Teens show off inventions at Google Science Fair
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (KGO) -- Imagine your high school science fair, but on a global scale. Right now, judging is going on at the Google Science Fair, which brought kids to Mountain View from all over the world to show off their inventions.
Fifteen-year-old Mihir Garimella modeled a robot he named Flybot after a fruit fly. In a demonstration, it flew away as he tried to swat it.
Garimella: "Fruit flies are actually able to escape within about 300 milliseconds, so faster than we can blink our eyes."
Bloom: "And that's how they manage to evade our fly swatters.
Garimella: "Yes."
And how a drone could dodge falling objects while searching through wreckage for survivors. It's earned him a spot in the Google Science Fair, a worldwide competition for teenage innovators.
"At their age, they don't realize that things are quote impossible, so they go ahead and do them," said Scientific American Editor in Chief Mariette DiChristina. "And that's part of the great inspiration of we see here at Google Science Fair."
Fearlessly attacking a problem that's had grownups stumped, 14-year-old Trisha Prabhu has an answer to cyberbullying.
"It all comes back down to brain science," Prabhu said. "So this part of our brain called the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until age 25. It controls decision making and impulses."
A web browser extension detects an offensive post before it's put up, and simply asks the teen to think twice about it.
A study found it 93 percent effective. And Prabhu already has a provisional patent.
"So I'm looking to take this forward," she said. "I'm actually gonna be speaking at TEDx in London in Oct."
In some cases, these science projects can also be projects of passion, inspired by the very people who mean the most to these students.
"My grandfather is an Alzheimer's patient," said Google Science Fair finalist Kenneth Shinozuka. "And his frequent wandering out of bed at night caused my aunt significant stress, who had to stay awake all night to keep an eye on him."
So Shinozuka built a sensor you can stick to a foot or a sock that wirelessly tells a caregiver when a patient steps out of bed.
"Once the pressure is exerted, the alert is sent out," he said.
For fellow Google Science Fair finalist Arsh Dilbagi, it was his personal hero, Stephen Hawking, who speaks with the help of a large, heavy computer.
"I wanted to make something that could fit in the palm of my hand, was portable, fast," he said.
The answer was morse code -- dots and dashes formed by breathing on a tiny sensor.
His inbox is overflowing. One message sent to him says, "My son does not talk and your invention would be an answer to my prayers -- that is to hear my son say I love you."
