Spider-inspired invention wins award

Jamie Morton

science In the comic series, young Peter Parker’s Spider-Man bounded between buildings with a supersticky web.

Now one Auckland teen’s spider-inspired invention has landed him a top science prize from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Seventeen-year-old Jonathan Chan yesterday received the $50,000 Prime Minister’s Future Science Prize for his sophisticated, 3D-printed mesh, which emulates a spider’s web.

The innovation’s purpose is to provide good-quality drinking water in developing nations from fog.

His fascination with the idea came after reading about a global, milliondollar competition to harvest water from the air. With help from his teachers at Auckland Grammar School, and Auckland University researchers Dr Duncan McGillivray and Shinji Kihara, he began exploring the concept. While there were already some basic fog collection systems, Jonathan sought to make a mesh that mimicked wetted spider silk or cactus spine, by controlling its size and structure, and adding a chemical coating. Using sophisticated lab tests, he found a suitable mesh coating of polystyrene, a hydrophobic polymer, and refined the concentration of the chemicals to overcome problems of clogging the mesh’s pores. “Mine is more fringe research and

HFor the full list of winners go to nzherald.co.nz could be applied to the real world but whether it can be simplified and taken to a mass scale depends on demand,” he said.

Auckland Grammar School headmaster Tim O’Connor described Jonathan as a smart and incredibly talented student.

“He’s very organised, selfmotivated and has a natural aptitude for study, motivated by a strong work ethic and ability to problem solve at an advanced level,” O’Connor said.

“To see a student win at such a high level is aspirational for others. It sends a very strong message that there was someone in their midst who has achieved at this level, making it more realistic for them to also be working at this level.”

Jonathan was now enrolled at the University of Auckland to begin biochemistry studies, with the goal of eventually being involved in designing new drug therapies.