US girls sweep Google kids science fair

The grand prize winner was Shree Bose, who entered in the 17-18 age group and won a $50,000 scholarship, a trip to the Galapagos Islands with a National Geographic Explorer and an internship at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

"Shree discovered a way to improve ovarian cancer treatment for patients when they have built up a resistance to certain chemotherapy drugs," said a Google blog post about the winners.

The other two top winners were Lauren Hodge in the 13-14 age group and Naomi Shah in the 15-16 age group.

Hodge "studied the effect of different marinades on the level of potentially harmful carcinogens in grilled chicken," Google said.

Shah "endeavored to prove that making changes to indoor environments that improve indoor air quality can reduce people’s reliance on asthma medications."

The pair each won $25,000 scholarships and internships at Google and LEGO.

The international panel of judges included what Google described as "a panel of acclaimed scientists including Nobel Laureates, tech visionaries and household names."

The trio were selected from a pool of 7,500 entries coming from 91 different countries.

"We are humbled by your ingenuity, your dedication and your skill. We are heartened to know that our future is in the capable hands of our young scientists -- young men and women who tackle big ideas to bring significant, actionable change to the world," Google said.

The science fair was the first such project launched by Google, and was announced in January.

(c) 2011 AFP