14y/o wins 'America's Top Young Scientist' for inventing pesticide detector

Sirish Subash, a ninth-grader from Snellville, Georgia, won first place in the 3M and Discovery Education competition, a leading national middle school science contest, held in St. Paul, Minnesota. In his presentation, Subash highlighted data from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) indicating that 70.6% of produce contains pesticide residues. He explained that these residues can lead to serious health issues, such as brain cancer, leukemia, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s Disease. “My project, PestiSCAND, is a device that lets people check for pesticide residues on produce at home,” Subash told USA TODAY. “Pesticide residues are a common contaminant on produce items." To test PestiSCAND's effectiveness, Subash used the AI-driven handheld detector to scan spinach and tomatoes for pesticide residues. With an accuracy rate above 85%, the device successfully met the project’s objectives for both effectiveness and speed, according to 3M.