and submit your project. The last day for submissions is April 30, 2013. If you submit your project before that date, you can keep editing till the last day.


The fair saw some interesting experiments last year, and if you want to participate and are looking for some inspiration, you should look at some of the brilliant, mind-boggling experiments from last year's winners. For example, Google Science Fair 2012's 15-16 Age Group winners Iván Hervías Rodríguez, Marcos Ochoa, and Sergio Pascual unearthed a hidden world. As baffling it may sound, the trio discovered a world that was inhabited with many microorganisms living in water. Their observations over the years have led them to understand how the microorganisms affect our world. Naomi, a 2011 Google Science Fair winner from Oregon USA, showed how science is important to her and what led her to delve deeper into the effects of pollutants on allergies.

The site also has a Get Inspired section that has information about the projects of the previous winners and profiles of renowned scientists like Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein, to name a few.


And what will you get if you win? The Grand Prize package is a National Geographic expedition to the Galápagos. It is a 10-day adventure to Darwin's living laboratory, the Galápagos Archipelago. There is a $50,000 scholarship from Google too. Age category winners can win an experience at CERN, Switzerland and Fermilab, USA, and may even get to spend three days at Google's engineering office, where they will be given a tour, get a chance to participate in workshops and be a part of hands-on work.


You can also win a behind-the-scenes tour of LEGO's factory in Denmark or a LEGO MINDSTORMS set, which will be signed by LEGO's CEO, owner and the LEGO MINDSTORMS design team. Winners can also get $50,000 in funding and a year of mentoring, sponsored by Scientific American.

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