Young Scientists Solve Science's Biggest Problems

Source: New York Times bit.ly/ZR97TPhttp://

The article that I read talked about young scientists participating in the Intel Science Talent Search. The article was written in the New York Times by Ethan Hauser on March 11, 2013. The link can be found below. The article talked about the Intel Science Talent Search, a nationwide contest for young scientists who have made great contributions to science. Dan McQuaid, 17, who goes to Ossining High School in Ossining, NY, is one of the 40 finalists out of 1700 applications; from which one final winner is chosen (The winner was chosen on Tuesday. Finalists are below). Dan's cancer research is focused mainly on the topic of the protein KLF6, which isn't very prevalent in cancer, but acts like a tumor suppressor. Mayuri Sridhar's project was similar: she also looked at tumor suppressing proteins and what causes them to be inactive. Mayuri is 17 and goes to Kings Park High School in King's Park, NY. Many of the other projects are also focused towards biology. Jamie Lee Solimano's project focused on cell signaling using cilia, and what would happen if the cell's primary cilium was disrupted. Another project, submitted by Catherine Wong, 17, who goes to Stuyvesant High School in New York City, involved a wireless device that can produce an electrocardiograph and transmit the results to doctors via mobile phone. 

I found this article very interesting and I could connect it with biology class in a number of ways. The article talked about cell communication through cilia, which I could connect with biology class because we talked about cilia during our cell unit. I had never realized that cells could use cilia to communicate, and I found that very interesting. The article also connects to biology class because it talks about proteins that act as tumor suppressors, such as the protein p53. Mayuri Sridhar's project studies how a mutation in an amino acid that makes up the protein can change the structure of the protein so that it cannot bond with DNA and therefore cannot suppress tumors. This relates to what we recently talked about in biology class; mutations in proteins that benefit or harm humans. The mutated protein mentioned in the article does not function correctly, and proves harmful to a person, as it does not suppress tumors correctly and therefore causes cancer. 

I also found the article really cool because kids that are just a little bit older than I am are doing such groundbreaking research. The idea that kids around my age could do things like this was very inspiring, so congratulations to this year's winners. (See below for the finalists). The article also included videos about three of the contestants, which you can find here.

Update: The results of the contest were announced on Tuesday, March 12 in Washington D.C. The results are posted on the contest's web site here: 2013 STS Finalists.

Source: http://topnews.ae/images/Intel-Science-Talent-Search.jpg

Article Link:

http://nyti.ms/Z7Bmwp