Those who build the future

It seems that individual cases of school and university students’ important scientific achievements are transforming into a clear tendency. The Day regularly writes about the achievements of young scientists and can trace how active and notable they are in the world. In this context, the words of The Day’s guest, director of the Bohomolets Institute of Physiology at NASU Oleh Kryshtal should be mentioned. He said that the humankind is becoming smarter, and in this process the computer plays the role of a kind of “intellectual crutch,” which one can lean on while developing their intellect. That is why it should be expected that in future there will be even more achievements in various spheres of life among youth.

At the moment, the International Conference of Young Scientists (ICYS) is held in Bali, Indonesia. It unites 32 participating countries. Six Ukrainian high school students present interesting scientific projects there. 10-grader Yaroslav Shukh (Chernivtsi) invented a way to diagnose cancer on early stages with the help of polarized light. “I studied female reproduction area because it is the easiest to diagnose cancer there. In fact, this method is suitable for diagnosing any kind of cancer, but corresponding research should be made before that. Different kinds of cancer cause different kinds of substances to appear in blood,” told the researcher to Radio Liberty.

Ukrainian participants prepared various projects, but all of them are of interest and practical value. High school student Lidia Zakharchuk (Chernivtsi) is going to present her own method of cancer diagnosis with the help of laser, and Viacheslav Nezhura (Zaporizhia) is going to tell how he uses the study of mathematical knots in genetics. Illia Litkin (Zaporizhia) created a computer program for the analysis of various surfaces, from microscopic cells to faraway planets, and Andrii Andrusyshyn (Kyiv) researched the level of the Black Sea pollution with heavy metals through the study of the crustaceans. Another Ukrainian participant, Olha Kalinichenko, designed a project of heating buildings with the energy that is created while milking cows.

The other day it became known that 16-year-old school student Andrii Konovalenko will represent Ukraine at the invention contest Microsoft Imagine Cup. He created software that can transform any surface, for example, a wall, or projector screen into touch-sensitive without any additional expenses. By the way, Konovalenko, student of the Stakhanov Comprehensive Gymnasium No. 15 in Luhansk oblast, is the youngest participant of the contest. The boy says that his invention is going to be useful for educational institutions, since it allows to purchase an analog of the multimedia board for 200 hryvnias, thus saving a few thousand dollars.

By the way, last year Ukrainian students (quadSquad team) won the final tour of the Imagine Cup. They presented an Enable Talk glove, which transforms sign language into verbal communication.

It looks like after receiving unlimited access to knowledge thanks to the Internet, the young are now forming a new generation of scientists. According to social psychologist, head of the laboratory for mass and community psychology at the Institute of Social and Political Psychology (National Academy of Pedagogic Sciences of Ukraine) Vadym VASIUTYNSKY, such upsurge of smart children is related to better social conditions for intellect development and revealing of talented kids. “There are approximate statistics: in every society, there is 82 percent of people with average intellect, 9 percent with higher than average, and 9 percent with lower,” Vasiutynsky says. Nowadays, children are in better conditions than their peers in the 1990s, therefore, they have more ways for intellectual development. “In the 1990s we went through a huge economic crisis, in many families parents did not know where to get food to feed their children. Malnutrition was huge back then. Of course, this curbed children’s activity, including cognitive one which develops the intellect. That is why I think that those people whose childhood and school years fell on that period, experienced a negative impact of some sort then. For example, 5 or 10 years ago, teachers at universities complained that students became weaker. Today, the well-being of Ukrainians has undoubtedly grown.” Vasiutynsky thinks that independent testing also plays a positive role, since it gives more talented children an opportunity to choose major subjects according to personal preferences and interests. There they have more opportunities to reveal themselves.

“An average intellect is dominant in the world. And the extent to which a person can show themselves depends on certain social conditions,” Vasiutynsky sums up.