My Son, The Inventor

My Son, The Inventor TIRES/WHEELS Miscellaneous 34-5-5 All my years of writing about inventors for FARM SHOW must have rubbed off on my son, Kyle. He's a 17-year-old high school student who recently achieved a measure of national and international fame for a scientific discovery he entered in a science fair. The Discovery Channel sent a film crew to our farm, to Kyle's school, and to the local lab where Kyle did much of his research. Other TV news programs have also done stories. Newspapers and scientific magazines have published stories about his ideas, including the European Rubber Journal in London, England. Kyle has also been awarded scholarships, prize money, and trips to international science fairs in Europe and Australia. His dad and I are very proud! Every year since Kyle was about 10 years old, he has entered science fair projects in local and regional competitions. For the past 4 years, he has done so well that he advanced to the national level. His most recent project involved isolating two strains of bacteria that "eat" ground-up rubber from old tires. If that weren't good enough, he discovered a way to harness the energy produced during the breakdown of the tires by creating a microbial fuel cell that produces electricity. One key to success of the invention is that he uses LED's that produce light of varying wavelengths to enhance the growth of the microbes and speed the whole process. The discovery of the effect of light on bacteria came about in part from a FARM SHOW article that I wrote about LED light therapy being used on horses to speed the healing of injuries (Vol. 31, No. 2).

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