-"Science Fair" is a new documentary about students
from all over the world
competing in the International Science and Engineering Fair.
I spoke to one of those students, Kashfia Rahman,
who's extremely smart.
-Kashfia, welcome to my scientific lab.
-Glad to be here.
-I don't know a lot about science, but I do know
that safety and decorum comes first.
So I think we should have these guys on.
-Always important.
-What is the purpose of a lab coat?
-Maybe it's just so you
don't kill yourself with all those chemicals.
-All the chemicals. -Yeah.
-So, but what if you got a chemical on,
like, this part of you?
-That's why there's hazmat suits, you know --
full-body things.
-We got to be really safe.
[laughs] So, is this how you do science?
-Usually I work with, like, human subjects,
and they're not as dangerous as, like, chemicals.
-So, do you think it's safe in my lab
to take off the glasses and the coats?
-I'd say so.
-Okay, I trust you a lot 'cause you're really smart.
So, you invented a brain machine is my understanding
and then did really well at the International Science
and Engineering Fair.
-I used this portable EG that already existed,
but I used it in a kind of novel way.
I purchased it with my own money
that I'd saved up from science fair competitions.
The EG machine basically records waves for emotions,
like stress, fear, and anxiety,
and it projects them onto a computer.
I wanted to see how repeated risk-taking exposures
in adolescence affects the teenage brain.
I put it on some kids from my school,
and I told them to fake gamble.
And the results were my science-fair project.
-So, if you ever saw a kid doing something really dangerous
like jumping off a roof into a pool, would you be like,
"Hey, will you put on my -- my brain machine?"
-Yeah. Exactly.
-What inspired you to do this project
about young people taking risks, specifically?
-Risk-taking, alcohol, drug use --
It's been on the rise in teenagers across the globe,
but I've seen it in my own peers.
And that was kind of a wake-up call for me.
-What did you find about risk?
-I basically found that the more a person is exposed
to a risk environment,
the more emotions associated with risks,
like stress, anxiety, and fear are desensitized and reduced.
They actually start to gradually fade from the brain.
-So, if I jumped off a roof into a pool 100 times,
by the, like, 85th time,
I would just feel nothing. -Yeah.
-I would just jump in and be like,
"There was no thrill whatsoever."
Does that make people seek bigger and bigger risks?
-Exactly. -Oh, that's terrible.
Do you think that Americans, American teens,
but also American grown-ups care enough about science?
-I think kids my age are really passionate about science.
Science is and always will be really important.
I think my generation understands that.
So I'm glad that we'll be taking over the world one day
and showing everybody how, like, impactful science is.
-One of the things I wrote down to ask you was,
"Will the world be okay?" -Yes!
Definitely! -Sounds like yes.
And it's thanks to you, personally.
-Yeah, well, not me,
but if my generation is in charge of the world,
which they will be before we know it, in a couple of years,
then I think the world is in good hands, and we'll make it.
-I like that you say "in a couple years."
Like, what do you know that we don't is gonna happen
to all the old people in like two years time?
That's a little -- Take your vitamins, guys.
Do you think that teenagers or young people
generally are better at solving complicated problems
just by being new to them?
-This generation just has, like, a fresh pair of eyes.
You use problems as a motivation
for making the world a better place.
And I just think that that's something that's unique
to kids growing up nowadays.
We're just almost better human beings.
Like, we're more compassionate and empathetic,
and we want to help each other
and make the world a better place.
-What if you get all jaded? -I don't think that'll happen.
I think I'm pretty convinced
that we'll make some good things happen.
-That's very reassuring, I have to say.
Is it different to be a girl
at science fair than a boy? -Mm-hmm.
Being a girl at science fair is really empowering, actually,
because it gives you that platform
to prove to your haters, to people who are hostile to you
because you're a girl that they're wrong
and that girls can do just as much as boys
and that we have a voice in science,
like we should anywhere else.
-Do you feel like people underestimate you a little bit?
-Yeah, I think they do just because of, you know,
I'm a girl and I'm a minority, pretty small, so I often --
I often get people who, you know, underestimate me.
I don't feel fazed when people underestimate me.
I feel empowered and motivated to do more to prove them wrong.
-Well, I deeply underestimate you, Kashfia.
So go and -- -Thanks for that fuel
and motivation, yeah.
-I underestimate your ability to solve climate change.
We have that on tape.
So now you have to go and save us all, please.
-All right. Will do.
-So, you study risk.
I put some slime in some beakers.
-Uh-huh. -Would it be risky
if I drank this? -Yes.
-It's not exactly your field, but if I drank it 100 times,
by the 100th time, I'd be like, "I feel no fear."
-No big deal, yeah.
-We won't drink the slime then. There.
-I really like the aesthetic. -Good.