Biotech prototypes from young inventors on display at Herzliah High School science fair

The annual science fair at Herzliah High School features prototypes in the fields of biotechnology and engineering as students are given 10 weeks and free reign to invent something the world needs now.

Of the 100 amazing projects, some seem like science fiction, such as an eco-car, not powered by "flux capacitor" like in Back to the Future movie but powered by a supercapacitor.

"My eco-car uses super-capacitors over lithium batteries," said Grade 10 inventor Boaz Krivorot.

"Electric cars, believe it or not, have a dirty secret: they're really not good for the environment. The extraction to make these batteries is really bad. Not only that, but they're really expensive and very unreliable."

Another project was inspired by the need for more ventilators in hospitals during the pandemic.

Kayla Salasidis showed off her Simply Vent invention on Wednesday.

"Simply Vent is a low-cost mechanical ventilator that can be used in hospitals , in places with low resources or it could even be used as an educational platform for biomedical engineering students who wish to modify this design to create their own prototypes," she said.

Another project is the Girl Code app, an accessible platform for women to be informed and keep track of their health in six areas, from menstruation to menopause.

"They are topics that even I, myself, struggle with daily so … we wanted to make an app that’s good for people of all ages to access women's health," said Girl Code app co-creator Sarah Farber.

Her partner, Naomi Assayag, said, "In our frequently asked questions section, users can submit their questions in our database. But also if people want to refer to an OBGYN or any health-care provider, then that totally can be done."

Twins Avital and Avrum Kalin made a water wand that detects and removes microplastics.

"We're learning through a lot of research that they're really really harmful and can cause DNA damage, stress, cancer, things like this. So, we just wanted to make a product that we could use to ensure that our water and what we're drinking is micro-plastic-free. and we can avoid these consequences," said Avital.

Their ferromagnetic wand reveals the presence of microplastics and removes them.

Avrum said the device helps make water safer to drink.

Herziliah teachers evaluate the inventions and some students will move onto regional competitions.

"Evaluation is standardized. Whether it be here at the school level, any high school, we use pretty much same the same grid or evaluation rubric that the Montreal Science and Technology Fair uses," explained Patrick Elbaz, a teacher and judge for the science fair.

"Because when they move on, they should expect to be evaluated the same way."

Last year, Salasidis went all the way to the International Science Fair.

Herziliah High is hoping some of their projects will be selected again.