This 12-Year-Old Invented A Robot That Could Help End Malaria

David Cohen understands that mosquitoes aren't just pesky annoyances -- they're global killers, too.

That's why the 12-year-old from Dallas invented a robot that drowns the pests using a pump-jet system that traps them underwater using mesh. He submitted his work to the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge earlier this year and is one of the competition's ten finalists.

The challenge, which is open for students who are in grades 5 through 8 at the time of submission, awards its winner $25,000, the title of "America's Top Young Scientist," and an all-expenses paid vacation. A victor will be decided after finalists present their work on Oct. 13 and 14 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

While Cohen pointed out to The Huffington Post that malaria, a mosquito-borne illness, kills roughly 627,000 people each year -- predominantly in developing regions of sub-Saharan Africa -- Cohen said he got the idea for the project after his own family was affected by the dangerous pests.

"My sister actually got a pretty bad staph infection from itching a mosquito bite," he told HuffPost in an email, noting that mosquitoes love Texas' hot and humid climate. "She was in a lot of pain and could barely walk. It took her a couple weeks to heal with heavy antibiotics."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/david-cohen-robot-invention_n_5976982.html?utm_hp_ref=good-news&ir=Good%20News


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