淫人色欲社

7th Grade, Kenmore Middle School
Arlington, VA

The Effects of Seasonal Variation on the Kinematics of Coronal Mass Ejections Using the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Satellite

Project Background: Maedot has always wanted to see the Aurora Borealis, or northern lights. 鈥淒espite my many attempts, I haven鈥檛 seen the northern lights,鈥� she says. 鈥淭his led me to the next best thing, research.鈥� The Aurora Borealis is caused by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), clouds of plasma and magnetic fields spurting from the Sun鈥檚 corona. While they create a beautiful light show in places like Alaska, CMEs can also take out satellites and increase cancer risk for astronauts. Maedot decided to find out what time of year CMEs were at their strongest.

Tactics and Results: Maedot worked with a free database from the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. This instrument has been collecting data from CMEs since 1996. Maedot looked at the CME data for each month from 2018-2022. For each CME in the database, she took three measurements and used a mathematical formula to determine the CME鈥檚 velocity and acceleration. Maedot showed that the velocity of the CME鈥檚 was highest in the fall, and next highest in the spring, but the acceleration of the CME鈥檚 was highest in the spring, and next highest in the fall. The spring and fall are when the Earth and Sun鈥檚 magnetic fields are most closely aligned. 鈥淐MEs cause great damage to satellites,鈥� Maedot says. CME鈥檚 can also harm astronauts. 鈥淏y knowing what seasons have the greatest kinematics of CMEs, scientists can avoid those time periods.鈥�

Other Interests: 鈥淪occer has improved many parts of my life,鈥� Maedot says. 鈥淚 have to think quickly and make decisions in the moment.鈥� She is also learning Amharic, the language her family spoke in Ethiopia. Maedot moved to the U.S. when she was three. 鈥淚鈥檓 still on my journey of relearning how to speak my native tongue, a part of me that I regret losing,鈥� she says. Maedot wants to be an astrophysicist. 鈥淭he universe has always held a sort of wonder to me.鈥�

7th Grade, Hunter College High School
New York, NY

Breaking the Wave: Tsunami Barrier Placement for Maximum Wave Mitigation

Project Background: Tsunamis can cause huge devastation in just a few minutes, as waves multiple stories tall overwhelm people and buildings. But tsunamis are few and far between, and tsunami barriers are ugly and can harm wildlife and ocean industries. 鈥淚 wanted to see if I could find a way to make the barriers more efficient, while at the same time addressing these problems,鈥� Carina says. She decided to compare tsunami barriers on the shore with ones further out in the ocean.

Tactics and Results: Carina built a model shoreline with a large plastic box and a Styrofoam 鈥渟hore,鈥� along with water for a calm 鈥渙cean.鈥� She then held a water-filled bag over the 鈥渙cean鈥� end of her box and dropped it, creating a big wave. Carina measured how much water ended up on the other side of the shoreline. Then, she placed different barriers in front of her wave. She tested barriers on the shore, a partially submerged barrier close to the shore and a partially submerged barrier further out, each time creating a wave and measuring how much water overflowed the barrier. Carina showed that the shoreline barrier was the most effective, reducing 鈥渇looding鈥� by 81.72 percent. The barrier closer to the shore reduced overflow by 63.45 percent, and the barrier furthest out reduced it by 52 percent.

Other Interests: Carina is a swimmer, on the student council, and enjoys the debate team and being in the model U.N. 鈥淚 can argue about topics I care about in a great community,鈥� she says. But she most enjoys reading. 鈥淚t can both transport me to realms where anything is possible and give me fascinating information about the world that I live in,鈥� Carina says. 鈥淚 also really enjoy writing poems and short stories because I can express my thoughts through it.鈥� She鈥檇 like to be a medical doctor, to apply her passion for science to making people鈥檚 lives better.

6th Grade, La Jolla Country Day School
La Jolla, CA

Automatic Hockey Puck-Passer Machine

Project Background: Oliver has always loved hockey, and wanted to be a professional hockey player when he was young. He鈥檚 always looking for new ways to practice his skills. Oliver owns a machine to help him improve his puck handling, but he wanted a machine that would help him practice puck catching and passing. He was sad to find there was no machine to help him. 鈥淚 decided to combine my love of hockey and electronics to help with hockey passing,鈥� he says.

Tactics and Results: When thinking about how to make a hockey puck passer, 鈥淚 thought of pitching machines for sports like tennis and baseball,鈥� Oliver says. 鈥淚t would be able to randomly fire the pucks at different locations while also having another mode to track the player via camera.鈥� His passing machine is a large cube with a lazy Susan inside, along with a tube to store hockey pucks and two motors to launch them. But launching pucks in just one direction wouldn鈥檛 be good enough. Oliver also connected a camera to the top of the passing machine and connected the camera and motors with a Raspberry Pi. The tiny computer detects a blue ball on the player鈥檚 helmet and can use that to launch pucks in the player鈥檚 direction. It can also fire randomly, making the player work harder to catch the pass.

Other Interests: Oliver obviously plays hockey, but he also enjoys volleyball, soccer and even jiu-jitsu. 鈥淭hese sports allow me to stay in a good state of mind because of the natural enjoyment I get from competition and moving around,鈥� he says. He would now rather be a mechanical engineer than a pro hockey player. 鈥淲hen I first started with electronics it was something magical to me, it gave me the same feeling as when I played with my friends,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he problem solving made it even better.鈥�

8th Grade, Missoula International School
Missoula, MT

Dehydration Observation: Can Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Be Used To Estimate Fuel Moisture Content?

Project Background: When conditions get dry, plants are the first to know. But until they begin to wilt, it鈥檚 often hard to see that the greenery is losing moisture. 鈥淒irect measurements of fuel moisture content are time consuming and require destructive sampling,鈥� says Zealand. Dry plants make for excellent tinder for wildfires. If scientists could detect the water content of plants remotely, it 鈥渕ay help improve wildfire risk ratings.鈥� Zealand decided to measure the fuel moisture content (FMC) of leaves by using their color.

Tactics and Results: Zealand started with two peace lily plants. He watered the plants, waited half an hour and cut five leaves off each. Those leaves were allowed to dry in hot conditions while he measured their color with a spectrometer. Mass of a plant changes depending on how much water is in it, so Zealand weighed the leaves as they dried. He was able to show that weight accounted for 70-89 percent of the change in the leaves鈥� color. This means that the color of the leaves could be used to measure their dryness. 鈥淭he logical next step would be to use remote estimates of FMC in natural environments to improve fire risk ratings,鈥� he says.

Other Interests: Zealand loves basketball. 鈥淚t is my dream to play basketball for a D1 college and have an academic scholarship,鈥� he says. He鈥檇 love to go to the University of California at Berkeley, 鈥渂ecause my parents went there.鈥� Zealand also studies Aikido. He could be a physicist, or a chemist. 鈥淚 really want to find the deep secrets of the world and want to know why the universe was created,鈥� he says.

6th Grade, Homeschool
Palo Alto, CA

Quantitative Analysis of Epigenetic Influences by Gut Microbiota-Derived Short-Chain Fatty Acids on RPI-1 Gene Expression in C. elegans: A Novel Investigation Into Dyslexia and ADHD-Related Pathways

Project Background: 鈥淒iagnosed as stealth dyslexic since childhood, I’ve always wondered if I could find a cure for something I struggle with daily,鈥� Giselle says. While taking a summer course in genetics, she learned about epigenetics 鈥� ways that the environment can change how DNA is expressed, without changing the DNA itself. Giselle also learned about the relationship between the gut and the brain, and how short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) might impact brain function. SCFA production can be changed by things like exercise, sleep and the amount of fiber someone eats. Giselle decided to look at the relationship between SCFAs and important genes in dyslexia.

Tactics and Results: Giselle studied genes in C. elegans, a tiny nematode that is often used in science. In people, the gene DCDC2 is important in language processing. While nematodes don鈥檛 talk, they have a similar gene, RPI-1. Giselle examined how the RPI-1 gene responds to SCFAs. She gave different nematodes either 10, 20 or 40 microliters of SCFAs in their dishes, and after three days, she examined how much of the RPI-1 was being expressed in their cells. Giselle showed that if nematodes got more SCFAs, they tended to express less RPI-1. 鈥淭his implies that reaching a specific threshold of SCFA levels might influence dyslexia and ADHD symptoms through epigenetic mechanisms, involving changes in gene expression influenced by the environment rather than DNA,鈥� she says.

Other Interests: Giselle enjoys tennis, even though she says she鈥檚 not very good at it. 鈥淚t is through tennis that I learned how to be resilient, optimistic and keep trying,鈥� she says. Giselle wants to be a biologist. She blends her passion for science with love of drawing. 鈥淥ne of my favorite creations is ‘Super Bio-Girl,’ a character I came up with who fights diseases using genetic engineering,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 think science needs to be creative because it allows us to link together concepts that might not usually connect.鈥�

7th Grade, Homeschool
Charlottesville, VA

Testing Corrosion: Types of Cathodic Protection of Steel

Project Background: Parker has an uncle with a boat. While he was learning about boats, Parker also ended up learning about the problem of corrosion. 鈥淢odern ships are mostly made of metals like steel. So, when they are in the salty water of the ocean (an electrolyte) they corrode quickly,鈥� Parker says. Parker鈥檚 uncle uses zinc on the hull of his boat as a sacrificial metal to create something called cathodic protection against corrosion. Parker became curious as to which method of cathodic protection would work best.

Tactics and Results: Parker compared two types of cathodic protection 鈥� impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP) and sacrificial metals. ICCP uses a small voltage to provide a flow of electrons that protects the metal it鈥檚 on. Sacrificial metal 鈥� like the zinc on Parker鈥檚 uncle鈥檚 boat 鈥� corrodes faster than metal under it, giving off a flow of electrons to protect the underlying metal. Parker connected magnesium, zinc, nickel, copper or an AA battery to steel wool. Parker put each piece of steel wool in saltwater to mimic the ocean and waited 14 days to see how much each steel wool piece would rust. Parker showed that magnesium would do best to prevent rust, because it is the most reactive of the metals. 鈥淚 also expected the AA battery sample to work better than the control sample since this method is used on modern ships today,鈥� Parker says. 鈥淗owever, ICCP was very similar to the control.鈥�

Other Interests: Parker is passionate about helping kids newly arrived to the U.S. 鈥淚 run a sports club for international students, help provide meals and help run activities like hikes to help them make connections with local families,鈥� Parker says. Parker loves the competition and exercise of sports and plays soccer, basketball, ultimate frisbee, pickleball, volleyball and runs track. Parker also plays the baritone ukulele. The teen is interested in materials science, especially corrosion science. 鈥淚 have talked to several people in this industry, and there is so much more study needed on this topic,鈥� Parker says.

8th Grade, Punahou School
Honolulu, HI

The Flammability of Native vs. Non-Native Grasses in Hawaii

Project Background: Alex has always deeply loved the outdoors. As a resident of Hawaii, he was horrified by the 2023 fires on nearby Maui and heard that non-native grasses might have played a role in its spread. 鈥淣on-native grasses were the reason that the fire was able to ravage the town, spreading and consuming,鈥� Alex says. He feels a strong 鈥渒uleana鈥� (responsibility in Hawaiian) to serve his community, and responsibility for 鈥渁ina鈥� (land in Hawaiian). So, Alex decided to compare the flammability of native and non-native grasses.

Tactics and Results: Alex started with six types of plant. He tested native pili grass, (Heteropogon contortus), oahu sedge, (Carex wahuensis), and mau’u’aki’aki grass (Fimbristylis cymosa). He also tested non-native natal grass (Melinis repens), witchgrass (Panicum capillare), and five-finger grass (Digitaria eriantha). He then needed to set them on fire with an epiradiator 鈥� a chamber that can heat things to combustion. Alex made his own with a hot plate and a pot. He heated each grass, both dry and fresh, to 500 degree Celsius to mimic a fire, and measured how long it took to see sparks, and how long each grass burned. He showed that the native grasses were less flammable than non-native grasses. They took 38.6 seconds longer to ignite. The native grasses also burned for 74.1 seconds less on average than non-native grasses.

Other Interests: Alex adores the outdoors. 鈥淭hrough hiking, skiing and fishing, among others, I have grown to love everything about nature and have been lucky enough to experience its splendor,鈥� he says. He鈥檚 even done a 19-day backpacking trip on the John Muir Trail in California. Alex also loves basketball, video games and movies. He鈥檚 interested in pursuing biochemistry. 鈥淏iochemistry is a field where you develop drugs, etc. to help cure people,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 think that it is interesting to see how 淫人色欲社 can be applied to saving lives.鈥�

7th Grade, Challenger School – Salt Lake
Salt Lake City, UT

Biomass to Biofuel

Project Background: Dalia loves going to farm festivals, and corn mazes are her favorite part. But she did wonder what happened after the farm festival was over. 鈥淚 always questioned if there is a way to better use all of the wasted pumpkins, apples and corn,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f it can be recycled to help our planet or solve hunger problems in the world.鈥� In reading up about waste, she learned about efforts to create efficient biofuels out of biomass that people can鈥檛 use. Dalia decided to use an enzyme to help break down biomass into alcohol-based biofuel.

Tactics and Results: alia wanted to test the enzyme cellulase, an enzyme that can break down the cellulose in plants. She tested seven different types of plant matter: sugar cane, corn kernels, corn stover (the stalks and leaves of corn plants), grass, sawdust, straw and maple tree leaves. She ground up each type of biomass, then added cellulase and yeast to convert the sugars to ethanol. Dalia showed that cellulase could double or even quadruple the ethanol the plants produced compared to the control. Those with high sugar (sugar cane, corn and corn stover) had the highest ethanol yield, while grass, sawdust, straw and maple tree leaves had the lowest. 鈥淭he process is not cost efficient,鈥� she says. 鈥淗owever, during emergencies and as the prices of fossil fuels increase and the stored amounts of energy deplete, it can be an alternative source of energy.鈥�

Other Interests: Dalia loves to dance, especially hip hop and jazz. 鈥淚 find delight in learning numerous choreographies and practicing them in my room, often dedicating hours to practice dance,鈥� she says. Dalia also loves languages and is trying to become fluent in both Arabic and Japanese. She recently took up pottery and finds it both relaxing and challenging. Dalia would like to become an environmental engineer. 鈥淚 aspire to address environmental challenges, promoting sustainability and enhancing human well-being on a global scale,鈥� she says.

6th Grade, Canyon Vista Middle School
Austin, TX

Effect of Various Antibiotics on Digestive Enzyme Activity

Project Background: When Arya鈥檚 mother recently had surgery, 鈥渢he doctors gave her antibiotics to prevent bacterial infection,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut every time she would take the antibiotics, she would complain of a stomachache.鈥� Arya began to wonder why the antibiotics caused so many stomach upsets. She knew that the drugs could disrupt the gut microbiome, but could they interfere with digestion as well? Arya decided to test how different antibiotics might affect digestive enzymes.

Tactics and Results: Arya decided to test four different antibiotics 鈥� penicillin, erythromycin, ampicillin and neomycin. She put tablets of each drug into tubes containing different digestive enzymes and the nutrients they broke down. Arya tested amylase, which breaks down starch. To test bile salt/pancreatin, which breaks down fats, she used olive oil. She also tested pepsin, which breaks down proteins like albumin 鈥� which is found in things like eggs. She measured the effects of antibiotics on these enzymes with color-producing digestion assays. Arya showed that erythromycin reduced starch digestion by 50 percent, and fat digestion by five percent. Penicillin reduced starch digestion by 40 percent. Ampicillin reduced protein digestion by 10 percent and fat digestion by five percent. Neomycin, however, did not affect any of the digestive enzymes. 鈥淏ased on these results, I conclude that neomycin is the safest antibiotic among the four tested, and does not result in G.I. tract side effects due to reduction in nutrient digestion,鈥� she says.

Other Interests: 鈥淲riting is my huge passion,鈥� Arya says. 鈥淓ven though I don鈥檛 want to take up writing full-time, I definitely want to publish at least a couple [of] books.鈥� She also adores crafting. 鈥淚 will always be found on the weekends with a big Amazon cardboard box and a pair of scissors,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 make so many things that it clutters my whole room and annoys my mother.鈥� Someday, Arya wants to be an aeronautical engineer, building spacecraft 鈥渟o that I can help people discover new planets and worlds.鈥�

8th Grade, Newark Academy
Livingston, NJ

The Effect of Methylcobalamin on Vigna radiata Germination Under Heat Stress

Project Background: Sophia and her mother both take vitamin B12 supplements. Sophia鈥檚 mom takes one 鈥渂ecause she is vegetarian, and plants do not contain substantial amounts of B12,鈥� Sophia explains. She knew that B12 helps people produce blood cells and is necessary for brain development. It is also an antioxidant 鈥� a chemical that can stop reactive molecules from forming. Antioxidants are important to helping bodies respond to stress. Sophia began to wonder if B12 could help plants respond to stress, too.

Tactics and Results: Sophia wanted to see if methylcobalamin, an activated form of B12, could change how quickly seeds germinate when they are at high temperatures. She tested 120 mung bean (Vigna radiata) seeds. 鈥淢y grandmother and I grew Vigna radiata sprouts together when I was younger, and they are a staple in Asia,鈥� Sophia says. She separated her seeds into six groups. Three groups were germinated at 80 degrees, and three at 98 degrees. Each of the three groups received either zero, three percent or eight percent methycobalamin in their water. After a week, Sophia showed that the groups germinated at 80 degrees had no differences. At 98 degrees, seeds grown with methylcobalamin has longer lengths than seeds grown in water alone. This could mean that the seeds were under stress at the high temperature, and that methylcobalamin helped them by acting as an antioxidant.

Other Interests: Sophia is a competitive swimmer who has swum at the state championships and practices six days a week. She has a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. She also loves cooking, drawing and painting. 鈥淢y most recent painting was of a groundhog,鈥� she recalls. She鈥檇 like to be a biologist. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 decided on a field within biology that I would like to pursue, but I am interested in cancer biology, immunology and cell biology,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 so much to be discovered that can help people.鈥�

7th Grade, Englewood Cliffs Upper School
Englewood Cliffs, NJ

Enhancing the Efficacy of Ingested Lactase by Altering Gastric pH

Project Background: Many of the people in Olivia鈥檚 family are lactose intolerant 鈥� they cannot digest the sugar lactose commonly found in dairy products. Her family isn鈥檛 alone: nearly two-thirds of people around the world are lactose intolerant. 鈥淭o relieve symptoms when consuming dairy products, they have to take lactase medications,鈥� she says. Lactase is the enzyme that breaks down lactose. Sometimes, if her family members are eating a lot of dairy, they have to take a lot of lactase. Olivia began to wonder if there was a way to make the lactase pills work longer.

Tactics and Results: Using vinegar to simulate stomach acid, Olivia added milk to 12 test tubes. Half of the test tubes also got Tums, calcium carbonate tablets, to increase the pH. Then, she applied lactase to two of the test tubes, one with calcium carbonate and one without. She measured the pH of each tube and also measured the amount of glucose produced 鈥� a measure of the breakdown of lactose with lactase 鈥� for 60 minutes. Vinegar alone had a pH of 3, which rose to 4 when milk was added. Calcium carbonate increased the pH to 6. Olivia showed that alone, lactase produced 70 mg/dL of glucose alone. If it was combined with calcium carbonate, however, it produced 183 mg/dL of glucose. 鈥淭hese findings suggest that combining calcium carbonate with lactase will increase the efficacy of ingested lactase in lactose intolerant people,鈥� Olivia says.

Other Interests: Olivia developed her interest in science by reading science comics. Now, she animates math and science cartoons herself. 鈥淚 created a website of educational videos and I recruited several classmates to help make them,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 do this to help my fellow classmates learn 淫人色欲社 in a fun way that everyone can understand.鈥� She has a passion for medicine and for the environment and would like to become a doctor. Inspired by her sister鈥檚 severe mushroom allergy, she would like to be a pediatric allergist.

6th Grade, Indian Springs Middle School
Keller, TX

Chemically Transforming Dead Leaves Into Adhesives

Project Background: Raking up the fallen leaves in his yard, Brody saw just how many bags of leaves went to the trash. 鈥淚 saw in our neighborhood all the bags of dead leaves stacked up and saw it was a big waste,鈥� he says. He wanted to see if it would be possible to turn the dead leaves into something more useful. Brody knew that leaves were full of cellulose, and that cellulose was made of long chains of glucose. Knowing glucose was sticky, Brody decided to see if he could turn dead leaves into a glue.

Tactics and Results: Brody collected dried oak leaves and also collected iron from soil with a magnet. After crushing the leaves, he mixed them with pineapple juice, hydrogen peroxide, hydrogen peroxide with his collected iron or cellulase (an enzyme that breaks down cellulose). Then he waited for either an hour or a day. Brody took a drop of the final mixture and put it between two sheets of cardboard, let it dry, and then measured how much force it took to pull the two sheets apart 鈥� a measure of how well his glue worked. The strongest glue was the pineapple juice with leaves (the positive control), then cellulase and then hydrogen peroxide. 鈥淭he hydrogen peroxide with iron did not work as an adhesive as good as without iron because I think that the iron catalyst made the reaction too fast,鈥� Brody says. He hopes that one day leaves could help make adhesive.

Other Interests: Brody likes to practice magic tricks and loves to read fantasy books 鈥淢agic tricks are kind of like fantasy to me because I read a lot about wizards,鈥� he says. He loves 淫人色欲社 subjects and hopes to become a mechanical engineer. 鈥淚 know it is not related to mechanical engineering, but I really want to do chemistry too,鈥� he says.

7th Grade, The Harker School
San Jose, CA

Turning Animal Bone Waste Into Water Filtration: Enhancing Accessibility of Clean, Drinkable Water Through Innovation

Project Background: 鈥淲hen I was watching the news after dinner last summer, I was shocked to see children drinking dirty murky brown water,鈥� Tina says. 鈥淲hile I was picking which type of water to drink, some people couldn’t even have clean water.鈥� She was upset to learn that one out of every three people don鈥檛 have access to clean water, and that many water filtration products were expensive and used parts that were difficult to find. Tina decided to create a water filter with something that many people have lying around 鈥� animal bones.

Tactics and Results: Tina started by slicing cow bones into thin slices and filtering water through the bone slices. She focused on trabecular bone 鈥� a spongy bone with porous structures found in places like the skull and ends of the long bones. Tina tested different types of 鈥渄irty鈥� water 鈥� black tea, rose tea, water with microplastics in it and water from local streams 鈥� by pouring them through the bone slices. She then analyzed the data to see what pore size in the bones produced the clearest water and showed that small pore size meant cleaner water. Tina ground up bones into powder and used them as her filter. Finally, she sent samples of her filtered water to the San Jose Water Company for testing, and they showed that her water reached drinkable standards. Tina then expanded her filters to use bones from pigs and sheep.

Other Interests: Tina is a competitive swimmer. 鈥淢y swimming has taught me the determination it takes to achieve a goal, and I apply this knowledge to my other activities,鈥� she says. She would like to be a physicist. 鈥淚 like to understand why things move and behave the way they do,鈥� she says. 鈥淔or example, in Oobleck, the combination of water and cornstarch, the way it reacts with force is different from what we are used to because cornstarch has such a small particle size鈥�Applied physics explains how these fascinating, fun and unknown or unpredictable substances behave.鈥�

8th Grade, Central Middle School
Greenwich, CT

The Synergistic Improvement of Indoor Air HEPA Filtration Using Concurrent Dehumidification

Project Background: As she spent a lot of time indoors during the COVID pandemic, Mikah realized that indoor air wasn鈥檛 always very clean. 鈥淟ow air quality originates from fireplaces, cooking appliances, household cleaning products, paints, insecticides, insulation and second-hand tobacco (or marijuana) smoke,鈥� she says. 鈥淎ll share one commonality; they each release hazardous chemicals, and lead to 3.2 million deaths annually. Even worse, 90 percent of Americans’ time is spent indoors 鈥� where pollution tends to be 2-5x higher than outdoor concentrations.鈥� Mikah decided to study how dehumidifying air and filtering it could reduce indoor air pollution.

Tactics and Results: Mikah began by burning two cigarettes inside an airtight container with 45 percent humidity and analyzing the resulting air. She found second-hand smoke contained methane, ethane, propane and butane. Then, she burned cigarettes in her chambers and filtered the air with a $20 dehumidifier. She found that 73.8 percent of the secondhand smoke was gone in seven hours. When she added a $1 charcoal filter to her dehumidifier, she could filter 85.4 percent of the secondhand smoke in seven hours. She also showed that between 95 and 97 percent of the nicotine was removed as well and concluded that most of the nicotine was being removed by dehumidifying the air, rather than simply filtering it.

Other Interests: Mikah loves to dance and does ballet, modern, hip hop, jazz and contemporary dance. 鈥淚 enjoy dancing because it鈥檚 another way to express yourself. It requires such control over your body, and you use every part of yourself to convey emotion,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen I鈥檓 dancing, or even just in the dance environment with my friends, it鈥檚 like I’m in my own world and nothing else matters.鈥� When she grows up, Mikah wants to bring together her love of performing with her love of research. 鈥淚 think there are creative ways to bring together the arts and science,鈥� she says.

7th Grade, Canyon Vista Middle School
Austin, TX

Novel Application of Olfactory Sensor Arrays in the Detection of Food Allergens Using Artificial Intelligence

Project Background: Like many people, Samvith suffers from severe food allergies. 鈥淚 have eagerly eaten foods, only to feel the itchy mouth, throat contractions and swollen eyes that are all tell-tale signs of an allergic reaction,鈥� he says. He was frustrated that current allergen sensors were so expensive and require contact with food 鈥� making them not very useful in daily life. Inspired by how accurately ants seem to find food, Samvith decided to train a volatile organic compound (VOC) sensor, using machine learning, to identify allergens by 鈥渟mell.鈥�

Tactics and Results: Samvith started with a low-cost VOC sensor ($60-80), and hooked it up to a kit to make it Bluetooth compatible. He trained the sensor with a machine learning program, exposing the sensor to samples of peanuts, eggs, pistachios, almonds, cashews and walnuts. 鈥淥ne of the main limitations of testing was that I am severely allergic to cashews and walnuts,鈥� Samvith says. 鈥淪o, for training those allergens, I provided instructions to my mom and monitored the data collection remotely while my mom operated the sensor.鈥� After training his program over 2,048 rounds of testing, Samvith tested his sensor on real world products with allergens, like Twinkies, almond lace cookies, peanut butter caramel balls, curries and muffins. His 鈥渘ose鈥� was able to identify allergens at between 94 and 97 percent accuracy.

Other Interests: Samvith loves sports, including football, basketball, swimming, track and table tennis. He also likes to create graphic novels and animations. He also helps his community via the Young Changemaker Journey Program. With the program, Samvith got funding to install a bike rack at a shopping center to help people get around without cars. 鈥淚t is extremely fulfilling to see the rack in daily use,鈥� he says. He would like to be a biomedical engineer.

8th Grade, Central Middle School
Greenwich, CT

Development of a Simple Salivary Rapid Diagnostic for the Detection of Iodine Deficiency

Project Background: Tyler has suffered from iodine deficiency in the past. 鈥淢y neck swelled causing a goiter, and I was very tired. I was initially misdiagnosed with a thyroid disorder,鈥� he says. He got the supplements he needed, but 鈥渕any people with iodine deficiency are not so fortunate, and they end up with serious and sometimes permanent health issues.鈥� Tyler knew that detection tests for iodine were expensive and required access to a lab. He decided to create a test that could be done at home.

Tactics and Results: Tyler wanted to create a test for iodine levels that would work with a person鈥檚 saliva. He made tiny gold nanoparticles and used sodium thiosulfate. Both iodine and the gold nanoparticles compete to bind to sodium thiosulfate, which means that more iodine would outcompete the gold. The gold nanoparticles are red on their own but show up as blue when they bind to sodium thiosulfate. So, when mixed with someone鈥檚 saliva, that means the mixture turns red or purple at normal saliva iodine levels because more nanoparticles are free. It鈥檚 blue when iodine levels are low, because all the gold nanoparticles are bound up. Tyler tested his with artificial saliva and showed that it reacted with the right color changes to different levels of iodine. Even though it contains a bit of gold, he estimates that the test can be produced for $2.

Other Interests: Tyler loves math. 鈥淚鈥檓 convinced that math is my native language,鈥� he says. He even dressed up as Archimedes for Halloween 鈥� when he was nine. Tyler has faced a lot of medical challenges in his life and would like to become a biomedical engineer. 鈥淚 have experienced first-hand how life changing biotechnology can be,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 envision a world that where you are born doesn鈥檛 dictate whether you get to be healthy, and I am so excited that my research can help kids just like me who don鈥檛 currently have access to my resources.鈥�

8th Grade, Fairmont Private School – Anaheim Hills Campus
Yorba Linda, CA

Optimizing Microbiologically Contaminated Wastewater Treatment Using Microbial Fuel Cells

Project Background: When Jocelyn visited New Orleans last summer with her family, they ended up spending time in Cancer Alley, an 85-mile stretch between New Orleans and Baton Rouge filled with around 200 petrochemical plants. 鈥淚 heard from local activists and their heartbreaking stories about the impact of industrial pollution,鈥� Jocelyn says. 鈥淭his experience has determined me to work towards a future where everyone has access to clean water.鈥� When she got home, she decided to work on new ways to purify wastewater and decided to improve Double Chamber Microbial Fuel Cells (DCMFCs), where microbes break down waste products and produce electricity and clean water in the process.

Tactics and Results: In DCMFCs, bacteria in the anaerobic, oxygen-free anode section of the cell break down wastewater products and produce hydrogen ions. Those ions go to the cathode section, where they can combine with oxygen to produce clean water. 鈥淭he anode is crucial as it produces bacteria and forms the biofilm, a structured community of cells,鈥� Jocelyn explains. She tested different anode materials to determine which produced the most constant voltage over time. She built two DCMFCs out of large containers and compared anodes made of aluminum, zinc, iron and nickel over 120 hours each. She expected aluminum to perform best, but to her surprise, zinc performed most consistently. Jocelyn expected that acidic wastewater might have caused her aluminum anodes to degrade and hopes to improve the aluminum anode to make 鈥渕ore efficient and sustainable practices in managing wastewater.鈥�

Other Interests: Jocelyn has always loved science, but social anxiety held her back from getting too involved. She decided to face her fears and is now captain of her debate team and proud of her public speaking skills. She鈥檚 even used it to benefit others. 鈥淚 based my Girl Scouts Silver Award project on Social Anxiety Disorder, educating over 100 students, teachers and parents,鈥� she says. Jocelyn would like to become an environmental engineer 鈥渢o find sustainable solutions for issues like water pollution.鈥�

8th Grade, Durham Academy
Durham, NC

Using Motors To Simulate Braille

Project Background: On a visit to a school for the blind in Old Delhi, India, Yash realized that none of the students were using modern electronic braille readers 鈥� they were far too expensive. Yash decided he would try to build an inexpensive electronic braille reader that anyone could afford. He wanted to build it for less than $50.

Tactics and Results: Yash used tiny rotating motors to poke users鈥� fingers in braille letter patterns. He tested with two different sizes of motor, arranging six of each motor in three rows, and experimenting with the distance between the motors. Yash connected the motors to an Arduino, which moved the motors based on text from a computer. His results showed that the smaller motors could not withstand the pressure of fingers, while larger ones could. He also compared the distances between motors to see which allowed people to read braille with accuracy. Testing his device with students at the school in Old Delhi, Yash showed that readers were most accurate when the motors were 6 millimeters apart, and that they could read his Braille motor-letters with 86 percent accuracy compared to printed braille. His current model cost only $35, and Yash has filed a patent for his device.

Other Interests: Yash has been playing the piano since he was three. He took up fencing when he was eight. 鈥淚 love fencing because it’s not just a physical game, but mainly a mental game,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hinking of what your opponent will do in the next point makes all the difference to win the match.鈥� While he had the usual early dreams of being a firefighter, now Yash would like to be an electrical engineer. 鈥淭he journey from concept to creation, fueled by innovation and creativity is what entices me the most.鈥�

8th Grade, Lorenzo De Zavala Middle School
La Joya, TX

Rock Til’ You Drop: Investigating a Train鈥檚 Harmonic Rock and Roll

Project Background: When 38 cars of a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio in 2023, Gary happened to be doing an internship at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on railway safety. 鈥淚t was the talk of the shop,鈥� he recalls. Gary became fascinated by what might have caused the derailment. Was it an unbalanced load? A bad suspension system? Gary decided to find out what impacts acceleration at resonance 鈥� the vibrations on a track that can make a train go off the rails.

Tactics and Results: Gary headed for the train tracks near his house. 鈥淚 was able to document the difference between new trains and their suspensions springs to older ones, visibly rusty and with less space between the spring coils,鈥� he says. He then built three sets of train tracks out of foam. He attached springs to each track 鈥� new stiff springs, midlife springs or old springs. He programmed an Arduino to measure the vibrations and ran a toy train over his tracks. He also attached weights to the train to observe the effect of unbalanced loads. 鈥淭he beginning of life springs and midlife springs were able to take the uneven loads and go through the tracks smoothly,鈥� Gary says. But old springs created more vibrations and made the train more likely to derail on sharp turns when it was loaded with more weight. 鈥淩ailway engineers need to pay attention to both weight distribution and the suspension system to ensure the safety and reliability of the trains,鈥� he says.

Other Interests: Gary loves to play baseball and football. 鈥淭hese sports bring my siblings and I together as we spend our afternoons pretending to be pros in a playoff game,鈥� he says. He also coaches younger students in baseball and loves to put science in his coaching, 鈥渟o while they are learning the sport they are also learning about physical science.鈥� Gary wants to become a mechanical engineer and work for NASA or SpaceX.

8th Grade, Mason Middle School
Mason, OH

A Novel Two-Pronged Approach To Control Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and Mitigate Microcystin Levels in a Freshwater Ecosystem

Project Background: During the COVID pandemic, Samhita got a foldscope 鈥� a tiny paper microscope 鈥� and excitedly used it to look at tiny creatures. 鈥淥ut of curiosity, I collected water samples from a lake and prepared some slides to check for Harmful Algal Blooms since I had read about them,鈥� she says. Samhita then learned that more than 2 billion people around the world don鈥檛 have access to clean water and decided to find a way to control harmful algal blooms.

Tactics and Results: Samhita, accompanied by her dog, collected water from Grand Lake in Ohio. She was looking for Planktothrix 鈥� a type of bacteria that forms harmful algal blooms. The algae produce the toxin microcystin, which can cause liver damage in people. Samhita treated some of the lake water with six percent hydrogen peroxide and compared it to control lake water for seven days. The peroxide made the algae break apart into filaments, but also made them release more than 50 parts per billion microcystin. Samhita then tested whether she could filter the microcystin out of the water using a coconut activated charcoal filter. She showed that the filter could bind to the microcystin and remove it from the water. Her method, Samhita says, 鈥渋s cost-effective, environmentally friendly and does not affect the quality of water and the ecosystem.鈥�

Other Interests: Samhita loves to sketch and make jewelry. She started a non-profit with her sister called 鈥淎rtsy Altruists.鈥� 鈥淲e have a team of like-minded individuals who create and sell artwork/jewelry to raise funds for our school foundation, which helps at-risk students, and we also support local and international charities,鈥� she says. Samhita learned to speak and write Tamil and volunteers at a local Tamil school to help other kids learn, too.

8th Grade, Wadsworth Magnet School
Decatur, GA

PS-Risk: Plastic Microparticle Pollution in Human Blood Affects Immune Cells and Leads to Tumor-Like Structure Formation in the 3D Cell Culture Assays

Project Background: Anushka has been interested in the immune system since third grade, when she put her 鈥渃lean鈥� hands on an agar plate and learned that her body was protecting her from countless microbes. In 2022, she learned that scientists in the Netherlands were detecting microplastics 鈥� pieces of plastic far too small to see with the naked eye 鈥� in people鈥檚 blood. 鈥淚 wondered if this microplastic pollution might affect our blood cells and health,鈥� Anushka says. She decided to find out what effect microplastics might have on the immune system.

Tactics and Results: Working in a lab at Emory University, Anushka looked at the effect of microplastics and nanoplastics 鈥� even smaller plastic particles 鈥� on human blood immune cells. She showed that the immune cells took up bits of plastic into themselves, especially a type of immune cell called a monocyte. Anushka also looked for signs of inflammation by examining whether the plastics caused the cells to produce molecules called cytokines. They did not, but the microplastics did cause the cells to clump and stick together, forming what Anushka called 鈥渢umor-like鈥� structures. She also developed a 3D cell culture model called a 鈥減lasticoma鈥� to study whether microplastics might be involved in future development of cancer.

Other Interests: Anushka loves to crochet. 鈥淐rocheting helps me focus on the project at hand. It reduces my stress, helps me feel calmer and increases my hand-eye coordination, which assists me while studying, playing tennis or an instrument,鈥� she says. She also loves to give her completed projects to her friends and teachers. She would like to become a clinician scientist. 鈥淚t will help me study and develop treatments for food allergies and eczema, from which my brother, myself and many children are suffering,鈥� she says.

7th Grade, Honey Creek Middle School
Terre Haute, IN

Does a Dendroclimatic Reconstruction of the Southern Hemisphere Show a “Hockey Stick Curve”?

Project Background: Leif has always been passionate about climate change. He鈥檚 also passionate about science fair. 鈥淟ast year’s science project was the first time I really interacted with statistics, and I loved it,鈥� he says. 鈥淪o this year, I wanted to do a project that combined my work with the environment with my interest in stats and math.鈥� Inspired by his dad, who is a dendrochronologist (someone who studies past environments by studying tree rings), Leif decided to use tree ring records to look at climate in the Southern Hemisphere.

Tactics and Results: Scientists have made historical temperature graphs using dendrochronology of the Northern Hemisphere. Those graphs show a 鈥渉ockey stick curve鈥� going up 鈥� evidence the climate is changing. But there was not yet a graph for the Southern Hemisphere, because there wasn鈥檛 a lot of data. Leif gathered data from 275 tree rings from the International Tree-Ring Databank and carefully checked their quality, eventually selecting 41 tree-ring sets from South America, Tasmania and New Zealand. He standardized them and ended up with 19 samples that could provide a graph from 500 CE to 2011 CE. His graph showed that there was a major temperature increase during the past century compared to the 1400 years before it 鈥� evidence of climate change. But he did not see evidence of things like the Medieval Warm Period or the Little Ice Age, showing that the Southern Hemisphere had a slightly different climate from the Northern Hemisphere.

Other Interests: Leif is a passionate environmental activist and a member of an environmental group at his school: The EARTHlings. Together, they presented a climate resolution to their local city council. The resolution passed, and now Leif sits on the sustainability commission for the city of Terre Haute, making decisions about electric vehicle chargers and invasive species. He would like to be an environmental engineer. 鈥淚 think that the climate crisis is the biggest issue of our time, and I want to do all that I can in the fight against it,鈥� he says.

8th Grade, Fairmont Private School – Anaheim Hills Campus
Anaheim, CA

Closed-Loop CO鈧� Capture and Electricity Generation Using Algal Fuel Cells: A Comparative Study on Spirulina and Chlorella

Project Background: Rhea鈥檚 home state of California 鈥渋s experiencing droughts, record temperatures and atmospheric rivers that make the issue of climate change very real and urgent for me,鈥� she says. Rhea became interested in carbon capture, using algae to absorb carbon dioxide (CO鈧�) through photosynthesis. Those algae can then be grown in a fuel cell, which can produce electricity. 鈥淲hile a few papers described the working of an algal fuel cell, there were no findings on the most efficient algae species for this purpose,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 decided to identify two most photosynthetically active algae and test their effectiveness in CO鈧� capture and electricity generation.鈥�

Tactics and Results: Rhea compared two species of algae, Spirulina and Chlorella. She created a carbon dioxide scrubber 鈥� a vessel of each species of algae 鈥� and used a Raspberry Pi to detect how much CO鈧� the two species drew out of the air over the course of a week. She also built an algal fuel cell with the two species, measuring the electrical output every three hours for a week. Rhea showed that Chlorella sucked up 16 percent more carbon dioxide than Spirulina. When the two species were in fuel cells, Chlorella produced 70 percent more electricity. Algae like this, she says, could support long-term Mars missions, providing electricity and helping to recycle air. On Earth, she鈥檇 like to build a single self-contained unit that could absorb CO鈧� and produce electricity. 鈥淢y goal would be to have these units installed in people’s gardens or roofs to reduce their carbon footprint,鈥� she says.

Other Interests: Rhea volunteers every Saturday at her local Hindu temple, preparing offerings and garlands for celebrations. 鈥淚 enjoy bonding with my community and want to continue assisting them to preserve our long-lasting traditions,鈥� she says. She is a dedicated Girl Scout, volunteers weekly at a food drive for the homeless and is captain of her debate team. Inspired by her own eyesight, she鈥檇 like to become an optometrist.

7th Grade, The Honor Roll School
Sugar Land, TX

Evaluating Various ML Models To Efficiently Uncover Exoplanets

Project Background: Jairam has been an astronomy fan for most of his life and was thrilled to learn about exoplanets 鈥� planets outside of our solar system 鈥� and 鈥渉ow several thousand had been discovered in just the past few years,鈥� he says. Most are discovered by space telescopes on the hunt for transits 鈥� the dark shadow an exoplanet will cast as it moves in front of its star. 鈥淎lthough the Transit Method is very accurate, the time it takes to validate an exoplanet from telescope data can take several months,鈥� Jairam says. He decided to use machine learning to find a faster way.

Tactics and Results: Jairam used data from the Kepler Space Telescope Exoplanet Hunting in Deep Space dataset. The dataset has measures of light changes from 5,087 stars, all of which have already been classified with whether or not they have an exoplanet. He divided up the data and used 90 percent of it to train six different machine learning models. Then he used the last 10 percent of the data to test the models once they were trained. Jairam showed that one of the models, the convoluted neural network (CNN), had 99.82 percent accuracy. Its precision score was 0.83 (meaning that it said one out of six stars had an exoplanet when they did not). He hopes that his model will eventually make detecting and validating new exoplanets easier and much faster.

Other Interests: Jairam is a brown belt in Kuk Sool Won, a Korean martial art. He loves buzzer-based science competitions like the National Science Bee, where he always picks astronomy as his topic. He was deeply inspired by Carl Sagan鈥檚 鈥淐osmos鈥� series and hopes to become an astrophysicist one day. 鈥淭he possibility of finding planets outside of our solar system and life on other planets is very exciting to me,鈥� he says.

8th Grade, Challenger School
Palo Alto, CA

Investigating the Visual Information Degradation in Adverse Weather

Project Background: People have a hard time seeing in dark nights or fog, making driving risky. Computer systems aren鈥檛 too different. 鈥淚 was surprised to learn how big of a challenge bad weather was in outdoor vision applications,鈥� Sophie says. 鈥淔or example, bad weather is often considered the bottleneck of Automated Driving Systems.鈥� Not only that, she learned that between 1982 and 2013, fog was associated with 40 percent of airline deaths when weather was bad. Sophie decided to develop computer algorithms that could analyze scenes in the dark and fog.

Tactics and Results: 鈥淪ince vision in adverse weather was a broad topic, I limited the scope to nighttime fog under the illumination of artificial light,鈥� Sophie says. She built a sealed, lightproof fog chamber, and mounted a camera and two lights inside it, to simulate a car with its headlights on. Using laser lights, Sophie took measurements from the mounted camera to study how much the light attenuated over eight different levels of fog. She also used a fixed black and white image to see how much sharpness and contrast degraded. With her data, she tested three algorithms to estimate fog density, calculate the distance between objects, and recover a sharp image from the foggy scenes. Her three models performed at 78, 80 and 88 percent accuracy.

Other Interests: Sophie got elected as Vice President of her student council, and she won using something surprising: humor. 鈥淢y campaign was based on jokes about my height,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 now have the goal to help students find their own superpower and to approach problems with a sense of humor and positiveness.鈥� While confident in her sense of humor, Sophie says she has imposter syndrome about her research, but she鈥檚 determined to focus on her love of science. 鈥淚鈥檓 sharing this experience to show other 淫人色欲社 kids that imposter syndrome is a hurdle, not a roadblock,鈥� she says.

8th Grade, Robinson Middle School
Plano, TX

Sycamore Seed Inspired Fan Blade Design for a Portable Air Purifier

Project Background: Hiruni has struggled with asthma, which is exacerbated by air pollution. When she began to study air filtration, she realized that 鈥渓ess than 30 percent of the world’s population has access to HVAC systems, and cost-efficient air filtration can significantly benefit those without access to clean air.鈥� For her previous science fair project, she developed an air filter using activated carbon, snake plant fibers and coconut fibers. This year, she wanted to improve on her project by creating a fan blade inspired by a sycamore seed.

Tactics and Results: 鈥淚 have a strong interest in biomimicry, which involves drawing inspiration from and mimicking designs that exist in the natural world,鈥� Hiruni says. Sycamore seeds, she found, can increase their lift as they fall from the tree, spinning around as they fall 鈥� like a fan blade. Hiruni analyzed the fall rate of 27 sycamore seeds and used their shapes to design and 3D print fan blades modeled on the seeds. Hiruni tested her sycamore seed blades against standard fan blades in an airflow test and showed that sycamore seed blades had higher air speed and flow than regular fan blades. She then compared the two fans inside an air filtration system, where Hiruni measured how well the fan blades could disperse incense smoke. She showed that her sycamore fan and filter system dispersed smoke at 48% efficiency over 30 minutes. 鈥淏y improving air filtration methods, we can positively impact the lives of many individuals and communities by providing them with a healthier living environment,鈥� she says.

Other Interests: Hiruni plays the violin for her school orchestra, and she also has a talent for writing short stories and poetry. She donates the money she earns from her writing to causes she cares about, including cancer research and animal rights. She鈥檇 like to be a biomedical engineer, she says, so she can 鈥渃ontribute to the development of cutting-edge technologies that can improve healthcare and ultimately make a difference in people’s lives.鈥�

7th Grade, Homeschool
Portland, OR

An Affordable, Portable Orbital Desktop Satellite Tracker

Project Background: Zeke was eight years old when he decided he wanted to contact the International Space Station (ISS) using ham radio. Of course, since a ham radio alone isn鈥檛 enough to contact the ISS, Zeke would need to track it. He built his own satellite tracker with a 10-foot-long antenna, and two more small trackers out of Legos. 鈥淚 wanted to provide a fun, hands-on way to teach students about mechanical and electrical engineering,鈥� he says, so he decided to 3D print a desktop satellite tracker.

Tactics and Results: In his previous models, Zeke had used a potentiometer to measure the position of his antenna to track the ISS. But they require calibration, and can鈥檛 always rotate as much as he needed. So he decided to see if an accelerometer 鈥� a device measuring acceleration 鈥� and a magnetometer 鈥� which measures magnetic field 鈥� could do it instead. He designed and 3D printed his parts and programmed a microcontroller and an LCD screen with a list of stars, satellites and planets to track. He was able to track objects to within 7.1 degrees of error. 鈥淭hat means when I try to get a signal from satellites, I should be well within the beam width of my antenna.鈥� His proposal to Amateur Radio on the International Space Station was accepted this year, and he is excited to guide students as they speak to an astronaut on the ISS using his ham radio and tracker.

Other Interests: Zeke has always been excited by engineering. 鈥淲hen I was one year old, I had a battery, switch and a lightbulb drilled to a piece of wood that I made with my dad. Once I figured out how it worked, I would run around the house with it, saying 鈥楤attery, switch, lightbulb!鈥欌�� he says. But he also loves horseback riding, survival skill training, making primitive tools, and piloting small planes.

8th Grade, Eastern Middle School
Riverside, CT

Shedding Light on the Prevalence of Harmful Butylated Hydroxytoluene Preservative in Artificially Formulated Dog Foods

Project Background: Macky has two dogs that she adores. 鈥淚n the past, one of my dogs had significant skin irritations, and we didn鈥檛 know what was causing it,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hat finally solved the problem was changing her food, which eventually cleared the skin problem, and she was as good as new.鈥� This made Macky want to find out exactly what could be in dog food that caused dogs trouble. She came across butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), a preservative. It is used in a lot of human and pet foods/

Tactics and Results: Macky sourced three popular brands of dry dog food from her friends and family. She ground up 10 grams of each one and soaked them in ethanol. Once they had dried out, she used a spectrometer to find BHT in the foods. She also used a technique called high performance liquid chromatography to analyze each food and determine how much BHT was in each one. 鈥淚 started my project thinking the brands researched wouldn’t include BHT due to the fact it wasn’t stated on the nutritional labels,鈥� Macky says. 鈥淗owever, the brand Acana included 0.101% of BHT, Wilderness included 0.124% and Wellness included 0.104% of BHT.鈥� Macky is concerned that BHT is not good for pets. 鈥淚f I continued this topic, my next step would be to suggest that more information be communicated on nutritional labels of dog foods, so that consumers could make more-informed decisions,鈥� she says.

Other Interests: Macky loves to play field hockey. 鈥淚 enjoy field hockey because it allows me to set goals and strive for them,鈥� she says. She also is part of the Greenwich Youth Conservation program, where teens work on beaches, trails and parks. 鈥淲e plant trees, remove invasive species, clean up trash and maintain walking trails throughout the town,鈥� she says. Unsurprisingly, Macky wants to be a veterinarian. 鈥淓ver since I was younger, animals have always fascinated me, and being able to research what they are eating and the harmful effects really is important to me,鈥� she says.

8th Grade, The Nueva School
San Mateo, CA

A DICOM Viewer for Radiologists Employing Bidirectional Siamese Masked Auto-Encoders, a Novel, State-of-the-Art Method of Lung Cancer Classification and Detection in Low-Dose CT Scans

Project Background: A few years ago, Aiden鈥檚 mom had a breast cancer scare. Luckily, his mother did not have cancer, even though the system that diagnosed her said her chances were between 50 and 95 percent. 鈥淚 was surprised by this level of confidence, or lack thereof,鈥� he says. When he heard that lung cancer screening standards had been expanded, 鈥淚 figured it was a great opportunity to do something I’d wanted to do for a long time.鈥� Early detection is crucial for lung cancer treatment, and Aiden decided to develop an AI-powered system that would help doctors diagnose it more accurately.

Tactics and Results: Aiden collected lung computed tomography (CT) scans from three different public datasets, the National Lung Screening Trial, the Lung Image Database Consortium and Lung Nodule Analysis 2016. Using these, he trained a computer model using a type of self-supervised learning called Masked Auto Encoding, which trains the computer model by hiding certain pieces of data and requires the model to fill in the blanks. Aiden then tested his model against the data in his lung CT dataset and compared his own model鈥檚 performance to current models in use. 鈥淢y method outperforms two current state-of-the-art self-supervised learning methods in lung CT scan classification, demonstrating its promising potential,鈥� he says. Aiden also researched how radiologists do their work, and incorporated his model with a DICOM viewer, used for medical images. Eventually, he hopes to get a partnership and bring his model to the clinic.

Other Interests: Aiden plays competitive squash, has been a member of the USA national team, and was ranked first in the country in the boys <13 division. He also loves taking math classes at the Art of Problem Solving school and participating in math and computer science competitions. He hopes to be a computer scientist and found his own company. 鈥淚 think people are too complacent towards the world's issues,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e need to take decisive action before it gets worse.鈥�

8th Grade, Rowland Hall Middle School
Salt Lake City, UT

Green Solution for Blue Gold: Examining Three Types of Biodegradable Hydrogels on Water Conservation in Irrigation

Project Background: Living in Salt Lake City, Sophia has been concerned by the nearby lake. 鈥淧lagued by excessive water use compounded by climate warming, the Lake had precipitously declined since the 1990s and hit historic lows for two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022, threatening an ecological collapse, huge economic costs and public health emergencies,鈥� she says. Sophia soon learned that the problems facing the lake are problems of water management. Since the majority of water use in 2022 went to agriculture, she decided to study how hydrogels could help conserve water for irrigation.

Tactics and Results: Sophia put together different hydrogels. These are materials that can absorb, hold and then release water. She made three types of hydrogels out of starch, agar and hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC). 鈥淚 enjoyed synthesizing the hydrogels, watching the mixture transform into a Jello-like substance right before my eyes,鈥� she says. Sophia then measured how well they absorbed water, retained it, and then re-absorbed water again. She showed that the HEC-based gel performed best at a range of temperatures, both alone and when put in soil. But all of her gels helped soils retain water.

Other Interests: Sophia is a competitive chess player and has been listed in the top 100 Women and Girls Player lists by the US Chess Federation. She鈥檚 also a competitive swimmer. 鈥淚 love the feeling of challenging myself by pursuing my best time and the sense of belonging when competing for my team and cheering for or being cheered for by my teammates,鈥� she says. She was selected as a Kid Reporter for Time for Kids in 2023 and wants to be an aeronautical engineer.