Taiwanese students came first and second in biology and physics respectively at this year’s International Environment and Scientific Project Olympiad held in the Netherlands this year with their findings on biological control and LED technology.
The Olympiad started in 2009 and is hosted annually in June and July by the Netherlands’ Cosmicus foundation and other civic groups which place a high emphasis on sustainable development.
The Olympiad includes the subjects environmental chemistry, environmental physics, environmental biology, environmental geology and environmental sociology.
Photo courtesy of the National Taiwan Science Education Center
The winner of the gold medal in environmental biology this year was Chen Ching-feng (陳慶豐) of National Experimental High School in Hsinchu Science Park, while the winners of the silver award in environmental physics were Wu Yi-hsuan (吳奕萱) and Kuo Ti-hsuan (郭笛萱) of National Taipei First Girls’ High School.
Chen said his project, titled “Relationship between sexual deprived Drosophila, NPF and the following behaviors,” had stemmed from the his wish to find more effective methods of biological control by lessening or mitigating pest threats through the introduction of natural enemies, for example the threat posed by fruit flies to agricultural products.
Chen discovered that if male fruit flies were denied their mating ritual, they would turn to feeding on fermented fruit, which has a slight amount of alcohol, National Taiwan Science Education Center director Chu Nan-hsien (朱楠賢) said, adding that Chen also discovered that if male fruit flies were fed alcoholic foodstuffs, the urge to mate was inhibited.
The results is an environmentally friendly method of reducing the number of fruit flies, Chu said.
Wu and Kuo’s research showed that LED lights had the potential to become solar cells by placing a collecting lens and reworking the circuitry, causing LED lights to not only emit energy, but also produce electricity.
A total of 259 students from 45 countries participated in the competition this year, submitting a total of 134 projects and findings.
The award ceremony was held in The Hague yesterday.
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