If this only came in second, what the hell was the first place winner?
I think it was these guys:
Teens win big for pollution control and HIV detection
https://student.societyforscience.org/article/teens-win-big-pollution-control-and-hiv-detection
Just don't ask me what that means, but I'd like to see it demonstrated.
Taylor Wilson has a Geiger counter watch on his wrist, a sleek, sporty-looking thing that sounds an alert in response to radiation. As we enter his parents garage and approach his precious jumble of electrical equipment, it emits an ominous beep.
It was in this garage that, at the age of 14, Wilson built a working nuclear fusion reactor, bringing the temperature of its plasma core to 580mC 40 times as hot as the core of the sun. This skinny kid from Arkansas, the son of a Coca-Cola bottler and a yoga instructor, experimented for years, painstakingly acquiring materials, instruments and expertise until he was able to join the elite club of scientists who have created a miniature sun on Earth.
Here is where the garage was located: