一名爱尔兰少年赢得了谷歌科学博览会，他的项目是去除水中的塑料微粒

Google Science Fair launched in 2011 as a way to challenge students around the globe to figure out solutions to some of the world's largest problems, and this year's winner focused on a problem we're still wrapping our arms around: microplastics.

谷歌科学博览会成立于2011年，旨在向全球学生发起挑战，让他们找出一些世界上最大的问题的解决方案。今年的获奖者关注的是一个我们仍在努力解决的问题:微塑料。

Fionn Ferreira, an 18-year-old Irish student, earned the $50,000 prize through a simple desire to help the planet. He was one of 24 finalists from 14 countries who went to Google headquarters to present their projects.

18岁的爱尔兰学生费昂·费雷拉获得了5万美元的奖金，原因很简单:他想帮助地球。他是来自14个国家的24名决赛选手之一，他们来到谷歌总部展示他们的项目。

Ferreira from West Cork, Ireland, developed a novel approach to extracting microplastics from water, with the greater goal of creating a method to clean our oceans.

来自爱尔兰西科克的费雷拉开发了一种从水中提取微塑料的新方法，其更大的目标是创造一种清洁海洋的方法。

You can explore Ferreira's science fair project at the Google Science Fair project page. Beyond the science, it explains his motivation for the project, which stems from growing up near the coast and his love of nature.

您可以在谷歌科学博览会项目页面上探索费雷拉的科学博览会项目。除了科学之外，这也解释了他做这个项目的动机，这源于他在海岸附近长大，以及他对自然的热爱。

He tested 10 different types of microplastic suspensions and found that he could remove 85% or more of the microplastic contents in his samples.

他测试了10种不同类型的微塑料悬浮液，发现他可以去除样品中85%或更多的微塑料含量。

Ultimately, a reduction in the amount of plastic the world uses on a daily basis is the best solution, but this project proves there are new, creative ways to clean the water we've already polluted.

最终，减少世界每天使用的塑料量是最好的解决方案，但这个项目证明，有新的、创造性的方法来清洁我们已经污染的水。

Lawmakers in Ireland currently have plans to introduce legislation that will outlaw the sale, manufacturing, import and export of products containing microplastics.

爱尔兰议员目前计划立法禁止销售、制造、进口和出口含有微塑料的产品。

For his efforts, Ferreira was awarded $50,000 in scholarship money. He would like to study chemistry or chemical engineering in Ireland or in Europe. He currently works as a curator at the local Schull Planetarium, is fluent in three languages, is a skilled trumpet player, and has won 12 science fair awards.

由于他的努力，费雷拉获得了5万美元的奖学金。他想在爱尔兰或欧洲学习化学或化学工程。他目前在当地的Schull天文馆担任策展人，精通三种语言，是一名熟练的小号演奏者，并获得了12项科学博览会的奖项。

As he described in his project page, it's the next step of the process that opens doors: "... winning a prize would give my project more attention and let it grow with mentorship to solve a real problem on the Earth. There is nothing I would like to see more than my project and idea to be used in real life applications and I think a prize could do this."

正如他在他的项目页面中描述的，这是打开大门的过程的下一步:“……获奖会给我的项目更多的关注，并让它与导师一起成长，解决地球上的一个真正的问题。我最希望看到的就是我的项目和想法能在现实生活中得到应用，我认为获奖就能做到这一点。”

For any young scientists itching to explore their own idea, your chance will come. The project submission window typically runs for a couple of months starting in September and ending in December. And as this year's callout to young scientists reminds us, every great idea starts somewhere.

对于任何渴望探索自己想法的年轻科学家来说，你的机会来了。项目提交窗口通常从9月开始，运行几个月，到12月结束。正如今年对年轻科学家的号召所提醒我们的，每一个伟大的想法都是从小处开始的。