Girls today have more options and opportunities than ever before to do all kinds of exciting and amazing things, from science fair projects to changing the world. It is my goal to share the stories of these smart, brave and kind young women to inspire all of us to make the world a little better.
Congratulations to Olivia Hallisey, the Grand Prize winner in the 2015 Google Science Fair! Her project was an amazingly simple invention that will save countless lives around the world -- an Ebola Assay Card that allows fast detection of Ebola in remote locations, and can carry life-saving antibodies to the right places as quickly as possible.
It's pretty scary going in for an operation. But now, thanks to an inquisitive fifth grader, kids will be able to take their favorite stuffed animals with them for a little extra comfort and security. When Gaby Zane had an idea for her fifth grade science fair project, she had no idea she'd wind up having her results published in a medical journal. But that's exactly what's happened!
Twelve year old Lauren Rojas's science project for school wasn't your typical science fair fare. Instead of building the ubiquitous baking soda volcano, she wanted to test the effects of altitude on air pressure and temperature. So she built a weather balloon, attached several cameras to record the view, and a high altitude computer to track the changes in temperature, air pressure and altitude.
As the first entry in the series notes at the beginning, "Being fifteen years old means very different things depending on where you live. In some countries, for girls, it's the point at which choices are made about whether you should continue with your education, get a job, get married." Fifteen is the year that many of these girls move from the pursuits of childhood to the responsibilities of being an adult, and the social, cultural, and familial constraints that come with them.
Samantha Smith, Cold War Princess
In 1982, the US and USSR were still quite deep in the cold war. It may be hard to remember now, but we were still worried about nuclear attacks. Not in the naive way the folks in the 50s and 60s were ducking under desks or building bunkers. By the late-70s and early-80s, we were pretty much aware that any nuclear attack would be the end of civilization as we know it, and survival was unlikely.
I don't know a lot about climbing. I'm terribly afraid of falling, and think it's a great personal achievement to make it halfway up the easy routes at the local climbing wall (but I'm working on going higher!). But I'm pretty sure Brooke Raboutou is as freakin' awesome as she seems in these photos! And she's only 11 years old!
