Nerd heaven beckons Mangerton whiz-kid Ethan Butson, who has been named a finalist in the $50,000 Google Science Fair competition.
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Ethan, a year 11 student at the Illawarra Grammar School, was selected as one of 90 finalists on the strength of his sun-safety project, the result of six years' research.
His project, called Save the Skin You're In, includes devices aimed at ensuring users get enough sun exposure to fulfil Vitamin D requirements, but not so much as to cause skin cancer.
His work includes devices that measure UV exposure based on skin type and a database computer program to forward-plan UV exposure.
Ethan also developed a smartphone app to tell users how long they needed to spend in the sun to take in their ideal levels of vitamin D.
He said the package had the potential to save many lives and stop the drain of health dollars spent on treating skin cancer.
If he makes it to the next round of the contest, he will be flown to Google HQ in the US, a jaw-dropping prize for a self-confessed "massive nerd".
"I absolutely love technology and going to Google headquarters - depending on what we get to look at - could fulfil my dreams," said Ethan, 17.
"Google glasses is one of the major things I'm waiting on."
The competition is open to the world's 13 to 18-year-olds, who must formulate a hypothesis, then experiment
and present their results.
Ethan learnt he was a finalist soon after he returned from an all-expenses-paid trip to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona.
Another three Australian students have made the finals, including Melbourne high-school student Zaynab Sheriffdeen, 14, who is researching the role of manuka honey in destroying the MRSA superbug.
Viney Kumar, 14, from Sydney came up with a way to help emergency vehicles battle their way through heavy traffic.
His idea involved sending an alert to smartphones in the cars ahead of the emergency vehicle, warning them to get out of the way.
