Researchers travel hundreds of feet underground in dangerous conditions to study underground environments.=pic
For most teens, texting is a way to keep up with gossip and annoy their parents. For Alexander Kendrick, it’s a way to save the lives of researchers who get trapped in caves deep underground.
It can often take days to rescue a missing spelunker because rescuers have no way of staying in touch with the trapped researchers — ordinary radio transmitters and mobile phone signals have trouble penetrating large amounts of solid rock. So when Kendrick was 16, he invented an electronic texting device that uses low-frequency radio waves that can penetrate rock more easily. It can successfully transmit messages up to 1,000 feet underground.
Since the device can transmit electronic data beneath the earth at such a distance, experts believe that the device may even allow researchers to collect information about caves without having to physically send researchers down — making cave research less dangerous for humans and less environmentally invasive.
Kendrick’s invention won him first prize at the 2009 International Science Fair, NPR reports.
7. Look, Ma! No Hands!
Austin Meggitt invented the Battie Caddie, a device that carries a bat, baseball and glove on a bicycle's handlebars, when he was nine.=pic
When Austin Meggitt was nine years old, he almost got into a bike accident trying to steer his bicycle while carrying his baseball bat, glove, and ball at the same time.
There was just no safe way for a baseball-loving kid to carry his equipment while riding his bike. Meggitt solved this problem for himself and for kids everywhere when he created a solution out of standard hardware store materials. Using PVC piping along with standard grips, clamps, and bolts, Meggitt invented the Glove and Battie Caddie, a yoke that hitches to a bike’s handlebars. Kids can clip a baseball bat across the yoke, then hang a glove from its hook and store a ball in its dangling pouch. The device allows them to securely carry their gear with no impediment to steering, according to MIT’s inventor archive.
Meggitt’s invention quickly became popular with other kids in his neighborhood, then won him the Grand Prize in a national invention contest in 1998. His design was marketed by By Kids For Kids, a company that invests in child inventions.
