Young scientist on the rise
STEPHANIE Fraser, a Grade 10 pupil at Northlands Girls’ High, was one of seven, and the only female, to achieve the highest award of gold at the annual FFS Expo For Young Scientists, held at UKZN at the end of July.
More than 250 pupils from schools across KZN participated in the competition, held over two days, in which the projects were selected and graded, whittling them down to the top seven. Stephanie’s project involved chemical procedures for the extraction and testing of an edible compound called lycopene from a range of readily available tomato products, including tomato sauce, tomato paste, baby tomatoes, salad tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, as well as ruby grapefruit and watermelon.
Lycopene, a highly unsaturated carotenoid pigment, is one of the most potent anti-oxidants known. This scientifically-proven chemical compound has been widely written about in both scientific journals and the press where it has been extolled for its rejuvenating, health-improving and longevity effects. Her work was also praised for its use of green chemistry processes, in which the environmental and human impacts were greatly reduced.
