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Young Inventor "Wraps Up" Award
Bubble Wrap is way fun to pop, but a teenage inventor came up with a better use for the plastic bubble sheets. Fifteen-year-old Grayson Rosenberger from Tennessee used it to make a covering for artificial limbs. Grayson melted the bubble wrap around the steel rod of an artificial leg to make it look more like a real leg. His creation won him first place in the Bubble Wrap Competition for Young Inventors. He was one of 800 young people from grades fifth to eighth to enter the competition.
His parents inspired Grayson. His mother lost both her legs in a car accident. Now his parents work to bring artificial limbs to people in Africa. Grayson said that some Africans with artificial limbs are treated badly because they don't look like everyone else. His invention will be helpful for them and for others in poor countries because the covering can be made very cheaply.
As one of three finalists in the competition, Grayson won a trip to New York City. There he competed against two others young inventors. One was a girl from Texas who made a two-and-one-half foot puzzle of the Empire State Building out of bubble wrap. The other was a thirteen-year-old boy from Arizona who devised a mechanism for keeping track of chores. Kids could pop a bubble every time they finished a chore. But it was Grayson who won the grand prize of a $10,000 savings bond. Best of all, he may even get to see his invention put to use the next time he goes to Africa!
I'm Adelbert and that's what happened in science this week.
Kids from around the country took part in the competition. Can you find their home states in this week's Pinpoint game?
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