Let’s see, top of mind for me as a freshman in high school… girls, music, a little school, maybe some soccer, and, oh yeah, more girls. I’m just going to say it: I’m no Jack Andraka. He’s the freshman who just won the Intel International Science and Engineering Gordon E. Moore Award for a cancer detection kit made from paper sensors. According to Andraka, the kits “only costs .03 cents and takes five minutes to run.” It can detect pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancers in the early stages, which is crucial, especially when you consider those cancers aren’t usually caught until it’s too late.

Andraka’s paper sensor focuses in on the protein mesothelan, which is a biomarker for the cancers when blood or urine is tested.

Watch the video – the kid seems pretty down to earth too. He also talks about using the $75,000 + prize money to pay for college so he can become a pathologist. With his newfound fame, I’ll bet he can totally impress girls too.