Amelia

What is Life?

At first glance, it seems easy to tell apart living and non-living objects, but this distinction gets difficult at the boundaries. This project would entail: - Researching various definitions of life, possibly including interviews with experts in the field. - Researching organisms that break one or more of the "rules" of living beings, possibly including interviews with experts in the field. (Most of these I am aware of are microbes, but not all of them. Depending on student interest, this could also develop into an exploration of AI "aliveness.") - Creating a way to share the findings. This could be a series of blog posts, videos, podcast episodes, or a research paper.

Better understanding COVID-19

Much about COVID-19 is still unknown, and much of the knowledge we do have is difficult to find or understand for people who don't have a strong interest in biology or health policy. There is a huge opportunity to: - Investigate any aspect related to COVID-19 or the pandemic's impacts. - Assemble that knowledge in an easy-to-understand manner. - Use that knowledge to educate your community. This could take the form of a policy proposal submitted to your local government. Additionally, this could be a series of blog posts, videos, podcast episodes, or a research paper.