An award-winning Tauranga Intermediate student will have her invention on display at the Museum of Transport and Technology – MOTAT - this coming month as part of a science fair showcase.

Anamaya Taylor won the best in fair award at the NIWA Bay of Plenty Science and Technology Fair after inventing ‘Avocado Time Machine', an ingenious device to ripen avocados as quickly as possible.

Winning projects like Anamaya's from 100 schools that have participated in the NIWA Science and Technology Fairs in the North Island will be exhibited at the Science Fair Showcase which opens today at MOTAT.

The top five entries from science fairs held in Auckland, Central Northland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty will be on display at MOTAT until Sunday 3rd November.

The exhibition will showcase twenty-five unique projects from students aged 11-18 years-old. Each display will outline the student's investigation, their methods, findings and next steps for further development.

Frustration with buying fruit and vegetables that are never ready to eat prompted a 13-year-old Anamaya to design a machine to help.

Her machine resulted in her winning best in fair for her ‘Avocado Time Machine' at the Bay of Plenty Science and Technology fair held in August, netting her $600 in prize money.

'We all buy fruits and vegetables and they're never ripe,” says Anamaya. 'So, I wanted to come up with a way for the avocado or any other fruit and vegetable to work around you.”

The thirteen-year-old tested several 'old wives' tales and different methods”, and found out ethylene, an organic gas, was the most efficient way to speed up the ripening process. After carrying out the experiment, Anamaya designed a prototype to ripen the fruit as quickly as possible.

She modified a soda stream, an appliance normally used for carbonating water, to spray gas into a bag holding an avocado.

Tracey Burton, a freshwater ecologist at NIWA, said Anamaya's project paired thorough scientific investigation with ingenious product design.

'Anamaya's project is an excellent example of scientific rigour and innovation. The Avocado Time Machine was a worthy winner among many clever and original projects,” says Tracey.

Judging and prizegiving for the Bay of Plenty entries was held at the Harvest Centre in Rotorua. Thirty-six judges were tasked with judging more than 80 entries against a range of criteria including identifying and researching the need, scientific thought and understanding, and presentation. Interviews with the students also helped the judges determine the winners.

Providing major sponsorship for many of the science fairs throughout New Zealand is part of NIWA's long-term commitment to enhancing science and technology for young New Zealanders.

Catherine Hunter, assistant principal at Mission Heights Junior College and one of the MOTAT showcase organisers, says the event is the culmination of a project that has spanned two years in the making inspired by a desire to share the work of young scientists with a wider audience.

'There are some amazing projects that we just never hear about. I wanted to bring the work together so a wider public audience could see what some of New Zealand's young scientists are putting their energy into. The Showcase is also a fantastic way to bring students from around NZ together so they can share their work with one another.”

Among the winning projects to be displayed will be ‘Destroying Destructor' by 12-year-old Aidan Hodgson of Pirongia School. Aidan's project tested several methods of eradicating the varroa mite from beehives to win the NIWA Waikato Science and Technology Fair.

Tracy Burton, a freshwater ecologist and science fair co-ordinator at NIWA, says the showcase is an exciting initiative that will celebrate the incredible array of science at science fairs in NZ.

'Each year we are impressed by students' abilities to investigate the world around them and find solutions to ever changing and often complex problems. This showcase will be an opportunity for the public to see some of the best projects from young kiwi scientists.”

The Science Fair Showcase will open at MOTAT today, Saturday October 19, and will run until Sunday November 3.

MOTAT is open daily from 10am - 5pm and entry to this exhibition is included within normal MOTAT admission prices.

For general information visit: https://www.motat.org.nz/exhibitions