Episode Transcript
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my name is angela, john i'm
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14 i'm an inventor and
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my response to somebody who says you're
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too young is, everybody has to start
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young in order to actually make an impact
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be an environmental engineer allows
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me to i build to help the world by
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making us greener yeah
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if you focus on what
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you want and keep on going, never stopped then
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you actually be able to make a difference you
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have take care of the world
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wow computer genius generation apart
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hathaway talk to young people do incredible things
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and the world as sam i'm your host
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doctor stephanie castillo on science producer
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a writer and causing creator with a phd
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and communication i'm so
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excited since you see you are yesterday
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angeles on who engineered and discovered
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plastic degree in bacteria that me bio
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plastics angela uses of syria
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which microscopic organisms
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to change plastic into bio plastics
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just like how humans in digest food
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the back here that angela uses to eat
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and i just pop it was special
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about bio degradable passage is that
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it's able to break down to basic molecules
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and mixed back in with the earth incested
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few months and like regular plastic with
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six hundreds of years to break down the
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welcome angela to the south hi
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how bad is plastic really for the environment
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he avenues lot that there are bunch
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of animals like dying from plastic especially
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the ocean the
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global crisis the over abundance
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of plastics filling the oceans
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and live
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million metric tons of cement assessing
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dumped into the also easier
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read to the oceans and marine
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life
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and when he realized he ran sally some
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so seen as are lies in strangled from
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my past and netting or when they like
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the plastic it's really harmful for them and
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so it's just keeps on going on our world
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them in the cupboard a plastic can
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we didn't one time wise it's important
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to you we live on the earth and without the
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earth we wouldn't be alive so yes
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take care of the world very direct industry to
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point
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we gotta do something about it is a key tell
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us what our i think that how
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it a better than traditional plastics
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athletic have been my property
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to actual planted but they're made
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in the environment naturally so they can be degraded
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and used by microbes are that are
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uncertainty is due to brutal and for
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like plastic which safe and
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environment for hundreds of years which
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can be really bad for the world
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and so is there a reason why you're interested
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in using bacteria to tackle this problem
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i came up with the idea when
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i was twelve that syria
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is syria was the only known seems
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to be able to degrade
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plastics bacteria is
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really of systems because of the smaller
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size and how they don't have to use up so
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much energy the
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one you're feeding bacteria
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plastic and then comes out as a bio plastics
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how does the bio plastic look like
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the back as the is the summer guess ill
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because author extracted from inside
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the that syria and so
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once i extract and like dry out it's
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ah the bottom of i fear
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, flask and it's just
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such a layer on the bottom that film
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and he just as he did out you think
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you're right essential fatty lives together
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that what it looks like and
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it feels site
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really dry plan
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every just as like harder bread all
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if it's like more the stillness a very flexible
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right grid or if like that touching it and
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then it becomes more like powder and
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engine decide make the powder into what you ma
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ah the
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more you're able to like harvests and act fact here is
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what your harvesting to kind of be
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molded into a feature of plastics
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a product that someone can use that's the goal
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yeah that's really cool my break
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them on this blaze
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, i saw about plastics
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was at them and fast and educationally
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here now that isn't
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over
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i set my mentor an email
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and set her just we're
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hoping he through the whole day and
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been there for me part the gifts
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was i little bit of the bar plastic and then
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i pulled my family and it's so good
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but with something new that he'd and what about
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bacteria before working with it lot
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they didn't really work with bacteria
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deserve the chance also doesn't really teach that
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much science and how bacteria and
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so most of the things the things to
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learn through like reading literature
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or last my mentor so
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i learned basically everything i
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basically new were that bacterial was small
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and that is it at all no fatalities
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there's a lot of things i
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have have it the university
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i also was able to contact
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some be at your shoe and they helped me
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i'd get lab so i can
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sometimes use it when i'm being
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part of my experiments and
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some most of the work did was in
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lab or at my mentors
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lab where did where meet your mentor my
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local sides there is the richest science fair and
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the director linked me up with doctor michelle
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to amber who's my mentor i
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needed somebody who specialize more like
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microbiology it is i don't really so
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that much about microbiology i think the
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natural curiosity of has been able to put
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things apart and put back together just
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habit
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better understanding of the signs that read doing it's like
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what essentially been assigned to says and
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as i think using the potato six start
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up a life while whether other projects that you did
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for your science fair that kind of work in
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motivational are inspiring real continue
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to parker interesting curiosity and science
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the that's very that all
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the way through right now
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some first grade so that's a ten years wow
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or maybe alone but yeah
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and so right now it's
6:00
just like the outcome there
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is a lot of ledge call
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them away and you
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don't really get result he got plenty of of
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little bit if you
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have a two goal in mind and you're
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able to japan to then when you get
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the results from efficient and
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more and fifteen
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me each year of for
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education of her previous tragic
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the each year it also
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he didn't
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and it because i'll try discovering
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things for myself instead just by looking
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at a news or the go a size
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love those are for actually seeing it
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for whether any moment
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have you designing your project that you have
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for your brain and so roadblock where you're stuck
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for a while before finding that
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new answer i had a lot
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most of it wasn't really the planning stage
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is actually doing it say interests
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and the planning it was pretty
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easy but once you start doing it to
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dot harder because of the
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concept of putting things
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together that actually related and
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so on site assume the
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one of know i was serious
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about that about that temperatures and so
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each one has a specific country
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the united states that voters choose that
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that add machine that allowed me to
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grow the bacteria and when i
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was acting like have church the
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though
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urge after eating a bunch of paper is
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angela
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all over the conditions
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for
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korea is , of of
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i think troubleshooting
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is always gonna be the hardest because it's like you're
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saying like you're doing and you're like why isn't this working
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what he feels like the bigger goal of are
7:54
you still refining map process or
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where are you right now i'm of that
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list of town that right now
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wouldn't mind doing it like the largest yep
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so i met tried like find somebody made
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sense companies so that can use like by reactor
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to test it out on bigger
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scale instead just small scales because
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conditions may need to be changed or might be
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to treat few things what is like that the
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bigger picture that you won aside from like
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scaling up being like the that's what
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you want to in the help improve
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or further develop your project as
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you continue to grow older
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canavan i make it like really
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say i'd
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like the city is everywhere it's a
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environmentally for me
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replacement for plastic and
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has basically the same properties same classic
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it's and then
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wow there's no way to actually change
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even though the that to be so
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this a series such a way
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for us he changed and
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he made a difference i
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, when a to all the notes
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and found on makes out works
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on big still still can start
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panhandling people to see if they're interested
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on to see to we want
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to try out yeah course
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and terms of you individually as your project
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develops it turns into hopefully some kind
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of like a bigger
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making a bring it across the country
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are you wanting to become scientists yourself
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yeah i think i want become like it and by
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in the from the engineers site and i said
9:24
the world better place details but now
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it's all an environmental problems it's
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become a really challenging
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for us to actually become a green
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have been an environmental engineer
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allows me to light bill's to help the world's
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by making us
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yeah know that's a solid goal so like the more
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you learn then you're more you're able to
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apply to continue to improve your
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project and being able to make it the sustainable
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product that want it to be that can actually be used
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in masses my thing that's really inspiring
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is there any advice the know that are interested
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in pursuing something similar i think
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if you want to you
10:00
it orbits ,
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scientifically anything you love you
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think that the find something that really
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passionate about making a difference the
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well as well answer the phone on
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on local about and article article
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tell if he front of lot new very
10:15
love are you were talking about just
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keep on going and if he
10:20
can i get into that and that fighting
10:22
for i should address pjc much just
10:24
need break from as a threat if
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you can cheat on during and after that such
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we actually see she's so much
10:31
because if your eyes only don't have flavors
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selfish thing is you only done it
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to the media three the
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here
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i'll let you want to keep on going ever
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stop in your and he didn't make
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a difference in younger i
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, has the
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plus side because you're able to see world
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differently from my son of it as
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jobs , usually the inventors
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and stuff but if you're younger you have
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different view on when you're them venture
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you can create things that front of you see single
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fucking meeting meeting
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procedure from trooper be here ah
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man
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they're very that the and the takes lot perseverance
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dedication and and like the little bit disappointed
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continue to push stereo especially when things are
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hard to keep going for your dream
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thank you so much for sharing your invention
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with a and our the pleasure having
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on the podcast angela and continue
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to do the work that you're doing
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and be machines that you want to in the world
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and we're excited to see where you feature those think
11:35
you
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thank you so much for listening this week's episode
11:37
i've seen this generation make sure to tune in
11:39
next week to hear our next guest and all the incredible
11:41
things that they're up to well see next
11:44
funding for the genius generation comes
11:46
from the arthur vining davis foundations
11:49
investing in our common future
11:52
support for tracks comes from the corporation for
11:54
public broadcasting
11:57
this is trucks in p
11:59
r [unk] alex
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