Browse 134 real Earth and Environmental Sciences projects entered in 2026, with abstracts, awards and links to the original entries.
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
With 2.25 million tons of annual flame retardant production, phosphorus flame retardants cause aquatic ecosystem disruption and eutrophication. Agricultural waste disposal causes 6% of globa…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Coral bleaching is a harmful phenomenon where corals expel their symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae caused by global warming induced environmental stressors. Conservation efforts utilize p…
CSEF · 2026
Earth & Environmental Sciences(Senior Division)
Tulare County, a rural region in California, relies on groundwater contaminated with inorganic compounds and heavy metals. Low-income residents lack access to advanced filtration systems. Th…
CSEF · 2026
Earth & Environmental Sciences (Track 2) (Junior Division) Fourth Award
Earthquakes may seem to be just tremors that make buildings rattle and trees shake, but they can be very dangerous. Even though they were only 8% of the disasters from 2000 to 2019, they acc…
CSEF · 2026
Earth & Environmental Sciences(Senior Division)
The accumulation of pyrethroid pesticides in agricultural soils, many of which have lost about 50-70% of their original carbon stock, poses significant health and environmental risks as pyre…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences Third Award
Climate change continues to disrupt agricultural systems, making crop yield forecasting a critical component towards enabling climate resilience in agriculture. This project aimed to deciphe…
CSEF · 2026
Earth & Environmental Sciences (Junior Division)
During Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in Clear Lake, California, the lake is not safe for swimming. This experiment compared the effect of temperature on the growth of a cyanobacteria, Anabaena…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Peatland fires are among the most detrimental types of fires toward global warming, and are capable of releasing 10 times more carbon per hectare into the atmosphere than typical forest fire…
AJAS · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences (inferred)
Eelgrass, or Zostera marina, is a species of submerged aquatic vegetation that grows in shallow bays and estuaries. Ocean acidification is the gradual increase in the acidity of seawater cau…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences Fourth Award
Sub-Saharan Africa is vulnerable to variations in precipitation levels, as a large percentage of the population practices subsistence farming and most of their electricity is from hydropower…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Within bodies of water, a red tide is rising. Due to high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, algae tends to proliferate at high levels. These high levels of algae within bodies of water are…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Human activities have led to an alarming shift in the global climate and ecosystems. The scientific community had made various attempts to analyze and counteract climate change and environme…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Thermo-responsive hydrogels represent a promising advancement in sustainable water purification, as this research investigates PNIPAM-based hydrogels enhanced with silica, cellulose, and act…
CSEF · 2026
Earth & Environmental Sciences(Senior Division) Honorable_mention Award
This study investigates the effect of apple pomace concentration on the tensile strength and structural performance of calcium-crosslinked alginate films as a biodegradable alternative to pe…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences Second Award
Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (HABs) pose threats to aquatic ecosystems and public health, yet existing prediction models rely on single-variable correlative thresholds that fail to ca…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Acid rain, microplastics, road salt, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are among the most harmful pollutants affecting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Acid rain forms when sulfur dio…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
AtmosNano: Development of a Low-Cost CubeSat Platform for Real-Time Atmospheric Monitoring Altynay Otetileu NIS, Turkistan, Kazakhstan Flooding affects millions of people annually, yet accur…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The ocean absorbs 25-30% of anthropogenic CO2, serving as a critical carbon sink. This sink property self-limits under increasing atmospheric CO2 due to accumulation of hydrogen ions (acidif…
CSEF · 2026
Earth & Environmental Sciences (Junior Division)
Our project investigated on how we can find a better replacement to synthetic plastics. Our reason for this was to better the environment and make our effort in helping the world. For this p…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences Fourth Award
Individuals spend approximately 90% of their time indoors, so maintaining a good Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is important. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is an essential component of IAQ, as t…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
This study investigated the accumulation of heavy metals in lichens as bioindicators of air quality in southern Puerto Rico. The objective was to evaluate whether proximity to industrial act…
CSEF · 2026
Earth & Environmental Sciences (Track 2) (Junior Division)
Air pollution is a major problem in the Central Valley, especially during wildfire season when smoke increases levels of PM2.5, which are tiny particles that can harm people and plants. Plan…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Mixed deciduous forests are biodiversity-rich ecosystems that support wildlife habitat and ecological balance. Their restoration has become an urgent environmental priority due to deforestat…
CSEF · 2026
Earth & Environmental Sciences(Senior Division) Second Award
El Nino events are Pacific-originating oceanic-atmospheric phenomena that usher in shifts in global circulation and weather–shifts that in the past have spiked global grain prices 40%, spark…
CSEF · 2026
Earth & Environmental Sciences (Track 2) (Junior Division)
Air pollution contributed to 7.9 million deaths in 2023. In 2025, 156 million people lived in areas with an unhealthy amount of air pollution in the US alone. It’s critical for everyone to b…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences Third Award
Coral reefs are the world’s most vital marine ecosystems, producing 50% of the world’s oxygen and sustaining the livelihoods of 1 billion people globally. However, coral bleaching, a phenome…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Lead toxicity is an important environmental issue and a major global challenge, particularly in developing countries where water contamination can pose serious health risks. Heavy metals con…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Polyfluoroalkyl substances are present in 45% of U.S. drinking water, threatening human and environmental health due to their high polarity and persistence. Trifluoroacetic acids (TFAs), a t…
CSEF · 2026
Earth & Environmental Sciences(Senior Division) Honorable_mention Award
Ground-level ozone degrades floral volatile organic compounds (VOCs), potentially impairing pollinator navigation before population declines become detectable. However, no field-based study…
ISEF · 2026
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Fracking is the process of extraction through injection of liquids containing chemicals at high pressures to force open pre-existing fissures. Surfactants provide a protective layer for the…