Quick Byte: Google Science Fair 2012 and TEDx Women Winners from 2011

Encourage students to enter Google’s Science Fair.  It’s the world’s largest global online science fair in its second year.  It’s open for kids ages 13-18. The submission deadline is April 1, 2012.  They are accepting submissions in 13 different languages.  Click here to read details.  Here’s Google’s official blog post about the fair.  There are some nice prizes including a scientific trip to the Galapagos Islands with National Geographic Explorer.  Last year, Google received some criticism from The New York Times implying that it was a marketing scheme.  Here’s an interesting article from MindShift addressing the topic.

My interest in the fair was initially sparked when earlier in the week I watched TEDx Women with last year’s young women winners Shree Bose, Naomi Shah and Lauren Hodge.  “You go girls!” was the first thought that came to mind as I watched the excitement in these young ladies’ voices as they presented their scientific findings.  So, if you don’t advocate for the Google Science Fair, at least pass on some enthusiasm for science and the belief that young people can achieve amazing things by showing these role models in the below TED Talks video.