14 岁那年，我登上了飞往波士顿的飞机，在新英格兰开始了我作为国际学生的学术生活……每次回家放假，一进屋，首先迎接我的总是一股暖暖的、令人安心的气味……它是干净床单的清新气味，我妈妈洗发水的草药气味，还有我们金毛猎犬的麝香气味，所有这些都汇聚成我所说的“家的气味”……从那以后，我意识到我的嗅觉是多么不可或缺——没有它，我将失去塑造我自我意识的人类经验的重要组成部分。
18 岁的 Siwen Cui 的这一个人启示变成了“鼻子知道什么：被低估的嗅觉”，这是我们第四届年度STEM 写作比赛的获奖论文之一。
参加我们比赛的许多学生是这样描述他们的主题的：他们看着周围的世界并开始感到好奇。人们想知道，音乐和天体物理学之间有什么联系？另一个人问道，世界上的塑料问题有什么解决方案？三分之一的人想知道，我应该为新闻中不断听到的火山担心到什么程度？
我们与Science News合作，邀请学生找到他们感兴趣的与 STEM 相关的问题、概念或问题，并用不超过 500 字的内容向普通观众解释。在我们收到的来自世界各地的 3,000 多篇学生论文中，我们选出了 10 篇优胜者、11 篇亚军和 23 篇荣誉奖。这些文章不仅帮助我们理解了一个有趣的科学或数学现象，而且让我们参与进来，让我们明白为什么我们应该关心它。
以下是公布的获奖论文；您可以通过以下链接阅读它们。我们希望他们的作品能激发您对周围世界的好奇心，并以这些年轻人所做的同样的探索和发现精神来对待它。
获奖者
按作者名字的字母顺序排列
Winners
Andrei Li, 18, Monarch Park Collegiate, Toronto, Ontario: “I Spy With My Little Muon: Peering Inside Pyramids With Cosmic Rays”
Catherine Ji, 14, New Trier High School, Wilmette, Ill.: “Whales and Cancer: A Deep Dive Into Cetacean Genes”
Daphne Zhu, 15, Lynbrook High School, San Jose, Calif.: “Pine Beetle Infestation: Epidemic of North America’s Forests”
Erica Frischauf, 16, Lakewood High School, Lakewood, Ohio: “Hearing Colors and Tasting Sounds: What Is Synesthesia?”
Judah Spiegel, 14, Albany High School, Albany, Calif.: “Computing Creativity: Can A.I. Produce Art?”
Justin Wang, 16, Alhambra High School, Alhambra, Calif.: “Nature’s Solution to Plastic Pollution: The Amazing Power of the Wax Worm”
Leah Li, 14, Milton Academy, Pearland, Texas: “Glass Frogs: Clearing the Mystery of Clotting”
Logan Ramanathan, 17, The Nueva School, Los Altos Hills, Calif.: “3-D Bioprinting: A Modern Day Prometheus”
Siwen Cui, 18, Kent School, Kent, Conn.: “What the Nose Knows: The Underappreciated Olfactory Sense”
Yejin (Jenny) Son, 17, Chadwick International School, Songdo, South Korea: “An Awakening of a Geological Giant: The Next Deadly Eruption of Mount Baekdu”
Runners-Up
Aaron Baxa, 18, Saint Peter High School, St. Peter, Minn.: “The Coyote’s Bad Rap”
Cyrus Fa’amafoe’, 18, Servite High School, Fullerton, Calif.: “From Dead Ends to Friends: Human Hair as a Sustainable Solution to Oil Spills”
Genevieve S. Topper-Kroog, 15, The Masters School, New York, N.Y.: “Bioremediation: The Sunflower’s Ability to Absorb Nuclear Waste”
Meadow Lam, 14, Bellaire High School, Houston: “The Secrets Behind a ‘Ha-ha-ha’: Laughter and Its Effects on the Human Body”
Oscar Johnson Kohler, 16, North Hollywood High School, Los Angeles: “Food for Thought: Glucose, Alzheimer’s and Cognitive Function”
Peggy Chen, 15, Green Hope High School, Cary, N.C.: “Vertical Forests: The Dystopian Jungles That Are Leading the Fight Against Climate Change”
Rachel Kim, 16, Ramapo High School, Franklin Lakes, N.J.: “Glass Frogs Become Transparent at Night. What’s Their Secret?”
Roselin Mota, 16, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City, N.J.: “Untangling the History of Curly Hair”
Salina Li, 16, Stuyvesant High School, New York, N.Y.: “Cordyceps: The Mind-Control Fungus?”
Sarah Behjet, 13, Saint Timothy Middle School, Farmington, Conn.: “The Naked Mole Rat: The Subterranean Sensation Shaking Up the Way We View Longevity”
Victoria Tan, 16, Jericho High School, Jericho, N.Y.: “The Cosmic Symphony: How Data Sonification Can Revolutionize Astronomy”
Honorable Mentions
Aaryan Doshi, 16, Monta Vista High School, Cupertino, Calif.: “Seeing the Unseen: How Hyperspectral Imaging Is Revolutionizing Precision Agriculture and Environment Protection”
Amy Zhou, 16, Eric Hamber Secondary School, Vancouver, British Columbia: “Hemp: A Pioneer Entangled in a Family Feud”
Audrielle Paige Esma, 15, Astra Nova School, Wildwood, Fla.: “When Things Go Sour: Sharp Flavors and Strange Behaviors”
Benjamin Li, 16, Millburn High School, Millburn, N.J.: “Black Box Algorithms: Exploring One of the Most Misunderstood Technologies”
Chloe Kim, 16, Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.: “Feeling Rejected? Take a Tylenol (or Not…)”
Delia: “The End”
Eliza Olszewska, 18, River Dell High School, Oradell, N.J.: “Drop the Pounds and Starve Cancer?”
Gia Gupta, 16, Cherry Hill High School East, Cherry Hill, N.J.: “Plastic: A Caterpillar’s Next Meal?”
Hafsa Kanchwala, 16, The Baldwin School, Philadelphia: “Ukraine’s Environment May Be the Last to Recover After Putin’s ‘Ecocide’”
Jia Lakhamraju, 16, Singapore American School, Singapore: “Fresh Water in the Desert: Brought to You by Camel Nostrils and Beetle Shells”
Justine Tobes, 17, St. Thomas More Academy, Raleigh, N.C.: “Eco-Bricks: A Solution to the Plastic Epidemic of the Philippines”
Leah Wu, 14, Langley High School, Vienna, Va.: “Listen Up … in Your Mouth?”
Lily Rose Stasko, 17, Bishop Walsh School, Cumberland, Md.: “3-D Printing: The Organ Shortage Solution”
Liu Bohan, 17, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H.: “Raining Diamonds: Uranus and Neptune’s Unique Phenomenon”
Matviy Amchislavskiy, 15, The Governor’s Academy, Byfield, Mass.: “Medical Marvels: Xenobots Usher in a New Era of Medical Miracles”
Olivia Xu, 15, West-Windsor Plainsboro High School North, West Windsor Township, N.J.: “Water Bears in Space: The Neil Armstrong of Microorganisms”
Ontario Zeng, 17, Great Oak High School, Temecula, Calif.: “Life From Death: The Key Toward Longevity Tucked Away Within Cancer Cells”
Reagan Fan, 16, Yorba Linda High School, Yorba Linda, Calif.: “Crawling Batteries: How Crab Shells Will Replace Your Standard Battery”
Rosie Strickland, 17, Brien McMahon High School, Norwalk, Conn.: “Earth’s Old Growth Forests Need Our Protection — and We Need Them”
Sara Wang, 13, Astra Nova School, Henderson, Nev.: “3-D Printing: CORAL-ling Reef Degradation”
Saul Calderon, 16, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City, N.J.: “The Zombie Apocalypse Is Among Us! Say Hello to Ophiocordyceps Unilateralis”
Steven Xiao, 16, Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego, Calif.: “The Artistic Frontier: A.I.-Generation”
Tony Silva, 17, The Governor’s Academy, Byfield, Mass.: “Is Blue Light Killing You? The Effects and Concerns of Blue Light From Technology”