11-year-old girl develops lead detecting test kit.

Thousands of US water systems are reported to be contaminated by lead. The lead contamination scandal in  Gitanjali Rao’s home  town in Michigan, USA, is  so  severe that officials are facing charges (including manslaughter) over water contamination in 2014-15.

Gitanjali, who recently graduated from sixth grade, was selected from 10 finalists who had spent three months collaborating with scientists to develop their ideas.  Her device uses carbon nanotubes for the detection  of lead.

“Before I had the idea for my solution, I noticed that there was no solution to detect lead in water that is fast, easy, and inexpensive,” Rao told the press.  “I was appalled by the fact. I did a little more research and I found out that Flint, Michigan wasn’t the only place with lead contamination. There were tons of places worldwide with water quality issues. I knew I wanted to solve this.”

Gitanjali likes to spend some of her free time reading MIT’s material science department website. That’s where she learned about a recently-developed type of nanotechnology–and realized that it could be used for a new purpose.

Gitanjali won a $25,000 prize  at the 2017 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge.

Now, her  test kit can detect  lead levels in water faster than other tools on  the market.

Read More  http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/11-year-named-americas-top-young-scientist-50572841

Image Credit  https://www.fastcompany.com

lead levels in water MIT Top Young Scientist