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In the 1960's a very famous scientist and inventor called James Lovelock noticed increasing amounts of haze obscuring the views around his house. So he invented a home-made device called the 'Electron Capture Detector' to find out if this haze was man-made, and enlisted his family to help him take daily measurements.



This simple home-made invention and experiment later led to the first documented evidence of man-made CFC's in the atmosphere, which in turn influenced the research which led to the discovery of the hole in the Earth's ozone layer.

The James Lovelock Noticing Nature Challenge now invites the scientists and inventors of tomorrow to create their own home-made nature noticing inventions and experiments. Look in our prototype gallery for ideas and inspiration of what you could invent yourself.