(Technically my fourth, thanks
Senioritis)
The hardest part about researching a
complicated 20time project for a high school class is the never ending
research. The hours tick by slowly, your back aches, your eyes are strained,
and your mind is desperate for that one set of words or sentences that will
finally take your research in the right direction; making the hours of pain
finally worth it. Strangely enough I find this activity quite interesting
because most of life, especially in a scientific field of study, will be spent digging
through the raw input of our senses for that one little gold nugget of success.
Well on to the few gold nuggets I’ve
found these past few weeks. First off I’ve had to correct one of my previous
posts stating that humans consume 23 litres of O2 a day. According to what I could
find on the NASA website its closer to 0.84 kg which makes up under a litre although
the litre isn’t a reliable unit in this case.
Second I have done a lot of research
into the symbiosis of current forms of algae. The two more prominent specimens
I’ve discovered, that relate to this project, are Dinoflagellates in coral,
which help produce nutritional substances for the host, and green algae in tape
worms, which do exactly what I want the lung replacement version to do: turn
the host’s CO2 into breathable O2 (although this green algae still uses photons
from the sun in its photosynthesis).
Lastly I had a nice chat with a
lovely woman who works in the astrobiology department at Ames Research Center
in Moffett field in northern California. When proposing my idea to her she suggested
that I focus my research on double photon absorption instead of a thermal
replacement for photons in photosynthesis. I’ve done a little research on this
subject but its applications thus far are difficult to find. As per usual, more
research is required.
Good work digging for the gold Matt. Im interested in seeing how you overcome problems involving photosynthesis and how to support that in the dark environment of one's lungs. One thing that might make you blog a little more formal would be to check you grammar. The formality would help your blog spread to other formally based, educational networks which may help you succeed in you endeavors.
ReplyDeleteI love that you are taking research so extensively and have even gone to talk to professional workers from research centers. I like your project idea and think that if you pull it off, it would revolutionize the way we get oxygen. By using thermal energy to produce oxygen just opens up another door, and this project is really unique in trying to accomplish this. One question I have is how do you plan on obtaining different species of algae and testing them all? This project will take an extensive amount of time and it sounds complicated. Will you use the high school lab and possibly get outside help from workers such as the one you talked to? I think this is an awesome idea and really look forward to the final product!
ReplyDeleteCool to see research into this field. One main question I have is about the purpose. What can the algae do to improve our health, and how drastically does it do those things? That, I think if answered very thoroughly, would provide a strong basis and a focused avenue of research. For example, hypothetically, if algae can help our Vitamin D absorption, where would we keep it? How would it help? How to make sure we don't over-absorb? These in and of themselves are relatively straight forward questions with searchable answers. My advice is try and find a more specific end product to make the research easier on yourself. If nothing works, present about the different ideas and why they are not possible.
ReplyDeleteGood luck
Great Progress! I definitely agree that since your project is so scientific research based heavy, it is a lot to complete in a simple high school class room and will require a lot of time outside of school. I think your interview with the lady at the astrobiology department at Moffet Field will provide you with many helpful resources that you can use in your project. Maybe you can try reaching out to other nearby astrobiologist and share the research you have done so far. They can also offer you many opportunities that you are in need of. I remember you stated earlier in your project how you needed a lab research area, and maybe you can ask these scientists for this opportunity.
ReplyDelete