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, 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, , 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, 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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