Google Science Fair: Singapore makes an impact, Malaysia in there too

By Digital News Asia August 16, 2016

Singapore trio of young ladies looking at giving ‘power’ to car paint
Malaysian youth develops breathalyser to track progression of lung cancer

Google Science Fair: Singapore makes an impact, Malaysia in there too

GOOGLE Inc has announced the 16 global finalists for Google Science Fair 2016, which included a Malaysian and a team of three young Singaporean women.

The Singaporean trio of Marion Pang Wan Rong, Joy Ang Jing Zhi and Sonia Arumuganainar (pic above, l-r) are in for their ‘Paint on Power: Enhanced Durability and Processibility’ project, which seeks to overcome the flaws of conventional ultracapacitors – devices that can deliver quick surges of power.

Current ultracapacitors are flexible sandwich-like devices that use graphene or graphene oxide sheets to conform to the curvature of a surface, but this results in a loss in performance.

The three 18-year-olds – all in their final year at NUS High School in Singapore – have designed a novel ‘paint-on’ scheme of fabricating graphene ultracapacitors that can be applied directly to surfaces of varying substrates and curvatures.

Their hope is to further develop their prototype, believing it can be commercialised as car paint that could make hybrid electric vehicles more economically viable. Read more about their project here.

Google Science Fair: Singapore makes an impact, Malaysia in there too Meanwhile, 18-year-old Malaysian Zheng Xin Yong (pic) was inspired to develop a breathalyser test that can track the progression of lung cancer, after learning that his non-smoking mathematics teacher had suddenly developed the disease.

The A-level student is currently studying at Methodist College Kuala Lumpur, but first started his research while he was a high school student in Chung Hua High School in Seremban. Read more about his project here.

The 16 global finalists for Google Science Fair 2016 are in the running to become the Grand Prize Winner, which will be announced at the sixth annual Awards Celebration in Mountain View, California on Sept 27.

To follow the final stages of this year’s competition, visit the Google Science Fair site, or follow on Google+ and Twitter.