Colony collapse disorder relates to the untimely death of honey bees in millions across the world for no plausible reason. This is cause for worry as bees are responsible for pollination of global crops. No bees means no pollination, which in turn means no food production for humanity. Can this possible global food crisis be solved by a science project at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences?

Researchers here have been working on a robotic solution to honey bees. They have been working on robot bees, which are half the size of a paper clip. Although they are called bees, they are actually based on the model of a fly and have very thin wings capable of flapping a hundred and twenty times in just one second.

Robert J. Wood has led the Robo Bee project for the last 12 years and this year they have finally come up with a working prototype. Everything had to be custom built to make the prototype as no such technology or equipment existed beforehand. The tiny carbon fiber body of the robotic insect is a little miracle of modern science, but will it be enough to fight the challenge ahead? Only more science experiments to perfect the model will tell.

Harnessing solar power in a practical and efficient manner has been the aim of many science projects. None more beautifully illustrated than by the solar powered plane called Solar Impulse. This plane was written off by critics on its maiden flight in 2009 when it managed to rise just 3 feet and for the 30 seconds that it was in the air. It managed to cover just 1150 feet in that flight, but in July 2013 it improved on its record impressively.

The creators of the green flying machine have been working on improvements all along and its progress has been great. In 2012 the plane went intercontinental from Europe to Africa, and this year it flew across the United States. The journey which was nicknamed “Across America” began in San Fransisco, California in May this year and was completed in New York City in July. Along the way the plane took its first halt at Pheonix, Arizona, followed by Dallas, Texas. It then flew on to St. Louis, Missouri, before winging its way to Washington, DC before reaching its final destination in NYC.

The Solar Impulse which has the same 80 meters wing span of an Airbus 380 weighs just 2 tons as opposed to the massive 560 tons weight that an Airbus 380 pulls along. However the Solar Impulse has shown great progress in the past five years of its existence by gaining the ability to fly by day and night. A task no other solar powered plane has mastered so far. May there be many more such successful science experiments dealing with solar power in the future.

The Mars Rover Opportunity has now been operational on the red planet for almost ten years and is still going strong. The rover Spirit was launched on June 10  in 2003 and Opportunity soon followed on July 7. They finally reached Mars in 2004 and while Spirit shut down operations after the forth Martian Winter it faced in 2010, Opportunity is currently moving to a new area to study.

The new region is called Solander Point and will be like walking up to a road cut where you see a cross section of the rock layers. Scientists associated with the project are excited about the learning opportunity that this will provide. The main thing right now is to get Opportunity there.

After landing inside the Gale Crater on Mars last year Curiosity has been constantly on the move and in the news. The rover has been working for six months in an area the size of a small football field but is now moving away to the base of Mount Sharp. Three additional targets have been chosen for observation on the way there.

While no more rock drilling or soil scooping is planned for the mobile science laboratory, the rover will continue to explore the area around it as it moves to its next destination 8 kilometers away. This is one science project that has more than met its goals.

If you are asked to describe our planet as it is seen from space we are likely to say that its a large blue colored ball. This observation is drawn from the fact that almost all the photographs that have been taken of the planet Earth in space so far have been from close by celestial bodies like the moon or the International Space Station.

The many different satellites have also given us huge snapshots of the planet that we call home. Now this common picture is going to get a new perspective. One that is many million miles away and will show our planet to be a little dot in the larger scheme of things in the solar system.

The Cassini probe is to take photographs of Earth from its current location near Saturn and this in turn will allow scientists to see what our planet looks like in deep space. The spacecraft Cassini has been exploring Saturn 898 million miles away and now will allow us to see how Earth appears from its location.

The photographs will be taken on July 19, 2013 when the spacecraft moves in to a favorable position. It will show Earth as a tiny blue dot within the huge multi -hued rings of Saturn. Talk about a science project putting you in your place!

The electrical power supply of any city is usually associated with a gigantic power grid. This may no longer be the case if the new battery unveiled in Oregon has any say in the matter.  The 5-megawatt, lithium-ion energy storage system has been developed by Portland General Electric. The battery is a result of a five year research project that began back in 2010.

The energy storage facility is part of PGE’s contribution to the Battelle-led Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project. It is a highly innovative project demonstrating transactive energy management, which is a promising, cost-effective way to integrate variable renewable energy, energy storage and demand response at scale, said Patricia Hoffman, assistant secretary for DOE’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.

Essentially the battery is part of a micro grid which is part of a highly reliable, localized power zone that will supply power to nearly 500 customers in the area. It will also work as a power reserve during electricity disruptions such as blackouts caused by unknown reasons.

PGE is testing several smart-grid technologies in the Salem area and hopes that its innovative new battery will allow future power grids to be smaller in size. The impact of this science project is likely to have a large footprint in the electrical power supply industry.

When you think of a traditional battery cell you think in terms of metals and not in terms of wood. This may soon change as the scientists at the University of Maryland prove to the scientific community that wood is actually an ideal material to build a battery with.

Liangbing Hu, Teng Li and their team of researchers at the University of Maryland experienced during their experiments that wood fibers are supple enough to let their sodium-ion battery last more than 400 charging cycles. This puts it the list of longest lasting nano batteries.

Wood fibers that make up a tree once held mineral-rich water, and so are ideal for storing liquid electrolytes, making them not only the base but an active part of the battery, said Hu. Despite charging and discharging hundreds of times the wood remained intact, although it did get wrinkled up.

Pushing sodium ions through tin anodes often weaken the tin’s connection to its base material,but the wood fibers are soft enough to serve as a mechanical buffer, and thus can accommodate tin’s changes. This is the key to our long-lasting sodium-ion batteries, said Li. This is one science project to watch out for in the future.

No matter what gadget you favor they all have one essential drawback – the batteries eventually will run out and you will need to recharge them. This is the reason why the subject of batteries has been the focus of many scientific research projects. Some of these are fairly interesting as we will find out here.

There is a purse that allows ladies to recharge their cellphones on the go. It has a pocket lined with special material that allows the phone to recharge. In 3-D printing you have a prototype of a small battery that can literally be printed out and used to supply electricity to tiny devices. These lithium-ion micro batteries could spearhead a major revolution in medical care.

Did you ever think wood could be converted in to battery? Apparently it can be done say researchers at the University of Maryland who have coated a thin sliver of wood with tin to produce an economic and eco friendly battery. This one’s still in the testing stage, but it promises to give a major boost to solar power usage.

The researchers are working out a way to recharge this wooden battery using the most abundant natural resource we have, the power of the yellow sun in the sky. Perhaps you can come up with an interesting science project on how to charge your batteries in an innovative manner.

Coming up with ideas to base your science project is half the fun. In case you are stuck for ideas you can get creative with a simple brainstorming exercise. Here is how the process works.

First calm your brain down by emptying all thoughts from it. Sounds easier than it is do in practice. A little deep breathing may help the process. Now sit down with a paper and pencil and come up with all kinds of scientific problems to solve.

It is important not to restrict your thoughts at this stage. Write down any idea that strikes you no matter how improbable it seems to you. Keep writing till your brain can’t think of another idea. Then wait a minute and again push the brain for more ideas.

You should have a comprehensive list of possible ideas to base your science project on by now. Next step is to weed out the ones that are too difficult to do. Bring it down to projects that you can handle on your own. Now leave the list for a day.

The next day look at the list and see which one calls to you the most. That is the possible science project that you should get ready to tackle first. Now flesh it out with more details and add the steps that you will have to take to complete this science project.

There are any number of science fair projects that you can take on, but the ones that win have something special in them. That something special is a part of what you have put in to them. Here’s how you can get a special science project for yourself.

Find the problem

It can be something simple like ‘why do some things spark in the microwave’ or something a bit more complex like ‘how can I use solar power in my room’. It can be local like ‘how can I get my room to smell good all the time’ or something global like ‘how can I help decompose plastic in landfills faster’.

Try to find a solution to the problem

Identify the problem you want to work with and then work on a potential solution. Depending on the problem you have picked come up with about five creative solutions. Now weed out the ones that are difficult or not practical and bring it down to one solution that you can measure and test.

Document the process to get the science fair project

Base your science fair project on this solution. Go through the different phases in the setting up and testing of the solution. Make sure you record all the things you do to ensure clear documentation of the project. Present this material along with your solution at the science fair to get a shot at the medal.

Automobile engineering in the back yard is what this science project is about. This is a summer project that you can actually use for fun. It involves making a car, or if you want to get more creative a bus, out of a cardboard box.

Here’s what you will need. A big cardboard box, plenty of colored duct tape, wheels in the form of plastic plates and  brass brads to fasten them to the box. For you information the boxes are going to be used more as seats and the wheels are merely for a decorative effect.

Make the cardboard boxes sturdier by taping them over with duct tape. If you use colored duct tape you can even add a layer of design to the cardboard car. Now spray paint the plastic plates to what ever color you think the wheels should be, ideally black is good, but you can go with whatever you like.

Once they have dried up attach the plastic plates to the sides of the cardboard box using brass brads. these will need to be placed with some caution so that you don’t hurt yourself getting in and out of the car. Next add a cushion inside the box for you to rest your bottom. Your cardboard box car is ready. Take on a more difficult science project by building a pirate’s boat out of the cardboard box if you like.