By ELISE PHILLIPS MARGULIS
Credits: Millburn High School
May 13, 2021 at 2:24 AM
Sophie Araten, a 15-year-old Millburn High School sophomore, was chosen as one of the top 11 winners of The Learning Network s second annual STEM Writing Contest. She competed against 3,740 other entrants.
Araten s topic was using dogs to detect COVID-19. She began her essay with the fact that dogs are able to sniff out cancer, Parkinson s Disease and other ailments well before symptoms appear. She explained that canines can smell diseases because they have somewhere between 125 and 300 million scent glands, compared to our paltry five million.
Araten shared that researchers are training dogs to detect COVID-19 in human sweat samples, and this method of testing is much more economical and fast than medical tests. The results are 95% reliable. Impressively, canines have even discovered COVID-19 in asymptomatic carriers.
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April 30, 2021 A man tries to wrap his arms around a massive 800-year old Douglas Fir in Vancouver Island, Canada. Matthew Bailey/VWPics/Universal Images Group, via Getty Images
NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. and WASHINGTON, D.C. – Together
Science News and The New York Times Learning Network are excited to announce the winners of the 2021 STEM Writing Contest. Eleven talented young science communicators are named winners based on their keen ability to shed light on scientific topics ranging from star polymers to space origami to singing finches.
In its second year, the STEM Writing Contest invited teenagers from all over the world to choose an issue or question in science, technology, engineering, math or health, and then write an engaging 500-word explanation that would be understood by scientists and nonscientists alike. The winners have their essays published in