I am Fionn Ferreira, an Irish teena

I am Fionn Ferreira, an Irish teenager. I am very delighted to have won $50,000 for my project. My project came about as 1 was constantly hearing about plastic pollution on the news. And I also see the real effects on our beaches every day. I discovered, to my shock，that at present no filtration (过滤）for microplastics takes place in any European wastewater treatment centres, so I started looking for a solution. Seeing that there was none，I decided to investigate further，finally finding a way to use the ferrofluid(铁磁流体），a liquid which sticks to the plastic allowing it to be removed using magnets. After over 1,000 tests I have proved that my method would remove 87% or higher of microplastics. I grew up in West Cork, Ireland. My hometown is surrounded by untouched nature. This has been my primary inspiration about how nature works. I soon discovered that science really was in everything. The fact that I lived in such a remote place meant that I had to build my own equipment and lab to conduct tests and experiments. Inspired by scientists such as Ben Feringa and his work with organic chemistry and nanotechnology (纳米技术），I would like to study chemistry or chemical engineering when finishing my last year of secondary school. Both of these subjects will be suited to me as I really enjoy problem-solving and experiments. One of the most valuable rewards from the science fair for me is the opportunity to present my work to a group of professional judges. Winning the prize is a great honour to me as this is an acknowledgement of my project and ideas. Also, winning the prize will give my project more attention. There is nothing I would like to see more than my project to be used in addressing microplastics in our oceans worldwide.