Girls Rule At Google's First Global Science Fair
Language
Reading Level
Listen to Article
Girl power was quite apparent at the Mountain View headquarters of search engine giant Google last week, as officials got ready to announce the winner of its first global science fair - Nine of the fifteen quarter finalists were girls! It therefore, should come as no surprise that the winners in each of the three categories were also . . . . Girls!
Open to teens aged 13-18 years old, the competition attracted entries from 7,500 budding scientists representing 90 countries. Contestants were categorized into three age categories, with one semi-finalist selected from each. From this final group, one lucky contestant was declared the grand prize winner.
In the youngest age category (13-14) it was Pennsylvania teen, Lauren Hodge's experiment, which tested the effects of different marinades on the harmful carcinogens found on grilled chicken, that impressed the judges the most. She discovered that lemon and brown sugar are helpful in destroying the cancer-causing agents, while Soy sauce actually helps increase them - A handy tip, just in time for the grilling season.
Naomi Shah from Oregon was declared the semi-finalist in the 15-16 age category, thanks to her research on how to improve the quality of indoor air so that people suffering from asthma could cut their dependency on medications.
The final category (17-18) and overall grand prizewinner was Texasresident, Shree Bose. Her research involved investigating why women suffering from ovarian cancer develop a resistance to chemotherapy drugs after they have been using them for some time and, what could be done to prevent that. Through experiments performed on cell cultures, she discovered that adding a protein called AMPK to the mix in the later stages of the treatment, helped mitigate the issue. Though further research and tests need to be done, her project may end up helping millions of women who suffer as a result of the drugs becoming ineffective - Pretty awesome!
The two finalists each took home a Lego trophy, a $25,000USD scholarship and earned themselves an internship at Google and Lego. Shree also received a Lego trophy, a National Geographic Expeditions trip to the Galapagos Islands, a $50,000USD scholarship and best of all, an internship at world's largest particle physics laboratory, CERN, where she will rub shoulders with some of the world's smartest researchers! Way to go ladies! To find out how you can compete in Google Science Fair, go to www.google.com/events/sciencefair.
Resources: newswatch.nationalgeographic.com,itworld.com,engadget.com
Cite Article
Learn Keywords in this Article
153 Comments
- sarahalmost 10 yearsi love scienc
- crystalmorialmost 10 yearsI have a friend with asthma. I hope Naomi's study is given the attention it deserves and is implemented all over.
- crystalmorialmost 10 yearsAnd by that I mean all over the world, not just the country.
- diamondkidalmost 10 yearsWow.
- tbl5832almost 10 yearsi hate science.
- bigmeloalmost 10 yearsCome on, boys! Bring it, because we are ready. The question is, are you?
- pickerralmost 10 yearsi agree!! we need an article about boys. wait... are you a boy?
- crystalmorialmost 10 yearsThey'll never know what's coming till it hits them.
- genius1326over 9 yearsAre you sure? The boys are ready!
- martin75over 8 yearsTrue
- tbl5832almost 10 yearsyeah right. have to say that the boys would smear your face in their dust. or at least the ones i know would
- tbl5832almost 10 yearsnot literally. they are nice to me. they wouldn't ever do something like that to a girl. but metaphorically....they r a lot better at stuff
- emmabookworm5almost 10 yearsAwesome! Girls rule!
- nikukyuabout 10 yearsGirl power!!! Let it shine!!!!
- peacheslarueabout 10 yearsMy name is Naomi tooo!! Yay Name Twinsies!!
- animefan3about 10 yearsWe girl rule google yaaaaay!!!!!!!!
- tomboy201about 10 yearsYes that amassing we rule google
- littlemissyabout 10 yearsWe rule the google yaaaay! At lease I think we do. But this is super awesome. My followers need to check this out!!!!