14-year-old invents soap to treat skin cancer, named ‘America’s top young scientist’
The newly invented soap is a revolutionary breakthrough product which is highly cost-effective.
A 14-year-old student from Annandale, Virginia named Heman Bekele has made a breakthrough invention after he made a soap which can treat skin cancer which earned him recognition from 3M and Discovery Education and later helped him win the title of ‘America’s Top Young Scientist’, the most prestigious science award for middle-schoolers in the USA.
Heman’s innovation is a compound-based soap bar which is not only a revolutionary breakthrough but also very cost-effective, costing approximately $0.50 per bar. Bekele said that he aspires to refine his invention further and creating a non-profit organisation through which he will distribute the soap to communities in need over the next 5 years. “I wanted to try to find a way for the entire world to be able to have an equitable and accessible form of skin cancer treatment,” Bekele said.
Heman Bekele said that the soap replenishes the skin with dendritic cells, which help protect the skin and fight cancer. He added that after getting a prescription, the soap can be applied to the skin every couple of days and then one will start to see progress. This soap was created with the help professors from University of Virginia and Dr Mahfuza Ali, a mentor from 3M who played a pivotal role in helping him refine his invention and preparing for the competition.
“I’m still fully processing it. I just came out of the competition two days ago and I think, more than anything, I’m grateful, and I’m really happy to see where this project takes me,” Bekele said. “I’m still fully processing it. I just came out of the competition two days ago and I think, more than anything, I’m grateful, and I’m really happy to see where this project takes me,” Bekele added.
‘America’s Top Young Scientist’ is a platform designed to inspire students from fifth to eighth grades to conceive and present innovative ideas that have the potential to transform the world. Furthermore, The winner of this prestigious competition is awarded a cash prize of $25,000.
