Two seniors place as nalists in national science competition

Moments later, she gasps as she nds out she has been named a nalist in the Regeneron Science Talent Search.

“My friend, who saw me on the phone call, later told me I was visibly shaking,” Wu said. “I didn’t realize that, but I was just really overwhelmed and excited, just grateful to be named a nalist and have the honor.” e Regeneron Science Talent Search is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors, according to the Society for Science, which hosts the competition with Regeneron

Wu and senior Ryan Lee are among 40 nalists selected out of 1,949 entrants, with each nalist awarded at least $25,000.

Pharmaceuticals. e annual competition recognizes exceptional scienti c research projects done by high school seniors.

In March, the 40 nalists will attend a national convention in Washington, D.C., where they will present their projects to judges and compete for the top 10 awards, which range from $40,000 to $250,000.

College freshman Anisha Gandhi often enjoys spending her free time watching Net ix whether it’s by herself or with her friends. Net ix’s teen dramas, original shows and movies keep her especially delighted with her family’s subscription. So when Gandhi rst found out about Net ix’s plan has to crackdown on password sharing, she was disappointed and slightly frustrated.

“Net ix is already overpriced and families come in all shapes and sizes so there should not be restrictions on who can access the accounts,” Gandhi said.

But despite Gandhi’s concerns, starting in March, Net ix will implement a monthly fee of $3-4 for anyone living outside of an account holder’s household who wants to share a Net ix account. Net ix said it will nd those sharing accounts by monitoring user data including IP addresses, device IDs and account activity. e company sees the fee as a way to crackdown on password sharing which they say led to almost $1 billion lost in revenue during 2022.

Wu was recognized for her research that contributes new insights into how formic acid a ects honeybees’ foraging behavior, or bees’ ability to gather food. Beekeepers use formic acid to kill varroa mites, parasites that transmit deformed wing virus to honeybees and can collapse a hive within one to three years.

Wu said her research concluded that using formic acid during nectar ow — the time when nectar sources are in bloom and bees make most of their honey — could ultimately harm bees.

“I found that formic acid treatment suppressed the foraging performance of honeybee workers,” Wu said. “ e results suggest that formic acid treatment during nectar ow could negatively a ect honey production and potentially also the long-term health of honeybee colonies.”

To track bees’ foraging behavior, Wu said she documented their ight activities, which she did by attaching small location-tracking devices called Ra dio Frequency Identi cation tags onto individual bees.

“I used radio frequency identi cation technology for that, basically attaching these mini RFID tags to the bees,” Wu said. “And then with the data logger, I accumulated huge amounts of data on the ight activities that I then used algorithm analysis (on).”

Wu said she became inspired to conduct her research as a result of her beekeeping hobby, although she did not initially expect the hobby to evolve into a research project.

“I got a hive for fun and gradually got more hives, and then this research started,” Wu said. “I made an observation one day that catalyzed my research, but I didn’t get into it with the intention of conducting research necessarily.”

Wu said she entered the Regeneron contest in hopes of both publicizing her ndings and meeting other students who are passionate about their research.

“Part of it was to get my research out there and have the opportunity to share it with other people,” Wu said. “ e other huge part is the connections and meeting other people. I’ve already had the chance to talk with a lot of other scholars and nalists, just connecting with them and hearing about their research. Everybody is incredibly smart, passionate and motivated, so being able to connect with them is really amazing.”

Wu said she would seek guidance from her mentor, a professional beekeeper, when she felt like she was making slower progress in her research.

“My mentor was a big source of help,” Wu said. “I’d communicate with him and (tell) him, ‘Hey, I’m a bit stuck on this’ or, ‘I’m not sure how to proceed,’ and he’d guide me and help me get into more of a scienti c-thinking mindset.”

Wu said even though research may seem daunting at rst, she encourages students to consider the bene ts and ful llment it can bring.

“Overall, I encourage everybody who’s interested to pursue research because there’s so many skills that you get from it, like persistence and hard work, (in addition to) creativity and communication skills,” Wu said. “I think it’s really rewarding at the end when you see everything come together.”

While Net ix said the new policy will help it improve revenue growth, sophomore Divya Gandhi said the fee is especially unfair for families with children in college and will leave many frustrated users unsatis ed with their subscription.

“People are going to get (so) fed up with having to pay extra that they’re going to quit altogether,” Gandhi said.

Sophomore Oliver Levine said although this sharing fee may increase subscriptions in the short term, longterm consumer loyalty will decrease.

“I do think password sharing will increase subscriber count,” Levine said. “But being able to password share to a friend outside of your house is de nitely one of those things that makes people think, ‘Oh hey, this company is at least nice to me.’”

Levine said a negative opinion of Net ix could also be a deciding factor in whether or not someone continues their subscription.

And senior Ariana Cao said since there are so many other competing streaming services, Net ix should be careful about how it treats current customers, even though she said the company’s prominence gives it an advantage over its competitors.

“Net ix is like a basis of our pop culture,” Cao said. “A lot of other streaming services have good shows, but it’s just not as many as Net ix.”

Levine also said each streaming service’s own unique variety of programs decreases the need for others.

“TV networks are spinning o their own streaming services … which devalues every other streaming service because you’re paying the same amount of money for less value,” Levine said.

Lee’s research focuses on how mitochondria, which fuel cellular processes, impact the brain.

“I’m interested in structural plasticity, which is the ability of your brain to change in order to re ect new experiences, and how mitochondria power the ability of your brain to move and change its shape and size,” Lee said. “ is is an important feature of the brain that underlies important abilities such as learning and memory formation.”

To conduct his experiments, Lee said he used fruit ies as a model organism because of their accessibility and genetic similarities to humans. He also said he genetically modi ed fruit ies to have certain mutations that make them light up, which enabled him to visualize his data.

“(Fruit ies) are really easy to use, and there’s a lot of genetic power,” Lee said. “You inject a uorescent dye into the cell, and then it glows, which is kind of crazy.”

Lee said he discovered that damaged mitochondria can hinder brain functionality and accelerate aging in fruit ies.

“What I found is that if (fruit ies’) mitochondria aren’t healthy, then (their) brains lose plasticity,” Lee said. “My research identi es a potential underlying cause for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.”

Lee described the research process as two mini experiments within one project. He said removing a protein important for mitochondrial health called Dynamin-related protein 1 a ected the fruit ies in two distinct ways.

“Removing this (Drp1) protein has two di erent e ects,” Lee said. “(Fruit ies’) neurons don’t move as much, and their neurons lose their synapses.”

Lee said he gradually became interested in the study of neuroscience because it is relatively unexplored, and there are many questions left to be answered.

“Neuroscience, or the brain at least, is often called the last frontier of science, so it’s the last thing we don’t fully understand,” Lee said.

“It’s still a little bit of a black box, so that’s something that’s always appealed to me.”

Lee said that he became motivated to submit to Regeneron after a senior who graduated from Paly last year, Neil Rathi, placed as a nalist in the competition. Lee said he hopes his achievement can inspire younger students interested in research to also consider the competition.

“It’s partly why I’m happy to do these things, because hopefully someone else who does research or is interested in research will submit a project too,” Lee said. “ e competition builds a structure in many ways. Otherwise, sometimes it’s hard to have direction.”

As a result of his experience researching the brain, Lee said he hopes to continue studying neuroscience and is considering a potential career path as a physician-scientist.

“Being a physician-scientist would be an interesting way to tie together doing research and trying to understand the unknown and (understand) how we can use this to better help patients in the present,” Lee said. “Because a lot of research, including mine, is very future focused, this will probably have implications somewhere down the road.”

Lee said he thinks research should prioritize the higher goal of helping human lives, which drives his own research.

“Ultimately, in my research and in research in general, the end goal is to have new medicines and to help people,” Lee said. “ e question every research project should (answer) is, ‘Why does this matter?’ and that could ultimately be something about improving human lives.”

But Economics teacher Grant Blackburn said he thinks implementing the sharing fee is a necessary step for Net ix’s business model. “ ey have to gure out a way to monetize their consumer base, and they can’t just let everybody jump onto one password,” Blackburn said. “Otherwise, Net ix goes away.”

But Cao said instead of increasing fees, Net ix should resolve the pro t issue by listening to users for input on which programs to renew and cancel.

“ ey need to renew shows that people really love and that everyone’s buying (Net ix) for,” Cao said.

Blackburn, though, said Net ix and other streaming services have a tough trade-o to make between costly features and keeping subscribers. Ultimately, he said the success of cracking down on password sharing will depend on Net ix’s ability to provide for their consumers.

Blackburn said, “At the end of the day, if (Net ix) has something that you want, you’re going to be willing to pay for it and Net ix has to deliver.”