Teen invents trampoline

IN 1930, gymnast George Nissen, age 16, attached a canvas sheet to a steel frame to make a “bouncing rig.” When his travelling acrobatics act later went to Mexico, he learned that ‘el trampoline’ is Spanish for ‘diving board’. He added an ‘e’, and the trampoline was born!

TEEN scientist Taylor Wilson is the youngest person to build a nuclear fusion reactor -- in 2008, at age 14, in his parents’ garage! Fusion releases energy when two or more atoms join to form a new atom, as when hydrogen fuses into helium, producing the energy of the stars.

KIDS are likelier to sleepwalk than adults, because kids spend more time in deep sleep, which is when this behaviour usually happens. That’s also why a person may have no memory of it. It’s okay to wake a sleepwalker and may be dangerous not to: some leave home and even drive!

MEET Stella, the world’s first solar-powered family car. Built by Dutch university students, the four-seater’s rooftop solar panels help it go almost 400 miles on a single charge. Since it is energy-positive (it creates more power than it uses), it can also be a source of electricity.