extramonologue

Geeky Girl Crush Alert! Li Boynton, a high school senior from Bellaire, Texas, has been chosen to sit next to Michelle Obama at tonight’s State of the Union Address. Why? For what the White House called “a great confluence of scientific insight and caring for others.” Inspired by the plight of the world’s poor, the 17-year-old scientist has developed a cheaper, easier method of testing water for contaminants using glowing bacteria.

I think Li’s semi-simple solution to a massive global problem pretty awesome, and I also fully support the message the President is sending with his invitation—that tomorrow’s greatest minds should be encouraged to work on the world’s greatest challenges today. There’s a certain type of ingenuity and initiative and buoyancy that often falls off after adolescence, when the brain is free to dream and invent in the absence of the bureaucracy and cynicism that often surround the pursuit of science in adulthood.

Well done, Li. I hope your confidence and your optimism are contagious.