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Posted on 10/20/2023 5:27:52 AM PDT by Red Badger
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (Gray News) – A 14-year-old from Virginia was crowned America’s Top Young Scientist for inventing a soap that treats skin cancer.
According to a news release, Heman Bekele, a ninth grader at W.T. Woodson High School in Annandale, won the 2023 3M Young Scientist Challenge last week.
Heman developed Melanoma Treating Soap, a compound-based bar of soap designed to treat skin cancer. Over the next five years, he hopes to refine his innovation and create a nonprofit organization that will distribute this low-cost solution to communities in need.
The final product came out to a shockingly cheap $0.50 per bar of soap – a far more affordable and accessible treatment than traditional skin cancer treatments.
You can watch a short clip of Heman’s presentation here.
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Finalists are paired with a 3M scientist who mentors them over the summer to take their idea from concept to prototype. Heman is seen here with his mentor, Deborah Isabelle, who works on developing new products in 3M’s Automotive Aftermarket Division.(ACK | 3M/PR Newswire) Heman said in 15 years, he hopes to be a successful electrical engineer who has contributed significantly to the industry, with a fulfilling personal life with a loving family and a strong network of friends.
Heman spent the last four months competing against nine other finalists, winning the competition at 3M global headquarters in St. Paul, Minn., on Oct. 9 and 10.
As the grand prize winner, he will receive a $25,000 cash prize and the title of America’s Top Young Scientist.
This year’s second-place winner is Shripriya Kalbhavi, a ninth grader at Lynbrook High School in San Jose, Calif., who developed EasyBZ, a cost-effective microneedle patch that allows for self-automated drug delivery without pills or needles.
This year’s third-place winner is Sarah Wang, a seventh grader at The Pike School in Andover, Mass. She developed the Spring Epilepsy Detection Glove, a glove that can detect tonic-clonic and myoclonic epileptic seizures with common hand movements and tracks seizure statistics through a smartphone application.
The second and third-place winners will each receive $2,000.
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The top 10 finalists of this year's America’s Top Young Scientist competition spent the last four months competing against other.(ACK | 3M/PR Newswire) Finalists are paired with a 3M scientist who mentors them over the summer to take their idea from concept to prototype. During the competition, students are evaluated on their ingenuity and innovative thinking, application of STEM principles, demonstration of passion and research, presentation skills and ability to inspire others.
This was the 16th year of the competition. 3M said previous winners have gone on to give TED Talks, file patents, found nonprofits, make the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and exhibit at the White House Science Fair.
Winners have also been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Forbes, and Business Insider, and have appeared on TV shows like “Good Morning America” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
Copyright 2023 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
when did the Indians change from asian to caucasian?
Pharmaceutical companies are in business to make money, not cure diseases...................
article says ‘treat’ not ‘detect’
if it works i’d like to know why it’s not in trials
Pretty much says it all!
Asian and Caucasion are two different things. Asia is a part of Eurasia (the continent) and Caucasion is a race. The majority of Caucasions live in Asia.
Probably whatever he is putting into that soap could be put into a cream. Just put the cream on any suspicious moles.
How inspiring! Great job!
Also interesting that he developed a treatment for a disease he has virtually no risk of contracting.
Maybe so but looks like to me he is trying to keep from
falling off the stage. Left foot not fully on the stage.
any body have that BS meter?...my detector is pinging hard.
sounds like a possible “grants scam” A cute story and idea looking for a sugar daddy
Suspicious that there are no white kids in this photo. Were whites excluded?
Looking at the picture, almost every single one of them looks like a middle-aged person except newer! There must be something in brainpower that makes smart kids' faces look so mature.
Ya can't be skeptical enough these days...
I'd even posit that simple treatments for the worst kinds of diseases may have been known for quite a while, but for some reason all of a sudden people of color have the answers for what bedevils white folks (literally... being the 'communities in need' for just this sort of thing)?
It's a miracle!
The educational system exploits idealistic, pure-hearted children because it can. How many young innocents -- no matter how bright -- are aware of what adults may be scheming, precisely because the young are sincere -- basically clueless about such evil.
Adults can go either way in life, either by becoming the same predacious characters who took advantage of them when they were young and naive, or by serving to help and defend those who are the future.
Do unto others..
He’s getting the award for the process and creativity - doesn’t sound like there’s actually any intended pharmaceutical efficacy. The headline (as always) is tragically misleading.
You know how “they’re” rewriting movies about historical white figures being played by black people? This is part of that. You’re welcome.
Also see, “Black teen gets 27 acceptance letters from all Ivy League colleges!!!”
Lmao!
Sorry if I ruined anyone’s “Feel-good story of the day”.
Sort of like making an alarm clock?
Exzctly. If a bar of soap will treat something that needs to be surgically removed at present, with large margins around the cancer temoved for safety sake, the surgeons won’t be necessary any longer.
Maybe the soap is like what they call “mop up chemo” (a round of chemo after surgery and after the Main round of,chemo is do e) where medicine is given to kill any remaining cancer cells? If so, that could be a preferred delivery method as it is more directed at target rather than chemo given systemically perhaps?
(The final product came out to a shockingly cheap $0.50 per bar of soap – a far more affordable and accessible treatment than traditional skin cancer treatments.)
I find that very hard to believe.
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