Shine on. High school students Anila Madiraju, Elena Glassman, and Lisa Glukhovsky (below, left to right) are winners of this year's Intel Foundation Young Scientist awards. Each takes home $50,000 in scholarship money and a computer.
CREDIT: FEATURE PHOTO SERVICES
Madiraju, a 17-year-old aspiring oncologist from Montreal, Quebec, won for demonstrating RNA's ability to selectively kill cancer cells. Glassman, 16, of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, created an algorithm to read brain waves specific to hand movement and letter recognition. Glukhovsky, 17, of New Milford, Connecticut, showed that distances to nearby asteroids can be accurately measured by amateur astronomers making simultaneous observations at different locations around the globe.
"Every year I decide to do an insane project, even though I don't realize it at the time," says Glassman, who is pondering studies in electrical or biomedical engineering. Glukhovsky says her love for astronomy dates back to elementary school.
