A recent news story about the properties of water at super cool temperatures stated that even at temperatures well belong freezing, or 0 degrees C, water can remain a liquid. While this in itself is an interesting tidbit of information, what is even more amazing is that when under significant pressure and super cooled, water actually exists as two unique liquid forms, high density water and low density water. What this means to science, no one knows yet, but the possibilities are limitless.

Soft, flowing, abrasive, tarnishing, sticky, cleansing, nourishing, sterile, life supporting, life threatening, clear, clean, fluid, frozen and gaseous. These are all words that can be used to describe water in its many forms. As a science teacher, scientists, parent or student, you have the opportunity to inspire people to examine how the elements of the world work together. Keeping up to date with news stories like this one, is just one way you can make science approachable, practical and contemporary for students.

24 hour science projects can utilize just about any compounds you have on hand. Water is a cheap, versatile and interesting ingredient that will allow you to create science fair project ideas that will be exciting, interesting and cool science fair projects.

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If you are working on a lesson plan on glaciers, ice age or icebergs then this science news piece will interest you. In 2006 a research team from Coastal Carolina University, located in Conway, South Carolina discovered something very interesting off the coast, iceberg trenches. These trenchers were leftovers from the last Ice Age. They were between 10 and 100 meters wide and were about 10 meters deep. At the ends of these trenches were culdasacs where the icebergs finally came to a stop and then melted into the sea.

This news story is a great tool that you can use to segway into a lesson about glaciers, climatic change, icebergs or local ecology. Using news items like this one is just one way that you can enrich your lesson plans for free. This enrichment will not only make your lesson plans more interesting for your students, but it will also make the information that you present to your students more valuable and usable.

The first science fair supplies that you will need to provide your students with to help them complete their earth science experiments is information. This information can be found in age appropriate science magazines and other media sources.

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Current earthquakes can be a great way to get your students interested in earth science topics like seismology, tectonics, volcanism, thermal energy and the Earth’s natural recycling process. Tracking earthquake clusters is easy to do when you have a link to the Internet. Most of the earthquake monitor services around the world have a live feed on their websites. Use these sites to keep your students up-to-date with earthquake activity.

There are a lot of earthquake and volcano science projects that your students can work on. The first is very easy and very inexpensive. All you have to do is simply assign students to track the earthquake activity in specific areas of the world. You can also track the seismic activity in your area if you live in a seismically active area like the Cascades or the Pacific Rim. Another project that you can put together is to study the ripple effect created by seismic activity. For example, when an earthquake is detected keep your eyes open for other earthquakes in other parts of the world. Plot the series of earthquakes to demonstrate the movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates or to create a visual representation of energy waves moving from the epicenter of the main earthquake to other parts of the world.

Great science fair project ideas can come from just about anywhere. Winning science fair projects, and in generally the best science projects, are based on current events and science issues.

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This year in science the hot topic was global warming. It is clear that our world is undergoing a major shift in climate and weather patterns. However, it is still not clear if this change is caused by the phenomenon of global warming, if it has been caused by natural patterns of climate change, or if it has been caused by a combination of manmade and natural factors. No matter why it is happening, it is happening, and this is the generation that has to learn how to deal with the problems that come along with these changes.

In the year 2008, global warming will most likely stay a hot science issue. However, because it is also an election year, other science issues dealing with genetic experimentation, stem cell research and alternative energy development will also receive a lot of attention. As you plan your lessons for the last four to five months of school, try working in these hot topics into your curriculum.

While ringing in the New Year think about easy science fair projects and school science fair projects that your students can complete before the end of the school year. Try to focus your science fair projects on issues that are important to modern life. Have a great New Year!

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The experiment went like this. Both the college students and the chimps were placed in front of an interactive screen where a series of five numbers that ranged between 1 and 9 were flashed on a screen for a predetermined amount of time between 210 milliseconds to 650 milliseconds. The numbers then were replaced by white squares. The students then needed to recreate the sequence by touching the white squares in order to replicate the sequence that they just saw. At the 610 millisecond (about .61 seconds), the chimps and the college students both were able to recreate the sequences about 80 percent of the time. However, by the time the sequence flashes were scaled down to 210 milliseconds, the college students’ success rate was only about 40 percent, while the chimps retained their 80 percent success rate.

This experiment created new insights into primate memory. This is a great news story to introduce to your students when exploring primates, evolution, intelligence, memory and comparative concepts. It is also a great discussion starter.

Developing super science fair projects is not always easy to do. However, by using science magazines and news articles, you can easily come up with ideas for life science experiments.

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This material is super thin, only about 1.5 millimeters thick. In order to create the quick spring reflex this thin material is formed with lots of micro craters. The material is then paired with a second sheet and sealed on all sides. The material operates by triggering the craters to flip out and in when they come into contact with heat, physical pressure or electrical charge. Once this technology is perfected it can be used to deliver medication to specific body locations or used as a sensitive food wrapper that is capable of alerting people when food has spoiled or been contaminated by heat.

This news story brings up an important science concept, that nature is indeed a great resource for innovations. Plants especially have unique mechanical designs that scientists and engineers can mine and mimic to create human friendly applications. In your classroom, discuss this notion with your students. Offer extra credit to students to research other nature inspired inventions and innovations. This is a great project for students to complete right before science fair season, as their findings can help them to come up with the basis for an amazing science fair project.

Superior science fair project ideas can be generated from a lot of different activities. From reading science fair books to reviewing past energy science fair projects, students need to learn how to mine their world for inspiration.

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