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There are 16 sweet-gum trees in Lindsey Clement's yard in Longview, Texas. The ground is covered with their round, prickly fruit. "I was sick of stepping on the sweet-gum balls," she recalls, so she invented something that would pick them up. Last month her "Gumball Machine" won a $10,000 Craftsman/NSTA Young Inventors Award. Lindsey, 11, worked hard to find something the fruit would stick to. She even tried panty hose!
She finally chose wire mesh, which made for a prizewinning picker-upper.