Yet, you won't hear about people investing on ideas like these, but another social-mobile-location-enabled-micro-payment startup with 10M valuation.

Where have I seen this before... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9fepEyGRx8

Okay I get her version isn't at all the same as the Watercone (it's the rack, right? Or just the rod?), but it purports to solve the same problem. So where's the discussion about what this system and its potential deployment do differently to Really Solve the Problem This Time? I know it's only a 5 minute presentation and she has to go through each of the "Steps of the Scientific Method", but still.

Are the other finalists' presentations online somewhere?

The irony of 3M scientists mentoring and awarding a project dedicated to purifying water is not lost on this reader.

http://www.cleanwateraction.org/publication/pfc-factsheet

Great to see these kids being rewarded and recognized for their hard work though. Inspires me to think about volunteering to be honest.

The award prizes seem odd with first place winning $25,000 while the other finalists win only $1,000 each. I feel uncomfortable about that "winner takes all" approach as it increases the importance of luck and decreases that of effort. Is it common in the United States?

The only other one of this sort of scope of which I am aware is the science and engineering competition held by Intel [0]: US $75,000 for winner, 2 awards of $50,000 each, and 17 best of category awards of US $5,000 ea. Then smaller dollar amounts for the next 5 finishers in each category.

[0] http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/education/competition...

Wow, impressive! I wish I had the resources to do cool stuff like this in High School. I don't think I knew anything beyond the structure of cells and some really simple compounds back in 9th grade.

More of an engineer than a scientist, no?

These are some talented kids. "Anin Sayana from Bellarmine College Preparatory in Cupertino, Calif., received third place for his innovation that selectively targets chemotherapy-resistant cancer stem cells." Only 3rd place!