NOT YOUR TYPICAL 12-YEAR-OLDS

Science Competition: Boys Focus On Stopping Addiction

When Minsoo Kim, In Seok Oh and Junho Paek enter a science fair,
there's not a papier-mache volcano to be found.

Instead, the trio of 12-year-olds surround themselves with cures for
cancer, water purifiers and diabetes nanosensors.

The approach apparently works for the boys, who took second place
this year in the grades 4 to 6 category of the ExploraVision science
competition, which asks students to research existing technology and
then advance it by 20 years.

The annual U.S.-based contest draws more than 5,000 kindergarten to
Grade 12 students from across North America.

"It's high-level stuff. It's unbelievable," says Elazar Reshef, the
boys' coach and teacher at the Vancouver Art and Design Academy,
where the boys take extra classes after school.

Reshef says the boys pondered several problems before settling on
addiction as a topic.

"There's a lot of people in North America that are addicted," Oh explains.

During their research, the trio came across an article about a
research team in the U.S. that is developing a cocaine vaccine.

They decided to create a hypothetical vaccine that takes a drug
molecule, attaches it to a protein molecule and allows the immune
system to recognize and destroy the drug before it reaches the brain.

"Really, it eliminates addiction altogether," Reshef says of the idea.

Because it might be tough to find an addict to administer a booster
shot of the vaccine, the team also built in a time-release component
to maintain the effect.

"It's basically a one-shot deal," Reshef says.

Paek says the best part was coming up with the idea -- despite the
conflict that ensued.

"We had some disagreements in between my teammates and it was hard
making decisions," he admits. "We sort of fused the ideas together at the end."

But Reshef says that overall the boys, students at Shaughnessy
Elementary, jelled very well.

He also says the competition really makes students think.

"They learn the subject, but they do more than that," he says.

The team worked on its idea for almost four months before entering
the competition.

They placed first in their age category in the regional competition.

The team earned second place in its age group in the nationals, and
each of the boys received a $5,000 savings bond. The trio returns to
Vancouver today after an awards weekend in Washington, D.C.