America's next top scientists

What does it take to be a teen science whiz? The winners of the 2007-08 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology for high school students know it takes curiosity and persistence, but it also doesn't hurt to be a girl. For the first time, girls swept the top prizes in the prestigious contest.

Isha Jain, a senior at Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, won a $100,000 scholarship for her studies on bone growth in zebra fish. She researched the fish because their tail fins grow in "spurts," similar to the way children's bones do.

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The first-place prize in the team category went to Janelle Schlossberger and Amanda Marinoff, seniors at John F. Kennedy High School in Plainview, New York. They created a molecule which blocks the reproduction of bacteria that cause drug-resistant tuberculosis, a deadly infection of the lungs.

The girls beat more than 1,600 competitors. Their secret? Pursuing topics that excite them. Marinoff completed her first experiment in sixth grade, tracking germs at her doctor's office. Jain developed a taste for science at age 9 while analyzing the molecular structure of candy. Her advice for other girls wanting to follow in her footsteps? "Whatever their age, and whatever [their] level, they can enter science; I think girls go for it."

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