Ruby Keith-Smith, Year 12, Bristol Grammar School Out of the 100 million people who have ever lived on Earth, an estimated half of them may have died from malaria. Malaria is still responsible for over 3000 African children’s deaths per day, being particularly prevalent in low-income communities who lack basic necessities such as proper sanitation,…
June Hyun, Year 10, Harrow School, Middlesex An estimated 25% of all marine life depends on coral reefs at some point in their lifecycle. Reefs support over 500 million peoples’ livelihoods, pump $3.4 Billion into the US economy and prevent $4.3 Billion in flood damage around the globe. They are also dying quicker than ever…
WINNER of the Michaelmas Term 2020 Schools Science Writing Competition Lucy Addis, Year 12, Royal School Armagh, Armagh Revolutionary. It’s a word that’s seldom used to describe cancer treatments, but that’s about to change. Immunotherapy is a “game-changing” new treatment that uses viruses to directly kill cancerous cells and make it much easier for the…
Hiu Yu Wong, Year 12, The King’s School, Kent Throughout the course of science, many discoveries have been made that have greatly impacted our world today, may it be a fascinating invention or a complicated theory. Yet for one woman in 1951, she was about to change the frontiers of science without knowing. Henrietta Lacks…
Polly Painter, Year 12, Millfield School, Somerset The pill has ignited a revolution towards female empowerment. Invented by Gregory Goodwin Pincus and Carl Djerassi and approved in 1960, the invention of the pill was a monumental challenge but also an astounding breakthrough. In conjunction with introducing birth control into a country where thirty states had…
Samuel Hughes, Year 12, Cardiff High School, Cardiff One of the most important scientific discoveries that still affects the world today was predicted by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, realised by German physicist Heinrich Hertz and pioneered by Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi. Since its discovery, it has made communication possible over vast distances, enabled billions…
Isabella Kwiecinski, Year 13, Lady Margaret School, London Nobody looks forwards to getting them. They leave our arms painful and aching, they make babies wail and adults faint. The vaccine. For many of us that dreaded word will not conjure up feelings of joy or excitement, instead, the image of a sharp needle and feelings…
Catrin Herrenden-Harker, Year 10, Kings Monkton, Wales Alzheimer and dementia are devastating diseases which affect 60 million people in the world, with the number set to grow, so is a major problem for healthcare systems and puts extreme pressure on old people’s homes. So, what are these diseases? Dementia is an overall term for diseases…
Christen Rayner, Year 12, St Anthony’s & St Aidan’s Sixth Form, Tyne and Wear Prior to penicillin and medical research, death was an everyday occurrence. It was intimate.– Katherine Dunn The discovery of penicillin was undoubtedly one of the most important scientific discoveries in recent history. However, despite penicillin being highly influential to modern medicine;…
India Thomas, Year 12, Monk’s Walk School, Hertfordshire Many frequently used obstetrical inventions, like the epidural, were developed during the 20th century. But some of the most widespread and effective technologies evolved during the dark ages of medicine and somehow have survived all way into the 21st century. One such invention is the forceps. In…
