Last year, a group of high school students in California set out to tackle one of the most stubborn environmental problems in chemistry: PFAS, so-called ‘forever chemicals’ found in things like non-stick pans, fast food wrappers, and firefighting foam. These chemicals are hard to break down and have been linked to serious health concerns, including cancer and infertility.
These days any kid can get involved in science. (AFP File Photo)
The students worked with researchers to design enzymes that might be able to degrade PFAS. They used an artificial intelligence system, like ChatGPT, but trained to work with proteins instead of words, to generate thousands of new enzyme designs. Then they tested some of these in the lab and built computer programs to predict which ones were likely to work. Their work won major recognition at a global science competition in Paris, and some of their enzymes are now being tested.
Young scientists in India also have opportunities to think outside the classroom. Through programs like the INSPIRE Awards – MANAK, run by the Department of Science and Technology, school students across the country are using computational tools to tackle real problems. Some analyze environmental data, others work on health applications, and many contribute to citizen science projects that were impossible just a decade ago.
These days any kid can get involved in science. I know this firsthand.
A few months ago, my son started exploring how certain microbes might develop the ability to digest plastic in natural environments. He was interested in this topic because he had read that enzymes that degraded plastics had been found from bacteria a few years earlier.
As a seventh standard student, he didn’t have access to a lab. But learning from online courses, he was able to find new PETases, enzymes from microbes that naturally break down plastics in the environment. Using his laptop and free online tools, he searched a massive global database that holds protein information from oceans, hot springs, sewage, soil, and even the human gut. He was looking for enzymes, tiny biological machines that can break down PET, the plastic found in bottles and food wrappers.
He found 20 candidates from unexpected places: river valleys in Central Asia, hot springs in India, even the microbiomes of remote populations in East Africa. Then he used an artificial intelligence tool that predicts the 3D shape of a protein based on its genetic sequence. Scientists once had to spend months or years using complex experiments to figure out protein shapes. Now, this can be done thanks to a tool called AlphaFold, which won its creators the 2024 Nobel Prize.
From his room, he used these tools to predict what the enzymes looked like and how they might work. He will still need to confirm his findings in a lab, should he choose to continue on this path. AI can’t replace putting on a lab coat and getting messy with reagents just yet. But it was exciting science that spurred his curiosity, and he was able to do it from home.
What all these projects have in common is access. The same protein databases used by top researchers are now open to anyone with an internet connection. The same powerful AI that changed how scientists understand proteins is available online. The same tutorials once hidden behind university gates are now on YouTube. And for those who are willing to take the extra step and reach out, mentorship can come through a quick email or message on a Discord server.
Students today are learning from open courses, online code libraries, Reddit threads, livestreams, and virtual labs. The democratization of tools means a curious student in a small town in India can access the same databases and AI models as researchers at top universities. Yet our educational system often fails to recognize or nurture this capability.
Classrooms still haven’t caught up with all this new technology. Students should be encouraged to think like scientists, ask questions, work with cutting-edge tools, and solve real problems. But our science syllabuses focus on writing long essay-type questions and rote knowledge based on the theory of the past century.
I’m not saying we should discard rigorous underpinnings in fundamental science. But we need to be able to reward students for curiosity and flexibility. Teachers must be able to join the journey, to say they don’t know instead of discouraging difficult questions, and to reward curiosity. And science projects are the perfect way to do it.
Anirban Mahapatra is a scientist and author, most recently of the popular science book, When The Drugs Don’t Work: The Hidden Pandemic That Could End Medicine. The views expressed are personal.
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