12-year old David Cohen from Dallas has invented a robot which could help curb malaria to a large extent as his machine drowns mosquitoes and traps them under water, Huffington Post reports.
Cohen, from Dallas submitted his work to the “Discovery Education 3M Scientist Challenge” and has been selected as one of the competitions’s top ten finalists as he aims to win the $25,000 cash prize, with the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist,” which comes along with an all expenses paid vacation at the finals.
Cohen said: “My sister actually got a pretty bad staph infection from itching a mosquito bite. She was in a lot of pain and could barely walk. It took her a couple weeks to heal with heavy antibiotics.”
Cohen, a high school freshman paired up with mentor, Delony Langer-Anderson a 3M advanced new product development specialist for the project.
young scientist challenge
Cohen and his mentor throughout the competition, Delony Langer-Anderson. [Photo credit: 3M Young Scientist Challenge]
Langer-Anderson heaped praises on the pre-teen scientist said: “David looked at the problem of mosquito-borne illnesses in a different way. He asked, ‘What if the mosquito was never born?’ As he’s worked through prototypes and ideas, he’s never lost sight of the idea that if he can stop the mosquito from emerging from the larvae stage, he can prevent them from spreading diseases.”
She said although it is yet to be seen whether Cohen’s invention will reduce the number of malaria or West Nile virus cases, the involvement of such youngsters in solving world problems is a welcome development
“I think that people like David have the potential to impact the futures of people living in our country and in developing regions of the world,” she added.
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