>>Maria Zuber: We have here the winners of the Google Science
Fair who we'd like to have a little bit of a discussion with.
So do you want to come up on to stage here, Brittany, Sakhiwe and Bonkhe?
[ Applause ] >>Maria Zuber: Okay.
So what I would like to do to start off with is let's run the first video.
[Video] [ Applause ]
>>Maria Zuber: So
Sakhiwe and Bonkhe, it's a very overwhelming experience for you to be here, but really
the ones who should be overwhelmed are all of us.
The Google Science Fair, thousands of science fair entries from over 100 countries, and
these guys finished first.
So how about that?
[ Applause ] >>Maria Zuber: So I think that -- I think
the audience would be very interested in hearing about the creative process here.
You're at home, you're hanging out.
Where did you get the idea that you should do something like this?
>>Bonkhe Malalela: Well, Sakhiwe and I both know that Swaziland is facing a number of
challenges, including local productivity.
So first off we research farming and we come across the hydroponics method, but we also
found that it is expensive and it needs someone with experience.
So we tried ways of simplifying it and that's how we came -- that's how we created the hydroponics
and the financial plans with it.
>>Maria Zuber: Okay.
So you found a method that worked.
How much of this was doing background research versus trial and error?
Both ways are legitimate ways to do science.
>>Sakhiwe Shongwe: We found out about the project, about the hydroponics method, and
then we thought before we proceed with experimenting it's better if we have a lot of research in
case it fails.
>>Maria Zuber: So a great deal of background work went into it.
How long did it take you to get something that worked from the time that you started
the research?
>>Sakhiwe Shongwe: We did the research for about three weeks.
Then after that, we started proceeding with the project and it went very well.
>>Maria Zuber: So you're trying to address what is really an outstanding question, which
is availability of food, which is a great challenge to humanity.
Another great challenge in the area that you live in is the availability of clean water.
Okay?
And have you thought about whether or not there's enough water available to take this
idea and really scale it up to the point where it can be useful?
>>Sakhiwe Shongwe: As you may know, that wood absorbs moisture.
So as we use, it holds the water.
So when the plant is planted, it uses the water from the sawdust.
>>Maria Zuber: Great.
So it's very efficient in terms of water usage.
Well, I think all of us would like to really encourage the two of you to continue this
project, which I think has great, great promise for your area and beyond.
So thank you very much.
[ Applause ] >>Maria Zuber: And now if we could run the
second video, please.
[ Video.
] >>> I want to be on the frontier, trying to
find the cures to different types of cancer and trying to make cancer as treatable as
something like influenza.
And I would love to be able to be on the team that's having that kind of impact.
My project is entitled Global Neural Network Cloud Service for Breast Cancer.
Basically, I taught the computer how to diagnose breast cancer so we can determine whether
breast masses are malignant or benign.
I programmed the computer to mimic the way the brain thinks to model the inner connections
so that it can detect patterns and diagnose based on these biopsies (indiscernible).
The next step for my project is to get my data out.
I'd really like to extend it to other kinds of cancer, lung cancer, anything I can get
data for.
So I think the possibilities are really good.
I just feel like I really can make a difference now and that it's really taking off.
[ Video concludes.
] [ Applause.
] >>Maria Zuber: Okay, Brittany, amazing.
So this project is a combination of computer science and life science, in fact, clinical
life science, very, very different endeavors, and really actually shows a sophistication
in terms of interdisciplinary work that, really, people generally don't develop until they've
been at this science thing for a while.
>>Brittany Wenger: Well, thank you so much.
>>Maria Zuber: So what I think the audience would be interested in hearing about is, so
how did this start?
Did it start with you being interested in computer science or did it start from the
life science?
So walk us through what kind of got you going in this direction.
>>Brittany Wenger: So I've always been a naturally very curious person.
And I found science, and I found all these answers to my questions.
In seventh grade, I took an elective course on futuristic thinking.
And I came across the concept of artificial intelligence because I was researching technologies
of the future.
I was enthralled.
And I very naively decided that that was what I was going to do.
I had never coded anything before.
I went home.
I bought a coding book, and I did learned artificial intelligence.
And I created a program that played soccer, because I'm an avid soccer player.
And then in tenth grade, my cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Well, when I was in tenth grade.
So I really was able to combine my passion for computer science with my newly found passion
for breast cancer and create something that could save lives.
>>Maria Zuber: So did you -- [ Applause.
] >>Maria Zuber: I'm speechless, really.
Did you really think that you could do something here that was -- that was going to work and
that really would make a difference?
>>Brittany Wenger: So fine needle aspirates are the least invasive form of biopsy.
They're less costly, they're more timely, and they lead to earlier detection.
So I knew that I wanted to do something that could get these back into use.
Because right now they're so inconclusive that a lot of doctors couldn't use them.
And I had this idea to combine the concept of artificial intelligence.
But I started this as a tenth grader, so I had no idea whether that would be something
I would be able to be presenting at the Google Science Fair now or whether that would be
something that I would take years of college to develop.
And I did fail twice before I got a successful project.
But that's what's great about science, is you learn just as much from those flopped
experiences as you do from your successful ones.
>>Maria Zuber: So tell us what's next.
>>Brittany Wenger: Right.
So moving forward, the Google Science Fair has really given me this amazing platform
that I can use to share my research with the rest of the world.
So I'm working with Lankenau.
It's a hospital up in Philadelphia.
And they're giving me more samples.
Because right now, the project is 99.1% sensitive to malignancy, which is huge.
But I ran 7.6 million trials.
And as I get more data, it will get better.
So that's immediately on the horizon.
I'm also working on extending it to other types of cancer and other types of diagnostics.
And then I want to work on the image processing side of things, too.
>>Maria Zuber: Great.
Never underestimate a young person.
[ Cheers and applause ] >>Maria Zuber: Okay.
Well, on behalf of all of us, stay inspired.
Keep going for it.
Amazing that at this level, that we have science projects that are actually making a difference
in terms of the results that are coming out at this level.
So congratulations.
>>Brittany Wenger: Thank you.
[ Applause. ]