Whiz Kid’s Cancer Test Wins Big

By Malachi Segers and Maya Godfrey

Sometimes we hear stories about kids doing some pretty amazing stuff. Rarely, however, do we hear stories about anybody, much less kids, doing things that make us speechless. Jack Andraka is a kid whose own genius makes himself speechless. When he won the top prize last month at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, all he could manage to say was, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

At only 15 years old, Andraka has figured out a way to detect certain kinds of cancer faster, cheaper, and more accurately than today’s modern systems. It’s quite an amazing feat for anybody, and it should be no surprise that he won Intel ISEF’s $75,000 grand prize. His reaction to the news may seem pretty dramatic — see video above — but when you’ve achieved as much as he has, you’re allowed to be as dramatic as you want to be.