A 13-year-old's algae invention wins America's Top Young Scientist

Raji Doshi, a 13-year-old eighth grader from Farmington, Connecticut, won the 2026 3M Young Scientist Challenge in St. Paul with a natural algae-and-aragonite system that raises seawater alkalinity and pulls carbon dioxide out of the ocean — a promising response to ocean acidification. Finalists aged 11 to 14 also built allergen-detecting utensils and smarter watering tools for drought-prone farms.

SDG 14 · Life below water — Mechanism: individual leader