Teenagers Changing the World Through Technology
When you were 17 years old, you were probably thinking about finishing up high school, or finding the perfect date to prom. But there are some teens who are coming up with incredible inventions that have the power to change the world for many of those who are most disadvantaged. As we move out of the lull of summer, we wanted to highlight some projects that can inspire your creativity as we move into the fall season. (They might also serve as inspiration to your kids who are in middle school or high school.)
taken from: Gawker
Solar Powered Clean Water
Around the world, close to 800 million people don't have regular access to clean water and electricity. Enter Cynthia Sin Nga Lam, an Australian high school student who created a device that uses solar power to generate electrical while purifying water at the same time. Called H2Pro, the device is one of 15 finalists in Google's Science Fair 2014.
Though the prototype created is small scale, Lam also says that much larger versions could be created. By being placed on rooftops of buildings, wastewater can be filtered through titanium dioxide to be purified for an entire village. Better yet? These devices are not as expensive as the conventional purification methods, meaning that they can be made available to more impoverished areas.
taken from: Gawker
Trying to Stop Cyberbullying
Cyberbulling, a phenomenon where school-age children are bullied via the Internet through mean text messages, emails, or instant messages, is on the rise. Recently, a survey reported 9% of students got cyberbullied within the past year. Tricia Prabhu, an 8th grader from Naperville, IL came up with an innovative solution to stop cyberbullying before it happens.
Her idea? To create an app called Rethink, which sends notifications to people when it detects them posting words like stupid, dumb, ugly, etc. asking them if they want to send the message. It seems like such a simple idea, but a study conducted with "1,500 adolescents showed that 93 percent decided not to send the message after being warned," according to Gizmodo. With the psychological trauma that cyberbullying can cause, now seems like the perfect time for this innovation.
taken from: Gizmodo
And these are just a few of the many inventions that teenagers of all ages are coming up with! To see all of the finalists from this year's Google Science Fair, check out a full list at their website. Some other ideas include impressive changes to breast cancer treatment, environmental cleaning using pencils and sunscreen, and much more! Feel free to share your comments about these amazing inventions or highlight others we may have missed in the comments section below.