Earthworms to eat away our garbage
DIGGING for worms is not exactly your classic holiday pastime. But six students from Anderson Secondary School spent their June vacation doing just that — all in the name of science.
Secondary 3 student Karen Soh hopes the creepycrawlies will eat away the garbage problem in land-scarce Singapore.
She said: "This technique, vermicomposting, is not new. Scientists have tried it with red worms. But our research might make the process cheaper because earthworms are found more easily here."
The collection of about 50 garbage-eating worms will be on show at the second Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Youth Festival’s Science and Technology Exhibition, on at the Singapore Expo until Thursday.
A team from National Junior College spent hours huddled in toilets to perfect a bacteria-reducing invention. Victoria Junior College students worked for two years to reduce saliva residue in school water coolers.
The festival also includes a one-day Youth Science Summit on Wednesday; 600 local and foreign student representatives will discuss problems such as global warming and the ethics of genetic engineering.
"We wanted to give students a forum to express their opinions about issues that will significantly affect them in the future," said Ms Brenda Yeow, 54, one of the organisers.
This year’s Science and Technology Exhibition is an extension of the annual Singapore Youth Science Festival which has been running for 23 years, said another organiser, Mr Albert Tan.
The projects of about 1,200 Singaporean students and Apec participants are on display at the event. The exhibition is open to the public and is free.
-By Josephine James
Source : The Straits Times, Jul 28, 2000
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