Cultivating talents needs to take root downwards. The 25th Macronix Science Award was announced today (7th) to encourage high school students to explore innovation and invention. There are two gold medal winners this year. Xu Yichen, who is not afraid of cockroaches, studied the behavior of headless cockroaches that still have phantom limbs. Xu Chengcheng and Tu Chenghao, who were inspired by fish feed, studied the deformation of the water surface caused by the phototactic movement of "brine shrimp". The two teams stood out from more than 800 teams from 168 schools and each received a bonus of NT$400,000.
Xu Yichen, a female high school student at Sun Yat-Sen University in Taipei City, said she is not afraid of cockroaches and thinks they are "very cute." In order to study the observation and learning after killing cockroaches, she raised about a hundred American cockroaches at home. Through image analysis, she sorted out their behavioral changes and found that after the cockroaches lost their heads, they would still "hunch their backs" and reach out to try to grasp the tentacles to clean the "phantom limb" behavior. This provides new detailed observation data for the storage and execution of actions by the nervous system. In the future, I hope to develop into more basic research fields.
Two people from Chiayi High School, Xu Guicheng and Tu Chenghao, formed a team. Tu Chenghao said that it was originally because the feed for raising guppy larvae contained "brine shrimp". One day, when brine shrimp were poured into the fish tank, they would slowly gather under the light, so they started from the phototaxis movement exhibition. During the research, it was found that the movement of brine shrimp also caused the meniscus (Meniscus) deformation of the water surface. The brighter the light source and the more brine shrimp, the smaller the downward pressure on the water surface. In the future, it is hoped to be used in the field of aquaculture environmental detection.
Li Mengzhe of the High School Affiliated to the National Normal University was taking the MRT to and from school when he felt a gust of wind on the platform. Research found that it was caused by the piston effect of the tunnel while the train was running. From this, he wanted to use this wind as a renewable energy source. He and his teacher Li Bohan (part-time assistant professor at Beijing University of Science and Technology) wrote a plan together and applied to the Taipei MRT Bureau. They measured the flow field, wind speed, etc., and launched an upright fan. It is estimated that one station can charge 300 mobile power banks in a day. The research was recognized by the Macronix Science Award for Excellence.
Three students from Hualien High School, Li Kangxian, Li Yuehuan, and Shi Zhengqian, straddled physics and biology and devoted themselves to the field of atmospheric water collection. They found the raised particles on the back of the insect "fog bug", combined with the groove design of ferns, and used 3D printing to create a composite bionic water collection plate that can capture water droplets in the fog. The experimental water collection effect is better than the current commercial fog collection net, which is beneficial to future applications. Three people won the Macronix Science Award Silver Medal.
Wu Minqiu, chairman of the Macronix Education Foundation, said that he hopes to cultivate real talents who can find conclusions about everything around them and publish them, rather than training people to press buttons in factories. Deputy Minister of Education Liu Guowei said that this year's participating teams include schools for the children of Taiwanese businessmen, and they will continue to encourage those who love Taiwan to come back. Wu Chengwen, chairman of the National Science Council, congratulated this year's award winners through a video and hoped that students would not only learn from textbooks, but also practice and use their creativity.
