The New York Times Learning Network 2021 STEM Writing Contest Finalists (in alphabetical order by the writer's last name
Winners
Natalia Araña, age 16, Philippine Science High School, Quezon City, Philippines: “ Mycowood Violins : A Different of Time Machine"
SophieAraten , age 15, Millburn High School, Millburn, N.J.: Unleashthe Tests: The Four-Legged Future of Covid-19 Testing
Maggie Bell, age 16, Lakeside High School, Atlanta, Ga Dishwashers and Dementia: The Brain System You've Never Heard Of
Jaejeong Kim, age, 17, Hunter College High School , New York, N.Y “ A Rising Star: These Star-Shaped Polymers May Be Our Last Defense Against Superbugs
Hoonsun Lee, age 17, CornerstoneCollegiateAcademy of Seoul, Seoul, SouthKorea: “Origami in Space Engineering: Rediscoveringthe Meaning of Discovery"
Suleiman Mohamed , age 16, British School Muscat , Muscat, Oman : “ The Peacock Mantis Shrimp : The Ant-Man of Atlantis ”
Nicola Myers, age 17 , Boise High School, Boise, Idaho: “ And the Grammy Goes to ... Fin Whales ?
Erin Rasmussen , age 14 , Andover High School , Andover, Mass .: The World's Best Quarantiners ”
Kelly Shen , age 16 Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, Atherton , Calif.: “ From Babbling to Birdsong : What Finches Can Teach Us About Vocal Learning
Dana Steinke, age 16, Saratoga High School, Saratoga, Calif The Motion of the Ocean: Using Sea Waves to Desalinate Seawater
Jocelyn Tan, age 15, Ridge High School, Basking Ridge, N.J.: Sleep to Clean: A Prevention of Plaques That Lead to Alzheimer's Disease
Runners -
SimranAnand , age 16, CrestwoodPreparatoryCollege, Toronto, Ontario: “ Tiny Heros”
Elizabeth Banzhaf , age 17 , Lakeside High School , Atlanta , Ga .: “ The Magic of Fireflies”
The New York Times LearningNetwork Varun Fuloria , age 14, The Harker School , San Jose Calif “ The Healing Powers of a Deadly Bite — Medicinal Applications of Snake Venom
Alyssa Kang , age , J.H.S. 067 Louis Pasteur, Little Neck, N.Y .: “Eggshellsand Tomato Peels: Your Next Set of Tires
Pooja Kanyadan, age 15, Wheeler High , Marietta, Ga.: Curious Case of Orange Fur: Epigenetics and Its Powerful Role in Gene Expression
Anna Lehman, age 15 Porter-Gaud School, Charleston, S.C.: “ Air Pollution Against Our Global Aviary : An UnacknowledgedAttack on Birds Everywhere”
Zheshen Li, age 16, PrincetonInternationalSchool of Mathematicsand Science, Princeton, N.J.: The MoreYou Build , the Worse ItGets: Braess's Paradox”
Emily Liu, age 17, Northview High School, Duluth, Ga .: "Happy Pills? Emotions and the Search for a Way to Control Them , Starting With Antidepressants
Evan Lu, age 15, Conestoga High School, Berwyn, Pa.: "Machine-Made Music : How Artificial Intelligence Redefining Musical Composition "
Diya Mukherjee, age 15 , The Harker Upper School , San Jose, Calif.: “Dying Patients , Dying Transplants: The Potential of Machine Perfusion
Shivani Patel , age 17, Manhasset High School , Manhasset , N.Y “ The Role of Cytokines in the Immune System: Friends or Foes ?”
Uma Sthanu, age 13, PearsonRanch MiddleSchool, Austin, Texas: “ Eye- to -Eye: How We Receiveand Send EmotionalSignalsThrough Our Eyes
Vanessa Yip , age 15 , Cheltenham Ladies' College , Gloucester, United Kingdom: “Do Animals Grieve ?"
Kathleen Zhang , age 17, The Peddie School, Hightstown , N.J.: “ Viruses Can Save Lives — The Scope of Oncolytic Virus Therapy
Yanze Ryan Zhu, age 12, RumseyHallSchool, WashingtonDepot, Conn.: “ The Unexpected Sequelaof Coronavirus
Honorable Mentions
Brian Caballo, age 17, The Bronx High School Science, Bronx, N.Y.: " WintertimeRegression and Seasonal Depression"
The New YorkTimes LearningNetwork Camille Campbell , age 16, Homeschool, Scottsdale, Ariz Making a Martian: Is Tardigrade Genetic Material the Colonizing Mars? "
Sam: “ Facial Recognition Is Everywhere”
Isabela : " The Crying Bias: How Preventing Yourself From Crying Might Be Detrimental to Your Health"
Eric Han, age 17 Great Valley High School , Phoenixville , Pa.: " The Issue of Plastic Pollution , and How Bacteria and Engineered Enzymes Are Fighting Back "
Huda Haque , age 17 North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics , Durham , N.C .: " Time Isn't Real. So How Do Our Brains Keep Track of ?"
Jisoo Hwang, age 17, Mclean High School , Mclean , Va " Two Simple Clicks : A New Solution to Help the Environment"
Robert Igbokwe, age 18 Latin School of Chicago , Chicago , III.: " The Shortcut for Slowing Climate Change That We Absolutely Shouldn't Take"
Celina Jia , age 14 LivingstonHighSchool, Livingston, N.J.: " The Growing Dangerof Antibiotic ResistantGerms"
Ishika Jain, age 14 Glen Burnie High School Glen Burnie, Md.: "No Needles Needed: A Plant- Based Oral Vaccine For Rabies"
Sean Kim, age 16, Tenafly High School, Tenafly, N.J.: " Keto: Diet and Cure ? "
Kate Kimball , age 17 Coppell High School, Coppell , Texas & Hana Yang, age 17, Parkland High School , Allentown , Pa.: " Direct Air Capture : A Solution for a Carbon Neutral Future"
Ella Kitt , age 18, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy , La Canada , Calif.: " Pavlov says Press Like : How Social Media Hijack Neural Pathways"
Aliya Shahnaz Kraybill, age 15 United World College of SoutheastAsia , Singapore: " Thank You for the Music"
Pragya Kumar, age 16, Poolesville High School, Poolesville, Md.: " The Truth About Lie Detection"
Saachi Kuthariage , age 16, Millburn High School , Millburn , N.J.: "Bacteria and yeast could be the future of the fashion industry . Here's how ."
Jeffrey Lin: " Killing Superbugs with Air? How Singlet Oxygen Can Hold the Line Against Antibacterial Resistant Bacteria"
Richard Lin, age 16 , Bellaire High School , Houston, Texas: Coronavirus Tests and Crime Scene Forensics: The Science Behind the Polymerase Chain Reaction
The New YorkTimes LearningNetwork Sherry Liu,, age 17, NCSSM, Durham, N.C.: " The PasswordYou Can NeverForget"
Yumu Liu, age 18, Rancho SolanoPreparatorySchool, Scottsdale, Ariz.: " Skin Hunger"
Nichapatr (Petch) Lomtakul , age 16, Bangkok Patana School, Bangkok , Thailand: " Uncoordinated Ripples: Why You Have A Bad Memory"
Yuhong Lu, age 17, Bellevue High School, Bellevue , Wash .: Struggling to Memorize? Go Sleep !
Megan Luong, age 15 Notre Dame High School, San Jose, Calif.: " Treasure Chest of 21st Century Medicine: Deep-Sea Coral EcosystemsHold PotentialCures"
Zane Miller, age 18 Garaway Local Schools, Sugarcreek , Ohio: " Human Limb Regeneration Might Not Be Too FarAway"
Abigail Negron, age 16, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City N.J: Tiny Roommates : The Reality of Where You Sleep "
Mulan Qin, age 17, BASIS International school Hangzhou, China: " Seeking Light from Darkness"
Cathrine Sakin, age 16, Walter G. O'Connell Copiague High School , Copiague , N.Y.: " Light Pollution and Consequential Nocturnal Pollination Patterns"
Zinuo Wu , age 19 North Cross School, Shanghai China : " Protein " Noodle Soup ": Playing with Disorderedness in a Rational Biological World "
Eason Yang, age 16, Trinity College School , Port Hope, Ontario: " Farewellto the Pandemic Year: How Does The mRNA Vaccine Function?"
Athena Yeung, age 16 , Burlingame High School, Burlingame , Calif .: CRISPR : The Future In The Fight Against Cancer "
Kate: " The SweetLies BehindArtificialSweetener"
Hyunseo (Cecilia) Yoon, age 14, Seoul InternationalSchool, South Korea: " NotoriousApp DeepfakeMakes Digital Farewell Possible"
Sophia Zhang, age 16 , Homestead High School, Cupertino, Calif.: " Human Produced Noise Pollution Now Affecting Bat Hunting Patterns"
Olivia Zhu , age 15 James Madison Memorial High School , Madison , Wis "Hydroponics: The Sustainable Way to Feed Everyone Nutritious Food"
Yitian Zhu , age 18 Seven Lakes High School , Katy, Texas: " Metallic Hydrogen: A High- Pressure Oxymoron "
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