Every year thousands of high school students take part in national and regional science fairs. Popular Sciencescours those events to find 10 students with truly world-changing ideas backed by functioning prototypes.
The gallery including Josh Wolf’s algae extraction process in photo below
“Up to 60 percent of an algae’s cell mass comes from lipid oil, which scientists isolate for use as a biofuel. Unlike most extraction methods, Josh Wolf’s technique—in which he delivers an electric shock that opens the vesicles that hold the oil—keeps the algae alive, so he can draw oil from them repeatedly. After shocking, he skims the tank that holds the organisms to collect the oil and adds methanol and lye to create biodiesel.”
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