Updates for Students from the Media

TIME magazine made a list of last year’s best inventions. Some solve problems. Others make life easier. Some are just fun. TIME for Kids shares seven of them here. Which one do you think is the best? 

Robots are machines. Today, there are more robots than ever before. Some robots do work that people usually do. Read on to meet a few robot workers. 

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Hey kids, in this video, Dr Binocs will explain what AI is.

What is AI? | The Dr Binocs Show | Peekaboo Kidz 

Why It Could Be Going To Waste

Ever wondered where our recyclables from the Bloobins go? Our National Recycling Programme may have begun in 2001 but despite the efforts, Singapore's domestic recycling rate hit a decade-low of 12% last year. Are Singaporean households solely responsible for this? 

Do Plastics Really Get Recycled?

Think your plastics get recycled once they are in the recycling bins? In 2022, Singapore generated 1,001,000 tonnes of plastics but only a mere 6% was recycled. Just why is our plastic recycling rate so dismal, and are they really getting recycled? 

3D Printed Solutions For Special Needs Dog

How is 3D printing technology enhancing lives?

Lucky, a husky suffering from mental challenges, struggles while eating. He loses his balance while trying to eat out of a food bowl on the floor. His owner Ian Lin engages the help of Tony Moochala, a 3D printing specialist, to design an unlikely device to solve this peculiar problem. Even with his wealth of experience working with customers from a myriad of industries, Tony has never 3D printed for dogs. How will Lucky take to his one-of-a-kind feeder? 

"I Just Wanted To Build Things"

Meet Ahmad, a self-taught furniture artisan. The former operations manager had no formal training but learned woodworking through online videos and books, and financed his dream of opening his own workshop by dumpster diving for materials. Today, his resourcefulness and love for reviving old belongings is guiding him in his new career path, allowing him to create jobs and empowering him in his advocacy for sustainability. 

What is a MakerSpace?

A makerspace is a place for students to implement their ideas, individually or in teams, where students have an opportunity to explore, design, play, tinker, collaborate, inquire, experiment, solve problems and invent.

NVPS' MakerSpace is coming soon!

Have a look at what sustainability-driven creators have been up to around the world.

"Whale in Love"

Architectural design firm StudioKCA is a prime example of how art and environment can come together to highlight, discuss, and solve issues impacting local communities. The studio’s practice explores the ways in which context and locality offer opportunities to design and create objects and spaces that respond directly to site-specific environmental conditions. 

3D Printing in Agriculture

With the advent of cheaper additive manufacturing service, smallholder farmers may rely on 3D printing shops for all their farm equipment replication needs. If 3D printing takes off in emerging economies at even a fraction of its potential, including the opportunity for recycling metals and plastics, 3D printing could play a major role in making even the most resource-constrained farms more viable. 

Sustainable Glass

Glassmaking is one of those industries that use a lot of highly processed and sometimes unsustainable materials so finding an alternative to all of this is a priority for some. A group of architects based in London and a design student looked into finding such an alternative to be used in the glassmaking industry.

They discovered that the quagga mussel, a species of freshwater mussels, can actually be used as an ingredient in creating glass tiles. By mixing the quagga mussel shell waste with local sands and waste wood ash, they were able to create a “unique glass recipe” which can theoretically be used in building designs in the future.