Winners of the 2014 Google Science Fair have been announced:
- 13-14 age category: Mihir Garimella (Pennsylvania, USA)for his project FlyBot: Mimicking Fruit Fly Response Patterns for Threat Evasion. Mihir built a flying robot, much like the ones used in search and rescue missions, that was inspired by the way fruit flies detect and respond to threats. Mihir is also the winner of the very first Computer Science award, sponsored by Google.
- 15-16 age category AND Grand Prize Winners: Ciara Judge, Émer Hickey and Sophie Healy-Thow (Ireland) for their project Combating the global food crisis: Diazotroph Bacteria as a Cereal Crop Growth Promoter. Ciara, Émer and Sophie found a way to use naturally occurring bacteria in soil to speed the germination process of food by 50 percent.
- 17-18 age category: Hayley Todesco (Alberta, Canada) for her project Waste to Water: Biodegrading Naphthenic Acids using Novel Sand Bioreactors. Her project uses a sustainable and efficient method to break down pollutant substances and toxins found intailing ponds water in her hometown, a hub of the oil sands industry.
As the Grand Prize winners, Ciara, Émer and Sophie receive a 10-day trip to the Galapagos Islands provided by National Geographic, a $50,000 scholarship from Google, a personalized LEGO prize provided by LEGO Education and the chance to participate in astronaut training at the Virgin Galactic Spaceport in the Mojave desert.
