After a trip to India, Dickinson High School student Vishwamber Talla wondered why the fruits and vegetables were so different there than the ones here in the United States.
After some research, Vishwamber,16, found many of the foods grown in the U.S. are genetically modified, he said. It was out of his initial questions that his project in the Jersey Journal's 55th annual Hudson County Science Fair was born.
He and the 219 other students at the Liberty Science Center today for the fair used the passions and curiosity from their everyday lives as a starting point for their projects.
Vishwamber studied the differences in mice who were fed genetically modified food compared to mice that were fed organic food. He studied 12 mice for a month and found that the mice fed with partially genetically modified ingredients performed worse physically than the mice who were fed organic or regular commercial food.
In the high school division, the 17 gold medal winners will come back for a second round of judging Wednesday. From that round, two students will be selected to represent Hudson County at the prestigious Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in May.
Overall there are 220 students competing in The Jersey Journal's Hudson County Science Fair, with gold, silver and bronze medals up for grabs.
Kennix Lee, a senior from McNair Academic High School, wanted to find a cost effective way to remove soil contamination.
She found that redworms, which have a specific digestive enzyme, can remove the contaminants from the soil and not release them once they perish.
"Using the earthworms is cost effective and they're easy to breed," Kennix said.
She hopes that if a system like this is put in place in industrialized countries, they will eventually be able to thrive.
"Being in a place with others so passionate about science and technology and being able to see everyone's hard work" has been her favorite part of the fair, Kennix said.
She also said the fair has made her want to continue to pursue the sciences in college.
The Jersey Journal’s Hudson County Science Fair is sponsored by Fidelity Investments, Jersey City Medical Center, Bayonne Medical Center, Christ Hospital, Hoboken University Medical Center, Comcast, St. Peter’s University, New Jersey City University, PSE&G and host Liberty Science Center.
Students in Grades 5 to 8 vie for medals within their grade levels. The top 10 percent of this group will be eligible for continuing national competition through the Broadcom MASTERS program.