We continue introducing our projects to you and now are ready to present another one. It is called "How much water is in plants? Measuring with a DIY calorimeter."

Some plants die at the first frost, while others calmly survive the Yakutian winter with temperatures below minus fifty. How is this possible? The answer lies in water or rather, in free and bound fractions of it. You will discover all details and build a real scientific instrument - a differential scanning calorimeter. You will assemble an electronic circuit, write a sketch, calibrate the device, and then use it to measure bound water content in birch leaves, lingonberry twigs, moss stems, and more. Over the course of the projectyou will also master your skills in physics, engineering and biology.

Two brilliant tutors will help you with this research. Fedor Protopopov is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Biological Problems of Cryolithozone, PhD in Biological Sciences, author of over 50 scientific papers on plant biophysics and adaptation mechanisms. Mariana Syrtseva is a Biotechnology student with extensive field research experience across Russia and a deep passion for botany.

Want to join? Find out more on the project page!
https://irschool.org/project_calorimetr2026