Kids will often be at the forefront of change, pushing boundaries and challenging the status quo. With the rise of technology, some children have found new innovative ways to make a difference to the world. Whether it’s in developing apps to creating devices that can save lives, these young minds are proving that age is just a number when it comes to making a positive impact.
Here are five of those inspiring kids who have used tech to make a difference in the world in recent years.
1. Jack Andraka
One of the most inspiring examples of kids trying to change the world with tech is the story of Jack Andraka. When he was 15 he developed a ground-breaking test for pancreatic cancer. His project consisted of a sensor, like diabetic test strips, for early-stage pancreatic cancer screening.
After losing a close family friend to the disease, Jack was determined to find a better way to detect it. Using his knowledge of nanotubes and a simple blood test, he created a method that is 168 times faster, 26,000 times less expensive, and over 90% accurate compared to current methods. His invention has the potential to save countless lives and has earned him numerous awards and recognition.
2. Tanmay Bakshi
Tanmay Bakshi began coding when he was just four years old. By 17 he had developed several apps and programs, including a language-translating app that was able translate over sixty languages in real-time.
Tanmay is also a passionate advocate for education and has created a YouTube channel where he shares his knowledge and encourages other young people to get involved in coding and tech. He is now an AI & Application Architect at IBM and Google Developer Expert for Machine Learning.
3. Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for girls’ education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate which was awarded to her at the age of 17. Her story began when she was just eleven, when she began blogging for the BBC about life under the Taliban in Pakistan, where they had banned girls from attending school. Malala’s blog brought international attention to the issue, and she became a prominent advocate for girls’ education.
By using social media she was able to share her message and connect with supporters around the world. In addition, the Malala Fund, the non-profit organization she co-founded, has used technology to support girls’ education.
4. Boyan Slat
Boyan was a teenager when he founded The Ocean Cleanup in 2013, a project which aims to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a massive area of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean. His innovative system uses the ocean’s currents to collect plastic waste and transport it to a central location for removal.
He said:
“Technology is the most potent agent of change. It is an amplifier of our human capabilities. Whereas other change-agents rely on reshuffling the existing building blocks of society, technological innovation creates entirely new ones, expanding our problem-solving toolbox.”
5. Gitanjali Rao
Gitanjali Rao is a young inventor who started to develop a device called Tethys when she was just ten years old. Tethys uses carbon nanotubes to detect lead in water. She was inspired to create the device after learning about the Flint water crisis, where lead contamination in the water caused health problems for people living in the city.
In 2019, Rao was named Time Magazine’s Kid of the Year for her innovative work.
Here are more female coders who helped shape the tech industry.
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