Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Will increasing the amount of time help a persons limb heal faster? Hi, my name is Diego and I need help on my science project so much! I need to find some procedures and materials needed to measure how much time it takes for a persons limb to heal in physical rehab. I tried to find help on google but nothing, can you nelp me out? Thank you very much!

Hi. I've moved your topic into the Life, Earth, and Social Sciences forum so that experts in this area can help answer your questions.

Amy
Science Buddies

Hi Diego,

Welcome to science buddies! For a science fair project, you need to pick a topic for which you can plan a controlled experiment and obtain measurable results. You would not be able to do a wound-healing experiment on humans for a science fair, as this would require approval for a clinical trial. And, I don't think you would be able to get approval to do an experiment on vertebrate animals either with this topic. However, it is a very interesting topic, and you could do a related experiment that would make an excellent science fair project. Here are some suggestions:

1. First, go to the science buddies science fair project guide and try the topic selection wizard, or look through the list of health projects listed to see if any of the ideas appeals to you.

http://sciencebuddies.com/science-fair- ... ?From=body

2. Or, you could choose an invetebrate animal, such as Planaria, that regenerates itself when it loses part of its body and do an experiment on one of the factors that affects wound healing. Please don’t pick an animal that does not regenerate itself for an experiment like this. Here is a website that lists possible topics that you could study on wound healing, and a second site that lists recent research projects don’t with Planaria.

http://www.uwo.ca/surgery/plastics/HULC ... ealing.pdf

http://www-u.life.uiuc.edu/~pzavislak/

You would need to do more background research on your topic of interest before you selected an exact topic.

3. Or, you could do an experiment on a rapidly growing plant.

I hope this helps you get started. Please do let us know if you have any questions.


Donna Hardy

Thank you for the great advice, I would have never thought of rehabilitation on plants or animals! Now I think I can do my project a little easier now!

donnahardy2 wrote:Hi Diego,

Welcome to science buddies! For a science fair project, you need to pick a topic for which you can plan a controlled experiment and obtain measurable results. You would not be able to do a wound-healing experiment on humans for a science fair, as this would require approval for a clinical trial. And, I don't think you would be able to get approval to do an experiment on vertebrate animals either with this topic. However, it is a very interesting topic, and you could do a related experiment that would make an excellent science fair project. Here are some suggestions:

1. First, go to the science buddies science fair project guide and try the topic selection wizard, or look through the list of health projects listed to see if any of the ideas appeals to you.

http://sciencebuddies.com/science-fair- ... ?From=body

2. Or, you could choose an invetebrate animal, such as Planaria, that regenerates itself when it loses part of its body and do an experiment on one of the factors that affects wound healing. Please don’t pick an animal that does not regenerate itself for an experiment like this. Here is a website that lists possible topics that you could study on wound healing, and a second site that lists recent research projects don’t with Planaria.

http://www.uwo.ca/surgery/plastics/HULC ... ealing.pdf

http://www-u.life.uiuc.edu/~pzavislak/

You would need to do more background research on your topic of interest before you selected an exact topic.

3. Or, you could do an experiment on a rapidly growing plant.

I hope this helps you get started. Please do let us know if you have any questions.


Donna Hardy

Hi Diego,

I'm glad we were able to suggest some possibilities for your science project. The next step will be to ask a question that you can answer by doing a controlled experiment. After you think of a question to ask, you should do lots of background reading that will help you understand the topic better, and maybe help you refine the question. You will find that your project will be easier to do if you follow the scientific method, step-by-step. Check out the information from the science buddies website:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... thod.shtml.

You will find that there are lots of possible questions to ask, but remember that you need to do just one experiment. Can you think of a question that you would like to answer?

Donna Hardy

Hi Diego,

Your project and Donna's great suggestions made me think about limb regeneration in starfish. Perhaps this is something you can research further.

To help you get started, I found some articles and websites about this topic:
http://discovermagazine.com/2007/apr/ho ... a-new-limb
http://www.susanscott.net/OceanWatch2001/may25-01.html
http://pkayski.wordpress.com/2008/04/06 ... r-reality/
http://www.tutorvista.com/content/biolo ... ration.php
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/a ... rfish.html
http://www.asknature.org/strategy/71205 ... fd02946964

Good luck, and please keep us posted with your progress!

Cheers,
Heather