lowcost

Meet Bailey Quinn Frank, the Fort Lauderdale eighth-grader who built a low-cost air sampler from small fans and filter paper to capture bacterial DNA and explore rural health surveillance

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Meet Bailey Quinn Frank, the Fort Lauderdale eighth-grader who built a low-cost air sampler from small fans and filter paper to capture bacterial DNA and explore rural health surveillance

Bailey Quinn FrankPhoto credit: Society for science When Bailey Quinn Frank learned that scientists can identify species from genetic material left behind in the environment, she saw an opportunity to apply the same idea to public health. The eighth-grader from Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale designed a simple air sampler using small fans and … Read more

At 14, a Kerala girl turned an everyday bicycle into a low-cost washing machine for Rs 2,000 that could wash clothes without electricity

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At 14, a Kerala girl turned an everyday bicycle into a low-cost washing machine for Rs 2,000 that could wash clothes without electricity

At a time when laundry was one more task competing with school, travel and family responsibilities, a Kerala schoolgirl began thinking about a surprisingly simple alternative to the washing machine she did not have. Remya, who was studying in the 10th standard, was already spending hours travelling to school each day and helping her twin … Read more

Meet Hao Ting Lyu, Qing Ying Cao, Bai Xuan Ye, Yuanhao Zhang and Jia An Pan, Chinese students who built a low-cost underwater messaging system for divers

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Meet Hao Ting Lyu, Qing Ying Cao, Bai Xuan Ye, Yuanhao Zhang and Jia An Pan, Chinese students who built a low-cost underwater messaging system for divers

Image: Conrad Space Center For divers beneath the surface, communication can become surprisingly difficult. Radio signals that work reliably on land do not travel effectively through water, leaving divers dependent on hand signals, pre-arranged plans or specialised equipment when they need to communicate. Five Chinese students, Hao Ting Lyu, Qing Ying Cao, Bai Xuan Ye, … Read more

A Mexican entrepreneur turned discarded plastic into low-cost homes for families in poverty; each 430-460 sq ft house used 2 tonnes of waste, took 7 days to build and cost families about $280

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A Mexican entrepreneur turned discarded plastic into low-cost homes for families in poverty; each 430-460 sq ft house used 2 tonnes of waste, took 7 days to build and cost families about $280

An EcoDom prototype house built using its plastic panels. Plastic production has increased exponentially over the last few decades. A 2017 study published in Science Advances estimated that 8.3 billion tons of plastic have been produced globally since large-scale production began. Only a tiny fraction has been recycled, with huge amounts accumulating in landfills, ecosystems … Read more

Meet Aniket Sarkar: The 13-year-old 3M Young Scientist who built a low-cost system to capture water from dry air for farmers

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Meet Aniket Sarkar: The 13-year-old 3M Young Scientist who built a low-cost system to capture water from dry air for farmers

PC: 3M Young Scientist Lab Dry air is not completely without water. There is moisture suspended in the atmosphere even when rainfall is scarce, and 13-year-old Aniket Sarkar wanted to find out whether some of it could be recovered for agriculture. His idea led to a low-cost atmospheric water capture system built with ordinary materials, … Read more