Far Cry from a Baking-Soda Volcano

Google announced the winners of its first-ever science fair, and they are Lauren Hodge for the 13- to 14-year-old age group, Naomi Shah for the 15 to 16s, and Shree Bose for the 17 to 18 group, the company announced on its blog. Shree also won the grand prize; she found a way to improve treatment for people with chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer. In addition, Lauren looked into the effect different marinades can have on carcinogen levels in grilled chicken while Naomi studied whether changes to indoor environments and air quality affected people's use of asthma medications. "Our judges said the unifying elements of all three young women were their intellectual curiosity, their tenaciousness and their ambition to use science to find solutions to big problems," writes Cristin Frodella from the Google Education Team. The winners also received prizes, including scholarship money and internship opportunities.