Three Cork teenagers have bagged the top prize at this year’s Google Science Fair for their project, Natural Bacteria Combating World Hunger.

HE hesitates on the phone from California, before revealing an explosive fact about his exploration of science as a child: “At one point I nearly blew myself up after I started to experiment with gunpowder, TNT and nitroglycerine, which I made on a very small scale. It’s best not to go into that too much, though, as I wouldn’t want to encourage youngsters to do likewise.”

Ever wondered what became of all those bright young minds who collected the Young Scientist title over the years? Well wonder no more.