Teenagers' amazing inventions and discoveries

This is a question Laura Krupke, Marie Dippel und Isabell Drath from the Edertal school in Frankenberg tried to solve. The name of the project, "Women act in a more cooperative way," already offers an answer. The three cooperated by developing an "ultimatum game" and a questionnaire. They tested the behaviour of more than 600 high school students.

The egoism of boys can't be quite that pronounced. Otherwise this team would not have made it into the competition with their LED shoes. Janosch Ott and Robin von Wehrden from the Lichtenberg School in Darmstadt built an induction coil into the sole of sports shoes. When running, the tiny dynamo charges a battery.

A fire-resistant layer made out of recycled paper? Janno Schade from Kassel shows how that works. He invented an inflammable insulation panel from recycled paper.

Thomas Gerbracht from Wuppertal constructed a holographic projection: Only one half of these pliars is real, the other half exists only in virtual reality.

The dark side of the blinds takes in the sunlight and produces warmth. The bright side of the blinds reflects the light and keeps out the sun. Lars Witte from Peine invented the energy saving shutters. Even better: this one adjusts automatically, depending on the room temperature.

Lea Sophie Henrich used optic microscopes and chromosome analysis as well as a scanning electron microscope to find out how this orchid creates stunning colorful effects.

Julian Kulenkampff from the Gießen-Ost highschool developed a 3D scanner that everybody can use at home. To build it, he used a regular webcam and a laser. He had to code the user-friendly software all by himself.

Our hearing is usually good enough to detect sources of sound fairly reliably. But Jaro Habiger and Robin Heinemann from the Student Research Center in Kassel can now be sure: they register acoustic signals with six microphones - two for each space dimensions. Then they calculate the delay of the sound waves and determine the precise direction of the source.

That's what Robert Cieslinski and Lukas Helfrich from the Goethe school in Neu-Isenburg tried to find. What they found was a poisonous alcaloid from the Borage plant. Here, they are holding a model of the molecule, called lycopsamin. But beware before drinking any herb tea: the model hasn't undergone medical trials yet.

This radiometer is fascinating to everyone who sees it for the first time: why is it turning? Alina Zubrod from the School Village Bergstraße in Seeheim-Jugenheim found out even more. She answered how the four tiny metal plates can be acellerated to maximum speed using a laser.