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.

Getting ready to reach Mars involves getting ready to tackle the huge amounts of radiation waiting for us there. What Radiation Assessment Detectors or RADs do is simple. They help to measure the level of radiation present in the environment. This allows the scientists and researchers to develop protection for human beings from these levels of radiation.

Cary Zeitlin is a researcher in San Antonio’s Southwest Research Institute and says that understanding the radiation environment inside a spacecraft carrying humans to Mars or other deep space destinations is critical for planning future crewed missions. This is what the Mars Science laboratory’s RADs are constantly monitoring for NASA.

NASA hopes that they will be able to land man on either an asteroid or Mars within our lifetime. This will involve working on puzzles that get thrown up by the challenges in outer space so that astronauts can safely move in space, explore a close by celestial body and then return to planet Earth.

A lot of help in this research has come from studying the conditions faced by the scientific community currently occupying the International Space Station. This data on the human being’s body to adapt to its environment in space living conditions is an essential part on science projects that try to solve the challenges that will be faced by future astronauts.

The peripatetic adventures of Curiosity as it makes its meandering way over the martian landscape has given rise to much speculation about putting men on Mars. After all its been a long time since men went to the moon and while we have a number of people out in space on a regular basis on the International Space Station, its not the same thing as having a man on another celestial body.

We already have proved our ability to reach the red planet by landing the space rovers on it, so why shouldn’t we use the same to put men there? The reason lies in the fact that man is far more delicate when it comes to survival conditions compared to a computer led machine. The conditions to be faced are extremely harsh. The cosmic radiation in the so called atmosphere of Mars would be like exposure to 50 simultaneous CT scans.

This high level of radiation is likely to cause brain damage and increase the risk of developing cancer for any human being exposed to it. While going to Mars is the next big thing waiting to happen in space travel, currently scientists are working on science projects designing ways and means to protect men from radiation once they land on the red planet. It will take some time before man is ready to reach Mars.