At the Court, the grand mass of budding Corsican scientists

In the halls of the new examination center at the University of Corsica, it is not seasoned researchers who man the stands, but rather students, sometimes as young as 10 years old. In Corte, on Friday, April 10, the scientific challenges once again brought together schools from all over the island with a common goal: to bring science to life in a different way.

Co-organized by the Collectivité de Corse (CdC), the Academy of Corsica, the prefecture, and the university, this event features several competitions. They all share the same guiding principle: to introduce young people to the scientific process through concrete projects.

In one room, the team from the Fesch Middle School in Ajaccio is catching eyes with a project as original as it is timely: transforming the invasive blue crab in the Mediterranean into a useful resource.

Amélie Bourriot-De Peretti, 14, recounts the project’s genesis: “Last year, we attended a conference on marine pollution. We wondered what we could do on our scale. The idea of the crab came about: how can we make it an ecological solution? Using the chitin present in its shell, we can produce chitosan which…”