Science Fair

This is such a cool story.

"First Place Sweep by American Girls at Google's First Science Fair," from the New York Times earlier this week, is pretty much summed up in its title. Google sponsored its first science fair. It was international: 10,000 kids from 90 countries submitted applications online, and finalists were chosen to compete. The three girls who won their age groups were all from the U.S. Very cool that they were all American, and cooler that they're all girls (said the father of a girl).

But the coolest part was the 17-18 year old winner, whose project looked at ways to improve the efficiency of a common cancer drug. She also won best overall, and her prize is a $50,000 scholarship, a trip to the Galapagos Islands, and a trip to the CERN particle physics laboratory in Switzerland.


The 13-14 year old winner also had a cancer-related project: she found that lemon juice and brown sugar marinades decrease the number of cancer-causing compunds in grilled meat, while soy sauce increases them (Which spells doom for my soy-ginger London broil.)

But the coolest part of all is the trophies that the girls got, which look like they were made out of Legos.

As you know fom reading, I'm always looking to the future. And it certainly looks bright.