00:00Around 50 young Emirati scientists who won the ThinkScience competition 2016 were awarded
00:15by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister
00:20of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, at a function of the Higher Colleges of Technology in Dubai
00:24on Tuesday.
00:27The competition is part of the Emirates Foundation's ThinkScience program, which aims to encourage
00:32and empower Emirati youth between the ages of 15 and 35 years to follow their passion
00:37for science with interactive, hands-on activities in the fields of engineering, energy, aviation
00:43and other technological industries.
00:45We have noticed that really the quality of the projects presented are much, much higher
00:49than the years before.
00:51I think that a lot of the youth have matured in the way they present their ideas and in
00:58the quality of projects that they have chosen to present and invent to start with.
01:06I think this comes also from their experience because many of them come every year again
01:12to try to better their products and present them, so I think we have noticed that there
01:19is really a huge advancement in the way that they present their projects and the way that
01:24they think about how to put the project together.
01:27The winning projects were selected from among 235 projects that were developed and completed
01:33by more than 640 university and high school students.
01:37The projects, completed at the national level in the science categories of electrical engineering,
01:41environmental sciences and management, industrial and mechanical systems, energy, smart and
01:46safety systems, physics and chemistry, transportation, aerodynamics and aviation.
01:51Our project is called Triple S, which stands for the Self-Sanitizing Surface.
01:55The aim of our project is to provide a better and safer environment for everyone to live.
02:00Basically, we came up with Triple S, which would kill all the germs on the surface with
02:07the help of UV light, inshallah.
02:12What the UV light does is that actually it damages the nucleic acid in the membrane of
02:17the microorganism, making it harmless.
02:20Our project was inspired actually by a very sad event because one of my close friend's
02:25sisters, they passed away because our driver fell asleep at the wheel.
02:29So we wanted to create a project that would prevent this from happening in the future.
02:34After looking at the statistics, we found that 20% of accidents in the UA happen because
02:38sometimes the driver falls asleep while driving.
02:41So we decided to club the concept of a driver's heartbeat and chemistry to prevent such accidents.
02:47So when the driver is sleepy, his heartbeat reduces and we monitor the heartbeat while
02:52driving.
02:53And we release a chemical called smelling salts, which causes inhalation reflex and
02:58alerts the driver again.
03:01This year's competition opened the door for talented people aged between 25 and 35 years
03:07who have completed their academic study to participate in the competition.
03:11Arish Idenbaliaza for Gulf News.
