STEM Chronicles September 2026: Power Beneath the Ocean Surface
From the Founder’s Desk
One of the most difficult parts of building something is handing over the mantle to a new team to keep the work going and take it to new heights.
September 2026 edition takes on that challenge head-on and succeeds in flying colors. A new student team now leads the STEM Chronicles, and the students who built the first year have moved into the role of guides reviewing drafts, questioning sources, and holding the new team to the same standard they set themselves. And I can think of no better way for a student to grow than to become the guide for a peer, to share the load, and to be answerable for someone else’s work as well as their own.
This edition is the collaborative outcome of 12 high-schoolers, and proof of what good teamwork can achieve, a skill that will become non-negotiable as the world grows more tech-driven than human led.
The featured research article, Power Beneath the Ocean Surface, asks a question most energy corporations avoid: how much can we take from the ocean while preserving the system that makes the energy possible? It asks difficult questions about why the design solutions can’t be built to fit the ecosystem rather than just override it.
In Dialogues of Discovery, Prof. Preeti Aghalayam (IIT Madras, former Director-in-charge, IIT Madras Zanzibar campus) continues that thought. She describes models and experiments as partners that correct each other, and shows how the best discoveries come from working within a process.
The book review of Steven Brusatte’s The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs completes the idea of working within something larger than yourself. Dinosaurs began as one group among many, and their story is reconstructed only by generations of scientists building on one another’s work.
The students also bring you the latest in STEM across the globe, a pH indicator you can make at home, this month in science history, and a murder mystery they designed for you to solve!
If you are a researcher, educator or professional who would like to support the students with this initiative, consider this a personal invitation. Join them on Dialogues of Discovery, mentor a student writer, or share this edition with someone who will.
Happy reading.
Dr. Sonali Dasgupta
Founder, STEMonsters Education
In This Issue
- Featured Blog: Power Beneath the Ocean Surface
Offshore wind, tidal, wave and ocean thermal energy, and what large-scale extraction means for marine ecosystems. Written by Abhinav Jandhyala, Grade 11 section editor. Art by Kavya Das. - Dialogues of Discovery: Prof. Preeti Aghalayam
Chemical engineer at IIT Madras and former Director-in-Charge of IIT Madras Zanzibar, on mathematical modelling, experimentation, catalytic reactions and the future of chemical engineering. - News Flash: The Monthly Buzz
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and the first direct observations of seafloor spreading along a mid-ocean ridge. - Book Review: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
Steve Brusatte’s account of dinosaur origins and modern palaeontology, reviewed by Aashna Raghu Sankar, Grade 12 section editor. - Student Showcase: DIY Experiment
Make your own red cabbage pH indicator and test household liquids across the acid and base scale. - Fun Zone: Previously This Month and The Murder Mystery
September in science history, and a laboratory mystery to solve, designed by N P Vismaya, Grade 12 section editor.
Watch the Conversation
Prof. Preeti Aghalayam, chemical engineer at IIT Madras and former Director-in-Charge of IIT Madras Zanzibar, describes herself as a lifetime chemical engineer. She speaks with the student editors about how mathematical models and experiments correct each other, drawing on her own work in catalytic reactions and underground coal gasification, and on the growing role of AI in research. Her advice to students: “Be true to yourself.”
From the Featured Article
To what extent can we use the ocean as a source of energy without changing the dynamics that make it possible? This is a question that is mostly swept under the carpet because there is no easy answer, yet.
The ocean covers more than 70% of the Earth’s surface and is constantly moving through waves, tides, currents and winds. For centuries, humans have considered the ocean something to navigate, predict or withstand. Only recently have we also viewed its movements as a vast, untapped source of energy.
The full article explains how offshore wind, tidal, wave and ocean thermal technologies capture energy, examines what large-scale extraction means for marine food webs and coastlines, asks who decides how the ocean is used, and looks at a Birmingham City University study on fish-fin-inspired tidal turbine blades as one path toward machines designed to coexist with the ecosystems they enter.
Continue Reading in the Magazine Above
Behind the Magazine
STEM Chronicles is produced by STEMonsters students, where high schoolers work on research, writing, and portfolio projects guided by a PhD scientist. Explore our after-school STEM programs for grades 3 to 12 or our programs for schools.
Read Past Editions
Every month, a new edition written and edited by high schoolers.
