South African teen Kiara Nirghin has made it to the 16 global finalists of the Google Science Fair 2016.
The Google Science Fair is a global online competition open to students aged 13 to 18. It invites the brightest young minds from around the world to answer one question: how can they make the world better through science, math and engineering.
Nirghin (16), from Johannesburg's St Martin's High School, submitted her 'No More Thirsty Crops' innovation. With the Southern African region experiencing its worst drought in more than two decades, she has come up with a way of keeping crops hydrated for longer, at a much lower cost.
Using orange peels and avocado skins, the teen created a material that can hold hundreds of times its weight in water, in the soil. This super-absorbent polymer then acts as a water reservoir in the earth.
Last month, she won the Google Science Fair Community Impact Award, in the hotly-contested Africa and Middle East region. This put her in the running for the Google Science Fair and she will get to visit Google's headquarters in California in September, for the annual awards celebration.
Nirghin says science has been coursing through her veins since a very young age. "I vividly remember at the age of seven experimenting with vinegar and baking soda solutions in plastic cups. My natural curiosity and questioning nature has sparked my everlasting love of science," she says.
It's her love of chemistry and physics that has gotten her this far in the competition, with Google receiving thousands of entries from 107 countries.
"I merely cannot express what winning the Google Science Fair would mean to me. Winning this competition would be a wonderful elation awarded to me. It would be the greatest inspiration and achievement knowing that others support my endeavour and scientific inclination," says Nirghin.
"With the prize, I will hope to continue my studies in science, but also further the scientific development and application of my idea, and in addition extend scientific progress in elevating the problems that South Africa faces in food security and sustainable agricultural development."
The winner will be announced at a ceremony on 27 September.
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