Some years ago in 2001 the Taliban led government of Afghanistan decided to destroy the ancient Buddha Statues at Bamiyan. These huge Buddha Statues were part of the Buddhist Heritage which are now lost to the new generations forever. They were not even documented or photographed properly.

This action has inspired a non profit organization called CyArk to an interesting science project to help preserve the heritage of our earth for future generations. They have been making digital scans of the Moai statues of Easter Islands, the ruins of Pompeii and now the sculptures of Mount Rushmore.

Should these structures ever get damaged or need to be rebuilt the scans will allow a full scale 3 D model to be developed. These models can then be used to restore the monument to its original glory. These scans are going to be freely available on the internet and can be studied on their website.

Saving the world is not just about the natural environment anymore. It is also about the human environment and the work of past civilizations being preserved.  The inventor of the laser scanner could never have predicted this use of the equipment. What will your science fair project be used for?

One of the most popular science projects deals with experiments to help boost the memory skills of human beings. People eat foods that are supposed to boost memory such as Almonds. They take supplements with herbs that are said to enhance brain activity. They even practice mental exercises to keep the brain cells sharp.

And now they will be able to get smarter by merely using a nasal spray. Researchers working with Christian Benedict at the Institute for Neuroendrocrinology in Munster in Germany may just have developed the ultimate memory booster in the form of a nasal spray. The spray is said to improve transfer of information from short term memory to long term memory.

The key ingredient in the nasal spray is interleukin-6 or IL-6. This is essentially a neurotransmitter which is produced naturally in the body. The memory boosting spray was to be sniffed at before sleeping. And the next day the participants in the experiment were asked to recall words that they had read the day before in short stories.

The researchers found that those members of the experiments who had received a dose of the nasal spray containing IL-6 were much better at remember the words they had read the previous day than the ones who had not been sprayed with it. Sometimes science projects can have very real and practical uses instantly.

It may seem like science fiction but genetic engineering is already a reality in the world of foods. You have potatoes that grow larger, green chillies that do not curl and grapes which have no seeds. This is not the natural way that these foods grow. These modifications have been made to their genetic material and now they have become “improved” versions of the parent plant.

Just how this science experiment will progress is any ones guess. There is a major portion of the population which feels that genetic engineering of plants to help fight global hunger is a good thing. However the same people find it unacceptable to use genetic engineering processes on human beings to cure cancer or other potentially fatal diseases. That is why the objection to stem cell research.

The consensus is that while it is okay to tinker with plants and animals, it is not right for scientists to play God with humans. Even though the world is interested in the cloned sheep Dolly, it is not interested in seeing a cloned human being. The thought is scary, alien and meets with a lot of opposition from religious sects.

Yet it is not possible to halt the progress of science and technology. It is just a matter of time before the governments of the world allow genetic engineering on human beings. Maybe you could be a part of the science experiment which brings to life a cloned human being.

The Genome Project took millions of dollars and almost a decade to uncover the secrets of the human genetic material known as the DNA. It was an exciting race between a private company and a set of public researchers. Each team trying to compete the gene sequencing before the other could.

This blueprint of a human being is now available at a far less cost of just about $5000. It is used to diagnose the presence of any genetic mutations which could cause diseases later in life. It is also used to see if specific strains of pathogens may be fought with specific drugs and medication.

While the world expected great things from the Genome Project, its full potential is yet to be exploited. Part of the reason for this is the sheer volume of data involved. There is so much to be studied and then made sense of. Not to mention put to practical use.

All this takes time and maybe you can look forward to an exciting career as a gene picker! Your science projects can reflect the bio diversity of the genetic world. You may even discover some hidden trait and cause a real difference to the treatment of a particular disease. Get cracking on that science project on the genome.

Blue eyes? Curly hair? Dimpled Chin? What are the exact features that you want in your baby? I am not talking about a computer game to raise a virtual baby here. This is actual stuff.  Now thanks to DNA mapping you may be able to choose the exact type of child that is born.

Of course this is a bit in the future, but yes you can tell if the unborn child in the mother’s womb is suffering from any genetic disease. What do you credit this to? It would have to be to genetics. The study of genetics revolves around the traits that the chromosomes give you as a human being.

This is why some one has a nose as long as their father, or has brown hair like their mother. Even the blood group is genetically determined. Your genes can predict a lot about you. This information can come in handy when you are ill and need to be treated in a special way.

Some cancer tumors affect different people in different ways. So the medication has to be different for them as well. Research can help determine what kind of tumors should be treated in which manner to be effectively eliminated. There are enough on going science projects on the subject. Check them out if you are interested.

There has been considerable progress made after the human DNA blueprint was untangled in making medication.  Now that the genes and their mutations are known, making specific medication to target that mutation is easier. There are less clinical trials involved and the drugs take less time to devlop.

Scientists are now demystifying the genes that mutate to cause cancer. The science project is a large scale international one where each cancer will get mapped in 200 patients. Then the research will begin to see why the mutations occur on a molecular level.

Once the mechanism of the cancer cells is understood, it will be used to form medication that can prevent the mutation or at least halt it once it begins. Such made to order medication will be really useful for cancer patients who have a short time to live and no time for trial and error in their medicine choice.

It is such ongoing science projects that contribute to the better health care opportunities that we as patients receive today. Sitting in a lab and mapping genes may not seem very Earth shaking, but it is useful and productive work which can save lives.  A small idea can become a large project and that is how you can contribute as well. Try out more science projects here.

The study of Genetics has taken a huge leap forward after the Genome Project. The massive and expensive Genome project was undertaken to map all the DNA present in the human body. A sort of DNA Map for the humans that would help understand the diseases and their causes better.

The first Blueprint of the Human DNA was prepared about a decade ago. The information has now been used successfully to predict and treat a number of genetic diseases. Scientists are fairly excited about this project as they feel there are a number of things more that can still be achieved.

The benefits of the Genome project have been under criticism by funding sources who feel that the expense has not yet been justified. Yet this path breaking science project is still in its infancy. There is a whole of lot information which has not been processed yet.

The sheer volume of information has made progress slow, yet there have been some startling findings that have come to light thanks to the intensive project. It is also possible to get your own DNA blueprint at a relatively low cost of about five thousand dollars today.

Compare that to the billions of dollars that the first DNA blueprint took to make, it is an achievement of great importance. People can get screened for genetic illnesses and have the medical treatment done as a preventive measure. Check out more ideas for interesting science projects here.

While we may conduct the majority of the chemical experiments with liquids, even gases react with air. The only reason that experiments in school tend to focus on more on chemical science experiments in the liquid state is because it is easier to the the end product of the process.

So if gases were to react with air how would you be able to see it? Would it cause any visible effect? Or would it be experience in some other form. The answer would depend on the type of gas that is reacting with the air and other factors as well.

For instance some gas reactions can be positively dangerous. If you have methane gas and release it into  the air nothing might happen initially. Now in that vicinity if some one was to light a match the methane combined with the oxygen in the air would catch fire.

That’s why it is best to avoid uncontrollable experiments of gases reacting with air. However if you want to try out a relatively safe experiment try out this science project. In this you will try to freeze bubbles. You will need an adult to give you a hand through so be sure to ask for permission and help with conducting the experiment.

Chemicals can play an important role in any science project that you undertake. If you add the wrong chemical you may ruin the experiment or even worse, blow up your lab. Although that is a worst case scenario and may never realy happen with you if you are very careful about the chemicals that you use.

In most school labs the potentially risky chemicals are usually provided in a majorly diluted form to avoid any major mishaps. However it is important to know all the properties of a chemical that you may be handling in a science experiment. You do not want to burn yourself by accident.

So we know some chemicals are acids and it can be rather dangerous to drop these on our skin. So treat them with a lot of respect. The stuff that neutralizes or reduces the effect of acids is called bases. These are also quite strong and potent on their own, so make sure you handle them with care as well.

How would you care to use a vegetable like a cabbage to learn more about the properties of Acids and Bases? Yes it may seen like an unlikely teacher, but it is a good one. Check out this experiment over here. It does not need you to pick up any special chemicals to perform. All the stuff should be readily available in your fridge and kitchen at home.

Consider a science experiment based on the states of matter. The states of matter are solid, liquid and gas. That we all know, but how does water change into ice, its solid form? Or water vapor, its liquid form? This has to do with the number of molecules of water that are packed together in a limited area.

When the water is placed in a glass in the fridge it will make the molecules shrink into a compact area and turn into a denser form. This dense form is the solid state of ice. Similarly the opposite happens when the water is boiled on the hob or in an electric kettle.

The heat excites the water molecules and they tend to expand into all the available space. Thus turning into a gaseous form called water vapor. The states of matter are not always followed in the transformation process. For instance a substance like Camphor has no liquid state.

Camphor exists in a solid form, generally in a white or cream color. If you apply heat to camphor in the form of a burning match stick it does not melt like ice would. In fact it catches fire and evaporates into a gaseous form right away. This is called spontaneous combustion.

But what about Fire? Is it solid, liquid or gas? And try making this gluep and try to figure out if it is a liquid or a solid.