Each science fair project has different rules about certain details that you can add to the display board. So before you make the display board you should get an idea about what all you are allowed to add to it and what all you are prohibited from adding.

For instance some science fairs want you to add your name and picture to the board, while others may not want the project to be labeled by your name in case the judges get influenced. Check the rules before you decide to add your name to the display board.

If you are using pictures please see how you must accredit them. The captions will need to include the source of the picture as well. If you are planning to use pages from your lab notebook you will have to mention that clearly. Also have the original at hand for the judging.

Read through the rules to see what you can add to the board before you begin constructing it so that you don’t have to re- do the display board at a later stage. By sticking to the rules of the science fair you increase your chances of winning a prize.

In the last blog post we spoke of the different sections that you can divide your science fair display board into. Now we discuss the other elements that can make the display board more attractive and easy to read.

The first thing to consider is the font that you use. A fancy looking font which is difficult to read does not solve the objective. Use a regular font at a slightly large size. Usually Ariel or Verdana in size 16 work well. Play around with the font size for the section headings and the picture captions. These will be different sizes from the rest of the text.

Spend some time coming up with an eye catching title for your project. This should be printed in a nice large font that is visible from across the room. Remember just words can get boring, so add some pictures to the display board. The best pictures would be ones that you take as you conduct the science experiment.

That way the people can see just how you took each step in the science project that you made for the fair. If you did not take your own photos get some off the internet that are relevant. Even those will jazz up the display board.

Your science fair project can be very effectively showcased by the presentation of your display board. A good display board is neatly partitioned into different sections related to the project. Take a look at what these sections are and how you should display them.

Using a three sided display board works best. Divide each of the three sides into two sections. On the left side you can give your hypothesis and purpose for the experiment on the top section. At the left bottom section you can give details of the research methodology that you used for the project.

On the central section of the three sided board give details of the materials and procedures that you used. You can add visuals with charts and bar graphs per procedure that you carried out. The color will add to the beauty of the display board and make it more attractive.

The third side of the board can be used to display the results that the procedure you carried out gave. Give detailed information in form of easy to interpret charts. The last section on this side will be the conclusion of the science project.

Maintaining a science laboratory of any proportions is quite a challenge in logistics. Now add to that the inaccessible location of the laboratory in outer space and you have quite a tough project on your hands. So it was with some relief that the successful launch of the Russian Soyuz rocket on Wednesday was greeted.

This launch brings the crew of the International Space Station back to full manpower. A cargo launch accident in the month of August this year had made it impossible for flights to land. Now after the repairs have been completed the refreshed crew of three has rejoined old colleagues on the science laboratory floating in space around the planet.

Being an astronaut may sound like an exciting career option, but in truth it is no where near as glamorous as it sounds. You have to be in peak physical condition, you have to study specialized science subjects and you have to have enough of a risk taker’s profile to handle the months of self imposed exile from the earth.

The hard work that you put in will be far more than you have ever imagined when working on a space related science fair project. Of course if you are successful, the rewards will also be far better than you could have ever imagined! So if this is your dream, make sure you work hard to achieve it.

One of the most popular ways to study the history of the universe is astronomy. This science of the stars allows us to actually see what distant galaxies look like, both today and in the past. The more powerful your telescope the more likely you are to discover new astronomical phenomena.

The best know telescope would have to be the Hubble space telescope, but NASA’s Spitzer is also known to have discovered quite a few unknown bodies in space. By looking at the light from the most distant stars and galaxies it is possible for astronomers to predict just what the universe looked like at the dawn of time.

Each galaxy is constantly changing and evolving. Some new stars are being created while some old ones are dying down. Then there is the added aspect of wondering which stars could have life evolving on a planet around it, just like our life at Earth. Of course the astronomers are not just looking for aliens when they study the stars, although some alien activity properly documented would really be exciting.

Mostly, though it is a science of observation and recording. There are some flashes in the pan such as passing comets that crash through the sun and still don’t disintegrate, but on the whole its just a case of writing down more observations in a science project related to astrology.

Have you ever wondered just why we are so fascinated with space to develop so many science projects related to it? From the first lunar landing on July 20, 1969 millions of people on earth have been fascinated with exploring space further than the moon.

While there may be nothing new in this idea, it is interesting to see why this idea has survived for so long in the human mind. Since the time ancient man looked up in the night sky and grew enchanted with the stars there has been a latent human wish to explore the vast regions of outer space.

It is human nature to want to explain things that are unfamiliar. It is this quest to discover more that has made man climb mountains, cross deserts and plunge into the depths of the ocean. He has explored the limits of air, land and water.  Now, after generations of exploration and when most of the secrets of earth have been discovered, man has decided to extend his exploratory field to the final frontier.

This is why the space explorers have caught the imagination of the entire human race. That is the reason governments are funding science projects like the International Space Station. And that is the reason why even Google had a competition for a private vessel to land on the moon.

Think of the word “Vampire” and you will probably think of a fanged mythological monster who survives on human blood and not of a scientific phenomena. Yet a vampire star is just like the mythological vampire, and can make the beginning of an interesting science project.

Of course it does not survive on blood, but it does prey on the companion star’s mass and becomes more luminous while the companion star withers away. Astromers at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory have used 4 telescopes to study such a vampire star and its companion.

Using the images that they gained they are now in a position to calculate the mass of the larger vampire star. This unusual pair of stars exist in the constellation of Lepus. Also known as the Hare constellation. The two stars have the approximate distance between the Earth and the Sun and tend to circle around each other in 260 days.

The hotter star is the Vampire Star and the cooler one is fast loosing its mass to it. In fact in this rather unique double star system the hotter star has already consumed half the mass of the cooler companion star. The Astronomers are now hoping to see soon just how this science project concludes.

One of the most popular ways to spend time is to play video games. At the Indiana University School of Medicine a science project which studied the effect of playing violent video games for a prolonged period of time, found that the very brain patterns of the person involved changed.

The study established that cognitive function and emotional control were directly affected for the video game players. This means that all the people who have been saying that violent media affects individuals to exihibit violent behavior may have been telling the truth.

The correlation between violent media exposure and violent behavior tendencies has been a controversial debate for some time now. So playing a video game with violent tendencies for more than ten hours a day is really likely to affect the way you act is the finding of this study.

 Guess the kind of games you play really do have a major influence on the way you behave. So the next time you are looking for gaming software you may want to factor in the way it is likely to change your behavior before you make the purchase.

Of course you could always counter that by developing a science project of your own which has games that help you improve you memory or softskills without endangering your behavioral patterns.

The researchers involved with science projects based on the environment say that the Earth is being swallowed up by the pollution caused by green house gases. There are more things going wrong with the environment today due to human meddling than ever before. Environmentalists have serious concerns about the feasibility of the planet to support its growing human population.

What then is the solution to managing the pollution that we as a race have brought forth? Do we give up our smoke making industries and polluting lifestyles? How about the different means of transportation that use fossil fuels? Should we all cycle everywhere? Obviously that is not the solution.

The real solution would be to find a situation where the human race can live in harmony with the natural environment. A task that we have failed miserably given our bleak history. It may be already too late to reverse the damage that we have done to the environment, but at least we can be more careful with the resources that we have in the future.

Part of that process is developing new technologies so that the older ones which harm the environment can be put to rest. In this case any new idea which is environment friendly deserves a chance to be explored in a science project. So put on your thinking hats and come up with such possibilities.

Today there are many science projects that are dedicated to environmental concerns. The deteriorating form of the environment has many people crying that the planet will soon be lost to pollution. The industries are mainly blamed for this but they are not the only ones.The family car is also a culprit when it comes to increasing global warming thanks to the green house gases that it emits.

So scientists have come up with a new type of car which does not use the pollution causing fossil fuels. These new hybrid cars have the option of using fossil fuels but primarily run on renewable energy sources such as solar energy. The solar cells on the car harvest the energy of the sun. This is then converted into energy that is available for the car to run on.

Solar energy is not the only renewable source of energy that scientists are playing around with. They also have tried to harvest wind energy through turbines to run engines. The trouble lies in harvesting the energy constantly and storing it to be used as and when required. The automobile by Google seems to have had some success in this.

However it is by no means the last word in the business. Perhaps a new technology will come along and improve on what they have done. Perhaps it may be a result of your own science project. So what not work on these environmental concerns and do your bit to save the world.