Google Science Fair Finalists Represent Diversity in Innovations, Concerns [VIDEO]

Google has picked this year's 15 finalists for its third annual science fair - a tough job when faced with thousands of science prodigies only in their teens.

The small group representing countries throughout the world will have the opportunity to compete at Google's headquarters this fall for a grand prize of a 10-day trip to the Galapagos Islands with National Geographic Expeditions and $50,000 in scholarship funding, among other things.

With inventions as diverse as their nationalities, the projects focus on providing innovative solutions to everything from health to environmental issues.

The PART Program, for example, is designed to save lives by decreasing response time for emergency personnel. Viney Kumar, 14, is the brain behind this system whereby vehicles blocking the road are issued a "timely alert" to perform a given corrective action to help it to move out of the way, thus decreasing the time it takes for responders to arrive on the scene of an emergency.

Yi Xi Kang, 16, along with Tricia Lim, 15, and Samantha Kwok, 16, on the other hand, conducted research into how female sex hormones may prevent liver fibrosis and, ultimately, dysfunction.

Concerned about the ill effects of wastewater containing detergent, Shrishti Ashtana, 15, developed a method to degrade this specific class of pollutants that is less expensive, dangerous and faster than current methods and Charalampos Ioannou, 18, invented a metallic exoskeleton glove to help those suffering from upper hand disabilities perform tasks more naturally.

Google also announced the winner of the Scientific American Science in Action Award, which aims to honor a project designed to make a practical difference by addressing either an environmental, health or resources challenge.

The winner of the award, Elif Bilgin, 15, devised a method to use banana peels in the production of bio-plastic as a replacement of the traditional petroleum-based plastic.

To learn more about the contestants and their projects, click here.