At just 14 years old, Heman Bekele became the Nicole of the 2023 3M Young Scientist Challenge, standing out among nine other finalists with his creative invention known as the Skin Cancer Treating Soap (肥皂). An recognition of his exceptional achievement, this ninth-grad teenager is set to receive a cash award of $25,000.

Bekele’s revolutionary concept, presented through a brief two-minute video, centers on the development of a soap that is not only affordable, priced at less than $10 per bar, but also has the potential to reactivate (重新激活) dendritic cells — the body’s natural defenders of the skin — to fight against skin cancer.

In Bekele’s own words, “Curing cancer, one bar of soap at a time.” is passion for biology and technology was the driving force behind this ingenious creation, and the 3M Young Scientist Challenge provided him with the perfect platform to showcase his visionary ideas.

Reflecting on his inspiration, Bekele shared that his childhood in Ethiopia played a significant role in shaping his creative thinking. Having witnessed people work tirelessly under the burning sun, he couldn’t help but wonder how many were aware of the risks associated with prolonged sun exposure.

“I wanted to make my idea not only scientifically exceptional but also accessible to a broad audience,” Bekele expressed during an interview with The Washington Post. To aid him in realizing his big plans, he received invaluable guidance from Deborah Isabelle, a product engineering specialist at 3M,who connected him with other scientists. Eventually, the path forward for Bekele’s creation includes obtaining FDA approval.

During his presentation at the 3M global headquarters in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Bekele passionately articulated his vision of turning the soap into a “symbol of hope, accessibility, and a world where skin cancer treatment is within reach for all”.

Over the coming five years, Bekele longs to perfect his invention and establish a non-profit organization dedicated to distributing his innovative creation to under-served communities, offering hope and a practical solution in the fight against skin cancer.

Each year, the world loses about 10 million hectares of forest—at area about the size of Iceland — because of cutting down trees. At that rate, some scientists predict the world’s forests could disappear in 100 to 200 years. To handle it, now researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have pioneered a technique to generate wood-like plant materials sin a lab. This makes it possible to “grow” a wooden product without cutting down trees.

In the lab, the researchers first take cells from the leaves of a young plant. These cells are cultured in liquid medium for two days, then moved to another medium which contains nutrients and two different hormones (激素). By adjusting the bormone levels, the researchers can tune the physical and mechanical qualities of the cells: New the researchers use a 3D printer to shape the cell-based material, and let the shaped material grow in the dark for three months. Finally, the researchers dehydrate (使脱水) the material, and then evaluate its qualities.

They found that lower bormone levels lead to plant materials with more rounded, open cells of lower density (密度), while higher hormone levels contribute to the growth of plant materials with smaller but denser cell structures. Lower or higher density of cell structures makes the plant materials softer or more rigid, helping the materials grow with different wood-like characteristics. What’s more, it’s to be noted that the research process is about 100 times faster than the time it takes for a tree to grow to maturity!

Research of this kind is ground-breaking. “This work demonstrates the great power of a technology,” says lead researcher, Jeffrey Berenstab. “The real opportunity here is to be at its best with what you use and how you use it. This technology can be tuned to meet the requirements you give about shapes, sizes, rigidity, and forms. It enables us to grow’ any wooden product in a way that traditional agricultural methods can’t achieve.”