[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/12479\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EFrom nitrogen pollution to battery recycling, young scientists take action to help society\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Piotr Olbry\u015b, a 19-year-old from Poland, it was his brother\u2019s hearing aid that motivated him to look into how to make lithium-ion batteries more environmentally friendly.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis work earned him one of the four first prizes, each worth \u20ac 7 000, at the 2024 edition of the EU Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMy brother has a hearing aid,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, he\u2019s constantly changing and throwing away batteries. That caused me to start thinking about the waste this generates.\u201d Lithium-ion batteries are found in almost every electronic gadget.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOlbry\u015b was one of 143 young scientists from 37 countries, all aged between 14 and 20, who came together from 9 to 14 September in Katowice, Poland, to present their research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMost of them were there because they had won similar contests in their home countries. EUCYS 2024 was funded by the European Commission, which co-organised it with the University of Silesia, Katowice, and the Polish Children\u2019s Fund.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the end, the four first prizes were awarded to contestants from Austria, Bulgaria, Poland and the United States.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBetter way to tune instruments\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe young scientists presented their projects at booths in front of visitors and judges. Their research focused on an amazingly diverse range of fields.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPaula Morata Gonz\u00e1lez, an 18-year-old from Spain, is keen to improve the tuning of musical instruments.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI play the harpsichord and study at the conservatory,\u201d she said. \u201cDuring tuning classes, I found it much more intuitive to find beautiful notes by looking at their mathematical proportions.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003EIt all started when I learned about photosynthesis in high school. I wanted to know more, and just kept digging.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003ELamia Music\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEventually she built a model that could help tune instruments. \u201cAt first my music teacher thought I was crazy,\u201d she laughed. \u201cBut I love combining science and art.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGonz\u00e1lez starts university this year, where she hopes to continue on this interdisciplinary path, double-majoring in music and biomedical sciences.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EArtificial intelligence\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt their booths, the contestants were interviewed by a team of judges, mostly scientists themselves, who were duly impressed.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe quality of the projects was very impressive this year,\u201d said Milan Macek, president of the jury. \u201cA trend seems to be the increased use of artificial intelligence.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMacek has been a judge at the seven previous editions of EUCYS. He is a professor of genetics at Prague\u2019s Charles University, but in Katowice, he was hard-pressed to pick the winners.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere are not enough prizes for all the talent here, so hard choices had to be made.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Over 100 young scientists gathered for the EU TalentOn 2024 contest in Katowice, Poland. \u00a9 EU TalentOn 2024\u0022 data-entity-type=\u0022file\u0022 data-entity-uuid=\u00223551beef-c7f8-4cff-807e-30d97ebf2f1a\u0022 height=\u00222073\u0022 src=\u0022\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/IMCEUpload\/TalentOn1.jpg\u0022 width=\u00223936\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003EOver 100 young scientists gathered for the EU TalentOn 2024 contest in Katowice, Poland. \u00a9 EU TalentOn 2024\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn parallel with EUCYS, another contest was held in Katowice, in the style of a hackathon. During EU TalentOn 2024, 108 participants aged between 21 and 35 developed scientific projects to address societal challenges such as climate change and water management.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe grand prize was won by a team of young researchers from the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Italy for their cancer prevention project Breath for Life. It received an award of \u20ac12 000.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHigh-speed camera or chessboard?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMost EUCYS contestants also targeted societal challenges with their projects. The work of another winner, 17-year-old Aleksandra Petkova from Bulgaria, might, for example, help design more efficient ships.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt can help us build ships that use less fuel, reducing emissions,\u201d she said. In her research project, she used sources like drone and satellite imagery to study the wakes of ships and make them more efficient, combining physics with a very practical goal.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPetkova hails from a family of scientists, which influenced her to take part in science contests like EUCYS.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI can\u2019t remember a time when I wasn\u2019t doing something with science,\u201d she said. \u201cAs a small child, I was already playing with magnets and mirrors, trying to understand the deeper principles of how they worked.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe\u2019s still overwhelmed by the accolades her work received. \u201cI don\u2019t know what I\u2019ll do with the money. Maybe I\u2019ll buy a new chessboard,\u201d she laughed.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOn the other hand, I would like a high-speed camera for experiments. A few thousand more frames per second would make a big difference.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOrganic batteries\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOlbry\u015b from Poland looked at organic cathodes in batteries that are produced without transition metals, generally toxic for the environment, but lack the energy density of today\u0027s less green versions. This is why he researched new material combinations and found options that combine the best of both worlds.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI didn\u2019t have access to a supercomputer, so I just did them on my home laptop,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes one calculation would take two or three entire days. The sound of the cooling fans caused me to have a lot of dreams about helicopters,\u201d he joked.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStarting university in Warsaw in two weeks, Olbry\u015b hopes to continue his research. \u201cI love projects where science can change the world.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGo for it\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELamia Music, a 15-year-old Austrian who looked at new kinds of solar cells, was giddy upon receiving first prize, in addition to an award from the London International Youth Science Forum.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI almost didn\u2019t go to my national competition,\u201d she said. \u201cI just went there for fun, to meet interesting people. Now I suddenly have this prize,\u201d she laughs. \u201cSometimes you just need to go for it I guess.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHer project worked on new types of solar cells, the central component of solar panels. \u201cIt all started when I learned about photosynthesis in high school,\u201d she remembers. \u201cI wanted to know more, and just kept digging.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003EFarmers are really struggling with this. I wanted to do something real for the world.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003ENikhil Vemuri\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Music, the prize, however, wasn\u2019t the most important thing about the contest.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat I love about science is that you can learn new things, and meet new people,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I did here. I was fascinated just walking around and learning about fields I didn\u2019t know anything about.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor the young Austrian, science is a passion. \u201cSometimes I will wake up in the middle of the night with ideas,\u201d she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor now, she wants to continue with her research, partly under the auspices of a local university.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENitrogen pollution\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENot all winners at EUCYS were from Europe. Nikhil Vemuri, 17, from the United States, won the fourth first prize.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI live in North Carolina, in an area with a lot of farms. Today, they use too much fertiliser on their fields, which causes environmental problems, such as nitrogen pollution. I wanted to help.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe designed a software tool that could predict, based on satellite imagery, where over- and under-fertilisation is likely to happen.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor example, if a field slopes downwards, fertiliser will likely concentrate at the bottom. Vemuri\u2019s tool allows farmers to use fertiliser more efficiently and sparingly, reducing pollution.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFarmers are really struggling with this. I wanted to do something real for the world.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBeyond being celebrated for his project, Vemuri repeated what other participants already said. Sure, receiving awards is nice. But what really makes EUCYS special is the connections made.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI talked to some fascinating projects here,\u201d he said. \u201cBut more importantly, I made some great friends. That\u2019s what makes an event like this so amazing.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-l3jhgj-sxp600yndlblixdxwmeserinnasjsmuerfeu\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-L3jhGj_SxP600ynDlbLIxdXWmEseRinNaSjSMUERFEU\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]