A 17-year-old designed a cheaper, more efficient drone. The Department of Defense just awarded him $23,000 for it.

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teenage boy sitting at a desk covered in electronics and wiring in a white room
Cooper Taylor poses with his drone circuit board.

Normin Taylor

My son's video game habit worried me but it fueled his interest in coding, robots, and AI. At age 16, he won $55,000 at a science fair.

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teenage boy in red shirt working on tiny computer and three smartphones on a white card table with small plants growing under a grow light an a white cat sitting on an armchair beside him
John Benedict Estrada works on infrared images for his science fair project.

Maria Estrada

This high schooler won $10,000 because he saw a mysterious outbreak killing sea turtles in his Hawaii hometown and decided to do something about it

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smiling young man wearing a suit and hawaiian style necklaces hold a long rectangular pink and yellow trophy in front of an orange wall with Regeneron ISEF written on it
Maddux Alexander Springer holds the trophy he won for his research on sea turtle tumors at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair.

Society for Science

2 teens won $50,000 for inventing a device that can filter toxic microplastics from water

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Victoria Ou and Justin Huang stand on stage in blue suits holding their award
Victoria Ou (right) and Justin Huang (middle) won first place in their category and also snagged one of the top $50,000 prizes for their invention.

Society for Science/Chris Ayers

The CEO behind the world's biggest science and engineering fair says the biggest mistake parents make is putting too much pressure on their kids

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Three women stand on stage smiling while the teenager in the middle holds an ISEF award
Maya Ajmera, Grace Sun, and Christina Chan on stage at this year's Regeneron ISEF ceremony, where Sun won the top prize.

Chris Ayers/Society for Science

A 17-year-old took home $250,000 for his award-winning discovery in computer 'brains' that could make AI smarter and safer

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Achyuta Rajaram, wearing a blazer and button-up shirt stands in front of his poster for the Regeneron Science Talent Search
Achyuta Rajaram took first prize at the Regeneron Science Talent Search for his project on computer vision models.

Chris Ayers/Society for Science

A 13-year-old built a 'death ray' using a 2,000-year-old concept from Greek inventor Archimedes

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Brenden Sener stands in a kitchen with his Archimedes Death Ray science fair project on the counter
Brenden Sener won several awards for his science fair project recreating Archimedes' death ray.

The Sener family

A high schooler's award-winning algorithm could help Elon Musk's company Neuralink and pave the way for neural implants that never need replacing

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A high school student in a navy blazer and white shirt holds a black headset
Canadian high school student Anush Mutyala with the headset he used as part of his neural implant science fair project.

Canada-Wide Science Fair

A middle-schooler just won $25,000 for inventing a fire-detection device that works faster than the average smoke detector

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Shanya Gill posing with an award.
Shanya Gill won $25,000 for her fire detection device.

Courtesy of Society for Science

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