google science fair

Teen builds flashlight powered by body warmth

Ann Makosinski is a 15-year-old with a flashlight obsession. She won a bronze award for a piezoelectric flashlight at the Canada-Wide Science Fair last year. This year, her battery-free Hollow Flashlight has taken her all the way to the top-15 finalists of the Google Science Fair.

Makosinski was inspired by the idea that the human body is like a walking 100-watt lightbulb with untapped thermal energy potential. She decided to build a flashlight powered only by the warmth of a hand.

The basis for the Hollow Flashlight is Peltier tiles, tiles that produce electricity when one side is heated and the other side cooled.… Read more

Google science fair entrants focus on health, environment

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Google held the final round of its second annual international science fair on Monday morning, hosting 15 contestants from around the world between the ages of 13 and 18.

The science fair this year has grown considerably as not only did Google receive thousands of entries from more than 100 countries, but the program now also accepts entries in not just English but also 14 different languages.

Most of the projects derive from the United States, but there were also contestants present from India, Canada, Spain, the Ukraine, Swaziland, and Malta. Entrants are also judged in … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1510: Google + is Bieber-free! (Podcast)

On today's show, we talk to Ken Parks, director of content at Spotify, who lays down the one rule of music licensing negotiations: you don't talk about music licensing negotiations! Plus, Amazon's tablet is incoming, 41 percent of Netflix users plan to take their ball and go home, and girl power at the Google science fair!

Whip-smart whippersnappers at Google Science Fair

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.-- Earlier this week, I spent the day at Google's first-ever Science Fair, and I'll admit it was a little hard not to be intimidated.

After all, I was surrounded by high schoolers who are inventing new types of sailboats, preventing trains from ever derailing again, or who seem on the verge of curing cancer.

The event could well be one of the globe's biggest science competitions, with more than 10,000 13- to 18-year-olds from around the world entering a total of 7,500 projects in the hopes of walking away with the … Read more