Ask & Win

CONGRATULATIONS to the 2010 winners!

The 2010 Molecular Frontiers Inquiry Prize winners were announced at the Molecular Frontiers Symposium & Forum LIVE! on June 4th 2010, at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.

Girls:

 

How are thoughts produced and what are they made of?

Justina Saladyte,17, Lithuania

Why isn't life based only on RNA?

Eva Vojáčková, 17, Czech Republic

What  is the molecular origin of intuition?

Silvia Hnátová, 16 Slovakia

 

How can we imagine something that we have never seen or felt?

Gintė Petrulionytė,12, Lithuania

How is it possible for a simple cell to grow into a complex

organism with many kinds of differentiated cells?

Catarina Correia,15, Portugal

 

Boys:

 

Does a cell control its atoms or is it the interaction of the atoms that control the cell?

Armin Mohammadi, 15, Canada

 

Why do living organisms get old?

Iraklis Gkritsis, 16, Greece

 

How do we represent numbers in our mind and how do we count with them?

Jan Pulmann, 16, Slovakia

 

Why is it that when you pour sugar onto strawberries, they release their juice?

George Utsin, 12, Canada

 

How does the brain know which neurotransmitters map to which sensations, if it has never seen that sensation before?

Edward Godfrey, 16, United Kingdom

 

 

... you can submit your question for the 2011 prize!

What is the Molecular Frontiers Inquiry Prize?
If you are up to 17 years old and have a question about molecules, send it to us! Your question may not have a simple answer – some of the most important questions of our time are impossible to answer! That is part of what makes them so interesting! Think about it: your question could eventually lead to a new breakthrough in science!

Molecular Frontiers will award prizes to those who ask the BEST QUESTIONS! The winners are announced once a year at the Molecular Frontiers Symposium at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden. Fun fact: this is also where the Nobel Prize is announced each year. Read more >>Hide <<



What can I win?
5 boys and 5 girls will each year win a medal, a certificate and an iPod Touch. The Medal, designed by eminent bio-nano-technologist Prof. Shuguang Zhang of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, depicts the famous DNA molecule viewed from the unusual "z" direction on one side and an exclamation mark made of a carbon nanotube with a "C60" buckyball point on the other. It also has the name of the winner engraved alongside our moto: CURIOSITY CREATIVITY HONESTY KNOWLEDGE.  

The certificate was designed and hand-painted by our Scientist and Teacher, Artist-in-Residence Dr. Elizabeth Ball and is printed on heavy paper like that of the Nobel prize certificates - perfect for framing!

The Apple iPod Touch is a cool, handheld gadget with limitless capabilities, from playing music and video to surfing the web and much more - just add whatever software you like on your own! Read more >>Hide <<



 

Who organizes the Prize?                The Molecular Frontiers Inquiry Prize competition is organized by Molecular Frontiers Foundation. Among our members are top scientists, including no less than twelve Nobel Prize Winners (!) We are represented in many different countries all over the world.

We started this competition because we want your questions! Yes, that's right! We are looking for QUESTIONS about molecules, not answers. In our scientific work we try to find answers, but without good QUESTIONS we would not know where or how to look... so join us in the search for good QUESTIONS! Read more >>Hide <<



How are the winners chosen?
A jury of top scientists, including Nobel Prize winners, identifies the “best” questions from five boys and five girls.This is done at the annual Molecular Frontiers Symposium at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden. Read more >>Hide <<



Take a look at the Previous winners and their questions in Questions followup

SUBMIT a question for the 2011 Prize!