The hardest part of a science project isn’t the science. It’s finding a question worth months of your life.
This is the tool I wish I’d had at 16. Answer a few questions and get project ideas built around what you actually care about and what you can actually get your hands on — grounded in what has genuinely won before.
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The Lab
Let the quiz build something around you, or bring an idea you already have. Either way you can collect what you like into a set and turn it into one plan. If you’d rather just browse, the idea bank and the library of past winners are further down.
Seven questions, then project ideas built around your answers.
Before we start
It changes what I suggest — and what permission we need before sending you anything.
You can do the whole quiz without giving any personal details — we only ask for an email at the end if you want your summary sent to you.
Idea Bank
Every idea here is a real experiment — a question with something you can measure and something to compare it against. No baking-soda volcanoes, no demonstrations dressed up as research. Across 11 fields, filtered by how much equipment you can actually get hold of.
These are starting points written for this site, not projects anyone has submitted. Take one and make it yours — the best version will be the one you change.
216 ideas · page 1 of 9
How does water turbidity in a local stream change in the hours and days following heavy rainfall?
Measure: Turbidity measured against a printed Secchi/turbidity scale, sampled daily at a fixed point, versus a dry-weather baseline.
Does soil salinity decrease with distance from a winter-gritted road, and at what distance does it return to background?
Measure: Electrical conductivity of soil samples taken at set distances from the kerb, against a control site far from any road.
Does the diversity or coverage of moss species on walls correlate with proximity to heavy traffic?
Measure: Percentage moss coverage in fixed quadrats at varying distances from a main road, versus a rural control.
Does microplastic concentration in river sediment increase downstream of a town or wastewater outfall?
Measure: Particle counts per kilogram of dried sediment after density separation, compared upstream and downstream.
How does surface and air temperature vary between paved, grassed and tree-shaded sites within one town?
Measure: Air and surface temperature at matched times of day across site types, repeated over several weeks.
How does night-sky brightness change with distance from the town centre?
Measure: Sky brightness via a phone light meter or star-count method at fixed distances, controlling for moon phase.
Does carbon-to-nitrogen ratio or turning frequency have a bigger effect on compost decomposition rate?
Measure: Mass loss and internal temperature of replicate compost jars over eight weeks, against an unturned control.
Does irrigation with diluted greywater affect the growth of a fast-growing plant compared with tap water?
Measure: Height, leaf count and dry mass of replicate seedlings across dilutions, versus a tap-water control.
Does the density of dark rubber particulate in puddle water increase with road traffic volume?
Measure: Filtered particle counts under a microscope per litre, correlated with measured traffic counts.
How does UV exposure time affect the tensile strength and fragmentation of common plastic films?
Measure: Force to tear standardised strips after set outdoor exposure times, against strips kept in the dark.
How does habitat type affect the rate of leaf-litter mass loss over a season?
Measure: Mass loss from identical mesh litter bags buried in each habitat, recovered at intervals.
Does rainwater pH vary systematically between sampling sites at different distances from an industrial area?
Measure: pH of rainwater collected in identical clean funnels across sites, over many rain events.
What is the rate of spread of a named invasive species along a river bank or verge over one season?
Measure: Mapped extent using fixed GPS points and quadrat coverage at monthly intervals.
What proportion of material placed in recycling bins is contaminated or non-recyclable, and does signage change it?
Measure: Sorted mass by category before and after introducing clearer signage, across multiple bins and weeks.
How does vegetation cover type affect soil loss under simulated rainfall on a slope?
Measure: Mass of sediment collected from runoff trays with different covers, at constant slope and water volume.
How does CO2 concentration in an occupied room change with ventilation strategy?
Measure: CO2 ppm logged over lessons under different window/door configurations, controlling for occupancy.
Does the invertebrate biotic index of a stream change above and below a known pollution source?
Measure: Kick-sample invertebrate identification scored on a standard biotic index, replicated at each site.
How does partial shading affect the growth of a crop plant compared with full sun?
Measure: Biomass and leaf area of replicate plants under set shade fractions, versus unshaded controls.
How does water acidified with dissolved CO2 affect the mass of calcium carbonate shells over time?
Measure: Dry mass loss of cleaned shells held in water at controlled pH values over several weeks.
How does measured noise level vary across a town by time of day and land use?
Measure: Decibel readings on a calibrated phone app at fixed points and times, mapped and compared.
How does fabric type affect the number of microfibres released in a single wash cycle?
Measure: Filtered fibre counts from wash water per garment mass, comparing polyester, cotton and blends.
How much lower is surface temperature under street-tree canopy than on adjacent open pavement?
Measure: Infrared surface temperatures paired at matched times, across many tree/no-tree pairs.
How does washing duration versus soap type affect the number of bacterial colonies cultured from hands?
Measure: Colony counts on nutrient agar from standardised hand contact plates across conditions, with a no-wash control.
Do extracts of common culinary spices inhibit the growth of a harmless lab bacterium, and which is strongest?
Measure: Zone-of-inhibition diameter on seeded agar plates for each extract, against a solvent-only control.
How does sugar type affect the rate of CO2 production by yeast at constant temperature?
Measure: Gas volume displaced per minute across sugar types, with equal molar concentrations and a no-sugar control.
How does earthworm density affect water infiltration rate and organic matter breakdown in soil columns?
Measure: Time for a fixed water volume to drain through replicate columns, plus mass loss of buried litter.
Do different honey types differ in their inhibition of bacterial growth, and does heating destroy the effect?
Measure: Zone of inhibition per honey type, raw versus heated, against a sugar-syrup control matched for sweetness.
How does surface material affect the amount of biofilm that forms under identical wet conditions?
Measure: Crystal-violet staining absorbance per unit area across materials, replicated.
Do woodlice show a measurable preference for humidity, darkness or substrate when given a choice?
Measure: Proportion of individuals on each side of a choice chamber over fixed intervals, with side swaps to control bias.
How does the number and diversity of seedlings germinating from soil samples vary by land use?
Measure: Seedling counts and morphospecies richness from equal soil volumes grown under identical conditions.
Does flower colour or species have a larger effect on pollinator visitation rate?
Measure: Visits per flower per ten-minute observation window, replicated across times of day and weather.
How do storage temperature, humidity and preservatives compare in delaying visible mould growth?
Measure: Days to first visible colony and percentage coverage over time across replicate slices.
Does lichen community composition on trees vary with distance from a pollution source?
Measure: Lichen type frequency in fixed quadrats on comparable tree species along a transect.
How does buffer composition or incubation temperature affect DNA yield from fruit?
Measure: Visible precipitate mass or absorbance ratio across protocols, replicated on identical fruit.
How does flour type affect the rise rate and acidity of identical sourdough starters?
Measure: Height gain per hour and pH over a feeding cycle, across flour types with matched hydration.
Do soil isolates from different local habitats differ in their ability to inhibit a harmless test bacterium?
Measure: Inhibition zones produced by soil isolates cross-streaked against a BSL-1 test organism.
Does mechanical damage to one plant affect a measurable defence response in a neighbouring plant?
Measure: Leaf toughness or trichome density in neighbours of damaged versus undamaged plants, blind-scored.
How does desiccation duration affect tardigrade revival rate from moss samples?
Measure: Proportion revived after set dry periods, from moss collected at one site.
Does perceived threat measurably reduce inter-individual distance in a shoal?
Measure: Mean nearest-neighbour distance from overhead video frames, before and after a non-harmful visual stimulus.
Do extracts of common aromatic plants reduce insect landing rate compared with a control?
Measure: Landing counts on treated versus untreated surfaces in a fixed observation period, using non-biting insects.
How does bacterial colony count vary by surface type and traffic level across a building?
Measure: Colony counts from standardised swab areas cultured identically, mapped by location and footfall.
How does the size and position of a cut fragment affect regeneration time in planaria?
Measure: Days to visible eyespot regeneration across fragment types, replicated.
How does the spectral colour of supplemental light affect seedling biomass at constant total intensity?
Measure: Dry mass and leaf area of replicate seedlings under filtered light colours, intensity-matched.
Does continuous exposure to sound at a fixed volume affect plant growth compared with silence?
Measure: Height and dry mass of replicate plants in acoustically separated but otherwise identical conditions.
How does growing medium affect water use per gram of biomass produced?
Measure: Water consumed and final dry mass per plant across media, giving grams biomass per litre.
Does inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi affect growth in nutrient-poor soil more than in rich soil?
Measure: Dry mass across a two-factor design of inoculation and soil fertility, replicated.
How does mulch material affect soil moisture retention over time after a single watering?
Measure: Soil moisture readings at fixed depth over days, across mulch types with a bare-soil control.
How does soil salinity affect germination rate across several crop species?
Measure: Percentage germination and seedling length at graded salt concentrations, per species.
Does interplanting an aromatic species reduce herbivory on a target crop?
Measure: Percentage leaf area lost to herbivory in mixed versus monoculture plots, scored blind.
How does pre-soaking duration affect germination speed and uniformity?
Measure: Days to 50% germination across soak treatments, replicated with many seeds per group.
How does coffee-ground amendment rate affect seedling growth and soil pH?
Measure: Biomass and soil pH across amendment rates, versus unamended control.
How do planting density and light intensity interact to affect yield per unit area?
Measure: Total biomass per tray area across a density-by-light factorial design.
Which low-cost covering best maintains temperature around plants overnight in cold conditions?
Measure: Minimum overnight temperature under each covering and subsequent frost damage score.
Do leachates from a suspected allelopathic species inhibit germination of a test species?
Measure: Germination percentage and radicle length in leachate versus water control, dose-graded.
Does elevated CO2 in a sealed chamber measurably increase plant biomass?
Measure: Dry mass in CO2-enriched versus ambient sealed chambers, light and water matched.
How does harvest day affect biomass and vitamin C content across microgreen species?
Measure: Dry mass and titratable vitamin C per tray at staggered harvest days.
How does rootstock affect sugar content in fruit of a grafted plant?
Measure: Refractometer Brix readings across grafted combinations, matched for age and watering.
How does biochar addition affect nutrient leaching from soil columns?
Measure: Nitrate concentration in leachate after fixed watering, across biochar rates.
How does soil lead or zinc concentration vary across urban growing sites?
Measure: Colorimetric or test-kit metal concentration across sites, versus a rural control.
Does excluding pollinators with mesh reduce fruit set in a garden crop?
Measure: Fruit set percentage in netted versus open flowers on the same plants.
How does constant incubation temperature affect germination rate and final percentage?
Measure: Germination curves across temperature treatments with many replicate seeds.
Does irrigation with treated greywater affect crop growth and soil microbial load?
Measure: Biomass plus colony counts from soil, versus tap-water irrigation control.
How do plasticiser ratio and drying temperature affect the tensile strength of starch-based bioplastic?
Measure: Force at break for standardised strips across a two-factor design, replicated.
How do coating type and salt concentration interact to affect the rate of steel corrosion?
Measure: Mass loss and rust area of identical nails over weeks across coatings and salinities.
How do storage temperature and light exposure affect vitamin C loss in fruit juice over time?
Measure: Iodine titration of ascorbic acid at intervals across storage conditions.
How does the useful pH range of anthocyanin extracts differ between plant sources?
Measure: Colour transition points against buffered standards, compared with a commercial indicator.
How does water hardness vary across supply areas in your region?
Measure: EDTA titration or test-strip hardness across many sampled taps, mapped.
How do low-cost catalyst alternatives compare in decomposing hydrogen peroxide?
Measure: Oxygen volume evolved per minute per gram of catalyst, replicated.
How does adsorbent material affect the removal of a dye from solution at fixed contact time?
Measure: Absorbance drop via colorimeter across adsorbents, normalised per gram.
How does ground eggshell particle size affect its acid-neutralising capacity?
Measure: Volume of acid neutralised to a fixed pH per gram, across particle sizes.
How does cross-linking density affect the water absorption capacity of a synthesised hydrogel?
Measure: Grams water absorbed per gram dry polymer across formulations.
How do electrode metal pairing and electrolyte affect the voltage and current of a simple cell?
Measure: Open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current across combinations, replicated.
How does sunscreen SPF rating correspond to measured UV transmission through a thin film?
Measure: UV-sensitive bead colour change or UV meter reading under standardised film thickness.
How does acid type and curing time affect the hardness of casein-based plastic?
Measure: Indentation or scratch resistance across formulations, replicated.
How do solar still design parameters affect freshwater yield per unit of incident energy?
Measure: Millilitres condensed per hour per square metre across still designs.
How effectively do aquatic plants remove dissolved metals from water over time?
Measure: Metal concentration drop by test kit or colorimetry, with plant-free controls.
How does replacing a fraction of cement with a waste powder affect compressive strength?
Measure: Force at failure for standardised cured cubes across replacement fractions.
Can chromatography separate and identify the dyes present in commercial confectionery?
Measure: Rf values compared against known dye standards, replicated.
How does temperature affect the activity of a common enzyme, and where is the denaturation threshold?
Measure: Reaction rate across a fine temperature gradient, with rate curves fitted.
How does solute identity and concentration affect freezing point depression?
Measure: Freezing temperature measured across solutes at matched molality.
Does incorporating a healing agent measurably restore strength after damage?
Measure: Tensile strength before damage, after damage, and after healing time, across formulations.
How does packaging atmosphere affect the rate of oxidation in a fat-containing food?
Measure: Peroxide indicator or sensory rancidity score over time across packaging types.
How does formulation affect the switching temperature of a thermochromic mixture?
Measure: Transition temperature measured on heating and cooling across formulations.
Can density separation plus melting point reliably distinguish common polymer types?
Measure: Classification accuracy against known plastic samples, reported as a confusion matrix.
How does truss geometry affect load-to-mass ratio in identical-material model bridges?
Measure: Failure load divided by structure mass across geometries, replicated.
How do blade number and pitch angle interact to affect power output at fixed wind speed?
Measure: Electrical power output across a factorial design in a controlled airflow.
How does insulating material affect the rate of heat loss from an identical vessel?
Measure: Temperature decay curves fitted to find cooling constant, normalised by material cost.
How does panel tilt angle affect daily energy yield across the year at your latitude?
Measure: Accumulated energy per day across tilt angles, repeated over months.
How does parachute canopy geometry affect descent rate at constant mass and area?
Measure: Terminal descent time over fixed height across canopy shapes, replicated.
How does panel material and thickness affect sound attenuation across frequencies?
Measure: Decibel reduction per frequency band measured through panels in a fixed rig.
How does a magnetic bearing affect the deceleration rate of a spinning rotor?
Measure: Time to stop from fixed initial speed, magnetic versus mechanical bearing.
How do fill fraction and launch pressure interact to determine water-rocket apogee?
Measure: Peak altitude by triangulation across a factorial design, replicated.
How does input power affect the temperature differential and efficiency of a Peltier module?
Measure: Temperature difference and coefficient of performance across input powers.
How does piezoelectric element arrangement affect energy harvested per footstep?
Measure: Charge accumulated in a capacitor per standardised impact across arrangements.
How accurately can a phone plus diffraction grating identify emission lines against known sources?
Measure: Measured wavelengths versus known reference lines, reporting error.
How does a tuned mass damper affect the oscillation amplitude of a model structure?
Measure: Peak amplitude and decay time on a shake table across damper masses.
How does body shape affect drag force at constant frontal area and airspeed?
Measure: Force measured on a balance in a simple wind tunnel across shapes.
How does surface colour and finish affect the internal temperature of identical model enclosures?
Measure: Internal temperature over a day across colours, under matched solar exposure.
How does charge/discharge rate affect capacity fade over repeated cycles?
Measure: Measured capacity every N cycles across C-rates, plotted as fade curves.
How does surface treatment affect the coefficient of friction between two materials?
Measure: Angle of slip on an inclined plane across treatments, replicated.
How does turbine design affect power extracted from a fixed flow rate?
Measure: Electrical output at matched flow across turbine geometries.
How does 3D-print layer orientation and infill affect tensile strength?
Measure: Force at break for standardised printed specimens across a factorial design.
Does a radiative-cooling surface reach a lower temperature than ambient under clear night sky?
Measure: Surface versus ambient temperature overnight, across surface treatments and cloud conditions.
How does shielding material and thickness affect measured signal attenuation?
Measure: Signal strength in dBm inside enclosures of different materials.
How does surface soiling affect photovoltaic output, and how quickly does it accumulate?
Measure: Power output before and after cleaning, tracked over weeks with weather logged.
Does a scale model of building density reproduce measured real-world temperature differences?
Measure: Model surface temperatures across densities, correlated with real-site measurements.
How accurately can a small classifier identify bird species from short audio clips recorded locally?
Measure: Classification accuracy and confusion matrix on a held-out set of your own recordings.
Which factors best predict public transport delays using published open timetable and real-time data?
Measure: Model error against held-out days, with feature importance reported.
How well do official monitoring-station readings predict measurements taken elsewhere in the same town?
Measure: Correlation and error between station data and your own sensor logs across sites.
Do linguistic features alone distinguish reliable from unreliable articles in a labelled public dataset?
Measure: Classifier accuracy on held-out articles, with feature ablation.
How does junction configuration affect simulated average vehicle wait time under real traffic counts?
Measure: Mean wait time across simulated configurations, seeded with your own traffic counts.
How does data type affect the compression ratio and speed of different algorithms?
Measure: Compression ratio and time per algorithm across matched file types.
Does a simple collaborative-filtering recommender reduce content diversity over simulated sessions?
Measure: Diversity metric of recommended items over iterations versus a random baseline.
How does training set size affect digit-recognition accuracy, and where does it plateau?
Measure: Accuracy versus training set size curve on a public dataset.
How does real-world password composition compare with theoretical entropy assumptions?
Measure: Entropy distribution computed over a public breach-derived wordlist, no personal data used.
How do pathfinding algorithms compare in runtime and optimality on real map data?
Measure: Runtime and path length versus optimum across algorithms on OpenStreetMap extracts.
How accurately can an image classifier detect early-stage plant disease from leaf photos?
Measure: Accuracy and false-negative rate on held-out images, by disease stage.
How sensitive are SIR-model outcomes to changes in a single behavioural parameter?
Measure: Peak infection and total cases across parameter sweeps, with sensitivity analysis.
How does simulation runtime and memory scale with qubit count for different circuit types?
Measure: Runtime and memory versus qubit count, fitted to a scaling law.
What proportion of local public-sector pages meet basic automated accessibility checks?
Measure: Automated audit scores across a sampled set of pages, categorised by failure type.
How well can time-of-day and weather data predict household electricity consumption?
Measure: Forecast error on held-out weeks versus a naive baseline.
How has vegetation or built-up area changed locally over a decade in public satellite imagery?
Measure: NDVI or classified land-cover change between matched-season images.
How does input size and memory access pattern affect real sorting performance versus theory?
Measure: Measured runtime versus theoretical complexity across input sizes and distributions.
How does federated averaging affect model accuracy compared with centralised training?
Measure: Accuracy gap between federated and centralised training across client counts.
At what image resolution does optical character recognition accuracy collapse?
Measure: Character error rate versus resolution and noise level.
Do published variant databases agree on the pathogenicity of the same mutations?
Measure: Concordance rate between databases across a sampled variant set.
Does text classification accuracy differ systematically across English dialects?
Measure: Accuracy per dialect group on matched-content test sets.
How accurately can accelerometer data classify a small set of hand gestures?
Measure: Per-class accuracy on held-out sessions from a wearable sensor.
How does phone-viewing angle affect measured neck flexion during normal use?
Measure: Neck angle from side-profile photos at intervals, across seated and standing use.
How does evening screen exposure relate to self-reported sleep latency and quality?
Measure: Sleep diary latency and quality scores across nights, with screen time logged.
How does fluid intake affect reaction time across a normal day?
Measure: Reaction-time test scores at set times under differing hydration, self-experiment only.
How does fabric layer count and material affect particle filtration efficiency?
Measure: Particle counts upstream and downstream of the material in a sealed rig.
How does glazing type affect transmitted UV index across conditions?
Measure: UV meter or UV-bead readings inside versus outside across glazing types.
How do cooling methods compare in reducing temperature of a heated tissue analogue?
Measure: Temperature decay curves in a standardised gelatin analogue across methods.
How does simulated inhalation technique affect aerosol deposition in a model airway?
Measure: Mass deposited in a model airway across techniques, using a placebo aerosol.
How does device placement and gait speed affect step-count accuracy versus manual counting?
Measure: Percentage error versus manually counted steps across placements and speeds.
Does a short intervention improve public understanding of antibiotic resistance?
Measure: Pre/post survey scores with a control group, anonymised and consented.
Do blue-blocking lenses measurably reduce transmitted blue wavelengths, and does that match marketing claims?
Measure: Spectral transmission via phone spectrometer across products versus claims.
How does dressing material affect moisture retention in a wound analogue over time?
Measure: Mass loss from a standardised moist analogue across dressings.
How does measured sodium content in prepared foods compare with label claims?
Measure: Titration or conductivity-derived sodium versus stated label values.
How does caffeine intake affect resting heart rate over the following hours?
Measure: Resting heart rate at intervals on caffeine versus non-caffeine days, self-experiment only.
How does handle geometry affect measured wrist angle and reported comfort during walking?
Measure: Wrist angle from video plus comfort ratings across designs, consented volunteers.
How does communication medium affect the accuracy of symptom description in a simulated scenario?
Measure: Accuracy of transcribed symptom sets across media in a role-play protocol.
What sound levels do people actually choose, and how do they compare to safe-exposure limits?
Measure: Measured output level at users' chosen volume via a coupler, versus published limits.
Does measured CO2 concentration relate to performance on a short attention task?
Measure: Task scores against logged CO2, with ventilation manipulated between sessions.
How do low-cost pulse oximeter readings compare across devices on the same person?
Measure: Agreement between devices via Bland-Altman analysis, self and consented volunteers.
How does toothpaste formulation affect acid-induced mass loss in an enamel analogue?
Measure: Mass loss of eggshell or extracted-tooth analogue after acid exposure across pastes.
What proportion of key local routes are navigable by wheelchair, and where do they fail?
Measure: Audited route segments scored against measurable criteria such as kerb height and gradient.
How do storage temperature and packaging affect bread staling rate?
Measure: Crumb firmness by penetration test over days across a factorial design.
How do dip treatments compare in delaying enzymatic browning at constant conditions?
Measure: Colour change scored from timed photographs against a standard chart.
How does emulsifier type and concentration affect emulsion stability over time?
Measure: Time to visible phase separation and separated volume across formulations.
How do binder type and hydration affect the rise and crumb structure of gluten-free dough?
Measure: Rise height and crumb pore area from cross-section images across formulations.
How does cooking method affect ascorbic acid retention in vegetables?
Measure: Iodine titration of ascorbic acid across methods at matched doneness.
How does brine concentration affect fermentation rate and microbial safety markers in vegetables?
Measure: pH decline curves and visual spoilage rate across brine concentrations.
How does measured spoilage onset compare with printed best-before dates across product types?
Measure: Days to measurable spoilage indicator versus label date, across replicates.
How do plant-based milks compare with dairy in protein content, foaming and curdling behaviour?
Measure: Foam volume and stability, plus curdling pH threshold, across products.
How do packaging method and freezer cycling affect ice crystal formation and moisture loss?
Measure: Mass loss and surface ice coverage over weeks across packaging.
How do grind size and brew time affect extracted solids and estimated caffeine?
Measure: Total dissolved solids by refractometer across brew parameters.
Does a colorimetric proxy correlate with reported Scoville heat across chilli varieties?
Measure: Colorimetric absorbance versus published heat ratings, correlation reported.
How does fermentation temperature affect final acidity and flavour intensity?
Measure: Titratable acidity and pH across temperatures, with blind sensory ranking.
How does measured protein content compare with label claims across products?
Measure: Biuret or Kjeldahl-proxy assay versus label values across brands.
How do container geometry and food arrangement affect temperature uniformity after heating?
Measure: Temperature spread across a grid of points after fixed heating, by arrangement.
How does repeated heating affect oil degradation indicators?
Measure: Viscosity and colour change plus peroxide indicator across heating cycles.
Does a non-destructive measure predict internal ripeness as well as cutting does?
Measure: Non-destructive firmness or acoustic response versus destructive Brix, correlated.
At what reduction level does salt content become detectable in a blind taste test?
Measure: Detection threshold from triangle tests across reduction levels, consented volunteers.
How does packaging mass per calorie vary between shopping strategies?
Measure: Packaging mass per unit food energy across matched shopping baskets.
Does signage wording measurably change recycling bin contamination rates?
Measure: Contamination rate by mass before, during and after each signage condition.
How does background sound type affect performance on a reading-comprehension task?
Measure: Comprehension scores across sound conditions, counterbalanced, consented volunteers.
Does tableware colour affect portion size taken in a naturalistic setting?
Measure: Mass of food served across colour conditions, randomised, with consent.
How does time-on-task affect Stroop-test reaction time and error rate?
Measure: Reaction time and errors across task blocks, within-subject.
Does stated group opinion change individual judgement on an ambiguous task?
Measure: Proportion of judgements shifted toward group answer versus control, fully debriefed.
How does an interruption affect completion time and errors on a sustained task?
Measure: Task time and error rate with and without scheduled interruptions, within-subject.
How do spaced retrieval, rereading and summarising compare for recall after a delay?
Measure: Recall scores at fixed delay across techniques, counterbalanced across material.
How does the number of options affect decision time and satisfaction?
Measure: Decision latency and rated satisfaction across option-set sizes.
Does a told-to-be-performance-enhancing inert drink affect measured endurance?
Measure: Time to exhaustion on a standard task, blinded and consented, with debrief.
How do typeface and spacing affect reading speed and comprehension?
Measure: Words per minute and comprehension across typographic conditions.
Does queue configuration affect perceived and actual waiting time?
Measure: Observed wait times and rated perceived wait across configurations.
How does question wording affect recall accuracy of a witnessed event?
Measure: Accuracy and false-detail rate across question framings, consented and debriefed.
How does self-reported sleep duration relate to next-day mood and reaction time?
Measure: Daily mood scale and reaction time against logged sleep, self-study.
Does exposure to an arbitrary anchor shift numerical estimates?
Measure: Mean estimates across anchor conditions, randomised assignment.
Does communication medium affect willingness to give critical feedback?
Measure: Feedback valence scored blind across media conditions, consented.
Does adding streak tracking affect adherence to a daily habit over four weeks?
Measure: Daily adherence rate across conditions with a matched control group.
At what measured noise level does task performance begin to degrade?
Measure: Performance across controlled decibel levels, within-subject, counterbalanced.
Does changing the pre-selected default affect final choice rates?
Measure: Choice proportions across default conditions in a randomised survey.
How does structural height-to-base ratio affect failure on a shake table?
Measure: Amplitude at failure across model geometries, replicated.
Does a cloud-type observation rule outperform chance at predicting rain within six hours?
Measure: Forecast accuracy versus observed rainfall over many days, against app baseline.
How accurately can shadow-length measurements determine local latitude and solar declination?
Measure: Computed latitude versus known GPS latitude, error reported.
How does observed meteor rate vary with time of night and sky brightness?
Measure: Counts per hour across nights, corrected for limiting magnitude.
How do soil texture and horizon depth vary across land uses in your area?
Measure: Texture by sedimentation and horizon depths from auger samples across sites.
How does river discharge respond to rainfall, and how quickly?
Measure: Cross-section and float-derived velocity to compute discharge, logged against rainfall.
Does indoor radon concentration vary systematically with underlying geology?
Measure: Detector readings across homes grouped by mapped bedrock, with consent.
How does surface albedo affect measured surface temperature across ground cover types?
Measure: Paired albedo and surface temperature readings across cover types.
How accurately can a simple harmonic model predict local tide times versus published tables?
Measure: Predicted versus published high-tide times, error in minutes.
How does gnomon design affect sundial accuracy across the year?
Measure: Deviation from clock time corrected for equation of time, across designs.
How much do local microclimate measurements deviate from the nearest official station?
Measure: Paired temperature, humidity and wind versus station data over weeks.
How does rock type affect mass loss under controlled acidic conditions?
Measure: Mass loss of standardised samples over time by rock type.
How accurately can visual satellite observations reproduce published orbital passes?
Measure: Observed versus predicted pass times and elevations, error reported.
How well does barometric pressure trend predict rainfall within 24 hours?
Measure: Prediction accuracy from pressure trend rules versus observed weather.
How does reflector geometry affect peak temperature achieved by a solar cooker?
Measure: Peak water temperature and time to reach it across geometries, at matched insolation.
How does phase-change material mass affect how long a space stays warm after heating stops?
Measure: Time above a threshold temperature across PCM masses, versus no PCM.
How does substrate type affect power output from a microbial fuel cell?
Measure: Power density over time across substrates, with sterile controls.
How does flywheel mass distribution affect energy stored and retained over time?
Measure: Energy recovered versus input across rotor designs, and decay over time.
How much thermal energy can be recovered from waste warm water with a simple exchanger?
Measure: Temperature rise in the recovery loop and computed energy recovered per litre.
What is the aggregate standby power draw of household devices, and what does it cost annually?
Measure: Measured standby wattage per device, aggregated and annualised.
How do measured lumens per watt compare with packaging claims across bulb types?
Measure: Lux at fixed distance and measured power draw, versus stated values.
How does added thermal mass affect internal temperature variation in a model building?
Measure: Daily temperature range inside identical models with and without thermal mass.
How does feedstock composition affect biogas yield from a small anaerobic digester?
Measure: Gas volume produced per gram of volatile solids across feedstocks.
How much additional daily energy does single-axis tracking deliver over a fixed panel?
Measure: Daily energy yield of tracked versus fixed panels, side by side over weeks.
How do low-cost window treatments compare in reducing heat loss?
Measure: Heat flux or temperature differential across treatments in a controlled box.
How do speed, temperature and terrain affect energy consumption per kilometre?
Measure: Wh per km from logged trip data across conditions, regression modelled.
How do electrode material and electrolyte concentration affect hydrogen production efficiency?
Measure: Gas volume per joule of electrical input across conditions.
How does tethered-wing flight pattern affect tension-derived power extracted from wind?
Measure: Tension and line speed derived power across flight patterns at matched wind speed.
How much usable electrical energy can be recovered from a domestic waste-heat source?
Measure: Energy accumulated per hour across temperature differentials and module counts.
What fraction of household electricity demand could be time-shifted without changing behaviour?
Measure: Proportion of logged load classified as shiftable, modelled against tariff periods.
How does measured urban wind speed distribution compare with the cut-in speed of small turbines?
Measure: Wind speed histogram at roof height versus turbine power curve.
How does ambient temperature affect usable capacity of a rechargeable cell?
Measure: Discharge capacity at controlled temperatures across replicate cells.
The Library
Winning science fair projects from the Google Science Fair, Regeneron ISEF, the Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, Jugend forscht and the 3M Young Scientist Challenge — each one with the reason it won written out plainly. Filter by competition or by how much equipment you can actually get hold of.
Every one of these was done by someone your age. Read them for the insight — the reason it won — rather than the topic. That’s the part you can borrow.
38 projects · page 1 of 4
The transferable insight
The whole project rests on one piece of ordinary chemistry: plastic and oil are both non-polar, so they stick to each other. Finding a simple physical principle nobody had applied to a famous problem beats inventing something complicated.
How they actually did it
Ran hundreds of repeat trials across ten polymer types, measured before/after concentrations with a home-built spectrometer, and reported the extraction rate per polymer rather than one headline number.
The transferable insight
The science of detecting Ebola already existed — the barrier was the cold chain. Attacking the logistics constraint rather than the detection chemistry is what made it deployable in the places that needed it.
How they actually did it
Adapted an existing lateral-flow assay format, substituted silk fibroin as a stabilising matrix, and tested reagent viability over time at varying temperatures.
The transferable insight
They noticed nodules on pea roots in a garden and asked whether the same bacteria would help an unrelated crop. A curiosity about something ordinary, followed all the way through to a food-security result.
How they actually did it
Tens of thousands of seeds across many controlled trials over months — the statistical power from sheer repetition is what made the result credible.
The transferable insight
Chose a narrow, well-defined mechanistic question inside a huge problem. 'Why does this specific drug stop working?' is answerable by a student; 'cure cancer' is not.
How they actually did it
Cell-culture work in a university lab under mentorship, with the student driving the hypothesis and experimental design.
The transferable insight
Needed no lab at all — a public dataset, self-taught programming, and a genuinely clinical question. One of the strongest routes in for students with no institutional access.
How they actually did it
Wrote the network from scratch rather than using a library, then validated against held-out samples and reported sensitivity, not just accuracy.
The transferable insight
Started from a friend in the Philippines failing school for lack of light at night. A specific person's specific problem produces a much sharper project than a general topic.
How they actually did it
Characterised the voltage available from a realistic hand-to-air temperature gradient, then engineered the circuit around that hard constraint rather than the other way round.
The transferable insight
Replaced an expensive synthetic material with agricultural waste. 'Can I make this out of something free that people throw away?' is a reliably strong project question.
How they actually did it
Compared water retention of her polymer against commercial products and an untreated control, under drought conditions relevant to her region.
The transferable insight
A famous demonstration of persistence: he emailed roughly 200 labs asking for bench space and got one yes. Access is often the real bottleneck, and it is beatable by volume of asking.
How they actually did it
Combined an existing biomarker with an existing sensing material in a new format. Worth noting the approach drew later scientific criticism — a useful reminder that a fair win is a beginning, not a verdict.
The transferable insight
Targeted a property people actually complain about — charging time — rather than the headline metric everyone optimises (capacity). Picking the neglected variable makes a project distinctive.
How they actually did it
Synthesised and characterised the electrode material, then measured charge time and cycle life against a control.
The transferable insight
Triggered by the Flint water crisis in the news. Following a live news story to the underlying technical gap is a repeatable way to find a timely project.
How they actually did it
Paired a chemically sensitive material with cheap consumer electronics and a phone, so the output was a usable tool rather than a bench result.
The transferable insight
Chose to harvest energy sources everyone else ignores because they're small. Combining several weak sources into one useful device is an underused project shape.
How they actually did it
Iterated cheap prototypes and measured output per unit cost — optimising for affordability as an explicit design constraint, not an afterthought.
The transferable insight
A hedgerow outside the house, a real clinical problem (antibiotic resistance), and a method a school lab can run. The ingredients of a winning project are often geographically very close by.
How they actually did it
Standard disc-diffusion assays with proper controls, repeated across plant parts and extraction solvents to find where the active compounds concentrated.
The transferable insight
Pure software, no lab, no materials budget. If you can code, the barrier to a serious project is close to zero — the scarce resource is a well-chosen problem.
How they actually did it
Benchmarked rigorously against established simulators, which is what turned 'I wrote a program' into a measurable scientific result.
The transferable insight
Picked a problem that barely existed two years earlier. Emerging-technology harms are wide open, because there is no established field of adults already working on them.
How they actually did it
Trained on generated datasets and reported detection accuracy against held-out fakes, treating the generator and detector as an adversarial pair.
The transferable insight
Took a thing millions of people do every weekend and asked whether it mattered. Everyday behaviour is under-studied precisely because it seems too obvious to test.
How they actually did it
Held cooking time and temperature constant, varied only the marinade, and sent samples for chemical analysis — a textbook clean single-variable design.
The transferable insight
Combined field measurement with human data to make a policy argument. Projects that end in 'therefore we should do X' land harder than ones that end in a number.
How they actually did it
Recruited asthma sufferers, measured lung function against measured pollutant levels in their own homes, then built a predictive model.
The transferable insight
Rerouted a problem instead of fixing it — if the ear does not work, use the skin. Asking 'what other sense could do this job?' opens up whole project categories.
How they actually did it
Built prototypes and ran listening trials with hearing-impaired participants, measuring perceived musical detail against a control.
The transferable insight
Two years and twelve failed attempts before it worked. The project is a reminder that the winning version is almost never the first version.
How they actually did it
Systematically varied the chemical treatment and curing steps, testing the resulting material for decay and insulating properties.
The transferable insight
Started entirely in silico, which costs nothing but time, and only used lab access once the computer had narrowed half a million options to a handful.
How they actually did it
Virtual screening followed by targeted wet-lab validation — a strategy that makes limited lab access go much further.
The transferable insight
Copied a solution biology had already optimised over millions of years. Biomimicry is a reliable shortcut when your computing or budget is tiny.
How they actually did it
Studied fruit-fly escape responses, implemented an equivalent lightweight algorithm, and benchmarked reaction time against conventional approaches.
The transferable insight
Built it for his own grandfather. Projects aimed at one real person you love tend to be better specified than projects aimed at a market.
How they actually did it
Iterated the sensor for comfort and false-positive rate, then tested it in real overnight use rather than only on a bench.
The transferable insight
Applied a very old, very cheap technology — the slow sand filter — to a modern industrial problem in her own region. Old tech plus new problem is an under-explored combination.
How they actually did it
Ran filter columns over months, measuring degradation rates against untreated controls.
The transferable insight
Found the question inside the routine: dressings get changed on a schedule rather than on evidence. Auditing why a routine exists is a good source of projects.
How they actually did it
Used fractal sensor geometry to maximise sensing area on a small printed surface, then characterised response to moisture.
The transferable insight
Targeted the timing of diagnosis rather than the treatment. Moving detection earlier is often more tractable for a student than curing the disease.
How they actually did it
Worked in a university lab on antibody design and marker binding, with the student defining the diagnostic use case.
The transferable insight
Did not try to beat the best system — tried to match it for one percent of the price. 'Same result, radically cheaper' is a winning frame judges love.
How they actually did it
Trained models on captured driving data and benchmarked detection accuracy against the expensive alternative.
The transferable insight
Used entirely free public data. Genomic databases are open, enormous, and mostly unexplored by students — one of the best no-budget routes into serious biology.
How they actually did it
Trained and cross-validated on curated mutation datasets, reporting accuracy on held-out mutations.
The transferable insight
Simulated first, then proposed a retrofit that costs almost nothing to install. Designing for what can actually be fitted to existing infrastructure beats designing the ideal system.
How they actually did it
Built CFD models of a real cabin geometry and compared contaminant spread with and without the added fin.
The transferable insight
A reminder that the national competitions feed the international ones — winning at home is often the route to the biggest stage.
How they actually did it
Iterated physical prototypes and flight-tested them, measuring stability characteristics against the design predictions.
The transferable insight
Picked a problem defined by danger rather than difficulty. 'Nobody should have to do this' is as good a project motivation as 'nobody can do this'.
How they actually did it
Designed for a hard cost target and real building constraints, then built and tested a working physical prototype.
The transferable insight
Attacked the materials supply chain rather than the performance figure. Constraints nobody else treats as the problem are where the open questions live.
How they actually did it
Built successive prototypes with 3D-printed parts and hand-wound coils, measuring torque and efficiency across designs.
The transferable insight
Astrophysics is one of the few fields where the raw data is fully public and the equipment is someone else's telescope. Access is not the barrier people assume.
How they actually did it
Ran numerical simulations and compared predicted observables with published survey data.
The transferable insight
Found the trade-off nobody had removed: accuracy currently costs the patient radiation dose. Removing a trade-off is more compelling than improving one side of it.
How they actually did it
Trained models on imaging data and validated positional accuracy against the existing radiation-based standard.
The transferable insight
Worked on a threat that does not exist yet. Anticipating a problem before the field does is a way to have a genuinely novel project as a teenager.
How they actually did it
Implemented and benchmarked the system, reasoning explicitly about the threat model rather than just writing code.
The transferable insight
Pure maths needs no equipment, no ethics approval and no consumables — only a genuinely open question and the patience to work on it.
How they actually did it
Proved results formally and verified conjectures computationally.
The transferable insight
Improved the aim rather than the weapon. Precision-of-delivery problems are everywhere in medicine and are unusually tractable with public imaging data.
How they actually did it
Trained on medical imaging datasets and reported tracking accuracy against clinical baselines.
The transferable insight
Her project was already running when the pandemic hit and she pivoted the target. Building a method rather than a single result means you can redirect it when the world changes.
How they actually did it
Used molecular docking software against published protein structures, ranking candidate binders.
The transferable insight
Went around antibiotic resistance instead of through it. When a field is stuck, the opening is often in a completely different mechanism.
How they actually did it
Synthesised nanoparticles and tested antibacterial effect against controls in culture.
The transferable insight
Put diagnosis and treatment in the same cheap device. Combining two steps that normally need two visits is a strong design move for low-resource settings.
How they actually did it
Trained a classifier on eardrum images and prototyped the hardware around it.
What Actually Wins
Having judged, competed in, and lost a few of these, the pattern is remarkably consistent — and it has very little to do with how expensive your equipment is.
Almost every winning project traces back to something specific that bothered someone. Not a subject on a syllabus — a thing in the world that seemed wrong.
"Microplastics" is a topic. "Can a magnetic liquid pull plastic particles out of water?" is a project. The difference is whether you can measure the answer.
One trial is an anecdote. The thing separating a fair project from a demo is replication — and it's the cheapest way to make your result credible.
Some of the best projects were done on a kitchen table. Having no lab forces you to find a simpler mechanism, and simple mechanisms are what judges remember.
Where To Enter
Format, eligibility and paperwork requirements below are a starting orientation, not the official rules — competitions update these most years, so confirm specifics on each one’s own site before you build around them.
Global · Ages 13–18
Ran 2011–2019 and isn't currently open for entry. Kept here because so many of the strongest historic projects in this library came out of it, and its online-first format still holds lessons.
Know before you start
Global · Ages 14–18
The largest pre-college science competition in the world. You qualify by winning an affiliated regional or national fair first.
Know before you start
Ireland · Ages 12–19
Ireland's national competition, running since 1965. Long carried a title sponsor's name (BT, until it stepped down in 2025; Stripe now sponsors it), but the exhibition itself is the constant. Strong tradition of biology and social-science projects with a local hook.
Know before you start
Germany · Ages up to 21
Germany's national youth research competition, founded in 1965. Entries compete in seven fields, from biology to workplace technology.
Know before you start
USA · Ages Grades 5–8
Middle-school focused. Entry is a short video pitching an idea, and finalists are paired with a 3M scientist as a mentor.
Know before you start
USA · Ages High-school seniors
The oldest science competition in the US, running since 1942. Judged on research ability and scientific potential rather than one project alone.
Know before you start
USA · Ages Grades 6–8
Run by the Society for Science, the main US pipeline for middle schoolers — entrants qualify by placing at an affiliated local or regional science fair first.
Know before you start
Europe · Ages 14–20
The EU-wide competition students reach after winning their own country's national fair — EUCYS for short. Ireland's Young Scientist Exhibition and Germany's Jugend forscht both feed into it.
Know before you start
Canada · Ages Grades 7–12
Canada's national fair, reached through regional fairs across the provinces. Run by Youth Science Canada.
Know before you start
UK · Ages 11–19
The UK's largest youth STEM event, including the National Science + Engineering Competition (NSEC) — the actual project-judging track within it.
Know before you start
Common Questions
Start from something that annoys you rather than from a subject you like. Almost every award-winning project traces back to a specific irritation — a stream that smells, a grandparent who can't open jars, a friend with no light to study by. Then narrow it until you have a question you can measure the answer to. The quiz on this page does exactly that: it asks what bothers you, what equipment you can reach, and how long you have, then proposes four projects built around those answers.
In practice: a sharp question rather than a broad topic, a fair comparison against a proper control, and enough repeat trials that the result isn't luck. Judges are far more impressed by a simple experiment done rigorously than an ambitious one done once. Expensive equipment matters much less than most students assume — several projects in the library below were done at a kitchen table.
Yes, and some of the strongest projects have none. Software, data analysis, modelling and simulation projects need only a computer, and public datasets in genomics, astronomy and medical imaging are enormous and largely unexplored by students. Filter the library below by 'Computer only' or 'Kitchen-table level' to see real examples that won at the highest level with no laboratory access.
Plan for around three months if you can. The single most common failure is leaving no time for repeat trials, so build replication into the schedule from the start rather than treating it as optional. If you only have a few weeks, deliberately narrow the question — a small question answered properly beats a big one answered once.
Email a lot of them. Be specific about what you want to do, why their work in particular is relevant, and exactly what you're asking for — bench time, a reagent, twenty minutes of advice. Expect most to not reply; that is normal and not a judgement of you. Jack Andraka's ISEF-winning project famously came after roughly two hundred rejections and one yes.
It depends where you live. Regeneron ISEF is the largest international fair but you qualify through an affiliated regional or national fair first. The Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition (sponsored by BT for 25 years, now by Stripe) is Ireland's national competition, Jugend forscht is Germany's, and the 3M Young Scientist Challenge is aimed at US middle schoolers. Start with whichever your school already enters, because the qualification path matters more than the prestige.
Yes, entirely, with no account and no sign-up. It was built by Fionn Ferreira, who won the Google Science Fair Grand Prize in 2019, as the tool he wishes had existed when he was starting out.
Beyond The Fair
The project matters less than what you do next with it. Competitions, fellowships, grants and programmes exist specifically for young people doing this kind of work — and most students never find out about them in time.
A running list of programmes, competitions and funding open to young changemakers. Worth checking before you finish your project, not after — a lot of them want to see work in progress.
Browse opportunitiesOne last thing
I entered my first science fair at 12 and lost. I kept entering. The project that eventually won the Google Science Fair started because I pulled a plastic-covered rock out of the water near my house and got annoyed about it.
None of it required a lab, a mentor, or being the cleverest person in the room. It required picking something I actually cared about and then being stubborn about measuring it properly. Everything on this page is an attempt to shortcut you to that starting point.
Use the ideas as a starting point, not an answer. The best version of your project is the one you change your mind about halfway through.
— Fionn
Google Science Fair Global Grand Prize, 2019
Science Fair Idea Lab · fionnferreira.com