Minnesota Teen Is a Finalist in Top Science Contest for Her Pesticide-Removing Invention

A 13-year-old girl from Minnesota has made it to the top 10 of one of the biggest middle school science contests in the country. Arika Kundu invented a tablet that removes harmful pesticides from fruits and vegetables using peanut shells. Her invention earned her a spot as a finalist in the 3M Young Scientist Challenge. This national competition asks middle school students to come up with creative solutions to real problems in the world.

Kundu built her invention, called Lignex, in a laboratory she set up in her family's garage. She spent about eight months doing research and running experiments. She said she was motivated by a serious health concern: people are regularly exposed to pesticides, which are chemicals used on crops to keep away bugs and weeds. Over time, those chemicals can build up in the human body and cause major health problems, including cancer and damage to the nervous system.

The idea for Lignex came when Kundu read research showing that peanut shells can soak up toxins, or harmful substances. She also learned how common pesticides are on the food people eat every day. Peanut shells are usually thrown away as waste, so she saw a chance to put them to good use. 'I wanted to utilize this agricultural byproduct that's normally wasted to solve these problems in everyone's daily lives,' she said.

The Lignex tablet works by being dropped into water along with fruits and vegetables before they are eaten. As the tablet dissolves, it releases natural cleaning agents that pull pesticides off the surface of the food. Then the tablet soaks those pesticides back up, so they do not wash down the drain and pollute the water supply. Kundu's tests showed that Lignex removed 93.94% of the test contaminant, which is a very strong result.

Kundu said there was nothing else like Lignex already on store shelves. 'There really wasn't anything on the market that, in a sustainable way, could remove those pesticides right when you eat them,' she said. Sustainable means it does the job without creating new harm to the environment. That made her invention stand out among the many entries in the competition.

Now Kundu is competing for the title of America's Top Young Scientist. She said the experience has been exciting and that she works on Lignex every day during the summer. 'It would mean a lot being America's Top Young Scientist. I've been working for this. This is like a dream,' she said. She added that waking up each morning as a top 10 finalist still feels unreal to her.

Looking to the future, Kundu wants to study astrobiology, which is the science of searching for life beyond Earth. She hopes to use discoveries from space to help solve problems for people here on our planet. 'I want to help people on Earth with stuff that we can discover from other universes and other worlds,' she said. Her work on Lignex shows she is already well on her way to making that dream come true.