Meet The 14-Year-Old Girl Who Developed A Low-Cost Water Purification System

Deepika Kurup just won $25,000 for a device that uses the power of the sun to kill bacteria in water.

The next generation of scientists is already hard at work solving our biggest problems. Take Deepika Kurup, a 14-year-old high school student from Nashua, New Hampshire. After seeing children in India drinking dirty water from a stagnant pool, she decided, in her words, “to find a solution to the global water crisis.” And then she actually made some progress towards that goal, developing a solar-powered water purification system.

Kurup’s low-cost invention just won her $25,000 in The Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge–a high-stakes science competition for students in 5th to 8th grade (Kurup entered the competition before she was in high school). This was her second time entering; in 7th grade, she took first place in her state.

This time around, Kurup spent three months toiling away at the project, foregoing vacations and summer camp to leaf through PhD papers about water purification methods. She spoke with her mentor at 3M every day. And she tested the purification system independently in her backyard with contaminated water taken from the Nashua wastewater treatment facility. She ultimately came up with a system that exposes titanium oxide and zinc oxide to sunlight, creating a chemical reaction that generates hydroxyl radicals, which in turn can kill harmful bacteria.

Kurup used her system for one set of testing; the other was a control. She counted bacteria before and after purification (with 3M petrifilms), and discovered that water which had gone through her composite–which costs about half a cent per gram–had significantly fewer coliform units and E.Coli colonies in a matter of hours.

14-Year-old is America’s Top Young Scientist: Her Solar-Powered Jug Purifies

Unlike today’s popular water purification methods–using UV lamps that require electricity or chemicals that give water a nasty smell and taste–Kurup’s method can run off-grid, generating fresh-tasting water. She has competition from innovative water filtration systems like LifeStraw, of course, but this isn’t the last we’ll see of Kurup’s inventions.

The high school freshman hopes to work with Discovery and 3M on developing the water filtration project. She’s also interested in speaking with other companies that could help with funding. “My next step is applying for a patent,” she says. “I want to start a nonprofit organization to deploy my innovation.”

After graduation, Kurup wants to become a neurologist. But first, more science competitions. “Science is really my passion,” she says.

Soft Drinks Make Teens More Violent

Any food for that matter, taken in large quantities could be a poison. For example: We cannot exclude salt from our daily meals, but drinking sea water would harm your stomach and also lead to death. Drinking 2 gallons of water in one hour could kill you due to hydro-toexima.

Be it a weekend party with college mates, or just a movie with friends, teens these days are addicted to the fizzy soft drinks.

Soft Drinks Make Teens More Violent

Studies reveal that teenagers who consume more than 5 cans of soft drinks are more prone to violence. Results also show that the percentage of violent behavior among those who drank these soft drinks, was 9 to 15 percentage points higher, the same as that of those who consume alcohol.

The level of violence these days too has risen. From the normal cat fights that involved some light fist fights, teens these days use weapons and other harsh items among siblings. We hear a lot of stories these days about violence among teenagers. It may not necessarily be the effect of the excessive intake of sugar or caffeine but you cannot ignore the studies! Findings show that aggressive behavior towards peers rose from 35 percent to more than 58 percent and violence towards siblings rose from 25.4 percent to over 43 percent.

Parenting also needs to be blamed here. A majority of parents these days, busy in their own commitments tend to overlook such habits of their brood and are almost unaware of the impact of such non-diet drinks.

Apart from violent behavior, soft drinks cause various other damages to the system. Sugar in fruits and vegetables is basic and harmless; soft drinks are made of highly processed sugar which is way too unsafe for the human body. The phosphorous and carbon content in these drinks lowers the body’s pH and makes it vulnerable to various bacterial and viral diseases. It is known to all that soft drinks damage the teeth as well. The amount of benzene present in them is around eight times of that in drinking water. It is a chemical associated to leukemia.

It would be wise if parents could spend a few minutes on replacing the soft drinks with some delicious milkshakes or fruit juices. The teens are to realize the aftermath of continuing such habits and should not take

Related articles

• 5 cans of fizzy soft drinks every week make teens violent (news.bioscholar.com)
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• High fizzy soft drink consumption linked to violence among teens (eurekalert.org)

Sucralose found in drinking water supply of more than 28 million Americans

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If you’ve been diligently avoiding the consumption of chemical sweeteners like sucralose, you may be alarmed to learn that researchers have found sucralose lurking in the drinking water supply of more than 28 million Americans.

A recent study tested water samples from 19 water treatment plants in the United States serving more than 28 million people. Researchers analyzed the samples for the artificial sweetener sucralose. Samples tested positive for sucralose in the source water of 15 out of 19 plants. Furthermore, treatment failed to remove the sucralose from the drinking water: sucralose was also found in the finished drinking water from 13 out of 19 plants.

Researchers determined that current water treatment methods fail to effectively remove sucralose from our water supply, leaving millions of Americans to unknowingly consume this artificial sweetener every single day.

Why is Sucralose in Our Drinking Water?

When a person ingests sucralose, a large percentage of it is not broken down and is instead excreted as waste. This waste goes through the water treatment plant, where the sucralose remains intact and goes on to become part of our drinking water supply.

Because sucralose has become one of the most widely used artificial sweeteners in commercial soft drinks and snack foods, it is no wonder that it is making an appearance in our drinking water. If sucralose consumption continues to rise, it stands to reason that everyone drinking public water will be ingesting more of this chemical sweetener as well – whether they want to or not.

Sucralose is Not Safe for Consumption

The public should be aware that the majority of the studies on the safety of sucralose are funded by the creators of the most popular sucralose product on the market. The conflict of interest is obvious and the results of these studies are clearly biased in favor of sucralose.

Independent studies aren’t nearly so positive. Questions about the negative impact sucralose has on male fertility, red blood cell count, kidney health, gut flora balance and body weight are serious concerns generated from the results of these studies. Many researchers and health experts are convinced that sucralose should never have been deemed safe for human consumption.

Common sense dictates that anychemically-processed food is unfit for human consumption. The fact that these substances are now running rampant through our water supply is an atrocity that violates our right to choose what we put into our own bodies.

Related articles

• Artificial Sweeteners Side Effects! (thelifestylechanger.wordpress.com)
• Sweeteners and Fitbloggin Local (noshmyway.com)
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