James Bond would be impressed! Viviana Risca, 17, of Port Washington, New York, won the Intel Science Talent Search last week by figuring out how to hide a coded message in a strand of DNA, the gene chemical that carries the recipe for every living thing. The message: "June 6 Invasion: Normandy," from a World War II alert. "Hard work really pays off," says Viviana, who emigrated from Romania in 1992. She won $100,000 for college.
The second-place winner in the contest was Jayce Getz, 18, for his work in mathematics. Feng Zhang, 18, won third place for his virus project. These winners aren't just science buffs. Jayce loves to wind-surf, Feng makes pottery, and Viviana is a published poet!